What is WiMax? - Basics continued
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The other way it will be used is in a cell phone type environment. Once the device acquires a connection to a tower, it's kept open, and the available bandwidth varies depending on what is being used. This offers WiMax quality of service (QOS), prioritizing the bandwidth.
For instance, it's much more vital that an audio connection gets more bandwidth then a text message. A hiccup in audio could mean bad quality connection or loss of words. A little hiccup in a text message means it could take a second longer to receive the message, which is no big deal. This is a huge deal with the Internet now, and it looks like WiMax off the bat will fix this issue.
WiMax has lots of possibilities as to where in the radio frequency it can be used; anything under 66 GHz will work. The 5.x range is unlicensed, so that is an option. The biggest available range in the spectrum is the 2.5 GHz area.
Many people speculated that Google might end up buying part of that 700 MHz spectrum that was recently for sale, but the winners were Verizon and AT&T. It's not totally out of the question for WiMax to be allowed in this range by either of these companies, but with so many more spectrums open I doubt they will be willing to free up the spectrum for which they paid top dollar.
The last possibility is the 900 MHz spectrum, that old analog TV signal is using up. They would have to wait until February to get the ball rolling, and I don't think this technology is going to wait; the bubble is ready to burst now.
WiMax is capable of delivering 70 MBit/sec or connecting up to 50 km. No, you can't get both, you have to choose -- either the distance or the speed. The tower will have directional antennas attached to them to help extend range and speed in certain directions, such as a town. For downtown in a city without a direct line of sight, you can hope to see around 2.0 MBit/sec in real world experience.
Next: Rolling out WiMax >>
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