Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

WiMax Landscape Taking Shape

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the i-got-no-strings-to-hold-me-down dept.

geekee writes "A front page article in EETimes describes some of the goals, as well as some of the issues, involved in WiMax (802.16a) development. The main goal is to deliver 74Mb/s up to 50 km. One big issue is the tighter specs required when compared with WiFi. "It's a big train wreck, and much more complicated than 802.11a design, especially in terms of dynamic range, spectral range and phase noise in RF," said Colin Howlett, a senior RF engineer at VCom Inc. There are at least 4 known companies working on the RF portion and 4 known companies working on the baseband processing. These companies include Intel, Fujitsu, and Maxim. Another issue is in getting governments to agree on regulation standards for the systems, particularly in the 2.5, 3.5, and 5.8 GHz bands, Inconsistancies exist in the requirements for dynamic frequency selection and transmit power control, as well as spectrum allocation. Cost is also an important factor, since WiMax is positioning itself as an alternative to DSL and Cable, and therefore, companies must be able to offer competitve prices to gain market share."

5 of 108 comments (clear)

  1. real bandwidth? by Tirel · · Score: 3, Insightful

    lets just hope the gear can handle that kind of bandwidth, my netgear access point says 54mbit/s, but i only get 10mbit/s sustained bandwidth. quite frankly i think they're cheating their customers putting a bandwidth label on the box when it doesnt even reach one third of it. The D-Link AP we got later wasn't much better either, only 10mbit again. I have doubts if we will see that kind of bandwidth.

  2. Re:Backbone, maybe. Consumers? I don't think so. by nial-in-a-box · · Score: 5, Insightful

    No, 802.11 anything is not sufficient. Unless using specialized antennas at both ends, 802.11 would not even be adequate from the utility pole to the house in many circumstances. Anyone who has any experience with wireless ethernet knows that the range is never as good as it's hyped up to be, especially through walls and such.

    --
    I am feeling fat and sassy
  3. Re:Backbone, maybe. Consumers? I don't think so. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful
    ... 50Mb/second to your house? If the internet ever gets _that_ bloated that you need that fat of a pipe, it's time to turn off the computers and go outside.
    If you ever need more than 640k of RAM its time to turn off the computer and go outside!
  4. Why are they waiting until .16e ... by burgburgburg · · Score: 3, Insightful

    and 2006 to have the key mobility and roaming capabilities? If it's enough of a deal-breaker that large and small businesses are keeping their proprietary plans in play, then perhaps it's good reason to do the extra work and get (at least some of) it in now.

  5. Re:*NOT* a consumer technology.. by qortra · · Score: 4, Insightful

    From the article:

    Backers hope WiMAX could be used as a replacement for T1 lines for business, become a backhaul for 802.11 hotspots, provide Internet access for consumers and get integrated along with .11 into notebook computers some day.

    Well, your theory makes a lot more sense, but it looks like it disagrees with the article; I'm just curious, where did you get your information?