Time4aNAPPremium
join:2007-04-09
Des Plaines, IL | reply to pepe675935
Re: Reality is setting in said by pepe675935 :
Not exactly. WiMax will be mostly used on the back end initially, especially in areas where you need big data pipes for extra capacity. Back end as in backhaul? Call me dense, but how can WiMAX do that cost-effectively when there's so much unused fiber already in-place? Their claimed data rates, which tend to be over-optimistic, of less than 100 Mbps don't say "fat pipe" to me at all. Not when existing, mass-produced point to point radios deliver 100 Mbps inexpensively, and 10 GigE is readily available in configurations from 50 feet to 50 miles. What am I missing here?
Later on I could see it being competitive with other wireless technologies. You'd better tell that to the WiMAX trade groups, because they're already marketing their product as direct competition to 3G wireless. Time will tell, I guess.
I know that I'm not planning on giving up my EV-DO card unless and until Sprint terminates my service. Given their track record of keeping "discontinued" services living on long after their official deaths, but only if you're already signed up, that seems prudent.
It won't be profitable in less densely populated areas either, unfortunately. That's where the shareholders need to take heed- they are correct in hesitating to support another technology that would marginalize the EVDO user base. IME Sprint has taken its own sweet time in rolling out EV-DO. But I've always been able to establish a 1xRTT data link wherever I can get a signal, which is ubiquitous in the most remote areas that I've driven through. I liken it to the ISDN service that I had before DSL became readily available. Sure beats the 19.2 kbps that my old StarTAC phone gave me!
If Sprint can maintain a bare-minimum 1xRTT at every cell site, and fill in the gaps in EV-DO service over the next year to cover entire metropolitan areas, I'll be happy. If they manage to make that EV-DO Rev. A, I'll be thrilled. If they manage to get WiMAX service all the way out to where I live, and it's usable without requiring an external fixed antenna, AND the data rates with that configuration beat their EV-DO offering, I'll try it out.
However I'm not holding my breath on the last one. It seems that too many of Sprint's voting shares are held by people who like to sell short, if you know what I mean. |
| Correct me if I'm wrong, but I understood the basic premise as to install such WiMax equipment in areas that do not already have the fiber capacity. Yes, there is excess capacity but in this large country there are places where the redundancy would still be useful. And isn't a Wimax site efficient in the sense that a large number of users can be simultaneously connected w/o degradation in performance(?) |
