back to article Boffins suggest storage be baked into mobile base stations

In the race to keep mobile performance in line with user demands, carriers around the world are spending big on splitting their cellular networks into ever-smaller chunks. New research suggests that adding some spinning rust to base stations could help improve efficiency, at lower cost. The modelling, carried out by Ejder …

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  1. Grumpy Fellow

    Does their caching work for secure connections?

    A lot of bandwidth-hogging content such as YouTube is delivered over HTTPS now. Can they cache that?

    1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

      Re: Does their caching work for secure connections?

      Just MITM the SSL certs. Surely the NSA will loan them the appropriate tech...

  2. Steve Knox
    Happy

    "Their base assumption..."

    Win for that, alone.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    vendors are working on this right now

    LTE network vendors are working on this right now, and in some cases have lab and real world demo results that show a significant improvement to end user performance. The content can be sent from local cache scheduled directly onto the air interface, rather than have to dribble it through the entire backhaul (and internet pipe) network.

    1. Mage Silver badge

      Re: vendors are working on this right now

      Vendor propaganda to make mobile operators spend more (e.g. Three who don't understand).

      Unless your infrastructure is rubbish, then the bottle neck is ONLY at the air interface. The backhaul has to be able to manage full peak base station traffic anyway. If your Base Station is only using copper or ancient Microwave too slow (modern microwave and fibre can feed easily 5 to 10 base stations) then this is like lipstick on a pig.

  4. crediblywitless

    So, then, attacking base stations near celebrities' homes will become the cloud-based equivalent of bin-raking?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Modern microwave links give upto 1-2Gbps today

    Modern microwave links give 1-2Gbps today depending on channel width & coding. More tomorrow. So the narrowband in this context is copper.

  6. Mage Silver badge

    Nearly pointless

    You need fibre or dedicated microwave link anyway for any decent basestation.

    Caching needs large number of users to be effective.

    A Mobile Basestation can only serve video to about 15 users if signal is good, less if signal is poor.

    This is about as useful as a cache in a WiFi Air point (which isn't useful). Which actually on average can server more users faster than LTE!

    Caching may be useful at the edge Router, Exchange or Cable head ends, waste of money at a Mobile or even fixed wireless (x 10 to x30 capacity) base station.

    We'll be generous and assume it's done properly.

  7. NeilPost

    Boffin's say - FFS !

    I wish you would stop using rubbish headlines like "Boffin's say...." as is demeans the engineering and design to stuff being unsubstantiated dismissible Sciencey Boffinary - much loved of CBS Interactive sites, Fox News and the Daily Mail.

    1. Alister

      Re: Boffin's say - FFS !

      Just because Americans and other lower orders have started to interpret Boffin as a derogatory term, doesn't mean that this is the case at El Reg, where the word Boffin is used in it's most original sense as a term of endearment and respect for those engaged in breakthrough science and engineering, frequently associated with sheds and pipe-smoking.

      1. Steve Knox
        Headmaster

        Re: Boffin's say - FFS !

        Since both of you failed to use apostrophes properly, I see no reason to consider either of your opinions, which is just as well, as I am an American who values both boffins and the term boffin, thus handily proving all of your prejudices expressed within this forum wrong in any case.

  8. ops4096

    Ah well ...

    Is this another application for the original NBN FTTH that flew right over the heads of Telstra, Optus, Vodaphone, Malcolm and the Wabbot et. al. ????

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