Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

WiMax Is Finally Coming — Here's How It Performs

Posted by timothy on from the more-headroom dept.

GMGruman writes "Carriers have promised WiMax networks for years. But will they deliver the goods, or be slow like many early 3G networks or patchy in coverage like the metro Wi-Fi attempts in most cities? This hands-on review looks at a nearly-WiMax deployment (technically, OFDM) in Reno, testing its speeds and reach, as a measure of what Sprint and Clearwire will deliver in their joint WiMax rollouts starting next month. The good news is that this time, the carrier promises look to be delivered on."

3 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. Re:So a nearly-wimax review of something else? by santiagoanders · · Score: 5, Informative

    From TFA:

    "To be completely accurate, the Clearwire service is not officially WiMax but OFDM, the underlying technology behind the WiMax standard. Clearwire deployed the Reno network before the WiMax standard was final, but it is practically the same technology."

    --
    "There can be little doubt that union activities lead to continuous and progressive inflation." F. A. Hayek
  2. Cheese State Ahead of the Curve by feld · · Score: 5, Informative

    Madison, WI has had WiMAX for over a year, but it wasn't been publicly launched until January. TDS Telecom offers WiMAX not just for internet, but for phone! You get indoor or outdoor WiMAX equipment depending on how the survey of your location goes, and you also get a UPS for the equipment so it doesn't go down when the power's out.

    Residents using it report that it gives better call quality (which is probably due to poor phone lines) and say their connection is faster than landline DSL (also probably line quality, but could be less congested networks).

    Here's some infos on what we have:

    http://www.tdstelecom.com/absolutenews/templates/news_template.asp?articleid=496&zoneid=5

  3. Re:Bandwidth limits? by ajdowntown · · Score: 5, Informative

    See my other post, but according to my friend that works for the WiMax project, there will not be any bandwidth cap. The reason the cellular data cards needed bandwidth caps is because the problem with the towers. Each tower for 3G technologies have about a T1 running to them, so the line can easily get saturated. From what I understand, the WiMax towers have something crazy like a 10GB line running to them, thus not having to have the same caps as the cellular networks to artificially keep usage low. He also said that the WiMax team will re-evaluate the unlimited usage after a year or so to see if it is still feasible.