Sprint and Samsung today announced that its joint-venture wireless infrastructure, better known as WiMAX, is ready for service. This comes after years of scrutiny against Sprint for basically fucking everything up along the way. Still, mistakes aside, WiMAX looks to bring a new generation of high-bandwidth web surfing to our laptops.
Have you missed out on WiMAX news in the past? Not sure what it is? This little bit from Wikipedia explains it wisely:
WiMAX, the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a telecommunications technology aimed at providing wireless data over long distances in a variety of ways, from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular type access. It is based on the IEEE 802.16 standard, which is also called WirelessMAN. The name “WiMAX” was created by the WiMAX Forum, which was formed in June 2001 to promote conformance and interoperability of the standard. The forum describes WiMAX as “a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL” (and also to HSPA).
With speeds up to 70 Mbps and Siemens announcing the SE680 WiMAX Modem, 2008 and 2009 are gearing up to be the year for broadband access across multiple devices. It’s only a matter of time before someone starts sniffing out WiMAX networks and breaking their encryption.
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