Backhaul question

[trauts14]

I was talking to the CIO of the city I live in and he was telling me how a local ISP is handling the backhaul from all of the city's wireless access points. What exactly is backhaul?

 

[htismaqe]

The connection between an edge device and the core network.

 

[azazel1024]

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Correct, as in this instance, the connection of the WAPs to the ISP's core.

Your backhaul would be the connection from your local node to your internet provider's core network. In some cases there isn't really a backhaul. For instance, most of Verizon FIOS, the fiber actually runs from the house all the way to the local exchange.

For a wireless carrier the backhaul would be the run from the tower back to whatever core piece of network it is connected to.

Really, a backhaul can have a lot of meanings, but generally from some edge device to a core piece of some network.

 

[stevech]

Another example:
Cell phone sites have a backhaul link to the switching center. The link is either fiber (if available) or a small microwave point to point dish on the tower, often in the 20GHz band.

Backhaul here means transmitting/receiving aggregated voice/data traffic.

"Haul it all back to the switching center"