LTE-U/Wi-Fi Interference Problems Can Be Fixed With Better Sharing, NCTA Says

The Wi-Fi interference problems that will come with nonstandard LTE-U can be headed off if the FCC acts now to set up effective means of sharing, NCTA said in an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 15-105. Rick Chessen, NCTA senior vice president-law and regulatory policy, was among those who met with a variety of commissioner and Office of Engineering and Technology staff in a pair of meetings to discuss routes to "effective coexistence" between LTE-U and Wi-Fi. The problem with LTE-U is its unconstrained "duty cycling" sharing, which has LTE-U carriers deciding when to transmit, even if it's atop Wi-Fi and other unlicensed users, NCTA said. However, "Wi-Fi-like sharing" would allow for coexistence, NCTA said, saying the FCC should demand better LTE-U testing and analysis. LTE-U Forum testing has used too few devices in its tests, not properly simulating a more real-world crowded environment, and has overestimated the amount of available spectrum, NCTA said. LTE-U backers like Qualcomm have said acceptance of the technology is rising, and it disagrees with NCTA that the commission should start a review of LTE-U and license assisted access (see 1507010052). The company had no immediate comment Thursday.