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Ah, it's the long-awaited, amazing FLASH-OMFG® technology!

http://nextelbroadband.com

And, for hardware, you can choose between a PCMCIA card (which probably requires Windoze drivers) and a modem with an ethernet port. I assume the modem with ethernet doesn't require any special drivers or software (although that could be a bad assumption).

http://nextelbroadband.com

And, for hardware, you can choose between a PCMCIA card (which probably requires Windoze drivers) and a modem with an ethernet port. I assume the modem with ethernet doesn't require any special drivers or software (although that could be a bad assumption).

More at nextelbroadband.com. It's currently only available in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill/RTP, NC area. Too bad I live in Florida now.

Well hmm... sun, warm weather and hurricanes *or* cold, snow, ice and Nextel broadband. I think I'll stay.

Heh, not true actually, unless Raleigh has suddenly moved location to West Africa?

... as the Nextel Wireless card I'm using right now? I get between 1 and 3 Mbps downstream and a little less than 1 Mbps upload.

Nextel Broandband has been doing a trial of its 750Kbps - 1.5Mbps service in the Raleigh/Durham area for months now.

They have both a wireless PC Card and Wireless AP for your home (both of which are $50 for now, though who knows what the price of a nationwide rollout would be).

A coworker has been demoing the service for my office for a few months and has nothing but good things to say...DSL-like speeds with little latency, and no interupted service that he has noticed. It is definately more expensive than DSL, but may be a nice alternative for travelers or those who can't get DSL or Cable.
At least there is no annoying Nextel "beep beep" when it connects...

Nextel Broandband has been doing a trial of its 750Kbps - 1.5Mbps service in the Raleigh/Durham area for months now.

They have both a wireless PC Card and Wireless AP for your home (both of which are $50 for now, though who knows what the price of a nationwide rollout would be).

A coworker has been demoing the service for my office for a few months and has nothing but good things to say...DSL-like speeds with little latency, and no interupted service that he has noticed. It is definately more expensive than DSL, but may be a nice alternative for travelers or those who can't get DSL or Cable.
At least there is no annoying Nextel "beep beep" when it connects...

Nextel Broandband has been doing a trial of its 750Kbps - 1.5Mbps service in the Raleigh/Durham area for months now.

They have both a wireless PC Card and Wireless AP for your home (both of which are $50 for now, though who knows what the price of a nationwide rollout would be).

A coworker has been demoing the service for my office for a few months and has nothing but good things to say...DSL-like speeds with little latency, and no interupted service that he has noticed. It is definately more expensive than DSL, but may be a nice alternative for travelers or those who can't get DSL or Cable.
At least there is no annoying Nextel "beep beep" when it connects...

Nextel Broadband. Currently only available in Virginia, but it looks promising.

The primary benefit of WiMax is in the architecture. It lends itself to be very flexible. The person who mentioned it as a replacement for LMDS/MMDS and other wireless technologies is correct. The people making comparisons to ATM and Iridium are mostly incorrect.

If WiMax components become cheap, mass-marketed, and ubiquitous -- that is a good thing for everyone. Since Intel, Alcatel, and Siemens are behind the WiMax movement, there stands a good chance of this. Nokia got out of the WiMax alliance, so maybe they know something that the others do not (and maybe it's Mobile-Fi or 4G).

The WiMax POP architecture is where the true power is. Being able to mix/match licensed and unlicensed spectrum via antennas, while using the same "Access Point" electronic components for cost reasons makes complete sense. A WISP could easily build a survivable backhaul wireless network across a city, while providing the best-effort CPE/customer networks a few miles here and there on the same device.

Nextel claims SLA's of typical max bw at 3Mbps and RTT of under 100ms (but the technology behind Mobile-Fi, Flash-OFDM, is capable of what I described). Note: Nextel's numbers are the way they are because they probably plan on oversubcribing their network (much like Cable modem providers do). Oversubscription is the network user's (and ultimately the network provider's) worst enemy, but it makes the bean counters happy and we all know that they run the real show (the big man has got to have more green in his pocket).

The rollout and tons of information is available here.

Most people are willing to pay $80/month for unlimited data on 3G networks (The BEST I've received on VZ's 1xRTT network was 111Kbps and way above 200ms RTT... maybe even 250ms, but 300ms and 400ms is common). I pay $45/month for unlimited on VZ, but that requires a $30/month voice plan (but at least I get the best of both worlds since I need a cell phone anyways). So I pay $75/month and get 400 Anytime minutes + Unlimited on-net VZ, nights, and weekends *AND* unlimited 1xRTT data. I think their 1xEV-DO pricing is the same as 1xRTT, but they don't offer it yet in the Bay Area.

I would use Mobile-Fi over WiFi anyday, and even WiMAX (out at the end of this year) may not solve the problems that Mobile-Fi does today. However, that doesn't mean I don't like 802.11g or the upcoming 802.11h and 802.16e standards. They all have their uses -- but if I had to pick one technology for personal use -- I'd choose Mobile-Fi (802.20).

Nextel needs to move to a next generation solution something with higher bitrates for data

It's coming.

Nextel appears to be doing the same thing. Those in the Raleigh/Durham area can sign up for a free trial for a couple of months yet I think. More details are here.

Check out their "Features" list under the Personal category at http://www.nextelbroadband.com/pu_features.html

Security:
Nextel Wireless Broadband(TM) is as secure as DSL or Cable. In addition, it is a broadband access network based on a proprietary signal processing technology operated over licensed spectrum. Designed across multiple layers, the broadband system prevents unauthorized entities from gaining network access. Depending upon your needs, additional security layers can also be enabled through VPN clients for secure corporate access or SSL for secure Internet transactions. With Nextel Wireless Broadband(TM), you can unwire the Internet and connect to all of your favorite VPN/SSL-secured applications - with confidence.

I find it amusing. They say that is it secure because it's proprietary technology on a licenced radio service so no one can "gain unauthorized network access". I have several radios and scanners that can certainly receive frequencies that this operates on, if not transmit as well. One does not have to "gain unauthorized network access" just to listen.

The closing sentence basically says "enjoy our service but take your own precautions about secure access."

I'm not saying it's insecure (what is secure, truly!?). I do take a dislike to the reassurance of security with the disclaimer that any security should be provided by yourself buried in the rhetoric.

Posted link is broken.

http://www.nextelbroadband.com/lrn_about_what_is_w ireless.html

Is the correct link which does indeed state:

Nextel Wireless Broadband's latency, or average delay, is 100ms or below.