Customer Reviews

Wireless Crash Course

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a must buy for newcomers to the wireless industry or for those who just want to know how wireless systems work. I gave this a 4 instead of a 5 because I was expecting a little more digital wireless information. This book gives an excellent explanation of analog cellular, the foundation of wireless as we know it today. There is a section later in the book that goes over digital wireless, (GSM, CDMA, TDMA). I think differences between analog and digital protocols should be discussed throughout the book, not just one section at the end. The author does an excellent job of taking a very complex system and filtering out the technical jargon to give the readers a book that has a balance of technical information that is easy to read and easy to understand. This is a great book for your money, and it is definitely worth your time to read it.

This book is marvelous for the untechnical reader. I have 23 years in the IT and it was easy to read. To be certain, you must follow it up with more practical books (ex. Rhoton or Jimenez) for business implementation. Or even detail books (Rappaport) for technology. Other reviewers wrote that this book omits important parts. Every book will. You can not cover all of wireless in one book. This book is simple for end user.

A lot of these books just regurgitate specs or heavily technical info...the rest will tell you stuff you can find in any wireless hype magazine. I think Paul Bedell puts the time in to bridge the technologies, show where corelations are, and gives you a solid understanding on where the industry has evolved from. If you deal with wireless networks, buy it; you need it.

This book was just what I needed! After changing jobs and suddenly seeing myself in the Wireless/Telecom market, I needed some background information to quickly jump-start in my new job - and that is exactly what I have found in this book! Basic and "second tier" concepts involving the elements of wireless systems are presented, altogether with a very comprehensive analysis of BTS and tower infrastructure I have not seen in any similar book. The way Mr. Bedell connects all the chapters and uses historical and factual data is very interesting as well, and the 400 pages can be read in a weekend with no major problems. Can't wait to get the "Telecom Management" from Crash Courses...

I used this book as a supplemental reference for teaching an undergrad course in Wireless Communications. Although it is too basic for students with communications engineering backgrounds, it is terrific as a basic intro to multiple wireless technologies and related business applications and services. Technologies grow and industries change quickly, but this book's 2005 edition seemed reasonably up to date as of the end of 2006. Even I used it as a quick refresher on specific topics like WiMax, GPRS, 3G, UTMS, cdma2000. The author writes clearly, and this book is a great reference for general telecom audiences.

For technical professionals and engineers, this book is a great way to understand past and existing wireless technologies. It gives an overview on the many aspects of wireless communication and explains the technologies to some amount of depth. The areas that explain how the wireless encoding works would have to be read more than once to grasp it. Every chapter starts with a good overview. The nice thing about this book is that it also contains information about the companies behind these technologies, their evolution (or demise) based on how technologies were selected over others and the evolution of the technologies themselves.

Excellent resource! Mr. Bedell's book had just the right amount of information on all apects of the wireless world. Unless you're an engineer needing indepth technical information, this is the book for any wireless employee who wants to have a good understanding of how a wireless network works. I have read several, and I thought this was the best one yet.

This book contains a good overview of the cellular and PCS markets with a little smattering of other wireless markets thrown in. There is a little too much on regulatory affairs and a too little on the nuts and bolts of cellular/PCS systems. For instance, the book talks about the general architecture of a cell/PCS site, but doesn't give the reader much of an idea of the subcomponents in a wireless vault. I would have liked to have learned a little more about the actual equipment used. In another example, the author talks about antennas in very broad terms, but barely mentions adaptive antennas or other commonly used systems such as panel arrays. No mention is made about DSP technology, which is the basis for much of the cellular industry today, and has wide-ranging practical aspects (software-defined radios, in-the-vault updates of services, etc). WAP is mentioned briefly without giving details, but I-mode is not mentioned at all. UTMS is also not mentioned at all. The book is US centric in most of its narrative, which may lead the readers to believe that all cellular technology is based on US standards (he does mention the EU GSM environment in passing, however). Finally, this book needs a lot of editing, since there are several redundant passages, places where concepts should be explained more thoroughly, and other places that should be shortened. For engineers, this book is not detailed enough; for marketeers, this book is about right, but it could be organized a little tighter.

I found this technical book surprisingly easy to read, yet packed with detailed information organized logically. I'd recommend it to anyone new to wireless, or aspiring to work in wireless. I would like to see an update to include many recent and emerging developments in wireless.

This is by far the best book I've ever read on the wireless industry. I'm starting my career in this field and found the book very informative and easy to understand. I e-mailed Mr. Bedell with a question and he returned my e-mail in less than 12 hours!! If your new to wireless or your an old pro, this is the last book you'll ever need. TRY IT!! You won't be disapointed.