Unwiring China's Cities & Role of Mesh Networks

Presentations by China Telecom, Shanghai Municipal Informatization Commission, Communications Technology Commission of the Ministry of Information Industry

Spurred by the desire to bolster domestic economic activity, wireless broadband is set to become an important part of the infrastructure for many major cities across China. Both Beijing and Shanghai have ambitious plans to extend wireless Internet coverage citywide. Eventually Tianjin, Wuhan, Hangzhou and Shenzhen will all become wireless cities. This mass scale launch of wireless broadband service in city public areas will rely mainly on Wi-Fi mesh networks as well as 3G systems and may also include WiMAX and other 4G networks when they become available.

According to China Wire, China Telecom, the nation's fixed line leader is creating hotspots around the country. It has called for a tender to build wireless networks in 21 provinces including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Fujian and Sichuan – installing them in high-traffic locations such as airport lounges and coffee shops. CTC has long made known its desire for a piece of the wireless market. Because 3G was off-limits, Wi-Fi in unlicensed spectrum was much more attractive in chasing after high-end customers. CEO Wang Xiaochu previously has said that in 2008 China Telecom would focus on delivering public hotspots and home Wi-Fi.

When considering various wireless technologies for wireless city deployments, mesh networking cannot be ignored. As an alternative technology that extends the range of WLANs, wireless mesh networking is now mature, and attracting more attention. Utilizing multiple nodes that are self configuring, mesh systems appeal to operators and users looking for self managing networks that can be quickly deployed at modest costs. Wireless mesh networks being widely used to deliver broadband services for entire metro areas, enhance operator revenue, boost enterprise productivity, provide wireless backhaul and beyond. Different types of applications can be found for mesh networks today. From temporary installations at disaster sites and sporting events to corporate campuses and rapid transit stations and more. In this session, audiences will look into the recent advances in wireless mesh networking such as the move away from proprietary protocol and towards a common standard. Topics include business models for monetizing services using mesh networks, current technical standard activities related to wireless mesh networks, open source mesh networking, business case for deploying mesh networking, different mesh networking applications, technical issues about the mesh network, network performance and testing, performance metrics, vendor selection criteria, OLSR, ETX vs ETT, case studies of existing commercial deployments, scalability issues, network quality of service, protocol design, protocol layers, system architecture plus other related subjects.