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more on Sobering analysis of WiMax
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2005 14:05:51 -0500
------ Forwarded Message From: Jeff Porten <jeff () jeffporten com> Date: Mon, 07 Feb 2005 09:57:46 -0500 To: <dave () farber net> Subject: Re: [IP] Sobering analysis of WiMax On Feb 7, 2005, at 9:24 AM, David Farber wrote:
From: Gerry Faulhaber <gerry-faulhaber () mchsi com>
From the Economist, a sobering analysis of the prospects for WiMax. An antidote to the hype.
I can't speak to the hype that's been raised by the Wharton crowd (no offense to Dr. Faulhaber), but from the technical side I don't see much meat to this analysis. In my neck of the woods, the enormity of the effort that has gone into making very limited WiFi technology provide ubiquitous availability gives some indication of what might happen when WiMax hits the streets. Critiquing some points of the article: 1) Yes, WiMax is not going to be available for a while. The one bit of news I hadn't heard was in regards to certification; that having been said, if you'll recall the early days of 802.11a and b, you can expect to see some providers rolling out early at the risk of not being compatible later. 2) A technology that can "plug holes in [rural] broadband coverage" is a VERY big deal in countries with large uncovered areas. The article rather condescendingly talks about getting broadband to poorer nations, and I'm recalling how difficult it is to get decent access in Ohio. 3) "In urban areas WiMax does not make sense" for companies that have already spent billions laying copper. Perhaps some competition would be nice. As it stands, your ubiquitous Internet options are: 3a) Verizon EV-DO, dealing with a company which will happily shut off Europe's email. (Yes, I know these are separate corporate entities; still, corporate evil is transitive until proven innocent.) 3b) T-Mobile or Boingo Hotspots, tethering yourself to a series of coffee shops. 3c) much lower speed options from EDGE and GPRS providers. Does someone see a market in here for a T1 with a big footprint? I do. And this is before anyone has unleashed any ingenuity on the problem. No one anticipated someone getting a few miles out of a WiFi base station and a Pringles can. Or the competitions to get signal broadcast for 40 miles across the Mojave Desert. So yes, please, start attaching those WiMax antennas to buildings. Within a few weeks, folks on the ground will be doing quite nicely extending those signals with their mesh networks, and gatewaying them to people still carrying around the older technologies. Of course, companies may lose billions in the process, which will worry the Economist. That's not the realm in which I'm focusing. Best, Jeff ------ End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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