Promising Faster Wireless, Artemis Draws Closer With Dish Spectrum Deal

[RV_]

Internet by satellites was only done two way for individuals in 2000 and available widely by 2002. Then it was designed for RV use. All satellite Internet slowed down more, the more users got on. During "prime time" it could bog down on shared transponders down to as slow as dial up. It has improved in the almost decade and a half since it debuted. Then cellular data rose with the debut of the smart phone. But, again congestion and throttling during congestion again created insurmountable limits to both speeds and carrier load errors.

 

There have been small improvements that never effectively dealt with channel congestion . : . Until now!

 

Excerpt:

 

"Artemis Networks, a start-up that says it has created a technology for increasing the speed and reliability of wireless networks, is getting closer to bringing that service to the public.

 

The start-up, which first announced its technology a year ago, said it planned to lease wireless spectrum from Dish Network, the satellite television provider, for up to two years. It will use the spectrum to introduce a wireless Internet service in San Francisco.

 

The deal still needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission. Steve Perlman, the chief executive of Artemis, said he hoped to start the service in San Francisco by the fall.

 

San Francisco, like many big cities, is already served by all the major wireless carriers, but Artemis has developed a technology that it promises will increase wireless Internet speeds through an innovative method of dealing with the congestion that dogs cellular networks.

 

When too many users get onto the Internet in one area from wireless devices, speeds typically slow, like a freeway jammed with too many cars. Carriers try to mitigate the problem by putting up more antennas in busy places like stadiums, but there are limits to how much of that can be done without creating interference between the antennas.

 

Artemis, in contrast, has an antenna technology called pCell that it says embraces, rather than avoids, avoids wireless interference. The antennas on an Artemis network are connected to data centers that perform nearly instantaneous mathematical calculations to fashion a unique wireless signal for every person on the network, giving them access to wireless data speeds that are not degraded as other people use the Internet from their devices."

 

More information in the full article from The NY Times here: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/artemis-networks-new-wireless-service-in-san-francisco-gets-boost-through-dish-network-deal/?emc=edit_tu_20150224&nl=technology&nlid=36852580&_r=0

 

More?

This just in ten minutes ago from PC Magazine. How fast will it make cell data? 1000 times faster? It also has a great 2:44 video explaining the pCell, or personal Cell technology from Artemis.

 

Excerpt:

 

"Anyone who's ever stood in a crowded area and tried uploading photos to Facebook knows the frustration of competing with hundreds of other nearby mobile users who are texting, making calls, loading websites, and playing videos.

 

Artemis Networks believes it has the solution to network congestion, and will soon try out its pCell technology in San Francisco.

 

Artemis has inked a deal with Dish to lease the company's H block spectrum for up to two years in San Francisco. If the plan gains FCC approval, residents will soon be able to try out pCell, which "delivers full-speed data rate to every mobile device concurrently, regardless of how many users are sharing the same spectrum at once," according to Artemis.

 

Introduced a year ago, pCell will act as a personal cell tower. While most cellular networks avoid interference, pCell exploits it by combining radio waves to create an unshared personal cell (hence the name "pCell") for each device, Artemis said.

 

To get set up, insert an Artemis SIM card into an LTE gadget. Or, take advantage of new universal SIMs and choose Artemis as your primary LTE service. The device then connects to pCell, delivering high speeds, even in high-density scenarios.

 

Though initially available only to handset owners in The City by the Bay, customers outside of the coverage area will have the option to subscribe to roaming cellular service, provided through a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO).

 

PCell is compatible with LTE devices like the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Samsung Galaxy S5, iPads, spectrum-compatible Androids, LTE dongles, and MiFi devices.

 

CEO Steve Perlman, known for creating the now-defunct game-streaming service OnLive and WebTV Networks, also announced the availability of the Artemis I Hub for venue and indoor trials.

 

The device provides pCell service through more than 30 distributed antennas, delivering up to 1.5 Gbps in shared spectrum to LTE devices. For the outdoorsy type, pWave remote radio heads (pictured) will be available later this year.

 

"We are delighted to introduce pCell to the world with the availability of the Artemis I Hub for trials," Perlman said in a statement. "The Artemis I Hub enables partners to test pCell in indoor and venue scenarios using off-the-shelf LTE devices, such as iPhone 6/6 Plus, iPad Air 2, and Android devices."

 

According to TechCrunch, the company has already signed a deal with VenueNext, mobile services provider for Levi's Stadium, to deploy Artemis I Hubs in high-traffic venues.

 

That full article with links and video is here: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2477326,00.asp

 

In case one doesn't know what an MVNO or Mobile Virtual Network Operator is, those are companies like Straight talk, and Republic Wireless. What that means is that it may jump over the slow reacting Telcos and be available nationwide sooner.

 

I'm wondering if the same technology could be applied to satellite Internet?

[wa_desert_rat]

We've been able to use fast fourier transform (FFT) technology for a long time to uniquely identify radio signals (which is what, after all, a cell phone transmits and receives). Basically it maps the variations in every signal (strength, rise time, fall time, small perturbations in signal characteristics, etc.). There have been experiments in which people using portable radios can be uniquely identified by their gait (how fast they walk, for instance).

 

The people behind Artemis haven't revealed exactly how it would work. Whether you would need a special "app" in your cell phone, for instance. FFT could probably do a lot to recognize - and assign an identity to - individual cell phones but it would take a lot of processing power. Mapping that to a specific cell phone quickly enough every time it tries to connect would be tough.

 

Another paper on the subject: http://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/wireless/can-artemis-deliver-5g-service-on-your-4g-phone

 

Not everyone is convinced. There's a surprise.

 

WDR

[Dutch_12078]

With the need for every pCell antenna to be connected to a data center, I'll be interested in seeing what the latency looks like. Particularly if/when the system builds out further from metropolitan areas.

[RV_]

if you read the entire articles there is mention made of it being possible on secondary providers like Straight Talk. The second article mentions that for phone conversion, all it will take is a special Sim card.

 

This is being done for two years as a test in the field and proof of concept, and is not a pump and dump stock offering. The inventor wants to sell the technology to a/the bigger companies. Things have a way of working differently outside the labs, granted.

 

I find the fact that it is being done for a two year test in that highly visible city astonishing. I wouldn't outline the tech either, regardless of copyrights or patents. Big companies have a habit of turning new ideas over to their R&D labs to discover a way around the patents just different enough to fly legally and operationally.

 

I'm going to be watching this one as it develops and wish him total success, then I want me one of them thar smarty phone sin cards too yup yup!

[mscans]

Latency on any satellite connection is poor. You are stuck with the time for the signal to go the 30+ thousand mile trip to/from the satellite. Nothing short of a time machine can fix that.

[RV_]

Mike this is ground cellular. I used the tech steps to get here and to show how one type of cell service displaces another if it works. Satellite Internet was the only way to connect faster than dial up before Cell Data and when dial up was the only alternative. Then along came smartphones, then now we see this tech being tested which if it performs half as good as promised, will yield 500mbps data on cell phones despite promising a gbps or Gigabit connection possibility. This is not satellite Internet, I was only showing a short chronology of the progression in mobile data.

 

However, the satellite plans I am reading about involve launching a brand new fleet of mini sats under 250 pounds each, in LEO, not GEO and in many cases can get less latency than cell towers and handoffs. However that is not what this is about.

 

To be clearer, they are leasing spectrum for ground use from Dish. Not spectrum on their satellites.

[RV_]

LEO 99 miles to 1200 miles not 15k miles each way:

 

"A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with an altitude between 160 kilometers (99 mi), (orbital period of about 88 minutes), and 2,000 kilometers (1,200 mi) (about 127 minutes). Objects below approximately 160 kilometers (99 mi) will experience very rapid orbital decay and altitude loss.[1][2] With the exception of the manned lunar flights of the Apollo program, all human spaceflights have taken place in LEO (or were suborbital). The altitude record for a human spaceflight in LEO was Gemini 11 with an apogee of 1,374.1 kilometers (853.8 mi). All manned space stations to date, as well as the majority of satellites, have been in LEO."

 

That article is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_Earth_orbit

[RV_]

Back down to Earth this might explain that Dish bought and owns a chunk of cell wireless H spectrum. That is what Artemis will lease from Dish for its trial. Not satellite spectrum.

 

Dish's Ergen to reclaim CEO role and lead company's wireless push

 

Excerpt:

 

"Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH) Chairman and founder Charlie Ergen, who has masterminded the company's push into the wireless market through spectrum purchases and regulatory gambits, will take over as CEO of the company at the end of March. Dish said its current CEO, Joe Clayton, will leave his position and Dish's board as of March 31.

 

Clayton has been CEO of Dish since June 2011, when Ergen stepped down from that role to focus on long-term business development and acquisition tactics as part of an effort to expand Dish's place in the market beyond its role as a satellite pay-TV provider.

 

​Ergen's challenge will now be to execute a strategy to get into the wireless business, now that the company and its partners have amassed more than 75 MHz of wireless spectrum in a series of acquisitions and spectrum auctions. Ergen has said he would like to partner with a wireless carrier, and last week T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) CEO John Legere said he was open to working with Dish. In 2013 Dish, led by Ergen, unsuccessfully bid against SoftBank to acquire Sprint (NYSE: S) and Sprint partner Clearwire.

 

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Ergen said he views the wireless industry as "relatively in its infancy" and thinks the Internet of Things will spur tens of billions more connected devices coming online in the next 10 years and will "lead to tremendous growth."

 

That article with much more is here: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/dishs-ergen-reclaim-ceo-role-and-lead-companys-wireless-push/2015-02-23?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_board

[TxCowboy]

All of us on-line gamers are standing by and ready to be excited! Don't disappoint us!

[BrianT]

As I was reading through, I was thinking more of a low earth orbit satellite network that would continue to hand off communications a bit like cell towers would hand off to each other as you drive down the interstate.

 

Stationary orbit might be a 30k mile trip but a low earth orbit satellite network might only be a few hundred miles, quite a difference in latency.

 

My imagination can see this one happening.

 

Doesn't Sirius satellite radio use several satellites that are in a lower earth orbit that continue to hand off the signal?

[RV_]

It'll come. Likely faster now with Title II opening up some competition. It gets kind of sad when the cable folks start whining about regulation when they are the ones who urged (read bought) local legislators to create legal barriers to anyone new competing with them. Then say that the FCC is telling the states what to do when the states are being fought by their own communities now. The cable companies and the Telcos thought they had the biggest lobby in town and have been spending millions if not billions for lobbying when they could have used it to connect more of America to broadband. Too bad they found out that from Google to Apple, MS to Facebook, Twitter to Oracle, and let's not forget Cisco, the Internet folks that got, or would get, dinged by the cable local monopolies, have put up more than they did, and our side bought our own fair share of representative critters. Things are looking up for the consumers.

[RV_]

Brian I've posted about that here before. SpaceX and Google are doing that. Go here: http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?showtopic=115849