Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Resource
Review: I found the book to be very informative and well laid out for use as a reference. It has been a life saver in giving a good background on each technology. I have been asked by several of my wireless networking peers about the book and all have found it an excellent reference.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Resource
Review: I found the book to be very informative and well laid out for use as a reference. It has been a life saver in giving a good background on each technology. I have been asked by several of my wireless networking peers about the book and all have found it an excellent reference.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent wireless and mobile networks text book for CS
Review: I used this book as the textbook for an undergraduate course in our computer enginnering department last semester. Unlike its alternatives, this book does not require a signal and systems background which makes it the ideal choice for departments such as ours. If you are teaching a group of CS or mixed EE/CS undergraduate students, I strongly recommend the book. In general, the book is easy to read and gives the reader a broad understanding of the topic. Chapters are organized in a manner that the book will be useful for the North American, European or Far Eastern community as examplified in the inclusion of different signalling systems from different regions. Another property of the book which makes it attractive is the inclusion of very hot topics such as VoIP,GPRS,WAP, 3G services, wireless local loop which makes the book timely and complete.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for system aspects of wireless networks
Review: It is the personal opinion of the current reviewer that in order to understand the inside and out of wireless networking, you have to know not only the physical layer but also the high layer networking aspects. Some books do cover both physical layer and high layer, however, most of them lack the deepth on either one aspects or both. The reviewer understands the difficult task for both coverages, in the process of developing his new course on wireless networks, he took the following approach: use the best part on physical layer in one book, and switch to another book on high layer. The current reviewer chose this book to cover the high layer wireless networking aspects, this book provides most fundamental elements of wireless networking. The nice thing about this book is that it is written by two individuals who have been extensively involved in developing the wireless networking technologies. It starts with the most important issue in wireless mobile networks: the mobility management in the general setting, detailing what call processes are involved, how handoff strategies are designed, how channel assignments affect the performance, how the control signaling among the commuincations entities are accomplished (IS-41 and GSM MAP). Then the authors shift their focus on the specific wireless systems: PACS, CDPD, GSM, GPRS and other applications. In distinction to other books, this book attempts to present the main ideas, and is a very good book for those who really want to know what is going on in wireless networking area, yet do not have time to figure out (do not care about) the details. It is also very excellent reference book for those technical experts who want to broad their horizon. The current reviewer finds the book very useful in his research when he wants to clear some doubts on certain topics.
Rating:
Summary: Unique and Comprehensive
Review: The reviewer was in search of a book that could provide the basis for a course on mobile communications at the graduate level for students from a mixed (EE and CS) background. The new book by Lin and Chlamtac fits the bill perfectly. It assumes neither knowledge of wireless physical layer, nor knowledge of higher layer applications and application interfaces. In fact, it is a book with an original approach, being the first to present mobile networks by emphasizing the services that can be provided and the mobility management schemes needed to support such services. Because of its particular focus, the book is also an excellent text for systems and systems software developers as well as the senior undergrad or grad level science and engineering reader who is curious about the particular subject. Certain decisions were necessary to keep the book focused. For example, it stays clear of elaborating on modulation, coding and modeling for wireless communication (presenting just the essential info). It also avoids being IP-centric, although, naturally, it cannot escape discussing data services, such as SMS, GPRS, WAP etc. An aspect that weighs in favor of the book is the inclusion of research results from the research of its two world renowned authors. The included research results can help the graduate level reader appreciate the available research opportunities, and the context in which solutions can be developed. The researcher will also find the collection of references (as recent as 2000) extremely helpful in studying the area. The teacher can use the material to develop simulation and analytical models for students to gain better insight to the workings of mobile services. Another objective of the book, is to function as reference material. Its authors have done the hard work of distilling the essence of a large collection of standards documents related to mobility management. >From this point of view, the book will be of value in the longer term as well, making it an a perfectly sound investment. A challenge dealt with successfully in this book is that in order to present mobility management, it ultimately needs to discuss about signaling protocols, and SS7 in particular. The book takes an approach of presenting background material on signaling on "as needed" basis. A reader not familiar with signaling, will likely progress slowly when signalling is first introduced, but, at the end, will have the double benefit of being exposed to signaling's central role in advanced communication services, and gain understanding on how mobile networks really work. Certainly, there are parts of the text where the density of acronyms calls for careful parsing of the sentences, but such is the case for any technical book that maintains a formal presentation style. It still beats reading standards documents. After a short review and classification of the systems covered in the text, the book introduces the need and nature of mobility management followed by the most important aspect of mobility management, that of handoff management (detection, assignment and radio link transfer). Following the introduction, extensive attention is given to IS-41 (where, in a way, AMPS, IS-136 and IS-95 "meet" together) and to the GSM counterpart, the Mobile Application Part (MAP). Covered GSM services include the Short Message Service (SMS), International Roaming, and Operations, Administration and Maintenance. In this, first part of the book, what may appear odd at first is the inclusion of low-tier systems with few mobility management capabilities (such as CT 2, DECT etc.) but it serves as a reminder that little gems of protocols can be found in places one may not think looking at. Certainly the point is justified by the discussion of PACS signalling in a separate chapter. Another topic placed in this first part of the book (due to its relation with AMPS and IS-136) is CDPD's architecture and its radio resource allocation and roaming management. The remaining half of the book is service-oriented. It covers how different types of services can be supported. The services include mobile number portability, VoIP service for mobile networks, GPRS, prepaid mobile phone services, and WAP. Following are two chapters covering the topic of heterogeneous PCS systems integration and the new (3rd) generation mobile services. The final three chapters cover three addition services that follow their own evolution path. Namely, paging systems, the wireless local loop and wireless enterprise networks. Overall, this book is worth having. Whether you approach it as a student, as an instructor, as an engineer or just as interested to expand your knowledge, it has something to give you. It is unique in its approach and future books on the topic will be measured against it.
Rating:
Summary: Unique and Comprehensive
Review: The reviewer was in search of a book that could provide the basis for a course on mobile communications at the graduate level for students from a mixed (EE and CS) background. The new book by Lin and Chlamtac fits the bill perfectly. It assumes neither knowledge of wireless physical layer, nor knowledge of higher layer applications and application interfaces. In fact, it is a book with an original approach, being the first to present mobile networks by emphasizing the services that can be provided and the mobility management schemes needed to support such services. Because of its particular focus, the book is also an excellent text for systems and systems software developers as well as the senior undergrad or grad level science and engineering reader who is curious about the particular subject. Certain decisions were necessary to keep the book focused. For example, it stays clear of elaborating on modulation, coding and modeling for wireless communication (presenting just the essential info). It also avoids being IP-centric, although, naturally, it cannot escape discussing data services, such as SMS, GPRS, WAP etc. An aspect that weighs in favor of the book is the inclusion of research results from the research of its two world renowned authors. The included research results can help the graduate level reader appreciate the available research opportunities, and the context in which solutions can be developed. The researcher will also find the collection of references (as recent as 2000) extremely helpful in studying the area. The teacher can use the material to develop simulation and analytical models for students to gain better insight to the workings of mobile services. Another objective of the book, is to function as reference material. Its authors have done the hard work of distilling the essence of a large collection of standards documents related to mobility management. >From this point of view, the book will be of value in the longer term as well, making it an a perfectly sound investment. A challenge dealt with successfully in this book is that in order to present mobility management, it ultimately needs to discuss about signaling protocols, and SS7 in particular. The book takes an approach of presenting background material on signaling on "as needed" basis. A reader not familiar with signaling, will likely progress slowly when signalling is first introduced, but, at the end, will have the double benefit of being exposed to signaling's central role in advanced communication services, and gain understanding on how mobile networks really work. Certainly, there are parts of the text where the density of acronyms calls for careful parsing of the sentences, but such is the case for any technical book that maintains a formal presentation style. It still beats reading standards documents. After a short review and classification of the systems covered in the text, the book introduces the need and nature of mobility management followed by the most important aspect of mobility management, that of handoff management (detection, assignment and radio link transfer). Following the introduction, extensive attention is given to IS-41 (where, in a way, AMPS, IS-136 and IS-95 "meet" together) and to the GSM counterpart, the Mobile Application Part (MAP). Covered GSM services include the Short Message Service (SMS), International Roaming, and Operations, Administration and Maintenance. In this, first part of the book, what may appear odd at first is the inclusion of low-tier systems with few mobility management capabilities (such as CT 2, DECT etc.) but it serves as a reminder that little gems of protocols can be found in places one may not think looking at. Certainly the point is justified by the discussion of PACS signalling in a separate chapter. Another topic placed in this first part of the book (due to its relation with AMPS and IS-136) is CDPD's architecture and its radio resource allocation and roaming management. The remaining half of the book is service-oriented. It covers how different types of services can be supported. The services include mobile number portability, VoIP service for mobile networks, GPRS, prepaid mobile phone services, and WAP. Following are two chapters covering the topic of heterogeneous PCS systems integration and the new (3rd) generation mobile services. The final three chapters cover three addition services that follow their own evolution path. Namely, paging systems, the wireless local loop and wireless enterprise networks. Overall, this book is worth having. Whether you approach it as a student, as an instructor, as an engineer or just as interested to expand your knowledge, it has something to give you. It is unique in its approach and future books on the topic will be measured against it.
Rating: 
Summary: Full of unexplained terms and confusing descriptions
Review: The typesetting makes this book unpleasant to read. However, it is the writing style that makes the reading a frustrating experience: The author throws you piles of technical terms without clearly explaining their meaning, or the relation to and difference from related acronyms. It might be a book for you only if you are already a telecom expert. Otherwise, you would probably find yourself in a similar situation to mine--hoping someone can help you with tons of questions you cannot find answers for from this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Too many irrelevant details
Review: This book is filled with three-letter acronyms starting on page one and unrelentingly increasing in number until the last page. It very much has a monolithic telephony feel to it, often spending lots of time on the irrelevant aspects of the protocols. I expected an abstract, clear and concise overview of wireless communication protocols. Instead, I found mind-numbingly many irrelevant details of the layout of individual packets and description of what happens at each state in each protocol, with no high-level abstractions, intuitions, overviews or summaries of why the protocols work the way they do. In short, it might be suitable for a textbook if, and only if, the course is being taught in a trade school. For insights, look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Great overview of wireless and mobile networks
Review: This book provides a great overview of wireless and mobile network architectures, while providing appropriate depth for both the novice to learn and reference for more experienced readers. Wireless and Mobile Network Architectures is an excellent complement to the book Wireless Intelligent Networking, which focuses more on SS7, intelligent mobile network standards and capabilities, related applications and business issues.
Rating:
Summary: an excellent book for PCS network protocols and services
Review: This book provides an excellent background materials for mobile network architectures, mobility management (handoff and roaming), network management and services provisioning for wireless and mobile networks. Unlike many wireless and mobile networks books that focus on radio (physical layer) aspects of the systems, this book emphasizes on network protocols and services facilitating personal communications services (PCS). Topics covered in the book include PCS architectures, mobility management, GSM, GPRS, 3G, VoIP for mobile networks, mobile number portability, WAP, wireless local loop, and others. This book can both be used for an one-semester PCS course for seniors and graduate students, and serve as an informative reference for networking professionals.
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