Traditional, bulky cell tower
Alcatel-Lucent has developed a new technology to hopefully get rid of those unsightly cell towers scattered across the country-side and in the middle of cities. They’re using a technology which significantly reduces the size of current cell towers.
They are set to introduce their “lightRadio cube” at the Mobile World Congress, which started Monday, February 14th of this year. The new device is about the size and shape of a Rubik’s cube, and can be put in any location there’s a power and network source. This could mean we would see them on the side of buildings, in buildings, and even in your house once the technology is proven. This could definitely change the way coverage is applied today, in addition to adding speed to wireless networks as a whole.
There are a few hurdles still left to overcome, with price being the greatest one. But, if more companies and more carriers start to use this new technology, it’s only a matter of time before cost is no longer an issue. Other companies have already started to develop similar ideas which use the existing broadband Internet infrastructure to connect homes to cellular companies’ networks, by way of an additional wireless router or even USB connections.
This technology could provide rural communities or buildings typically notorious for less than optimal coverage, with the high-quality coverage you would expect in an urban setting. Another benefit is the power consumption of the cell phone itself. When there are multiple cell phones trying to communicate with a tower, or the distance between the phone and tower is too great, the cell phone must extend its power consumption to compensate and be “heard.”
We are embroiled with a cell tower being forced into our community and I suggested in a town meeting that these light radio cubes might be used in a year or two. The opposition stated that this technology will not be used in his life time. I kinda hope he drops dead tomorrow. But what is the truth? How close it this really? Any suggestions?