Will WiMax become the new internet standard?

[LAPTOP GAMER]

I hear a lot about it and it is not restricted to the 300 foot limit and it just sounds like the next evolution.

[Planet]

I asked pretty much the same question (http://forums.wi-fiplanet.com/showthread.php?t=1944) almost 5 years ago in the WiMax forum (http://forums.wi-fiplanet.com/forumdisplay.php?f=14) with hopes that WiMax would become much more popular then it is today. Understanding that technology standards typically move slow and with good cause but jeez... five years?!?! Whats even more sad, is that I've been hanging around this place for at least that long! :(

[mikep1012]

We are encouraged by what we have seen so far. Recently I was test driving some Wimax gear. I was 5 miles from a tower NLOS and was seeing 6mb downloads. I think its going to be a while before its rolling out due to the lack of vendors, expense of the equipment, etc. But so far it blew me away. Beats the heck out of the typical 5 yards and a cloud of dust we have been living with in the 1 watt world. There is nothing more frustrating to me than going to one home and installing service and they tell the next door neighbor about our service and they call and cant get service because there is a tree in the way of the access point. Just my 2 cents for whats it worth.

[Planet]

5 miles is a very impressive number.

[mikep1012]

I have been in this bus. for 2 years now and I have not been impressed with much so far, I am familiar with a lot of vendors equipment. However, 3 or 4 weeks ago I was sitting in a vendors pickup truck, .75 miles from a tower thick trees, through a house, on the opposite side of a 6 story nursing home with a indoor home unit and was still getting great service.

Now real world one watt equipment 1 service is tree okay, 2 trees starting to fade, thick trees and rolling hills forget about it. With their outdoor unit we were five miles away and it was working very snappy.

Interesting thing was the vendor only had a 55 foot tower, and was using coax cable up the tower (consider the loss). Not optimal install. Still had great service. Once we have our site up I will be able to relay more. Since starting in 2006 I have grown a lot more skeptical. So now I have told the vendor "show me" it works.

[Planet]

We're looking forward to seeing your results. Best of luck.