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Intel Pushes 802.16a Wireless MAN Standard

Posted by michael on from the data-for-everyone dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The 802.16a standard, approved in January of this year, is a wireless metropolitan area network technology that will connect 802.11 hot spots to the Internet and provide a wireless extension to cable and DSL for last mile broadband access. It provides up to 50-kilometers of range and allows users to get broadband connectivity without needing a direct line of sight with the base station. The wireless broadband technology also provides shared data rates up to 70-Mbit/s."

4 of 135 comments (clear)

  1. None of the above by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's 802.16a. All of the three technologies you listed are just for short range networks, not the kind of MAN network that they are addressing with 802.16a.

    I think the way it would work is you'd get an 802.16a "modem", just like you get a cable or DSL box right now to connect your network to.

    Personally, I find wireless access a choice of last resort - if I can get cable or DSL I'd take that every time over wireless.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  2. Re:Martin Cooper on WiFi by robslimo · · Score: 3, Informative

    Go to wimaxforum for technical info.

  3. 802.16 is not wifi, not 802.11 at all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Totally different standards. And for a typical long-haul connection both endpoints are staticly configured, so the security protocols like WEP and AES aren't needed at the layer2/1 level. Instead, each endpoint should just run a vpn. Still vulnerable to denial of service due to spoofing, but it's wireless - that's unavoidable. The key is to make it unlikely by limiting its usefulness, and with a vpn running, an attacker can only deny service, never gain free service or snoop the medium for anything useful.

  4. What people are saying about 802.16 by Dusty · · Score: 3, Informative

    From grouper.ieee.org/groups/802/16/pub/buzz.html

    What People Are Saying about 802.16 This dated list includes an incomplete but nonselective collection of external references. If you have items that you'd like added to the list, notify the Working Group Chair, who compiled it.