1.7 Summary

This chapter presented how fixed and wireless networks evolved in the past 15 years from circuit-switched voice-centric systems to packet-switched Internet access systems. Due to the additional complexity of wireless systems, enhancements are usually introduced in fixed-line systems first and only some years later in wireless systems as well. To date, fixed-line networks offer data rates to the customer premises of several megabits per second, in some cases already going beyond this. Wireless 3.5G networks are capable of data rates in the order of several megabits per second. In the future, more bandwidth and capacity will be achieved by evolving current wireless network technologies (evolved IMT-2000) and by designing new access networks ....