Limitations of Wireless Cellular Networks

A number of issues limit the optimal performance of wireless cellular networks. The limitations make wireless networks less reliable than wired networks. The first limitation is that Wireless cellular networks provide an open access medium. The network operates on a wireless channel and therefore does not have a form of physical barricade. Attackers need no equipment to access the network. Secondly, the networks are able to scale up to a given maximum bandwidth. Wireless networks share the same wireless frequency spectrum and therefore are limited on bandwidth amount they can hold. They are governed by the policy of equitable sharing (Gardezi, 2006).

 

Wirelesses cellular networks are supposed to support mobility. The requirement makes such systems complex and forms one of their limitations. The complexity makes the administration of network security difficult and introduces new loophole that can be exploited by attackers. In order to increase the efficacy of the wireless systems more complexity is added to the system further opening up loopholes. Wireless networks are not connected in a grid structure like wired networks. As a result, each node in the network requires its own power supply. A full-scale deployment of a wireless network therefore consumes more power than a wired network equivalent. In addition to the need for extra power, the functionality of each network node is dependent on its own power supply capacity (Gardezi, 2006).

 

Wireless networks need processors on every device used to send or receive signals. The speed of the network is therefore proportional to the processing power of the devices that make up the network. Even though the processor power of these devices is increasing, it is yet to reach optimal levels required to carry out exhaustive processing tasks. By relying on radio frequencies, wireless networks are prone to interferences from other wireless networks and systems. The signals transfer within the network also suffers in relation to the density of the network and the number of users in the network. When compared to a wired network, a wireless network is more limited in its reliability because of the errors arising out of the aforementioned influences (Gardezi, 2006).