The number of (WiMax) trials has ballooned to more than 100, up from 50 just months ago, reports AP. That to me is the clear problem – trials, not deployments. Its like I have heard the same executives say exactly the same thing for so long, that I worry if we are going to stay stuck in the trial stage. That’s why Clearwire seems to be a much smarter way to go.
Now I think this is just sleep deprivation talking, Om. You can’t have WiMax deployments when there’s no such thing as final WiMax silicon. Of course they are trials: they are using pre-WiMax gear. The certification keeps getting delayed, which must be irritating these trial vendors tons.
In Seattle, there IS a full downtown pre-WiMax deployment by Speakeasy Networks.
Speakeasy – I think you just brought up a whole nother issue with Om there
actually speakeasy issue is settled for me 🙂 i finally got over that.
Covad is also doing some Wi-Max trialing, not sure if it is related to Speakeasy’s efforts not.
The thing about “trialing” is it gets around certain issues, legal and otherwise. So what if there is antibroadband legislation, I’m just running a “trial.” So what if that spectrum is not authorized for 2-way services, I’m just running a “trial.” SBC, don’t start crying to the state legislature, I’m just running a “trial.”
There has been Wireless Broadband Access (WBA) solutions commercial deployment for few years already. Whether its Clearwire or any other Service Provider using IP Wireless or Flarion Technology doesn’t really matter and has nothing to do with WiMAX success or failure.
First of all there is commercial deployment of WiMAX (Or WiMAX ready) gears in Europe and other countries. Moreover, WiMAX is the only Wide Area Wireless Broadband technology that is standard and therefore implies economy of scale and deliver critical mass of value.
With interoperability starting and commercial deployment popping up here and there we are going to see low cost suppliers to jump into the wagon to supply CPE at very low cost. Current pricing are still in the 400-500 USD Range but with a silicon that cost 40 USD, there is a lot of room for improvement & commodisation.
The issue that was slowing down WiMAX deployment was the fact that 802.16d was only seens as a intermediate step before the introduction of 802.16e with mobility and the promise of embedded CPE. S understand now the value of 802.16d and are less concerned with uncompatibility with 802.16e.