An interesting question that has to be asked these days is: How do you prepare for the onslaught of the wireless Ethernet coming to the 3G network you are already on? You heard me correctly, 3G.

 

For all the positioning by the big carriers for LTE, until LTE Advanced comes along in 2015 we should not call the harmonized 3G network standards 4G. Now, from a marketing standpoint, many carriers are going to embrace the term as quickly as possible. But it’s unclear that they will be prepared for the onslaught of demand.

 

AT&T has taken a lot of beating about their networks suffering in supporting the Apple iPhone, but the reality is that no carrier would be prepared for 10 million new subscribers, particularly for their data services. No carrier.

 

Clearwire and Verizon Wireless are both working feverishly to expand their data capabilities, but the pain points are not much different then when they were first supporting modem pools for dial up access.

 

The modem pools they needed to expand the dial up ports as quickly as possible gave birth to CLEC’s such as Level 3 with XCOM and MCI’s MFS. These companies’ strengths were eventually irrelevant to much of the business and the value diminished.

 

Now the CLEC business is on the rise again, because the carriers are looking for as much connectivity to their Radio Access Network [RAN]. While Verizon continues to build out using fiber as often as possible and Clearwire uses Fixed WiMAX to support the build out, the realities are that like the modem lady of AOL fame (a.k.a Geraldine MacDonald) the demand is beyond their internal abilities.

 

This allows for companies like Towerstream and FiberTower to support the demand of other carriers with whatever solutions they can provide.

 

Companies such as Hatteras are providing bonding pseudo-wire solutions, and given the demand, these fit nicely with the current need, but the ultimate problem is improving direct data services to the end points.

 

So like the modem pools of the past the network, you build today may not be the network you need tomorrow.

 

On the other hand, or more specifically on the “air” side of the equation, the data side of the equation is forcing the antenna build outs needed to support the 4G networks of the future. If you look at what is needed for networks to cover the data network a lot of antenna strategies are going to be deployed.

 

Cell coverage on 4G networks is going to require more microcells and the expansion the carriers are doing on the network today will continue until LTE advanced is in the deployment stage. PS: We are going to be doing some podcasts about this subject over the next few weeks if you have questions you would like to ask or speak about your experience we welcome your participation. Send a note to me carl@crossfiremedia.com.