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3.65 Interoperability ?

Will devices be interopable in this band.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jeff Orr on April 5, 2008 at 1:42pm

Hi Kobe,

There is not an official WiMAX Forum certification profile for the 3.65 GHz band in the US using either 802.16-2004 or 802.16e-2005 protocols.

I am not aware of any vendor plans to perform their own interoperability tests to see if Vendor A's base station will work with Vendor B's device.

For the time being, you should consider all 3.65 GHz products vendor-proprietary.

Best regards,

-Jeff Orr
ORR Technology, LLC

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Permalink Reply by Kobe Wadsworth on April 5, 2008 at 5:22pm

So Mr. Orr with end user devices like lap tops with multi band chips work in 3.65 . Thank you for your help Kobe Wadsworth.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Orr on April 5, 2008 at 6:02pm

The presence of a multi-band radio does not guarantee support for a specific band or a specific regulatory profile. It has to be supported by design.

First determine the protocol -- 802.16-2004 or 802.16e-2005. A product could be designed using either protocol for 3.65 GHz support. Redline is using 802.16-2004 and Airspan is using 802.16e-2005 on their respective 3.65 GHz designs. Your reply suggested laptop support, so this implies 802.16e-2005 for some portability/mobility. Please note there are also some assumptions made about the base station capabilities based on the matching protocol.

Backing up to the top -- do I expect there will be US 3.65 GHz support in laptops (add-in cards or embedded) this year? No. It might occur in 2009, but I doubt the market demand is there to make portable products in this band. An equal effort on the base station side to support portability/mobility would also be required.

Approach the question from the needs of the market and if 3.65 GHz has mass-market appeal. The biggest opportunity in the US for 3.65 GHz is fixed wireless access for regional services and to address competitive business-to-business broadband. Similarly, I expect most of the portability/mobility interest will remain in the 2.5 GHz and under spectrum for good environmental penetration.

Best regards,

-Jeff Orr
ORR Technology, LLC