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JULY 2012
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HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
The conventional response would
be toblamemy carrier. If only the company
would build another tower to cover the
area near my house, I’d be fine. Right? Not
necessarily. Bandwidth, as it turns out, is
subject to not just the laws of physics, but
also the laws of supply and demand. Both
point to one unpleasant realization: The
true cost of wireless data access has been
hidden from us for quite a while, and it’s
time to pay the piper.
Sure, a lack of towers contributes to the
problem, especially when you can’t get a
signal, period. But while everyone wants
a good cell signal, no one wants a tower
in their backyard, or by their kids’ school.
And sometimeswhat towers there are can’t
evenhandle all the data fromtheir cellular
connections, because they’re limited by
what’s called the “backhaul,” the band-
width that connects a particular tower to
the larger network.
We’ve grown accustomed to technology
progressing according to Moore’s Law,
which states that the processing power of
a computer chip doubles about every two
years. Evenbeyond the realmof processors,
we’ve seen this geometric progression in
most of our devices, from hard drive and
flash memory storage to the pixels in our
screens and cameras.
But one place you don’t see it is in wire-
less bandwidth. That’s because Moore’s
Law doesn’t hold there. Instead, you have
to get familiar with Shannon’s Law.
Claude Shannonwas anMIT researcher
who, in 1948, came up with an equation
that explained how two factors limit the
amount of information that can be accu-
ratelytransmi edoveranycommunication
channel: the bandwidth available and the noise present that could
disturb the signal. Using those two numbers, you can figure out the
maximum amount of information that a particular link can handle.
I won’t bore you with the math. But the upshot is that we’re com-
ing very, very close to reaching the bandwidth limits determined by
Shannon’s Law. Soon, the typical cell tower simply won’t be able to
handle any more data. Whichmeans we’re going to need to come up
with a solution if we want everyone to be able to watch the latest
episode of “Game of Thrones” on their iPhone.
None of the current solutions arewhat you’d call ideal, or easy, espe-
cially if you’re a cellular company. Carriers could build a lot more cell
towers. They could try to get you, the customer, to supplement their
network—in fact, they already do, with “micro-cell” devices that sit in
yourhouseandshunt cellular trafficontoyour Internet connection.Or
theycouldbuymorewireless spectrum.More frequenciesmeansmore
bandwidth, but that’s also expensive and a bureaucratic nightmare.
Or the cellular companies could take a different route, and raise
prices. This is anathema in the age of unlimited data usage, but with
skin in the game, peoplemight think a li le bitmore before eating up
somuchbandwidth. Doyou reallyneed to checkyour email everyfive
minutes? If so, itwill cost you. Andwhile that’s happening, the cost of
network upgrades will be subsidized by those who truly need them.
Everyone likes a bargain, and price is one of the main ways that
carriers compete. Butwouldn’t it beworth it to coughup$20more and
actually get the service you’re paying for, rather than a simulation of
it? From here in Oakland, as I wave my phone around searching for
a signal, that seems like a trade-off worth considering.
When
Wired
special projects editor
MARK MCCLUSKY
can’t get a signal,
he consoles himself by using his smartphone to play Draw Something.
You can follow him on Twitter at @markmcc.
JULY CROSSWORD ANSWERS
BRIGHT IDEAS
||
TECH
With skin in the game, people
might think a li le bit more before
eating up so much bandwidth.
Do you really need to check your
email every five minutes?
If so, it will cost you.