KT's WiBro May Only Have 1000 Users, But Boy Does It Have Them Covered If They Need More IP Addresses

Tue, Feb 6th 2007 4:31pm — Carlo Longino

A report from South Korea says one of the operators there, KT, has developed a new version of the WiBro wireless broadband technology that supports IPv6. This means that the WiBro network will have access to scads more IP addresses, since Korea's already run through 90 percent of the 49 million allotted to it in IPv4. We're sort of curious why they bothered, though, given another piece of news from Korea today saying that KT's managed to attract all of 906 subscribers to its WiBro network since its launch in June. Still, that's more than rival SK, which has grabbed just 151 users -- though the company can take heart in the staggering 1000% growth in that figure since September.

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alaric, 6 Feb 2007 @ 4:31pm

Be fair now. How much coverage does wibro have?
I've been extremely critical of wimax and wibro but i think we have to be fair. Last i read, wibro had very little coverage that was limited to a few down town areas. In contrast, CDMA ev-do is pervasive and the speeds are quite good.
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Derek Kerton (profile), 20 Nov 2007 @ 9:58am

That Is Fair
Sure, but that is fair. Carriers don't build out coverage until the technology is fully-baked. There is something very wrong with WiBRO, and although it's hard to get a straight answer, the numbers don't lie.

There is a reason that no subscribers are interested in this solution, and there is a reason that SKT and KTF have not deployed a wider footprint. Even with this Korean proprietary version of the mobile WiMAX technology, there are serious bugs. How does that bode for the standards-based version? Usually standards-compliant versions have more bugs and interop issues.

It's not the death knell for WiMAX, but it sure indicates that they need to work out the kinks fast before LTE is a better option for everyone.
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