LTE vs Wimax vs Microwave

[jamieb]

I just got off the phone with a Neotel sales rep. She said to me that LTE 2mb offers the same performance as Wimax 4b. How can this be? Surely, 2 MB/sec is 2 MB/sec and 4 MB/sec is 4 MB/sec? Can someone please tell me. Furthermore, a guy from iBurst told us that Wimax is not Microwave. Last time I checked - Wimax stands for "Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access". This is microwave, or am I mistaken. How is iBurst Microwave technology different from Wimax? Just a different protocol over the microwave spectrum. Thanks in advance.

We like to watch TV on our connection. Will the 2 MB/sec LTE link be fast enough?

 

[BouncyNinja]

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/3216548842

here is my speed test using Telkom Mobile LTE , we use prepaid, and once a month i just go get a 60 + 60 bundle

 

[jamieb]

That's a nice speed test though, Neotel's offering is supposedly 2 MB/sec. Why is Telkom's so much higher? if I go with Neotel 2MB, what performance should I expect? Why would it be any slower than the equivalent 2MB with Wimax?

Here is an explanation from a friend of mine on the difference between Wimax and Microwave:

>Wimax is lower frequency than Microwave thus can bend around objects but less robust to weather and 30 times lower carrying >capacity than line of sight microwave (that’s why Neotel didn’t ask to come and conduct a sight survey because they knew they >would not need exact line of sight to Linksfield Ridge). The advantage of Wimax to the service provider is that they don’t have to >point directly at the client thus able to service a broader radius with 1 antenna and vastly reduce their hardware costs.

>It peaves me off how these companies try to pull the wool over people’s eyes and insinuate that it is >a microwave service...it should >be illegal to claim things that are not true. I got service providers >telling me this time and again, either through their own ignorance
>or because they thought I would not know any better.

>I am not saying you shouldn’t get Neotel WiMax because I am sure it will outperform Telkom...but >realise that real microwave is way superior for large businesses who don’t want to be affected by >adverse weather and carry vast amounts of data. In reality...the only other available technology with >lower latency than microwave is Fibre...copper is a joke because it is either getting stolen or getting >wet. I am not saying your Neotel service will be interrupted by bad weather but may get a little >jittery in large thunderstorms which is not big deal.

>Neotel might use microwave for their backhaul between their own towers but they are mad about fibre.