Access to the Internet is an increasing problem in many areas of the world.

As the popularity and usefulness of the Internet increases on a daily basis, lack of access to the technology is putting many groups at a disadvantage in terms of better education, better jobs and even in terms of higher levels of civic participation.

However, creating a network infrastructure to serve outlying communities and sectors of the population is not straight-forward.

Broadband Services brings together all the aspects of the problem – technical, regulatory and economic - into one volume to provide a comprehensive resource.

Broadband Services describes the latest technological advances that allow cost-effective network infrastructures to be built, and places them in the context of the applications and services that the infrastructure will deliver.

A section on business models and case studies from North American and Europe demonstrate that the solutions are economically and practically viable.

Broadband Services is essential for anyone looking to gain an understanding of the issues and technology surrounding the access debate.

It will be of particular relevance to network engineers/designers/planners at the incumbent operator companies charged with delivering broadband access to as yet unconnected regions.

Governments and regulatory bodies will also find this a useful guide to the problems that they may face.

Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Broadband home/entertainment services
3. Applications and services to meet society-related needs
4. Key legal and regulatory issues affecting community broadband projects in the United States
5. European telecommunication law and community networks
6. Models for public sector involvement in regional and local broadband projects
7. Customer-owned and municipal fiber networks
8. Towards a technologically and competitively neutral fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) infrastructure
9. Backbone optical network design for community networks
10. A comparison of the current state of DSL technologies
11. Fiber in the last mile
12. Ethernet in the first mile
13. DOCSIS as a foundation for residential and commercial community networking over hybrid fiber coax
14. Broadband wireless access networks : a roadmap on emerging trends and standards
15. Community case studies in North America
16. European broadband initiatives with public participation

click here to see books • videos • cd-roms of related interest

ORDER NOW Broadband Services Business Models and Technologies for Community Networks edited by Imrich Chlamtac, Ashwin Gumaste and Csaba A. Szabó 2005 • 276 pages • $119.00 + shipping Texas residents please add 6.75 % sales tax