Wireless Internet - What about WiMax?

WiMAX is defined as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access by the WiMAX Forum, formed in June 2001 to promote conformance and interoperability of the IEEE.802.16 standard, officially known as WirelessMAN. WiMAX is described as a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL.

WiMAX is not a technology, but rather a certification mark, or “stamp of approval” given to equipment that meets certain conformity and interoperability tests for the IEEE 802.16 family of standards. A similar confusion surrounds the term Wi-Fi, which like WiMAX, is a certification mark for equipment based on a different set of IEEE standards from the 802.11 working group for wireless local area networks (WLAN). Neither WiMAX, nor Wi-Fi is a technology but their names have been adopted in popular usage to denote the technologies behind them. This is likely due to the difficulty of using terms like “IEEE 802.16” in common speech and writing.

Vendors and pundits have been talking about WiMax since 2000, so you might be forgiven for thinking it’s here. The reality is that the standard for Mobile WiMax that most people think about as WiMax—supporting mobile devices or laptops in moving vehicles such as trains—is still being finalized, expected sometime in 2007 or 2008.

It is being developed on the premise that users will continue to scale up expectations for higher bandwidth, “always on” mobile services and are willing to pay for a higher quality service than cheap or free W-iFi can provide.

A premise for WiMAX is that next generation wireless systems must fit multiple needs and that the same users will tend to use wireless communications in multiple ways at different times and places. If the multiple use model makes sense, then it also makes sense that systems that can support multiple types of devices and multi-purpose devices that cover both local and distant coverage will be needed.

To sum things up, WiMAX is more or less the inevitable future of Wi-Fi. However, there will always be people out there using Wi-Fi for their local home applications because the speeds will be there at a much more cost friendly solution. On the broader scale, as people are getting more and more accustomed to computers, email and the “on-the-go” demand—that is where WiMAX will succeed.