|
Wi-Fi hasn’t had a competitor since the days of HiperLAN, which was a relatively good wireless LAN technology that lost the fight against 802.11-standardized product proliferation a few years ago. For some time, Wi-Fi also won a bout against Bluetooth, which clearly fits now as a wireless PAN technology, not wireless LAN. Mobile WiMAX, however, is offering some new competition to WiMAX.
The 802.16-2005 standard, sometimes referred to as 802.16e, provides fixed and mobile wireless MAN access in both licensed and unlicensed spectrums. Fixed WiMAX solutions have been available and certified for a year or so. Mobile WiMAX, though, is relatively new. In fact, 802.16-2005 products haven’t completed certification testing yet. There have been a few WiMAX-sponsored plugfests, and it looks like the first mobile WiMAX products will be certified by early 2008.
The competition between mobile WiMAX and Wi-Fi is currently focused in the outdoor environment, not indoors. Sprint is installing mobile WiMAX in many of the larger cities within the U.S. within licensed spectrum that Sprint paid big bucks to acquire. Sprint will be selling mobile access to WiMAX along with their existing services. Clearwire is also pushing mobile WiMAX.
Unlicensed WiMAX will not likely be available for quite some time because of mobile WiMAX’s inability to provide effective RF interference rejection. There’s too much potential of RF interference in the unlicensed bands, such as 2.4GHz and 5GHz, to work properly without interference rejection. Thus, vendors are holding off on unlicensed mobile WiMAX for now.
So, will mobile WiMAX compete heavily with Wi-Fi in the outdoor market? Many municipalities have either installed or are in the process of installing Wi-Fi mesh systems. Wi-Fi hardware is relatively inexpensive, and it works in unlicensed spectrum, making it easier to proliferate. As a result, Wi-Fi will likely be around for a while.
What do you think?
|
