Essential Guide to Home Networking Technologies, The

WIRELESS LOCAL LOOP

Originally developed to support telephony traffic, the local loop of a telecommunications network now supports a much greater number of subscriber lines transmitting both voice and Internet traffic. The term "local loop" is widely used to describe the electrical circuit between consumers and the local telephone company. The national carriers no longer have exclusive access to the local loop and are facing stiff competition from cable and satellite companies. AT&T, for instance, is spending billions of dollars on upgrading their cable TV networks.

Early in 1999, a new horse entered the race to take control of the local loop— wireless technologies. The battle commenced when two U.S.-based phone giants, MCI WorldCom and Sprint, ...