Protecting the Future of the Mobile Internet

Presentation from BarCampGR 2012 in Grand Rapids, Michigan about cellular networks in urban Grand Rapids as the future of internet access.

1. Protecting the future of the Mobile Internet Matthew Seeley
2. Mobile Internet is the Future
3. The Problem?
4. The Problem? • Mobile Internet is Expensive • Mobile Internet is Slow • Mobile Internet is Flakey / Unreliable • Mobile Internet is Bandwidth-constrained by spectrum resources
5. “The demand for spectrum will exceed supply by 2013, according to (FCC) estimates. If that happens, the speed of the mobile revolution will slow down. Prices, download times and consumer frustration will all increase. And at a societal level we risk jeopardizing the future of our nation's vital mobile Internet infrastructure.” Randall Stephenson AT&T CEO
6. Mobile is expensive • AT&T / Verizon : $10 - $20+ per gigabyte
8. Current LTE Costs • 3 EUR ~= 4 USD. • $4 USD / 2GB • $2 per gigabyte • 87% profit margin AT&T - Verizon prices @ $15/gb
9. To Review : • LTE, once deployed, is dirt cheap
10. LTE is FAST
13. To Review : • LTE is FAST • LTE is CHEAP • What about reliability?
15. Blue : AT&T Cell Towers | Red : Areas of Bad Reception
16. Magenta : T-Mobile Cell Towers | Red : Known Bad Area
17. Blue : AT&T Cell Towers | Magenta : T-Mobile Cell Towers
18. • AT&T and T-Mobile both use compatible GSM Networks. • AT&T and T-Mobile both use compatible spectrum in West Michigan (PCS & AWS) • Neither AT&T nor T-Mobile share networks in Grand Rapids.
20. To Review : • LTE is FAST • LTE is CHEAP • LTE (and most mobile) when deployed properly, is crazy reliable. • What about limited spectrum?
21. “The demand for spectrum will exceed supply by 2013, according to (FCC) estimates. If that happens, the speed of the mobile revolution will slow down. Prices, download times and consumer frustration will all increase. And at a societal level we risk jeopardizing the future of our nation's vital mobile Internet infrastructure.” Randall Stephenson AT&T CEO
22. spectrum Mobile Internet Users The Network
24. Verizon 108 mhz AT&T 94 mhz T-Mobile 80 mhz Sprint 40 mhz MetroPCS 10 mhz Clearwire 194 mhz Spectrum already *allocated* and *owned* by various teleco’s in Grand Rapids (Kent County) alone
25. [company] [ total ] [ in use ] [ free ] Verizon 108 mhz 76 mhz 32 mhz AT&T 94 mhz 64 mhz 30 mhz T-Mobile 80 mhz 40 mhz 40 mhz Sprint 40 mhz 30 mhz 10 mhz MetroPCS 10 mhz 10 mhz - - Clearwire 194 mhz 30 mhz 164 mhz Grand Rapids, MI (Kent County)
26. [company] [ total ] [ in use ] [ free ] SpectrumCo (Comcast) 20 mhz - - 20 mhz Leap Wireless (Cricket) 10 mhz - - 10 mhz Grand Rapids, MI (Kent County) These companies do not offer wireless service of any kind in the entire state of Michigan.
28. • (300 mhz / 20 mhz) * 200 Mbps = 3,000 Mbps.
29. Even if we were out of spectrum You can always go smaller.
33. Green : Microcells that could exist, but don’t currently each cell could provide an additional 200Mbps on non- overlapping spectrum, using just CLEARWIRE spectrum.
34. The Problem. • Mobile Internet is Expensive (nope) • Mobile Internet is Flakey / Unreliable (doesn’t need to be) • Mobile Internet is Bandwidth-constrained by limited available spectrum (not a chance)
35. Competition will save us! • AT&T Uverse and Comcast Cable will force telco’s to fix this, right?
41. The Problem. • Mobile Internet is Expensive • Mobile Internet is Flakey / Unreliable • Mobile Internet is Bandwidth-constrained by limited available spectrum • Mobile Internet is controlled by a unregulated semi-monopoly of powerful global un-accountable corporations who are plotting to destroy the world?
43. Is this concerning? Things you can do. • Use your voice : - Contact the FCC - Contact your elected representatives Congress : (Bill Huizenga, Justin Amash) Senate : (Carl Levin, Debbie Stabenow) Use your dollars : - Support smaller, local providers when possible. (Sprint, T-Mobile, MetroPCS, Clearwire, Azulstar, iServe)