Fixed wireless access: an overview

This paper is intended to provide an overview of wireless local loop (WLL) today, i.e. the access to final customers through radio systems; this domai n covers a wide range of applications, from telephony in rural areas or in developing countries to broadband access offered by alternate carriers in d eveloped countries. A number of technical concepts are common to all these applications (radio transmission, radio access control, management of activ e devices in the distribution network, propagation, spectrum issues), but a ctual products and services are very different - from cheap, well-proven DE CT equipment for basic telephony to expensive broadband LMDS prototypes for 2 Mbit/s (or N X 64 kbit/s) services and fast internet access.