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Study: Wireless No Substitute For Wireline
Smartphones Are a Supplement, Not Replacement for Fixed Line

As I've been noting more than a little bit, we're at an interesting precipice in the broadband sector where AT&T and Verizon are starting to give up on upgrading tens of millions of DSL customers, instead letting them simply flee to cable. That not only creates a much stronger cable monopoly in an already uncompetitive broadband market, but it raises rates for tens of millions of DSL customers, who suddenly face the high(er) prices and steep overages we've gotten used to with LTE.

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It's important to note that not all current DSL users will also be able to get LTE signal either, meaning they'll either have to turn to the nation's historically awful broadband satellite service, or they'll suddenly be faced with broadband disconnection -- at a time we're supposed to be closing these coverage gaps.

While AT&T and Verizon insist that LTE will be just as good as fixed line broadband, a new study by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies reiterates that wireless is simply no substitute for fixed line service. The study found that 7% of Americans are "smartphone only" (wireless only, no home broadband) but 83% of smartphone owners have broadband at home. Wireless is a supplement to fixed line access, not a replacement.

"The debate about whether wireless is a substitute for wireline broadband is misplaced," argues the report. "Mobile wireless is a game changer not because it might supplant wireline, but because it profoundly shapes how people view the Internet’s benefits."

Despite this being a study based on FCC data, the FCC remains oblivious to the impact AT&T and Verizon's decisions to hang up on landline are going to have, or the new and cozy marketing relationships being fostered between cable and phone providers. We're looking at a future where many of the country's residents that need inexpensive broadband the most are about to be shoved toward LTE service with $15 per gigabyte overage charges.
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anonphoneuse
@comcast.net

anonphoneuse

Anon

the cap size is the problem with wireless

i have tried many mobile broadband solutions and find they actually would great for my needs up until the point that i either get cut off, throttled or would run into unafordable overages.

so for me mobile is plenty fast and reliable enough but there is no suitable rate plan for my usage level(high variable in the range of 15 - 100 gb per month) if only i could somehow get a hold of a grandfathered in verizon wireless unlimited plan i would dump comcast in a second.
tkdslr
join:2004-04-24
Pompano Beach, FL

1 recommendation

tkdslr

Member

Re: the cap size is the problem with wireless

For me a 4G CAP at 5GB speeds isn't that much different from my old crappy aDSL (much slower) service over at&t lines. So I don't miss wire line all that much.

Consider me to be part of that 7%(wireless only) and growing percentage.

Neither At&t or Verizon offer realistic wireless pricing, performance, so they are going to be SOL.

skeechan
Ai Otsukaholic
Premium Member
join:2012-01-26
AA169|170

skeechan to anonphoneuse

Premium Member

to anonphoneuse
If you happen to be in one of the 4 square feet where you can get Clear WiMax (like me), it's unlimited. I regularly do over 100GB/mo and never a peep.

r81984
Fair and Balanced
Premium Member
join:2001-11-14
Katy, TX

r81984 to anonphoneuse

Premium Member

to anonphoneuse
caps are not necessary for wireless.
They are put in place only to nickel and dime people.
Once there is government regulation preventing caps and usage billing then wireless can replace wired.

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT

1 edit

1 recommendation

SimbaSeven

Member

Obvious

I would think it would be rather obvious that wireless complements wired instead of replacing it.

Now tell that to the big 2.. and I mean VZ and at&t. There is never a replacement for wired networks.

dib22
join:2002-01-27
Kansas City, MO

1 recommendation

dib22

Member

Re: Obvious

Agreed it is obvious.

As for the overage rates... $15/gig sounds downright generous compared to sprints overage of $51.20/gig.

Ignoring the price issue... wireless also has another major flaw compared to fixed... reliability. Just wait for a natural disaster in an area and see how well wireless works compared to fixed line

Robj
@rr.com

Robj

Anon

Re: Obvious

As someone who runs a fairly large network of weatherstations that use a combination of POTS and Cellular, I can tell you that it's a complete pot shot which service makes it through a natural disaster. I find that overall, wireless is more reliable....
jjeffeory
jjeffeory
join:2002-12-04
Bloomington, IN

2 edits

1 recommendation

jjeffeory

Member

Re: Obvious

That's what I found to be true in during Katrina.
All the wires for the houses were down, but I still had Verizon service ( didn't have service on my Cingular (at&t) phone though).

Robj
@rr.com

Robj

Anon

Re: Obvious

For Sandy we had 32 stations in the general area of the storm. One station lost cell service and 5 stations on POTS went down. One POTS station was converted to cellular after the storm because POTS wasn't going to be restored by the phone company. About 7 stations were destroyed.
jjeffeory
jjeffeory
join:2002-12-04
Bloomington, IN

1 edit

jjeffeory to SimbaSeven

Member

to SimbaSeven
Problem is that wireless isn't priced as a complement to wired; it's much more expensive! Now, fixed Wireless services, where there is no alternative wired service (Wisps) ARE an alternative to wired.
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd to SimbaSeven

Premium Member

to SimbaSeven
I doubt there ever will be a replacement for wired if speaking on a strictly technology scale. Wired will always be ahead in performance because it advances at the same time as wireless.

The problem is deployment, Wireless is not only cheaper to deploy but the small caps and huge overages attached to wireless make it far more profitable.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

1 recommendation

iansltx

Member

Landlines? Gone? Wireline? Here to stay

As long as people want to use something bigger than a phone screen, they'll need a wireline (or high capacity fixed wireless) connection to give them enough data transfer per month to do soemthing useful, generally speaking.

So you end up with someone who uses their smartphone's mobile network while on the go, and WiFi while at home. Someone like me, for example

I don't pay any money to AT&T, but thanks to Google Voice I have an alternate path for making and receiving calls if my cell isn't available. Well, except for 911. But that's why you keep your cell phone charged if you don't have a landline.

workablob
join:2004-06-09
Houston, TX

workablob

Member

Re: Landlines? Gone? Wireline? Here to stay

said by iansltx:

As long as people want to use something bigger than a phone screen, they'll need a wireline (or high capacity fixed wireless) connection to give them enough data transfer per month to do soemthing useful, generally speaking.

So you end up with someone who uses their smartphone's mobile network while on the go, and WiFi while at home. Someone like me, for example

I don't pay any money to AT&T, but thanks to Google Voice I have an alternate path for making and receiving calls if my cell isn't available. Well, except for 911. But that's why you keep your cell phone charged if you don't have a landline.

You don't need to pay for a landline for 911. Just plug any phone into your outlet and 911 will work.

At least inn Texas and I suspect elsewhere too.

Also, you can tether/wifi Hot-Spot your phone and browse the net on a PC.

Or, you could get a WWAN router and use that for home access..

Dave

Morac
Cat god
join:2001-08-30
Riverside, NJ

Morac

Member

Re: Landlines? Gone? Wireline? Here to stay

said by workablob:

You don't need to pay for a landline for 911. Just plug any phone into your outlet and 911 will work.

If you don't pay for a landline, you won't get a dial tone. At least not with Verizon since they physically disconnect the copper lines with POTS. Not sure what they would do with FIOS, but since that's all digital, my guess is it wouldn't work either.

workablob
join:2004-06-09
Houston, TX

workablob

Member

Re: Landlines? Gone? Wireline? Here to stay

I have not had a landline since 2000 and even though there is no tone if I dial 911 I get an operator.

At least that's what I was told and when I tried it it worked much to my embarrassment when the operator answered.

It appears to be on a state by state basis:

»answers.yahoo.com/questi ··· 9AABEvhq

Dave

bobjohnson
Premium Member
join:2007-02-03
Spartanburg, SC

bobjohnson

Premium Member

Re: Landlines? Gone? Wireline? Here to stay

said by workablob:

I have not had a landline since 2000 and even though there is no tone if I dial 911 I get an operator.

At least that's what I was told and when I tried it it worked much to my embarrassment when the operator answered.

It appears to be on a state by state basis:

»answers.yahoo.com/questi ··· 9AABEvhq

Dave

It does depend on the state. Florida PSC also requires a landline or cell to be able to dial 911. Alot of the states up north don't anymore.

alchav
join:2002-05-17
Saint George, UT

alchav to Morac

Member

to Morac
said by Morac:

said by workablob:

You don't need to pay for a landline for 911. Just plug any phone into your outlet and 911 will work.

If you don't pay for a landline, you won't get a dial tone. At least not with Verizon since they physically disconnect the copper lines with POTS. Not sure what they would do with FIOS, but since that's all digital, my guess is it wouldn't work either.

If you dial 911 with any Phone you will get them, but only with a Land Line the Address will be correct. With any other Phone the 911 Data Base has to be corrected. As for getting Dial Tone, with a Copper Land Line it goes back to the C.O. and if it is still connected to equipment you will get Dial Tone but only for Local Calls. This was the old equipment, now they can probably disable everything with software.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx to workablob

Member

to workablob
Good to know on the 911 front. Though at that point what I need is a corded, telco-powered phone. Just so we're being reliable.

As for WWAN routing etc., you're preaching to the choir. I tether my computer to my iPad or smartphone on a regular basis. After which I switch to my cable connection because $8-$20 per GB is not my idea of a good use of money.
damacu
join:2012-07-18

1 recommendation

damacu

Member

It's true.

I went without broadband for three months as an experiment. The first month without anything, the other two with Wireless Carrier Data (5GB cap). The Nexus 4 has unlocked tethering feature, but I'd still have to run a VPN to get around their upsell.

I hit the cap within four weeks (without doing any downloading), both months. However, now with broadband, I don't even hit 1GB with the phone.

It really shows how vital the wired broadband connection is. In July/August, I will have gigabit internet installed. I'm sure I will look back and view having only 15/1 as a struggle, much like having only 4G with a 5GB cap, now.
jokarius
join:2012-05-14
Purcellville, VA

jokarius

Member

Wireless CAPs for LTE make use of it difficult

As a user of Verizon Home Fusion, I can honestly say that speed of the offering is good enough to server the house hold but the data caps make it incredibly difficult. I use the 30 GB plan and regularly am going over in my usage. I work from home and am an avid gamer. My wife and mother in law both are heavy internet users and between us 30 Gb a month is simply not sufficient.

Service wise it is not bad although I regularly have to reset the HBA (Verizons Cantenna) when it loses connection. The speeds and ping times are good enough to work or play on.

Either increase or remove the data Caps and LTE becomes workable for Americans with them tho... it simply strangles rural america under an expensive bill that is prohibitive for most households.
decifal7
join:2007-03-10
Bon Aqua, TN

decifal7

Member

They

They really need to buildout services more or sell to companies that will. And definitely stop spending more to block an effort to build out than it would cost to build it out in the first place...
lemonade1
join:2003-12-13
Los Angeles, CA

lemonade1

Member

Ping anyone?

Even if wireless is uncapped, I find their ping unacceptable for certain use. (gaming)

buzz_4_20
join:2003-09-20
Dover, NH
(Software) Sophos UTM Home Edition
Ruckus R310

buzz_4_20

Member

Wireless VS Wired

In my house or to my house, wires/cables/fibers will always be preferred.

Wireless is flaky, even WiFi in your home, it's not consistent. My CAT6 is always a gigabit, it doesn't hop around different transfer rates, it's always right there.

And let's not get into cost... LTE is faster that what I can get at home, this is true, however my wired home service doesn't have a cap, has a lower consistent ping and transfer rate.
jjeffeory
jjeffeory
join:2002-12-04
Bloomington, IN

1 edit

jjeffeory

Member

...

Uh, duh.....

Of course wireless isn't a substitute for a wired connection. No one should really try this with the current caps about...
....and a tablet OR smartphone isn't a substitute for a full fledged PC; yet people are still trying...

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

1 recommendation

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

I still have a home phone

Try calling 911 on a cell phone, you'll get the state police dispatch who'll have to determine the responding jurisdiction and then transfer your call to the responding jurisdiction AND you'll have to give the location. Try doing that when you have a child that is not breathing or momma is having a heart attack. Landlines are automatically routed to the responding jurisdiction and give the location information.

Even though cell phones have GPS, most 911 centers are not equipped to receive the GPS signals as they rely on technology from the '80s and '90s as cash strapped municipalities do not have the money to upgrade. If they need to get the location of a cell phone, they have to contact the cell provider which wastes time.

My alarm system requires a phone line to dial the central station.

Eddy120876
join:2009-02-16
Bronx, NY

Eddy120876

Member

Re: I still have a home phone

so true also when you place and order for delivery the home line is always prefer since is they feel is a secure order.
OttoPylot
join:2000-11-21
San Jose, CA

OttoPylot to IowaCowboy

Member

to IowaCowboy
That is absolutely true. Most VOIP and all cellular calls to 9-1-1 have to be routed first to the local 9-1-1 operator who then needs to look up the location. It's no where near as fast as a land line call and results in a time delay. Even if you can't talk on a land line call, but leave the line open, your address is immediately known to the 9-1-1 operator and help is dispatched, usually as a Priority 1 and 2 (police and fire). A work around is to use the complete 9-1-1 10-digit number when making cellular 9-1-1 calls, but that will only work for your area code. Our old AT&T line was rolled into our ISP so that they, not AT&T, maintains the line along with our DSL. $53 per month, including taxes, for 20Mbps speeds with a static address. And we keep all of our old AT&T land line "features" that we had before.

CaptainRR
Premium Member
join:2006-04-21
Blue Rock, OH

CaptainRR

Premium Member

Re: I still have a home phone

Another reason why the E911 tax on my cell phone bill is a big waste just like the USF on the land line. Money shoved into a black hole for so may years and still nothing to show for it in many paces.

WHT
join:2010-03-26
Rosston, TX

WHT

Member

Verizon Backtracked

Karl...

A few months ago you had an article that quoted or had a link with Verizon saying their wireless was not meant to be a full replacement for an internet connection, rather it was meant to be a last ditch effort where nothing else works.

no kidding
@myvzw.com

no kidding

Anon

Gee whiz, thanks for the study....

Now, give some of us a choice. Centurylink (Qwest) lost interest in serving us rural folks decades ago although they seem to have no problem cashing the checks from the USF slush fund and receiving any other forms of corporate welfare. At least VZW gives us some reliable connectivity albeit expensive.
BiggA
Premium Member
join:2005-11-23
Central CT
·Frontier FiberOp..
Asus RT-AC68

BiggA

Premium Member

Where is this BS coming from?

Just because they aren't upgrading customers doesn't mean that they are going to just pull the plug on them. These customers are a cash cow, they are captive, and keep paying the bill month after month without having to invest any capital in their systems... hence the reason why they don't get upgraded, except for AT&T's ADSL2+, which is a really cheap and easy way to push the signal out a little farther and grab some more customers for an almost zero investment in plant infrastructure.
purwater
Premium Member
join:2002-10-25
Bluefield, VA

purwater

Premium Member

I'd like a wired option

I'm stuck in the Bermuda Triangle of broadband. Comcast has cable within 0.7 mile in one direction and 0.5 mile on the other side of my house. We have 6 houses around us and all of us would gladly get internet and possibly TV if Comcast would bring the cable. They want quite a bit of money to string the cable out to our little area. I've even offered to sign a contract if that would help. It's sad because here at work we have Comcast (3.5 miles from home) and the speeds are solid. We also have DSL, Fixed Wireless, and a fiber system (that is only serving businesses currently). At home our choice is satellite or one of the cell wireless systems. We were using Millenicom 3G and now I've upgraded to their LTE hotspot with 20 GB cap. We've had it for a few months now and the speed is more than enough for us. I usually see 20-25 mb downloads and 8-12 mb upload. We have to be careful, but with normal surfing, my wife's facebook games, PC updates, iPad & iPhone updates, etc we normally use about 12 GB per month. That leaves me with a little room to watch a couple of shows on hulu or netflix without going over the cap. If they were more reasonable with a 50 GB cap we would definitely be pretty happy. I'd be even happier with a Comcast solution, but so far it's not in the cards.