Speedier wireless on the way via 4G

Carriers have barely rolled out their new third-generation wireless networks, and they're already talking about the fourth generation, which could offer affordable high-speed Internet access for consumer electronics devices on the go.

Imagine a day when parents in California attending their daughter's soccer game can stream all the action live directly from their camcorder to grandma and grandpa in Florida, or a day when you can instantly download the latest U2 album onto your iPod.

Executives at Intel, Samsung Electronics, Motorola and Sprint Nextel say that day is coming soon, using an Internet Protocol-based network technology called WiMax that will quadruple download speeds over current cellular technology and offer cost-effective chipsets that can be embedded in everything from cell phones to digital cameras to MP3 music players.

"The Internet is going airborne," Motorola CEO Ed Zander said during a press conference earlier this week. "If you get outside the U.S., you'll see it's already happening in places like South Korea."

Earlier this week, Sprint became the first major U.S. wireless carrier to announce it will use WiMax to build its next-generation wireless network. Intel, Samsung and Motorola--all longtime supporters of WiMax technology--are working with Sprint to provide the infrastructure equipment used to build the network and provide the chipsets, handsets and consumer electronics devices that will access it.

Sprint expects to spend $3 billion over the next two years on building the network, which will go live in late in 2007. The company will use its existing 2.5GHz spectrum, half of which it acquired from the merger with Nextel, to deliver the new service.

While Sprint had been testing a slew of other technologies--including Flash OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing), a technology developed by Qualcomm's Flarion--to build this new network, it ultimately chose WiMax. The decision will likely make the technology a front-runner for other 4G network deployments that could be launched in the next few years.

Currently, players such as satellite TV providers and cable operators are bidding in a Federal Communications Commission auction for wireless licenses in the 1.7GHz to 2.1GHz spectrum, which, like the 2.5GHz spectrum, is ideal for WiMax.

"This is really the first big pickle out of the jar for WiMax."

--Craig Mathias, principal analyst, Farpoint Group

A new company called Clearwire, started by mobile-industry billionaire Craig McCaw, is already using a flavor of WiMax to deliver its wireless broadband service. The company, which recently raised $900 million, is also competing for spectrum in the current FCC auction.

"This is really the first big pickle out of the jar for WiMax," said Craig Mathias, a principal analyst at Farpoint Group. "It really legitimizes WiMax with big carriers such as Sprint throwing (their) weight behind it."

WiMax is a packet-based technology that's very similar to Wi-Fi, a wireless technology used in coffee shops, airports and other public areas to provide wireless Internet access. WiMax has often been called "Wi-Fi on steroids" because, while being similar to Wi-Fi, it actually provides users with slightly higher speeds over much longer distances than Wi-Fi. While Wi-Fi radios typically reach only a few hundred feet, WiMax radios can transmit data up to one to two miles under certain conditions.

"Wi-Fi is a hot-spot technology," said Rick Barton, director of sales for the Sprint Nextel account at Samsung Telecommunications America. "And when you move between hot spots, connections can be dropped, so you can't access it in a moving car, for example. Wi-Fi isn't really meant for mobility. But you really don't have that problem with WiMax."

In laboratory tests, WiMax supports peak data speeds of about 20Mbps (megabits per second). But average speeds in the "real world" are somewhere between 1Mbps and 4Mbps, comparable to what's offered through Wi-Fi, but much faster than the 400Kbps (kilobits per second) to 700Kbps downloads available using current 3G cellular technology such as Evolution-Data Optimized, or EV-DO. Sprint currently uses EV-DO to deliver its mobile broadband service today.

[rtuinenburg]

Make New Plans

Sprint,

I am glad you guys are building a Wi-Max network, but dont expect to sell cellular service for too much longer. You will have to drop your cellular service and you will become a Wireless ISP in the near future. VOIP technology will wipe out your cellular business.

[baswwe]

i'm sure they will start blocking...

They will have to roll the service all into 1 (phone/internet)

[kwpilz]

4G's Potential

The link below offers an fascinating insight into the potential of 4G technology. Interesting read from the Rollins Business Journal

http://web.rollins.edu/~tlairson/ecom/kupetz4g.pdf

[OneWithTech]

A deeper understanding of Wifi and WiMax

You know, so much of this Wifi and WiMax is misconstrued that's it's crazy. Here's the low down coming from a Wifi Expert like myself; the frequencies are the same that's used in both Wifi and WiMax to date. The only thing that makes Wifi different from WiMax is the software and hardware that is used to transport the data: the frequencies are the same, they don't change.

Aside from the new frequency band that these companies are bidding over, these new frequencies are a little different. But the concept remains the same:

Wifi and WiMax frequencies combined with hardware and software decide on how the network transfers data right along with how fast the network transfers the data. Without the use of hardware and software the 802.x frequency would drop off a (x)amount of feet anyway.

As far as Access Point hopping goes this is a software feature as well and not something that is native to Wifi networks or WiMax networks. Once again this is controlled by software and a combination of hardware.


Justin
Tech01
www.Tech01.net

[firstlast]

Aka...

...prepared to get cooked on streets :)
---
Pixel image editor - http://www.kanzelsberger.com

[diggydog77]

Sprint/Nextel's WiMax plans

I'm looking forward to WiMax. According to one page I read, it will be ready in my area in Summer, 2008. Supposed to have speeds up to 70mbps, however that speed drops off farther from the antenna, to something like 5mbps ten miles away. I think the reach is supposed to be 30 to 40 miles.

I suspect they will offer a broadband alone package, that will be priced so low as to blow down the prices of cable and DSL, or put them out of business. They wrote of plans for "reasonable pricing" and to me, that means less than $40/month and possibly as low as $20/month for internet alone. I think they are going to have to price it $35 or less if they want rural internet users to try it. I won't mind the $100 equipment. I just don't want to spend $400+ on equipment for what is offered currently in my area, and then have it be obsolete within a year.