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Official 4G/WiMax: what is it, why do we want it

Sprint's WiMAX network helping Maryland police

Annapolis P.D. first started exploring WiMAX technology in January 2009, when it started a pilot project with Sprint to see how it could integrate WiMAX with its surveillance cameras spread throughout the city. While Annapolis only has one WiMAX-capable surveillance camera installed so far, the police department is asking the city for funding for two additional cameras this summer.


link: Sprint's WiMAX network helping Maryland police
 
Don't most of these WiMax "towers" actually fit on telephone poles? What happens when someone mows one of these things down w/ their car. No 4G for a day or so.
 
bwillie007 said:
Don't most of these WiMax "towers" actually fit on telephone poles? What happens when someone mows one of these things down w/ their car. No 4G for a day or so.
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Yes, they could fit. But a lot of local codes will require them to be placed higher than typical phone polls because of the higher radiation footprint and all the other regularly accessible items on top of existing poles.
 
Have a little rumor here, a large block of 700mhz Dblock is coming open in the next 6 months. The only people that have money to buy such a block is intel, google, and comcast.


bwillie007 said:
Don't most of these WiMax "towers" actually fit on telephone poles? What happens when someone mows one of these things down w/ their car. No 4G for a day or so.
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No, that is not how wimax works, you connection will slow down, but you will still have a connection.
 
RiverOfIce said:
Have a little rumor here, a large block of 700mhz Dblock is coming open in the next 6 months. The only people that have money to buy such a block is intel, google, and comcast.
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lol call me stupid, but for a split second i was reading the first sentence and thinking a new phone but damn its only 700 mhz and called Dblock, wtf????
Until I read your second sentence and it all fell into place. lol

Soooo, being that intel, google and comcast are the only ones that can buy such a block and those three make up the majority of Wimax investment here in the USA, I would assume its for Wimax use.

TS out
 
4G up in Los Angeles? Just turned it on here in downtown L.A. and it connected - 2 out of 3 bars.

4glosangeles.jpg


4glosangelesspeedtest.jpg
 
twospirits said:
lol call me stupid, but for a split second i was reading the first sentence and thinking a new phone but damn its only 700 mhz and called Dblock, wtf????
Until I read your second sentence and it all fell into place. lol

Soooo, being that intel, google and comcast are the only ones that can buy such a block and those three make up the majority of Wimax investment here in the USA, I would assume its for Wimax use.

TS out
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Sorry. It is going to probably be comcast, but verizon might make a bid for it, but does not have the funds. If comcast gets it, it will go wimax.

La has been a soft launch for atleast 3 weeks now.
 
i'm in charlotte and am blanketed by 4g coverage according to all the maps and such, but i have to say that it may as well be non existant based on the fact that the signal inside my house and out is terrible....so my question primarily for eieio and/or riverofice, is will signal quality improve over time, and how will it improve....is it just a matter of more towers/repeaters being installed? how can one be surrounded by coverage and get such a crappy signal? inquiring minds wanna know
 
AM2 said:
i'm in charlotte and am blanketed by 4g coverage according to all the maps and such, but i have to say that it may as well be non existant based on the fact that the signal inside my house and out is terrible....so my question primarily for eieio and/or riverofice, is will signal quality improve over time, and how will it improve....is it just a matter of more towers/repeaters being installed? how can one be surrounded by coverage and get such a crappy signal? inquiring minds wanna know
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Dramatically. Wimax works like a spider web. The more connection you make to one spot the better your connection will be. Eventually, every house will have a receiver/repeater. With lower 700-800 mhz spectrum, when you place alot of towers really close, you get a lot of interference. Which means you have to, 1 tilt the receiver down, 2 use software to cancel the noise, or 3 use less towers.

With wimax, you can set the receivers on top of each other, alot like you your wifi connection at home. The interference between towers is really minimal. The cost per base station is is extremely affordable, base station run around 8,000 dollars, repeaters running about 200-500, and receivers running about 50-100 dollars.

So like a spider web, the goal is to cram as many base stations and repeaters in one area as possible. If you are in a wimax area, you signal will improve weekly. And there are still alot of glitches and whole in the system.
 
RiverOfIce said:
The cost per base station is is extremely affordable, base station run around 8,000 dollars, repeaters running about 200-500, and receivers running about 50-100 dollars.

So like a spider web, the goal is to cram as many base stations and repeaters in one area as possible. If you are in a wimax area, you signal will improve weekly. And there are still alot of glitches and whole in the system.
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So question, what would one put in their home to get a better WiMax signal a repeater or a receiver?

TS
 
twospirits said:
So question, what would one put in their home to get a better WiMax signal a repeater or a receiver?

TS
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Right this min nothing. But in the future a repeater would be your better option. The largest differnce between a repeater and receiver, the receiver translate the wimax signal to ethernet and a repeater rebroad cast the signal using wimax. To get a good wimax coverage inside your home you will need a low amp wimax repeater. Or just use your wifi internet connection.


There are several companies right now, KYOCERA being one that is going to roll out a wimax/wifi router. It will have an extrnal mounted antenna for wimax.

I have personally played with this little guy.
Home/SME Repeater | Kyocera WiMAX

Kyocera WiMAX

I do not know how useful the links will be.
 
When I flew into SLC this past week (friday) I turned on my 4G and it connected. I was in the airport but I had speeds around 2.9 Mbps. I believe they are rumored to be going live by July from what a rep told me.

Though you can use it now it seems.
 
Sauk said:
When I flew into SLC this past week (friday) I turned on my 4G and it connected. I was in the airport but I had speeds around 2.9 Mbps. I believe they are rumored to be going live by July from what a rep told me.

Though you can use it now it seems.
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I've tried getting 4G in since launch and I've yet to connect. The folks at RS told me that Sprint/Clearwire was still testing so it was going to be spotty getting service until late July/early August when they officially launch 4G here.
 
snowpunter,

hmm, I was in the airport when I got it to connect. I will not be able to fully test till I come back home to the state in August though :( Maybe we will have a connecting flight to SLC again.

Yeah I turned it on and it connected within a minute. Good speeds as well.

Can't wait to get home and use it, no 4G where I am now.
 
THEFORCE said:
so what does this mean for the advancement of Wimax
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The FCC has already told verizon and att they can not bid in the next auction. Because they bought the whole 700mhz abc.

The opening of the 500mhz and 700mhz d can not be bought by them.

The current list of buyers are now,

1.) sprint.
2.) comcast
3.) google
4.) intel
5.) time warner.

The only advantage that lte had over wimax is distance.

at 2.5 ghz, you can place the towers really close to each other, but you need more towers to cover everything. Which makes really fast connections. But they suffer with out the tower density. This makes wimax really good in cities, because every building, street light and power meter can become a wimax repeater.

At 500 and 700 mhz, can penetrate most buildings, 2% to 20% better then 2.5ghz and cover longer distances, but you can not place them close together, if they overlap they will cause interference. Which makes it great, but slow for suburban and rural areas.

All the major buyers will use it for wimax. Which means end game for lte.

It does not have the higher spectrum, well 1.9ghz which is only 10mhz, for anything.

Since the fcc already said they will not allow them to bid, to promote more choice for the consumer.
 
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