Category: WiMAX

Virgin Trains has elected to use WiMax to enable passengers get Internet connection from their seat. QinetiQ Rail is providing the technology and has installed it on the company's Pendolino train. CEO Magnus McEwen-King expects the application of the WiMax-and-satellite combination to bring down costs. "If we were to use WiMax throughout the whole route...

Bellsouth is starting to test mobile WiMax. Using thier licensed part of the 2.3Ghz spectrum and Alcatel equipment, Bellsouth is looking at mobile WiMax, but also fixed WiMax for areas that are not serviced by DSL connections. Costs and scarcity of spectrum are causing headaches for WiMax deployment in the US, where companies like Sprint...

Intel Corp. representatives have plans to ship the "Rosedale 2" WiMAX chip within the next 6 to 9 months, according to a company spokesperson. Unlike the current chip, Rosedale 2 will support both the current fixed version (802.16d) and the new mobile version of the 802.16 WiMAX specifications. "Nomadic" or "portable CPEs," which are similar...

Intel is set to unveil Rosedale 2 -- a chipset that can support fixed and mobile WiMax -- at the upcoming Wireless Communications Association International (WCA) 2006 meeting in Washington. The chip is intended for use in modems and residential gateways but the company is aiming to extend its application to picocell base stations. Later...

The lack of certification has not deterred the deployment of Mobile WiMax, as indicated by what is happening in Australia. Around 50,000 Unwired Australia users and several subscribers of TV operator AUSTER in the city of Wagga Wagga are now roaming seamlessly between two Mobile WiMax networks equipped by Navini Networks. The Texas-based company has...

Samsung is getting ready in a big way to jump on WiMax. They are preparing a GSM/WiMax phone as well as PCMCIA cards and base stations for fixed and mobile WiMax. The first products should be seen in the first half of 2007. Via [techworld.com]

WiMax seems poised to dominate the mobile wireless market in the coming years. CDMA and 3G chip developers are getting serious interest from thier customers about WiMax. The keys seems to be the diverse ownership of WiMax technology patents, many companies own them, rather than just one as is the case with CDMA. Given the...

Despite the excitement over WiMax, the technology is not expected to enjoy a large initial uptake. According to Motorola Asia-Pacific chief Simon Leung, WiMax users in Asia will number 3.8 million, most of them in Japan and South Korea, by 2009. One concern is how this technology, which promises to be faster and more extensive...

Samsung is first out of the gate with a dual mode CDMA/WiMax phone. Details are scarce, but it appears to use a Korean variant of WiMax called WiBro. No details on availablity but it is a step in the direction of convergance. Via [vnunet.com]

Ovum analyst Julien Grivolas expects faster third-generation mobile services to become mainstream consumer service by 2008. The analyst firm believes users of High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) in Western Europe will grow to 16.5 million in two years and 50 million through 2010. Grivolas ascribed the high estimated uptake to the reality that HSDPA recycles...

Alvarion has launched BreezeMAX Si, a low-cost, self-installable indoor customer premises equipment for the wide-area wireless technology. Carlton ONeal, Alvarion's vice president of marketing, said the device is "cheap and easy to install" and has "the size of "a one-slice bagel toaster." The CPE, which, according to ONeal, will allow customers and small businesses "to...

WiMax and 3G are destined to compete in the Austrlian market. Unfortunatly WiMax has a mobility problem, it's limited to fixed location installations right now. 3G on the other hand has mobility. The future won't be decided till 2009, but content seems to be a big factor in which will win. Via [pcworld.idg.com.au]

There are limited WiMax installations around the UK right now for various reasons. It's getting some serious competition from 3G and alot of potential providers are taking wait and see approach. When will we see WiMax hit it big in the UK. Who knows? Via [vnunet.com]

Portable wireless technology may steal some of the thunder from fixed WiMax systems, according to a report by Juniper Research. Analysts predict that, while fixed WiMax is expected to grow in the next 2-3 years, mobile WiMax offers a superior standard, a fixed wireless option in addition to mobility, and it's all on track for...

According to analysts from ABI Research's Mobile Broadband Research Service, WiMax vendors should start factoring royalties payable to Qualcomm into their pricing plans. Qualcomm, patent-holder for Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technology, already has payment agreements in place with Soma Networks, and is expected to "vigorously" enforce royalty payments with...