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WiMax: When, Not If
Omega1045 writes "An article over at SiliconValley.com got me excited about the new WiMax Technology that over 140 companies and organizations are pushing. The article is a little low on the technical side of things, but discusses a possible 10-mile range for the wireless technology. Many see this as a nice solution for the "last mile" problem. Similar technologies have seen a lot of hype before, but with the likes of Intel, Dell, British Telecom, AT&T and bunch of the Ma Bells, I think one can be forgiven for getting a little excited. If you are still skeptical, you can download the 'Complete Guide to WiMax.'"
Wimax has been in the planning stages for a couple of years now. I can't believe it's just now hitting the radar screen..
In any case the specified range is 30km (a lot more than 10 mi), and over rugged terrain. Perfect for rural, or forested areas (where I live).
BTW, Intel is one of the biggest names pushing the standard.
Since there is no broadband or cable service here, I have been bugging the local providers to put a base station on my property in exchange for service. We'll see what happens.
Not to brag, as I have no idea how fast WiMax professes to be, but:
I've already got a functional network, where endpoints are all about 10 miles away from a central access point. It runs 5.7GHz Motorola Canopy, and shoots several megabits per second in any direction over flat terrain.
No funky amps, no wacky antennas, no broken FCC regs, and no lossy coaxial feedlines. Just a clear line of sight and some out-of-the-box Canopy gear. It works well enough that I don't particularly care that it is proprietary.
What advantage does WiMax offer? (And remember, over here in the real world, tens-of-GHz frequencies are usually not advantageous.)
Kid-proof tablet..
Comment removed based on user account deletion
How so did the FCC de-regulate part of the spectrum? The FCC doesn't de-regulate anything, they just stop requiring licenses, but they still regulate it. Just like the old CB Band, its still regulated, they just stopped issuing as many fines as they used to, but if they want, at any time, they can just start handing out the fines again, they still officially regulate it.
Video Production Support
Umm, I think you're missing the point. 802.11 and 802.16 are not in competition. i.e. no one is going to say "I have 802.11, screw WiMax". 802.11 is good for the home that already HAS broadband. 802.16 allows people that don't have broadband in the home to access it the way we access the cell phone network now.
I have a usb wifi from Linksys and it overheats and stops working after about 2 hours of bittorrent.
Try updating the firmware for your router. It's not overheating, rather, Linksys routers seem to have a problem with the rapid connection requests generated by bittorrent. Google for "linksys" and "bittorrent".
Where you get your expensive mobile phone plans? My two-month bill is less than 20 euros and could be even less if I would go after cheap price and not reliability and features accustomed in last 10 years with the same provider. That includes talk, SMS, and internet access.
If you want to make cheap calls, use your W* technology and VoIP. Too bad, you need to hunt for open access points (somebody is paying for those...) that provides enough capacity. The largest expense for any network provider that provides services for end users is the customer service. If you could build a network and want to have any larger userspace than nerds, then you need to invest for user service.
For me, the largest use of mobile phone is that somebody is able to reach me when they need to (receiving calls is free). That does not work, if each time I move 100 meters, I need to check for new accesspoint. My cell phone takes care of that automaticly and so far I've yet to find place where my cell phone does not work -- excluding places several meters underground, EMP shielded or more than 30 km from shore.
Right now there are two reasons I can NEVER get ADSL, both based on the distance of copper that ADSL can handle:
* Lack of population - there are not enough houses within ADSL range of my exchange to warrant the upgrade, even if they all get broadband. This is not likely to change in the next 10 years.
* My own distance from the exchange - at 6km of copper, it is unlikely I will be able to get it even when the exchange is upgraded.
WiMax will fix that nicely.
Also ADSL2 is in the pipeline - at speeds of at least 6Mb each way, 802.11 can't keep up unless you're in the same room.
Ironically, if Telstra were to hang a wireless transmitter on an existing phone tower 30km away, I could have broadband that day by putting an AP on a hill on our land (I have good radio line of sight from there)
http://www.redlinecommunications.com/
So here, checkout the gear.
802.11B is prone to ineterfearance from your microwave, Remote control and any other 2.4 Ghz appliance.
Now here's the really nice feature of 802.16.
1. OFDM (Means the signals bounce off of buildings and such, used in conjuction with band scattering it's faster and more relaible than most 3G cell standards.
2. Directionless, LOS is needed only for HIGH Bandwidth consumers, but for the rest uf us I think 20MB/s to the base station is good?
3. It's not designed for the consumer yet, you can get it if you are a business and here in canada we already have ISP's offering both the Motorola sollutions (proritary and expensive) and these 802.16 solutions.
How many times will this misconception be repeated? It will never be possible to brute force a 256-bit key.
The article is in swedish but basically it says the system has been running for about 3 weeks now in 3 small villages which are too small and too remote to get the fiber which is used in the other villages around here.
http://norran.se/sektion_c.php?id=402667&avdelning _1=102&avdelning_2=0#/
The project is a cooperation between the local power company, intel and others.
Its interesting about the head aches - WiFi is currently operating over 2.4Ghz (the resonant frequency of water, which is a signifcant component of humans).
More pseudo-science/urban legend BS non-facts. 2.4 GHz is NOT the resonant frequency of water. Here's a link explaining why microwave ovens use ~2.4GHz, Microwave Oven Principles of Operation, which is where this so called 2.4GHz resonace seems to originate from. And here's a quote from that page for those too lazy to click the link and read.
What is significant about 2.45 GHz? Not that much. Water molecules are not resonant at this frequency. A wide range of frequencies will work to heat water efficiently. 2.45 GHz was probably chosen for a number of other reasons including not interfering with existing EM spectrum assignments and convenience in implementation. In addition, the wavelength (about 5 inches) results in reasonable penetration of the microwave energy into the food. The 3 dB (half power) point is about 1 inch for liquid water - half the power is absorbed in the outer 1 inch of depth, another 1/4 of the power in the next inch, and so forth.
Industrial ovens still often operate at 915 MHz and other frequencies near 6 GHz are also used.
Water has numerous resonances over the entire spectra range, but the lowest frequency resonance is the rotational resonance is around 24 GHz. Other resonances occur in the millimeter wave range through the infrared.
Rampant Ninja related crimes these days...Whitehouse is not the exception
SBS: sick building syndrome is pretty much what you're describing. It has nothing to do with EM
It was found to be highly correlated to the amount of aspergilus (a fungus) spores in the air. The spores come from your ventilation system.
-S
Actually, the original post was sadly misinformaed (and a couple years late). WiMAX devices are already being sold and implemented by ISP's.
:)
:D
Try 75Mbps max bandwidth and 30 mile range
Don't believe me?
Redline, Alvarion, et al already have products for sale that are compatible with or implement 802.16 standards.
Not to mention products like Motorola Canopy that are in use at several ISPs that I'm aware of...
Personally, I'm waiting for 802.16e - mobile broadband wireless
Whee signature.