What Can WiMAX Do?

Intel Paves the Way
Intel will start making their Centrino laptop processors WiMAX enabled in the next two to three years. This will go a long way toward making WiMAX a success. If everyone's laptop already has it (which is predicted by 2008), it will be much less risky for companies to set up WiMAX base stations.

Intel also announced that it would be partnering with a company called Clearwire to push WiMAX even further ahead. Clearwire plans to send data from WiMAX base stations to small wireless modems. See Intel, Clearwire to Accelerate Deployment of WiMAX Networks Worldwide (Oct. 25, 2004).

WiMAX operates on the same general principles as WiFi -- it sends data from one computer to another via radio signals. A computer (either a desktop or a laptop) equipped with WiMAX would receive data from the WiMAX transmitting station, probably using encrypted data keys to prevent unauthorized users from stealing access.

The fastest WiFi connection can transmit up to 54 megabits per second under optimal conditions. WiMAX should be able to handle up to 70 megabits per second. Even once that 70 megabits is split up between several dozen businesses or a few hundred home users, it will provide at least the equivalent of cable-modem transfer rates to each user.

The biggest difference isn't speed; it's distance. WiMAX outdistances WiFi by miles. WiFi's range is about 100 feet (30 m). WiMAX will blanket a radius of 30 miles (50 km) with wireless access. The increased range is due to the frequencies used and the power of the transmitter. Of course, at that distance, terrain, weather and large buildings will act to reduce the maximum range in some circumstances, but the potential is there to cover huge tracts of land.

IEEE 802.16 Specifications

  • Range - 30-mile (50-km) radius from base station
  • Speed - 70 megabits per second
  • Line-of-sight not needed between user and base station
  • Frequency bands - 2 to 11 GHz and 10 to 66 GHz (licensed and unlicensed bands)
  • Defines both the MAC and PHY layers and allows multiple PHY-layer specifications (See How OSI Works)

WiMAX Could Boost Government Security
 In an emergency, communication is crucial for government officials as they try to determine the cause of the problem, find out who may be injured and coordinate rescue efforts or cleanup operations. A gas-line explosion or terrorist attack could sever the cables that connect leaders and officials with their vital information networks.

WiMAX could be used to set up a back-up (or even primary) communications system that would be difficult to destroy with a single, pinpoint attack. A cluster of WiMAX transmitters would be set up in range of a key command center but as far from each other as possible. Each transmitter would be in a bunker hardened against bombs and other attacks. No single attack could destroy all of the transmitters, so the officials in the command center would remain in communication at all times.