EV-DO - making your own hotspot

PEVDO is a personal broadband wireless service for a wide range of customers, from business people to students. It is the ubiquity of this mobile broadband technology which has made it so popular in the most competitive and dynamic telecom market- US. A Times Global Journal primer....

The continued evolution and growth of wireless broadband has resulted in the creation of an exciting and vibrant industry. The competitive pressures of today's markets- both in developed and emerging economies- becomes important in defining user expectations and overall experiences with broadband wireless technologies. A number of market forces such as policy makers, telecommunication regulators, media regulatory authorities have enabled the development of mobile communications into mass, commercially viable markets spanning different segments. The challenges lie in harnessing the potential and power of today's and futuristic mobile technologies and offer an array of services to large masses of consumers on the go..

The number of mobile subscribers worldwide is predicted to rise to upwards of 4 billion by the end of this decade and discontinuation and acceptance of broadband wireless technologies will be dictated by the influence and choice exercised by the burgeoning subscriber base. The number of mobile Internet users itself is forecast to hit nearly 1 billion by 2010. Aspects like usage, form factor, display, input, connectivity, product ideas or interactivity experiences will come into play in deciding the nextgeneration of innovative and compelling mobile communication products and also the very development of mobile and wireless networks. In fact, many new, exciting technologies like WiMAX will also square up against existing technologies like 1X and EVDO due to this vast base of 'hungry- for-more' subscribers.

The ecosystem for broadband wireless access (BWA)/WiMAX comprises vendors like Airspan Networks, Alvarion Ltd., Aperto, Cambridge Broadband, Proxim Corporation, Redline Communications, Telsima Corporation, WiNetworks; infrastructure suppliers like Alcatel Mobile Group-Lucent, Nortel Networks, Nokia, Qualcomm-Flarion, Samsung Electronics Company Ltd., Motorola, Ericsson-Marconi; chipset vendors like Comsys, Intel Corporation, Freescale Semiconductor, Texas Instruments, Runcom; service providers like Altitude Telecom, Sprint/ Nextel, Clearwire, TowerStream, AT& T, Bell South, Softbank, Yozan etc. There will be a lot of realignment amongst all these players with alliances and collaborations being the order of the day. Business models and market strategies will have to be reassessed to account for fast-changing marketplaces and newer demands.

In developing markets, 3G technologies (as recognized by ITU) such as 1X and Evolution Data Optimized or Evolution Data Only (EV-DO) which sits upon the CDMA network is being offered by operators to enable subscribers to access the Internet. EV- DO provides fast wireless broadband access (3G) Internet service directly to your laptop. With this new, wireless high-speed technology you take the Internet with you and surf the web in your car, on the train, at a convention, on the road and in many other scenarios.

EV-DO is a personal broadband wireless service for a wide range of customers, from business people to students. It rides on CDMA signal- 1X data capability available everywhere where CDMA voice service is available. It allows users to be "connected" wherever they are - not only for email, but for downloads, large files, photos, spreadsheets, etc.

In Europe, Eurotel was one of the first players to launch the EV- DO network. In North America, key players like Verizon Wireless and Sprint/ Nextel have been offering data plans on their EV-DO and 1X networks for quite some time-targeting a large mass of subscribers, primarily the business segment on the go. Verizon Wireless is currently the leading provider for EV-DO coverage whereas Sprint which started EV-DO deployment in the summer of 2005 also had had a massive rollout in the 4th quarter of 2005. The 1X and EVDO evolution is largely comparable to the 3GPP evolution within the core network.

EV-DO phones allow your cell phones to hook up to this high speed network. If your phone can send email or browse the web, it will be very fast. On Verizon's network, they offer something called VCAST which allows you to play multiple 3D media games, entertainment video clips, sports clips, news videos, weather videos. Beginning last year, many new EV-DO phones provided by leading vendors became available. These phones hook up to the existing EVDO network to provide new cell phone services such as real-time 3D games, TV (on your cell phone), email access, and lots of other cool features.

The signal strength of the phone determines the speed of EV -DO. With EV-DO, you can have wireless broadband Internet access to your Windows, Linux or Mac OS X laptop without the need for any hotspots. Just by inserting an EV-DO PC card into your laptop allows you to be connected to the WWW at DSL-like speeds ranging from 400-700 K. It is the ubiquity of this mobile broadband technology which has made it so popular in the most competitive and dynamic telecom market- US.

Research inputs culled from EVDOinfo.com