Wimax Firms Try to Tone Down the Hype

October 31, 2005

Few tech concepts generate as much buzz as WiMax, the long-coming long-range wireless Internet technology.

But promises that WiMax alone will revolutionize the broadband world and push out existing Internet services are overblown, top technology executives said at the Telecom '05 annual conference last week.

Instead, they see WiMax as one part of a complex wired and wireless future.

AT&T also did its bit to puncture the WiMAX hype, while providing an update on three of its trial WiMAX deployments.

Behzed Nadji, AT&T's Chief Architect, debunked stories about 70 Mbit/s throughput over distances of 70 miles for WiMAX. "There's little reality to that," he said.

A range of 3 to 5 miles and 2 Mbit/s was closer to reality. In fact, one of AT&T's three deployments rarely saw throughput rise above 500 kbit/s, he said.

WiMax trials in Colorado by Denver-based Qwest Communications International Inc. found average signal ranges of two or three miles and speeds similar to cable modems and fast DSL connections.

Where WiMAX would prosper, AT&T predicted, was in moving backhaul traffic. But its potential users had slightly surprising desires and concerns.

AT&T's existing business customers were looking for improvements in cost, diversity, reliability, availability and provisioning time. Speed came well down their list of reasons for deployment. Their main concerns were security, reach and the fact that WiMAX is an unproven technology.

Additionally, whether WiMax complements or competes with existing technologies is important, because the major carriers have invested heavily in "3G," the long-promised third generation of cellular phone networks that has just begun to deliver fast Internet access and mobile entertain- ment.

Other major WiMax hurdles include figuring out which slices of the radio airwaves WiMax will use and the current high cost of the equipment and installation.

Intel Corp., a leading WiMax supporter, plans to roll out chips using the technology in 2007. Intel and Motorola Inc. said last week that they would work together to advance the tech- nology.

However, telecom and technology leaders at the Las Vegas conference, including WiMax backers, tried to cool what they called enormous hype surrounding the technology. WiMax has acquired a misleading reputation involving the ability to send an Internet connection across great distances at speeds that eclipse existing services, executives said.

Verizon Communications Inc. experimented with WiMax technology about 18 months ago and is now looking at it for rural connections and providing urban and suburban hot spots similar to the Wi-Fi networks found in coffee shops and airports, Chief Technology Officer Mark Wegleitner said. He said Verizon is weeks away from deciding how it will proceed with WiMax.

Analysts predict that ultimately consumers will be able to use one device to switch between all the wireless networks, and that further in the future the descendants of 3G and WiMax may converge.