You don't need phone lines or cable for ANYTHING, says Dish

Dish wants everyone to know it can do broadband too: using LTE kit and radio spectrum it plans to acquire from Clearwire, the TV broadcaster has been pushing 50Mb/sec into homes.

The trials ran in rural Virginia, using two towers to deliver between 20 and 50Mb/sec to homes using a 40cm receiving box fitted by the same chap who comes round to put the satellite TV in.

That's important, because if Dish is going to compete with existing players then it will need that quad-service offering (mobile and fixed telephony, TV and internet access).

LTE is best known as the technology of choice for 4G telephony, but the standard has aspirations to fulfil just about every radio need including the fixed connections being shown off by Dish.

The trials were conducted in conjunction with local outfit nTelos Wireless, who provided 194MHz of spectrum starting at 2,496MHz. Dish is in the process of pushing Clearwire into a deal which could provide comparable bands all over America, allowing the TV giant to sell fixed internet access alongside its TV service, though that's far from certain.

Even less certain is the ongoing attempt to wrest control of Sprint from would-be-acquirer Softbank. Right now Softbank seems to have outmanoeuvred Dish in that battle, so these trials could be important in demonstrating that Dish has a wireless future without Sprint, though it would prefer to have one with it. ®