I have a local competitor who uses Wi-Max equipment - maybe even the brand you mentioned (sorry - I don't want sued) - I have had calls from a customer or two of theirs who are looking for something better. I have no way of knowing all of the details (signal strength, etc.), but at one of their customers homes I did some testing and it really did look like crap (500-600 ms lag times). I have been saying to myself for a long time, self - it's all just hype until you see differently for yourself. I may have been right. I like it when I'm right :-)
Brad H On Mon, Mar 24, 2008 at 12:13 AM, Gino Villarini <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Well, It still amazes me how well cell 3g is working. > > Currently Im on a Cruise Ship sailing out of San Juan towards Aruba, we > are bordering the north coast of Puerto Rico ... about 3 miles out and I > have 3 out of 5 bars in my AT&T Hsdpa Card, inside my stateroom ...not > that bad, AT&T will eventually migrate to LTE which promises more speed > ... > > Gino A. Villarini > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Aeronet Wireless Broadband Corp. > tel 787.273.4143 fax 787.273.4145 > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Brian Webster > Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2008 5:58 PM > To: WISPA General List > Subject: Re: [WISPA] Australian WiMAX pioneer trashes technology > as"miserablefailure" > > This does not surprise me. I have never thought that any type of > indoor CPE > business plan would do well for wireless internet. There are just too > many > unknown factors when it comes to placing a low power CPE without an > external > antenna in the hands of customers. They do not understand the > limitations of > wireless. Things like aluminum siding and stucco with wire mesh are just > a > couple of the big problems that you will run in to. Other items like > metallic mirror film on windows and too many interior walls between the > CPE > and tower site are others. From an RF perspective it is always > preferable to > be above all of that (i.e. Rooftop) with the radio/antenna. If most of > the > buildings in the neighborhood are of the same height, building losses > are a > non-issue because you are now above them. The only thing left to worry > about > is the trees. Using outdoor antenna/CPE combinations should also allow > you > higher EIRP since the maximum permissible exposure rules would change > with > the unit being away from the general public. > While you can make the case for customer self installs, you > would need to > have many more base stations so that you would have plenty of signal to > overcome the building losses. This may work in a densely populated area > where you can justify the numbers (but you also have more competition). > In > rural markets I would suggest to anyone making a business plan, figure > on > doing fixed outdoor CPE installations. With a properly equipped WIMAX > base > station costing around $40,000, a small WISP would be able to conduct > many > truck rolls for that price. The low housing density markets just don't > justify the cost of a properly engineered indoor CPE wireless network > (meaning it would take many more towers to work correctly). There would > never be the return on the invested dollar. > That is just my opinion, I am sure others will disagree with me. > If you > want a good way to think about it, how many times have you run around a > building with your cell phone in a weak coverage area to keep a good > call > going? WIMAX indoor CPE's will be no different. The bigger problem will > be > that the customer will not want to move their computer in the house just > to > get a better broadband signal. This will easily create an unhappy > consumer, > and then an unhappy investor (and also clueless management). I read some > commissioned market studies (can't tell you where, but they were good > ones) > about the average customer expectation of how and where wireless > internet > should work. The scary thing was that they honestly believed that they > should be able to run around the house ANYWHERE with their laptop and > their > broadband should just work. This was how they perceived "wireless > internet" > working and they did not believe that they would have to install their > own > wireless AP in the house to achieve this. This basic perception by the > consumer is far different than we all understand these networks to work. > It > sets a business up to get a black eye in the minds of users (which will > also > stress out the folks who sold the idea to investors). > Bottom line to me is, you can't ignore the laws of > physics.........no > matter how many times the sales rep tells you it will work.......It's > all in > the math. > > > Thank You, > Brian Webster > www.wirelessmapping.com <http://www.wirelessmapping.com> > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Behalf Of Matt Liotta > Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2008 3:35 PM > To: WISPA General List > Subject: [WISPA] Australian WiMAX pioneer trashes technology as > "miserablefailure" > > > http://www.commsday.com/node/228 > > Australian WiMAX pioneer trashes technology as "miserable failure" > March 20th, 2008 > Australia's first WiMAX operator, Hervey Bay's Buzz Broadband, has > closed its network, with the CEO labeling the technology as a > "disaster" that "failed miserably." > > In an astonishing tirade to an international WiMAX conference audience > in Bangkok yesterday afternoon, CEO Garth Freeman slammed the > technology, saying its non-line of sight performance was "non- > existent" beyond just 2 kilometres from the base station, indoor > performance decayed at just 400m and that latency rates reached as > high as 1000 milliseconds. Poor latency and jitter made it > unacceptable for many Internet applications and specifically VoIP, > which Buzz has employed as the main selling point to induce people to > shed their use of incumbent services. > > Freeman highlighted his presentation with a warning to delegates, > saying "WiMAX may not work." He said that the technology was still > "mired in opportunistic hype," pointing to the fact most deployments > were still in trials, that it was largely used by start-up carriers > and was supported by "second-tier vendors", which he contrasted with > HSPA with 154 commercial networks already in operation and support > from top tier vendors. > > What made Freeman's presentation most extraordinary was that just 12 > months ago he fronted the same event with a generally positive > appraisal of the platform which at that stage he had deployed just a > few months before. At the time, Freeman said that his company had > signed 10% of its 55,000 user target market in just two months, a > market share that rose to 25%, on the back of an advertising campaign > that highlighted value VoIP prices. > > He did acknowledge at the time that the technology had indoor coverage > issues, which he yesterday said had earned him a quick and negative > reaction at the time from his supplier, Airspan. Other early WiMAX > adopters have also reported issues with indoor coverage: VSNL in India > reported indoor loss at just 200m from the base station at an IEEE > conference last year. > > HORSES FOR COURSES: Freeman says Buzz has now abandoned WiMAX in > favour of a "horses for courses" policy. This includes use of the TD- > CDMA standard at 1.9GHz-used by operators such as New Zealand's Woosh > Wireless-and a platform he described as wireless DOCSIS- a relatively > little known technology that takes HFC plant and extends its > capabilities via wireless mesh. He said wireless DOCSIS operates at up > to 38Mbps in the 3.5GHz spectrum and its customer premises equipment > supported two voice ports for under $A70 while it boasted "huge cell > coverage." He also was employing more conventional wireless mesh > platforms at 2.4GHz that support up to 10Mbps with CPE voice ports > costing less than A$80. > > Despite his problems with WiMAX, Freeman is a believer that > competitors should operate their own infrastructure and not depend on > Telstra unbundled or wholesale offerings. Prior to Buzz he was > involved in the rollout of regional Victorian HFC networks as an > executive with Neighborhood Cable. He says the use of wireless is > essential in Hervey Bay, because ADSL is blocked to 80% of the > population because of Telstra's use of pairgain and RIMs, while what > ADSL ports are available are now largely exhausted. But years of > successive government policies had weakened the case for standalone > infrastructure, beginning with restrictive policies in the pay > television market which he said undermined independent HFC deployments. > > "I'm against government micromanagement of the market. Government > should start to provide a conducive investment environment." > > Not all WiMAX operators are unhappy. > > Internode says an Airspan-supplied network is providing consistent > average speeds of 6Mbps at distances up to 30km, with CEO Simon > Hackett describing the platform as "proven." > > Freeman's frank words left many at the WiMAX event looking > uncomfortable but none more so than his co-panelist Adrian de Brenni > representing Opel Networks. De Brenni, standing in for an absent Jason > Horley, said little new about Opel that hasn't already been discussed, > except to state that QoS would be a product feature of the future Opel > wholesale offering "including voice." > > by Grahame Lynch > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > ---- > ---- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > ---- > ---- > > WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > -------- > WISPA Wants You! 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