The 4G and 5G HetNet

Remember all the talk about the HetNet, the heterogeneous network? I show it below is the HetNet using all licensed components, However, for the HetNet you can have unlicensed connections like Wi-Fi and LTE-U. It is the combination of many different types of BTS, from macro to mini to small cell to a hotspot.

The way that LTE is going to migrate into 5G is by using more and more different types of RF units and technologies. Many RF bands will be working together to give the end user a great quality of experience. The end user will not know that all of this is going on if it all works well. They will notice problems. The Quality of Service, QOS, will matter to some customer depending on what application they are running.

When the customer starts seeing problems, it is a Quality of Experience, QOE, issue. You want every user to have a great QOE because they will switch service if they don’t get it. However, it does matter what they are doing with their device.

Most users are very forgiving with data problems. They expect to have some downloading issues.

I bring this up here because switching of services will greatly affect the user experience. In an unlicensed spectrum, there is the potential for interference which will cause problems with the QOE because it won’t have a clear signal. For example, if you use your Wi-Fi at home, chances are good it works well in your house, right? How about when you use it in a public area where there are many hotspots? Then you see a serious degradation in service. They interfere with each other while the UE equipment will jump across hotspots.

So, the HetNet will be a bigger part of the future networks, but the carriers will need to smart about the handoff. They shouldn’t hand it off outside of the licensed network unless they have no choice. Today, there is a problem with overloading, so the carrier welcomes the unlicensed network. They want to see LTE-U because of the format and the improved efficiencies.