admin on September 22, 2009
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Possibly due to the fact both WiMAX and Wi-Fi are based upon IEEE standards beginning with 802. and both have a connection to wireless connection technology, comparisons between the two are frequent. Despite this, both standards are aimed at different applications.
WiMAX is a long range system, covering many kilometers, that uses licensed or unlicensed spectrum to deliver a point-to-point connection to the Internet from an ISP to an end user. Different 802.16 standards provide different types of access, from mobile (analogous to access via a cellphone) to fixed (an alternative to wired access, where the end user’s wireless termination point is fixed in location.)
Wi-Fi is a shorter range system, typically hundreds of meters, that uses unlicensed spectrum to provide access to a network, typically covering only the network operator’s own property. Typically Wi-Fi is used by an end user to access their own network, which may or may not be connected to the Internet. If WiMAX provides services analogous to a cellphone, Wi-Fi is more analogous to a cordless phone.… Read the rest
admin on September 22, 2009
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The 4G networks are beginning to make a mark on the wireless pages, with WiMAX and LTE at the forefront of all the hype. However, many are confused as to what exactly WiMAX and LTE are and what the difference is between them. If you are one of these people, I have some information below that will keep you from falling behind the telecom times.
Long Term Evolution (LTE) started out as a 3GPP project “focused on enhancing the Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) and optimizing 3GPP’s radio access architecture,” according to the 3GPP website. This was in 2004. In 2007, the LTE of the 3G radio access technology evolved into a product that was approved by technical specifications. 3GPP predicted that by the end of 2008, LTE would be ready for commercial implementation.
- LTE is the most recent in the line of the GSM broadband network evolvement. Telecommunication standards have improved and advanced over time, going from GSM Technology to GPRS, to EDGE, to WCDMA, to HSPA, and finally to LTE. The LTE technology became the fastest form of Internet connection yet. HSPA only offered 11.5 Mb/s uplink speeds and 28 Mb/s downlink speeds, whereas LTE offers data speeds of up to 100 Mb/s downlink and 50 Mb/s uplink.
- WiMAX evolved from a Wi-Fi, IP-based background. WiMAX went through several stages of development, yet always used the IEEE 802.16 standard established by the IEEE Standards Board in 1999 for the global deployment of wireless broadband networks. From 802.16, the standard was amended many times and changed to 802.16a, 802.16c, 802.16d, and 802.16e—the most popularly used standard for WiMAX today. Revisions of the standard have gone up the alphabet all the way to 802.16m, with the most advanced version expected to be completed by December 2009 and approved by March 2010. Each amended version of the WiMAX standard increases coverage capacity and service performance.
The respective histories of LTE and WiMAX are pretty different; their technologies, however, are pretty similar:
- Backwards Compatibility : LTE is designed to be backwards compatible with GSM and HSPA. This means that when a mobile device exceeds the range of an LTE network, it can fall back on a 2.5 or 3G network assuming it has the requisite radio technologies. The updated WiMAX standard of 802.16e known as “Mobile WiMAX” is backwards compatible with the previous WiMAX standard of
… Read the rest
admin on September 22, 2009
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WiBro is an acronym for “Wireless Broadband” and is actually a term that has largely been phased out in favor of Mobile WiMAX. Korean standards makers early on adopted the term to describe their initiatives towards adopting a version of the 802.16e standard. Basically, the Korean standard chose to accept a specific mobile WiMAX iteration of 802.16e, rather than any future version that included backwards compatibility to fixed wireless 802.16 systems. That approach has since proven to be the norm as mobile WiMAX is vastly favored over the fixed version.
Korea enjoys probably the most extensive 3G deployments in the world, and its fixed broadband access per capita is the highest in the world. What it needed was an improved mobile broadband. Since the WiMAX Forum has chosen to interoperate with WiBro/Mobile WiMAX, this will ultimately result in compatible systems. WiBro/Mobile WiMAX in many respects is driving the mobile side of WiMAX at least from the point of view of vendors eager to provide products to these early deployments. What makes WiBro roll-outs a good ‘test case’ for the overall WiMAX effort is that it is mobile, well thought out for delivery of wireless broadband services, and the fact that the deployment is taking place in a highly sophisticated, broadband-saturated market.
WiBro will go up against 3G and very high bandwidth wire-line services rather than as gap-filler or rural under-served market deployments as is often exampled as the ‘best fit’ markets for WiMAX. As such, WiBRO is now best described as a particular profile within WiMAX with 8.75MHz channel in the 2.3GHz band.… Read the rest
admin on April 14, 2009
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The original WiMAX standard (published in 2004) was designed to support Fixed Wireless Broadband Applications. WiMAX technology has evolved considerably since and today WiMAX technology (also called Mobile WiMAX) serves all usage models from fixed to mobile with the same infrastructure. Based on the IEEE 802.16e-2005 standard, Mobile WiMAX offers fixed, nomadic, portable and mobile capabilities… Read the rest
