5GHz Ain’t Dead

5GHz Point to PointThere have been a number of recent blog post surrounding the congestion in the 5GHz band for outdoor wireless, I am also guilty of contributing to this. Many have said that for city centre ISP deployments 5GHz is dead. There has recently been a huge shift towards alternative frequencies and we have witnessed a rise in licence except or lightly licensed V and E Band (60-80GHz frequency) so what does this mean for good old 5GHz point to point and point to multipoint?

The V and E bands (60-80GHz also known as millimetre wave) are undoubtedly here to stay, they offer great capacity for point to point wireless, they are licence exempt or only lightly licensed coupled with the fact that the cost of equipment is becoming increasingly more affordable. This makes it a wise choice for many outdoor wireless deployments however, is it the 5GHz killer we all thought it would be? I say no.

“In a simple analogy, what the Cambium Networks PTP 650 does is similar to a police car, with its sirens blasting, parting traffic on a congested motorway.”

The shift from 5GHz to 60-80GHz wireless has led to many 5GHz players to improve their product line. Perhaps many vendors who have had it so good for so long have become a little complacent? There have been minimal new products introduced and a number of these vendors were content with their model range… This has all changed now.

Finally the 5GHz wireless vendors have been pressured into bringing new and innovative technologies whilst pressing on with product development to deliver higher capacity radios with greater spectrum efficiency. Cambium Networks is one of the first to lead the way with the introduction of the PTP 650. The PTP 650 is a software selectable 5.4 or 5.8GHz radio, meaning that from the single unit we can begin to mitigate interference by choosing the cleanest frequency for the real world environment. Cambium Networks has been conscience of the need for increased capacity and if there is one thing we can say without doubt in the wireless world, it is that capacity requirements aren’t coming down. What Cambium has bought to the market is now capable of delivering 450Mbps point to point wireless over long distances. Starting at 125Mbps there is a software upgrade path to 250Mbps through to the full capacity of 450Mbps meaning distribution can increase stock holding with partners reducing their spares holding as it is now a single SKU product.

All this capacity coupled with the selectable frequency is great however what really matters now is how efficient we can transmit. The PTP 650 offers the greatest Mbps per MHz of channel of any radio on the market. The future firmware versions will have 5MHz configurable channels starting a at 5Mhz through to 45MHz all designed to combat wireless interference and increase performance in what is becoming the congested 5GHz band. In a simple analogy, what the Cambium Networks PTP 650 does is similar to a police car with its sirens blasting parting traffic on a congested motorway.

It seems as if there may be life left in the 5GHz band for point to point & point to multipoint. There is no denying that the 60-80GHz, V & E band, frequency is a great addition providing gigabit wireless however I contest the notion that the growth of 60-80GHz frequency is due to congestion of 5GHz. With 60-80GHz the additional capacity benefits are not to be overlooked but 5GHz is still the ruler in terms of distance. In the majority of deployments that we have been involved in, the V and E Band has been chosen due to capacity requirements as opposed to trying to mitigate interference. With the vastly improved 5GHz radios there is no doubt a place for all these products to exist alongside each other. This means we can now offer the most cost effective, highest capacity and best price per Mbps combining both the new frequency and the second generation 5GHz products.

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