"The Philadelphia city government recently announced that it will launch a citywide wireless network <http://www.phila.gov/wireless/> by the spring of 2006. The plan is to mount up to 16 Wi-Fi routers per square mile on streetlights in order to provide "some level of free wireless Internet access to everyone living, working or visiting the city." Boston and Madison, Wis. are also considering citywide Wi-Fi that's free, or at least cheaper than DSL. You might think this means that wireless will be free everywhere in a few years. You'd be wrong."
[...]
"But right when Philly's network is scheduled for completion, there will be a successor to Wi-Fi that /is/ designed to provide large-scale coverage. This new technology, dubbed WiMAX <http://www.wimaxforum.org/about/faq/>, will be standard in Intel's laptop chip sets starting in 2006 and will dwarf the power of Wi-Fi gear. Wi-Fi base stations transmit at about two-tenths of a watt; WiMax runs at as much as 30 watts, powering through walls with a maximum range of 30 miles. Moreover, Wi-Fi signals not only compete with each other, but with cordless phones and microwave ovens that broadcast on similar wavelengths; WiMAX travels on radio frequencies that are much less congested. A single WiMAX tower—a huge, multi-thousand-dollar contraption that resembles a cell phone tower more than an Apple AirPort—will serve thousands of customers at once."
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