Comment by wkat4242
2 years ago
Having your own infrastructure is not really a barrier if you look at WiFi.
I kinda expected mmwave 5G to become an in-office replacement for WiFi: Completely managed by the provider, plenty of spectrum available and seamless roaming to public 5G.
But it didn't take off at all and most mobiles no longer even include mmWave antennas here in Europe (think Samsung). Nor do laptops. It would have been pretty ideal for this kind of indoor usecase.
I think part of the reason is that companies still really prefer to run their own infra.
It isn't, except when it is, and WiFi is established already. Sure, for a big industrial IoT rollout, you'd have to set up dedicated networks anyway, so you can choose them on their peculiar merits. For consumer IoT, requiring an additional hub or regional infrastructure is a losing proposition. For consumer-like commercial/industrial IoT and similar connectivity, think Redbox kiosks or fishing license machines where sites will not put the machines on their WiFi network, you might not have a good case for replacing cellular with your own infrastructure.
Where DECT might be competitive would be applications like wireless utility meters - high densities of installations where your own infrastructure could be more practical than cellular.
mmWave doesn't cross walls very well, what's the point if you have to install infrastructure inside buildings anyway? Plus, indeed, companies really prefer to have their own stuff, also because of reliability (what if the 5G carrier has a problem? It's rare but can happen), and simplicity (why using a VPN that passes through a public network and goes back to the company network, adding dozens of ms of delay in the process, if you're anyway on-site?)
I was thinking the provider would install 5G access points inside the building yes. For this the limited penetration is a real benefit because it means you can place more access points without them interfering.
Of course the network would not use a VPN but MPLS or something.
> Of course the network would not use a VPN but MPLS or something.
So basically the company's devices are provisioned with specific (e)SIM cards that would make the traffic routed to the company's network by the telco directly? If I would be a network admin in a big company, I'm not sure I'd feel well with that, as the provisioning/management of SIM cards out of the company's control. It would also mean that a rogue employee of the telecom operator would be able to access the internal network of the company. Attack surface seems too big.
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mmWave is way to finicky, where even a human body can block the signal.
What I saw a lot of buzz about a few years ago was 5G NR-U, where 5G was standardized to run on the ISM bands (same bands as WiFi) so you could basically set up your own 5G network just like Wi-Fi. I'm not sure what happened to that, my assumption is the 5G patents are just way too expensive to justify the hardware set it up ad hoc like that compared to WiFi. Whoever is developing DECT these days may be way more willing to lower prices since they don't have a bunch of telcos to gouge.