Essential Guide to Wireless Communications Applications, The

Wireless Local Loop

The greatest potential for fixed wireless is in the local loop or last mile, the link from a customer's home or office to an ISP. It is the most efficient way to roll out communications services quickly. Transceivers can be installed in as little as an hour, compared to the several weeks taken to dig the ground and lay fiber-optic cable.

Fixed wireless comes in two broad varieties: point-to-point and multipoint, shown in Figure 11.1. Of the two, the latter is overwhelmingly the most useful for wireless local loop (WLL). It enables many customers to be connected to a single central transceiver, just like a mobile system. Some multipoint technologies are even deployed in a cellular pattern, though they usually save spectrum ...