Wireless vs Wireline

Traditionally, wireline or wired systems have been used as the transmission medium for backhaul and access networks. Fibre optic and copper cables provided the main physical connection for high capacity transmission networks, while copper was used for 'last-mile' access into businesses and residential premises.

Technologies such as Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH), Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), and more recently Ethernet and Digital Subscriber Loop (DSL), all use wired transmission mediums.

Similarly, radio communications has also had a long and proven history as an important transmission medium for both commercial and military purposes.

In the past radio or wireless technologies were predominantly designed for low capacity transmission, with systems such as radio and television broadcast, satellite communications, citizen band (CB) radio and cellular or mobile phone networks.

However, with the advent of robust and more efficient access techniques using improved modulation and coding methods, the development of wireless systems over the last decade has been dramatic, to the point where wireless is now a preferred communication system for a range of transmission and access applications.

It has long been possible for the previously wired-only technologies such as PDH, SDH and ATM to operate over wireless radio links.

Unwired vs Wired Feature Sets