AT&T says the company has launched several new trials for the company's gigabit-capable "Airgig" wireless broadband service. AT&T unveiled AirGig last year, noting that the system will utilize low-cost plastic antennas and devices located along the power line to regenerate millimeter wave (mmWave) wireless signals at up to gigabit speeds. AT&T says its utility-pole solution would mean "low hardware and deployment costs while maintaining the highest signal quality," and could see at least some form of initial deployment this year.
In a new
announcement, the company says it's launching a new international trial, as well as a new, second trial across a limited portion of Georgia.
AT&T says the company is working with Georgia Power on that trial, while the international trial is occurring in an undisclosed country somewhere outside of the United States. AT&T has yet to offer any insight on real-world speeds or prices for the looming service, or when users could actually see a full commercial launch (assuming it happens at all). The efforts shouldn't be confused with broadband over powerline (BPL), a power-line technology largely abandoned due to heavy interference potential.
For Airgig, AT&T says that AT&T Labs engineers have invented low-cost plastic antennas, a Radio Distributed Antenna System (RDAS), mmWave surface wave launchers and inductive power devices that will operate as the heart of the system.
The RDAS will reconstruct signals for multi-gigabit mobile and fixed deployments. A typical DAS carries cellular signals throughout buildings and stadiums, using fiber and/or coaxial cables to transmit analog signals, AT&T says.
"We hope that one day there will be no need to build new towers or bury new cables in locations close to aerial power lines," AT&T says of the offering. "Instead, using AirGig patented technology, we would install devices to provide high speed broadband which can be clamped on by trained electrical workers in just a few minutes."