Explain Wimax ....

[redheadfan]

Will WiMax be a suitable alternative to ADSL when used mainly for online gaming?

Yes.

However, it would be advisable to speak to the technician who does your signal test and ask his opinion based on your signal strength.

Online Gaming has three factors:
1) Low Latency - The technology is designed for low latency. Competition should ensure that quality of connections are kept high as possible
2) Constant Connection - With a strong signal you should have a 24 hour connection
3) Bandwidth - You will definitely have enough line speed and most games have relatively low data use WiMax will be more than sufficient!

The downside is this is a new technology and is still being tested and adjusted
I wouldn't get locked into any contracts!

 

[Roman4604]

Will WiMax be a suitable alternative to ADSL when used mainly for online gaming?

More dependant on the end to end path e.g. backhauls, core network, interconnects, intl etc.

As as far as the the air interface goes (Wimax), you should expect to see a sustained IP roundtrip of 30-40ms in the real world with a reasonable signal and no excessive sector contention.

 

[malgot]

@

Hannes, since I didn't understand anything that you just posted it must mean you know what you are talking about..

My point also

 

[GangStarr]

can anyone please explain to me how wimax differs from other broadband services, the speed,data allowance, price etc.... and yes i did try searching from Google but no luck..

1. currently speed is only upto 512
2. data allowance? do u mean bandwidth?
3. to qualify u have to be 48 kilometers MAX from base station

 

[xrapidx]

What hardware is needed?

 

[Gerry]

Wimax

Wimax is a wireless licensed band. It means that an isp, licensed, can offer wireless internet/broadband services within it's wisp agrement. Wimax operates at 3.5 ghz plus, meaning it can , the more ghz the higher the throughput, offer more diverse services ie.: perhaps you would be able to view a movie and make a phonecall over the singular connection and realize no degredation in either service.

Wimax is a buzzword and embraces the simple sientific fact that more is better.

But read more and decide : http://www.2gigabit.com/wm/wimaxwhitepaper.htm

 

[Hannes]

GHz nothing to do with throughput

Wimax operates at 3.5 ghz plus, meaning it can , the more ghz the higher the throughput

Why do you say that? The throughput has nothing to do with the carrier frequency. The throughput depends on the channel bandwidth, which as per profile definition is 3.5 or 7 MHz in th 3.5GHz band and 5 or 10MHz in the 2.5GHz band (Korea's WiBRO product in 2.3GHz features 8.75MHz or thereabouts)

 

[MobileAllOver]

WiMax doesn't guaranteed throughput and latency... Although the technology may seem to be stable, the environment is not ;-)

I wouldn't recommend any wireless technology for gaming or VPN sessions

 

[redheadfan]

WiMax doesn't guaranteed throughput and latency... Although the technology may seem to be stable, the environment is not ;-)

I wouldn't recommend any wireless technology for gaming or VPN sessions

Yeah I know alot of people with experience from WISPs, iburst and sentech. They sign up and have a few wonderful months of blissful connection and gaming and then the system is adjusted or new users are added to their base tower and it becomes a completely different, unusable service. WiMax is a different technology, but without widespread deployment we can't say for certain whether or not the same problems are likely to occur on WiMax as well.

 

[Hannes]

WISPs, iburst and sentech. They sign up and have a few wonderful months of blissful connection and gaming and then the system is adjusted or new users are added to their base tower and it becomes a completely different, unusable service. WiMax is a different technology, but without widespread deployment we can't say for certain whether or not the same problems are likely to occur on WiMax as well.

So true... all "mass-provisioned" services suffer from this flaw. Basically it means the following: Say you buy your 3G card and sim. It is pre-provisioned to log onto any BTS in the network. So you take it home, you're probably the first user in your sector and you have blissfull service. In a mean time your cellular/broadband operator is very effiecient in his advertising campaign, and not long, there are 35 other people camping on your same sector. The operator does not do anything to prevent this, in fact, they love it, because now their business plans start paying off. To compound this, on a Saturday afternoon, there is 60000 rugby fans (of which 5000 carry 3G phones) in the stadium just up the road from you, all attempting to send MMS's etc. The results is CHAOS- everybody sharing from 1.8Mbps. All of this is caused by the basic fundamental flaw in mobile networks/broadband technologies - no control of influx into the cell/sector.

Consider WiMAX (if practised PROPERLY and only time will tell if ANY operator is able to do that). You (as WiMAX operator) will do an assessment of the coverage conditions from a specific tower, in terms of the signal strength throughout the coverage area. From this you can determine the likelyhood of receiving a certain signal strength and therefore you can calculate your ability to serve a given customer on a given modulation scheme (in other words, how fast can he download). From this you can calculate the TOTAL theoretical bandwidth that can be accomodated accross a specific sector. You probably already know from your business plan what your contention ration should be (1:10 up to 1:40, whatever). This now means you can accurately determine WHAT you can sell in this sector. eg x times 2Mbps, y times 512kbps and z times 256kbps. This is all well but it only bears fruit if you as a network operator recognise when you have added your last (planned for) customer to a sector and to NOT be tempted to add more and degrade EVERYBODY's service. Now you as operator have the option to overlay the coverage area with another bearer, or to double up on channel bandwidth or to serve the customer from an adjacent sector where there might still be capacity. The operator would also want to prevent a user from dismantling his subsrciber unit and moving accross town, and logging on from a NON-PROVISIONED sector. That can be done by provisioning the SU for one tower only. Of course you can still allow nomadic SU's such as the Airspan EasyST and others, to travel to other sectors. But in such a case you will do differentiation on the MAC address of the unit, and manage throughput according to specifically planned-for nomadic profiles.

So the secret does not lie purely in the technology. It vests in a highly managable technology WITH proper service management. THEN WiMAX can be the wonderful bearer that everyone hopes for.

 

[javas]

Hi

Anyone on the Mweb wimax trial using the sowet base station please PM me.
In need of more infor.

 

[javas]

HI
Anyone on the Mweb Wimax trial using the soweto base station please PM me. In need of more infor.

 

[~Alpha001~]

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wimax
The entry explains all you need to know about WiMax.

 

[Web Intact]

The wikipedia entry is excellent.

I think the essence of WiMax and what it means to the end user is being missed here.

It's a catchy buzz-word, and 'Max' brings to mind images of up-sized fast-food Internet access...
It's no 'magic bullet' for bandwidth-starved South Africans, but purely a cost-effective last-mile solution to deliver 'broadband' to the masses.
In terms of sheer performance, there's no doubt that cable (or fibre) is king. Nothing beats good old copper at the end of the day. Wireless service delivery is probably as susceptible to disruption by environmental factors as copper is to cable theft. Each has their pros and cons in stability, portability, consistency and performance.

I've been extensively involved in WiFi service delivery, and been in on tests of four different manufacturer's 'WiMax' base-station deployments.
My real world experience so far, as well as monitoring about 150 users', is that in reality a user can expect anywhere between 20-120ms additional latency just to the base-station. Different manufacturer's use different ways of managing the contention on the sector (another key WiMax feature), and even a lightly-loaded base can add as much as 120ms. What that's connected to - fibre, more wireless links, copper - will more than likely add a bit more. Connection speeds to to the tower are definitely not 100Mbps! Typical maximum speeds are anywhere between 1Mbps to 10Mbps to the tower - depending on make, distance from the tower & quality of the signal. Your Internet connection speed depends on the package - same as any other medium. Individual sectors can typically deliver around 6Mbps to 10Mbps in total, potentially shared between around 500 or more users. A single cell site would typically have a number efficient sectors, so it's not as bad as it sounds.

Note that a WiMax base station could be run off an ADSL line, so extending the range of any network is really what it means in the broadband market, and should be viewed as such. Expectations by users of wireless products may sometimes be a little high as the next best thing starts gaining ground, but I think it's essence is about deploying efficient technology and providing convent access for more users.