WiMAX Roaming Alliance

medO

http://www.wimaxgra.org

Recently founded, just came across their website

"Formed in May 2005 by founding member RemotePipes, Inc., the WiMAX Global Roaming Alliance (WGRA) is dedicated to the simplified implementation, distribution and use of competitive, ubiquitous wireless broadband services in major metropolitan areas and rural locations.

"The WGRA is not intended to be another standards body, but rather act as a 'steering group' to develop consensus on the best available or developing standards, suggesting changes if necessary, and push for uniform deployment and implementation of those standards, once defined, in the production environment. We believe there are few things worse than accepted 'standards' that have been implemented in countless 'flavors' throughout the supply chain.

"Chaired by global Internet roaming industry veteran Eric Engbers, the alliance began attracting members even before the official announcement of its creation. The WGRA intends to continue this momentum and become a driving force in the growing WiMAX movement."

medO

Linoge

Whats so big about that?

causal

Let's say you have a PDA/laptop
- with WiMax capability
- with a SIP softphone which you use for VoIP;
- with all your internet cool stuff

But it only works in the ROI - because there is no WiMax standardisation (e.g. roaming etc.) with the UK, or Europe (HIPERMAN), or the US, or the far east (WiBro in Korea) etc. etc.
Remember the first generation of mobile phones - analogue and non-standardised; then the second generation digital phones (with three main standards - GSM, IS41, Japanese std.); now there's 2.5G and 3G; it seems 3.5G and 4G are heading for the same part of the spectrum as WiMax.


WiMax is of course a standard itself (but there are others like HIPERMAN and WiBro)
The WiMax forum do have standards for compliance and certification - but afaik this is for equipment only.
My understanding of WimaxGRA is that it's trying to steer uniformity/ interoperability between equipment manufacturers, service providers, and other interested parties.

If this is all standardised globally - then everything will work everywhere.
Whether this particular group can help deliver that who knows. Good luck to them.

causal

vibe666

sounds good to me.

i wonder if we'll ever see a mobile phone with built in WiMAX and SIP capability that will automatically switch between the two standards depending on availability.

we can only hope i guess.

causal

Probably as a 3.5G interim measure.
I expect (hope) by 4G that standards will have converged so that you'll have truly global nomadic devices (mobile, PDA, laptop, etc.) that use a wireless broadband connection and everything is conducted over IP.

The 4G forum are looking at 100Mbps data rates.
802.16e - (WiMax) can do that - and allows for vehicular mobility (~90 mph) (i.e. being in a car/train)
802.20 - also allows for vehicular mobility (~150mph) but the data rates are only 1Mbps
Then there's the existing UMTS and CDMA standards. All of these things go into the melting pot, as do the vested interests of various companies.

The 4G standards still need to be defined and there'll be a transition from one generation to the next sometime around 2010. During that transition period you may see hybrid devices, and there's always the chance that these protocols will co-exist serving different functions - according to their strengths/weaknesses.

But there's real potential for coolness on the horizon where you'll have a globally nomadic device with multi-MegaByte internet access enabling Video over IP, gaming etc. etc. Hopefully the prices won't be prohibitive.

causal