WiMax, 4g, acer, asus, at&t, broadband, clearwire, ctia, ctia 2008, intel, internet...

Is WiMax All Washed Up? An Open Letter

Dear Sprint and Intel,
I'm sorry to hear about your recent WiMax delays and struggles, I really am. The Xohm service was originally scheduled to launch this month, but all you've given us are a few prototypes and half-baked demos in controlled environments—the public has yet to see the technology truly in action. WiMax in general and Xohm in particular have the potential for greatness, but you guys seem to have lost your way. Here are all the signs that WiMax may be washed up:

• When the rollout is already slower than people initially hoped, the aforementioned delays are never good.

• Aside from the Nokia N810, Asus Eee PC and Everex Cloudbook, Xohm lacks any mainstream WiMax-compliant devices, and we were hoping CTIA 2008 would be a good time to hear about them. An infrastructure is only as good as its end-user products (and vice-versa).

• Speaking of that, where are Intel's WiMax-compatible chips? What about the 20% of 2008 devices scheduled to have WiMax? What about the Montevina chipsets allegedly eagerly awaited by Lenovo, Acer, Asus, Panasonic and Toshiba? WiMax needs some love from its $2 billion champion.

• Xohm partners we spoke to were under the impression that a full Xohm demo would be set up for CTIA. However, Wired's Joe Brown attended Nokia's press conference and noted the N810 WiMax Edition Tablet was demoed over Wi-Fi. What's up with that?

• Similarly, while previewing the N810's HAVA Player at Nokia's booth, the Hava rep told me he was using Wi-Fi for demos because the Xohm booth just across the hall didn't have a strong enough WiMax signal. Laptop Magazine even suffered dropped connections inside the Xohm booth. What ever happened to 10Mbps at 10 kilometers?

• The WiMax demos that did work seemed promising, but the people running the booth operated with a healthy amount of paranoia. We weren't allowed to get too hands-on and they tried to kill our photos, suggesting perhaps things weren't as fully functional as they seemed.

• An early WiMax service rolled out in Australia last month suffered an EPIC FAIL, quickly closed up shop and prompted the CEO to say "WiMax may not work." Could Xohm be suffering from similar problems?

• WiMax's direct 4G competition, LTE, chosen by America's two biggest and most powerful wireless carriers, already seems to be gaining steam, not to mention showing well in recent demos.

So guys, anything we can do to help? I want the future of technology to actually make it to the future. Lord knows I'd feel better knowing I could play World of Warcraft lag-free while sitting in the middle of the Mojave Desert, not that I own WoW or plan to visit the Mojave Desert, but you never know. Seriously, just give me my damn WiMax already!!

Signed,
Adrian Covert

4:00 PM on Fri Apr 4 2008
By Adrian Covert
9,814 views
32 comments

Comments

92BuickLeSabre at 04:08 PM on 04/04/08
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WiMin
matsayz at 04:11 PM on 04/04/08
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word
IphtashuFitz at 04:18 PM on 04/04/08
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WiMeh
Kaiser-Machead at 04:23 PM on 04/04/08
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3G will be all mankind ever needs.

save this quote!
dothedrewtoo at 04:25 PM on 04/04/08
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yea, it was always a race for GSM/CDMA to get faster or Wi-fi to go longer range. looks to me that 3G/4G is gonna be the winner.
bigMoneyMIKE at 04:25 PM on 04/04/08
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Very nice piece Adrian. These guys are so far beyond fucked, every single thing they outlined last year that would happen has FAILED. There are no chipsets because the whole thing is VaporWare.

Remember the Cable Cellular business partnerships ( COMCRAPTASTIC, TIME-CRAPNER) these assholes tried to roll out a few years back? Exactly, they petered out and closed up shop.

Sprint is only around because of the massive amount of debt and the fact that it is a junk investor clearinghouse.
Darrone at 04:29 PM on 04/04/08
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@Kaiser-Machead: If all I need is 3g, why would i need the quote?
Adrian Covert at 04:30 PM on 04/04/08
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@Darrone: that's grounds for an existential crisis.
aurf at 04:38 PM on 04/04/08
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Wimax seems to be successful in rural areas where standard broadband isn't feasible or is too expensive.

[www.digitalbridgecommunications.com]
Brookespeed at 04:39 PM on 04/04/08
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4G? I'm still waiting for 3G! Being in St. Paul, at least I have my supah-high-speed broadband as an option for 150.00 a month to make me feel included in the great vision of our technological future.
mclark2112 at 04:41 PM on 04/04/08
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I think it is the name. Xohm. Come on, is that really the best Sprint could do?
scarbrtj at 04:41 PM on 04/04/08
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@Darrone: Few things could be as correct as what you just posited.
Dark-Dx at 04:47 PM on 04/04/08
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Sprint and Intel: Wi_Fail
matt buchanan at 04:50 PM on 04/04/08
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@mclark2112: Xoooooooooooooooooohmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Oh right, that does suck.
asten77 at 04:52 PM on 04/04/08
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There's a lot of things you point out that are kind of... ill considered.

--It may be that WiMax is much more viable for semi-mobile wireless (i.e. card for your laptop), than it is for voice.
--The Nokia device wasn't demoed on WiMAX because it was Motorola's network. One can't expect them to play nice.
--Wimax has been demoed in live environments a number of times by motorola.. in Chicago, Barcelona, and a number of others. It's live and in use in Pakistan and India.
--Every new wireless standard launches far, far behind the promised launch date. I remember AT&T saying 3G buildout everywhere by 2005 at one point. This week they're claiming end of this year.

I don't know if it will succeed or not, but you're kind of misleading people on some things.
drewheyman at 04:59 PM on 04/04/08
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@mclark2112: Xohm. = hug kiss him.
potohead1 at 05:00 PM on 04/04/08
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I want WI-MAX because I'm a SPRINT customer and it would be beneficial to me.
I love sprint!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MrBlahBlah at 05:01 PM on 04/04/08
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wimax is a bust. we will have to wait for LTE
potohead1 at 05:02 PM on 04/04/08
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LTE all the ..............................way in 2011? if that.
potohead1 at 05:02 PM on 04/04/08
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.
labrats5 at 05:08 PM on 04/04/08
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7.2 mbps 3G will be available as soon as the end of this year (though probably a bit later knowing AT&T). Wimax, when tested under controlled conditions, didn't even hit that speed. So, why exactly do we need wimax? More specifically, what does wimax bring to the table that 3G can't? And before anyone says it, there is no law saying that 3G networks must be closed.
Gofastmazda at 05:11 PM on 04/04/08
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Yet another sprint failure. Why is anyone surprised by this? Everything they touch turns to shit. Nextel, a wildly successful business carrier, has crashed and burned since sprint bought them, their stock has turned to crap, their credit rating is just one step above 'junk' status, and while other carriers are turning positive customers each quarter, sprint is finding a way to lose a million+ subscribers every 3 months.

Is this really a shock?
ripfire4 at 05:37 PM on 04/04/08
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@mclark2112: They can say "Come get Xohm!" a la Duke-Nukem.
unit3 at 05:39 PM on 04/04/08
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This isn't a sprint failure, this is a WiMAX failure. I used to work for a company building WiMAX radios, and as of last year the spec wasn't actually finalized and there was no way to get any compliance testing done. As far as I know, this is actually still the case! So good luck getting any WiMAX stuff this decade.
godwhacker at 06:27 PM on 04/04/08
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@Brookespeed:
for $150.00 a month, i will stop by your house 2 times a week, and yell, "welcome to the world of tomorrooooooow!"

it will be a lie of course, but being from minnesota we are used to that.
ValoraTerpsichore at 07:09 PM on 04/04/08
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Comment on Is WiMax All Washed Up? An Open Letter Love the graphic. What is that image called? I'd like to find a hi res version for my desktop.
t1bbs at 08:42 PM on 04/04/08
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WiMax: More meat for the grinder
bigMoneyMIKE at 09:20 PM on 04/04/08
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@labrats5: 7.2 is ALREADY live in certain areas. NATIONAL by the end of this year.
matt buchanan at 09:27 PM on 04/04/08
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@bigMoneyMIKE: Um, that's the not the timeline I'm aware of. I have a piece coming up on it soon though, so stay tuned.
bjcbjc at 09:35 PM on 04/04/08
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We've had a great nationwide (pre)WiMax network here in Canada for over a year now.

It is a joint venture between the two biggest wireless companies. You don't hear much about it because they aren't calling it "WiMax" and each of the partners brands and prices their service in different ways (why use someone else's branding?)

It works well and is affordable, although it tops out at about 1.5Mbs on a good day.

WiMax's dirty little secret is that the 2.5GHz radio waves don't go through many obstacles - like walls or trees. It is much more line-of-sight than you would expect. That's why the 700Mhz spectrum is so valuable, because it goes through things and into buildings!
awdark at 09:52 PM on 04/04/08
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Is there really even a market for this? I know theres evdo... and I would love to have internet everywhere but im not sure how many of us would be willing to spend that much monthly for service. Then again... I guess we can't hope for anything free like all those wireless hotspots out there.
bigMoneyMIKE at 10:49 PM on 04/04/08
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@matt buchanan: Sure Matt, I know we all will look forward to your editorial! I may be off on the time line of the build-out, perhaps its something like 95% penetration by end of '08 but I do know for a fact that 7.2 HSUPA is live in certain areas...