Question About WiMax

TommyK

Hello All:

I hope this is the right place to post this . . .

I just read a teeny-weeny article about WiMax. I hadn't heard about it before but was interested to see that it covers ranges up to 50 kms.

Does this mean, in practice, that it could cover huge swathes of the country in one go? Could one or two nodes cover entire counties, with a few more in the bigger towns to get full coverage? (Or maybe I'm being overly optimistic!?)

(If so, when the heck is it oming to N. Wexford! )

Regards,
Tommy.

bkehoe

If the nodes were high enough, e.g. proposed tethered baloons 10,000ft asl or so, then possibly. Come back down to earth, onto your typical mountain, and the answer is no. The 50KM you read would mean 50KM with line of sight of the transmitter. Actual LOS distance obtainable will depend on the frequency band it's used in (e.g. if in 5.8GHz, the power will be limited to 2W EIRP and the distance accordingly). Existing wireless gear can cover up to 50KM in theory as well. Wimax is good, and it's needed, though it's not going to suddenly make broadband available to everybody in the country.

seamus

Yeah, the 50km is theoretical distance, like 56K is the theoretical maximum of dial-up. The figures say it's possible, but in practice it can't be done.

Wiki article on Wimax. Makes for very informative reading.