Trouble In WiBro Land May Mean Trouble In WiMax Land

Mon, Apr 25th 2005 6:38pm — Mike Masnick

Last week, KT pointed out that, thanks to the technology, they had to price WiBro mobile broadband on a pay as you go basis, raising questions about how the technology -- seen as the precursor to the mobile WiMax standard -- will be able to handle real capacity down the road. Now, it appears that another WiBro license holder, Hanaro Telecom, has decided drop its plans to support WiBro -- raising even more questions about the technology that many had hoped would answer some of the concerns raised by those pointing out that the lack of a mobile WiMax was a real problem for WiMax supporters. When the early supporters aren't even adopting the technology, then there's clearly something wrong.

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Filed Under: wimax

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Alaric, 25 Apr 2005 @ 6:38pm

The other point
WiMAX and WiBro have been oversold and as that becomes clear, operator and investor confidence will wane. I personally remain skeptical that wibro or WiMAX will be able to provide mobility with any measure of QoS or throughput beyond EV-DO or HSDPA. Its going to take these parties years to figure out mobility alone much less the capacity part.
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Alaric, 25 Apr 2005 @ 6:38pm

Reinventing the Wheel
I think it is also becomming more and more evident that WiMAX/Wibro are not a great step forward but just a reinvention of the wheel by a new consortium which seeks to replace the old one. By the time mobile Wimax actually comes into existence it will be no different or better than what 3GPP offers but it will offer the industry more competition and I welcome that, even if the hype is a bit too much.
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