WiMAX Washout

rpm

rpm

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I have always been a little sceptical about the grand claims that were made about WiMAX by all the early promoters and evangelists of the technology. I have now unfortunately been proved right.

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Last edited by a moderator:
rpm said:
I have now unfortunately been proved right.
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According to the installers, the long delay in installations is due to spectrum squatting which has stuffed up their logistics & planning. Northern JHB especially around Sandton is littered with illegal wireless links using the licensed WiMAX spectrum, and while they're making progress, its not all cleared up yet (probably why the signal is so poor).

Unfortunately those responsible for policing this are not exactly on top of their game.
 
Official MWEB response

The official MWEB response to this post:
As with any new technology, there needs to be a trial and testing phase - and so too with WiMAX. This is a brand new technology internationally and South Africa is well up there with the rest of the world in terms of progress with testing WiMAX. However, as you mentioned, there are occasions, particularly in test phase, when things don't always run smoothly. MWEB has been quite open about the issues and frustrations being experienced with WiMAX, but we are confident that, together with our trialists, we are overcoming the hurdles. Trialists on WiMAX are getting to experience a brand new Internet technology for free, and with that comes the understanding that they will help us identify the issues and frustrations, so that we can resolve them.

The one month delay in getting WiMAX installed in Johannesburg trialists’ homes was a result of interference we experienced in our allocated frequency band. ICASA kindly offered us an alternative band whereupon we incurred considerable expense in changing our base station equipment to use the new band. Hence the initial one-month delay. We informed all our Johannesburg trialists of this delay by email.

As regards signal strength, we only have four base stations operational in greater Johannesburg - Soweto, Boksburg, Sandton and Randburg - with only the latter two in Johannesburg itself. Consequently, trial coverage is patchy, cannot be guaranteed and can certainly not be compared with commercial services. Part of our trial is to determine what the coverage characteristics of WiMAX are. Trial customers are made aware of these limitations in our WiMAX Trial terms and conditions. Also bear in mind that this is not a national network yet, so there will be areas (even close to base stations) that don't get a good enough signal due to the nature of this technology.

Part of our Trial is to test and iron out problems with our installation procedure. While we’re committed to not wasting trial customers’ time, we do ask them for their patience while we’re busy with this, remembering that this service is free while we’re trialing it.

We have no doubt that WiMAX is an excellent technology and one that will provide a real alternative to the current offerings.

WiMAX Central

MWEB
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well now I am just really getting ticked off,

I was selected to be a trialist, and waited for the "few weeks" after they promised to come and install the equipment,

Then I got an email saying there has been a delay, must wait,

I live in randburg, and according to this the randburg tower is operational?...

how now?
 
...whereupon we incurred considerable expense in changing our base station equipment to use the new band
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What???

Nobody considered frequency changes when they designed the base station equipment. Hell even the old SADF bush telephones had this kind of "functionality" designed in
 
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Yotch said:
Here is a link to MWeb Namibia's WiMax offerings

http://www.mweb.na/index.php?fArticleId=1483811
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What?!?!?!?!

Check those prices!!! N$2124.00 (R1 = N$1) a year is like R177 per month! And that is with a 9GB cap!! Ok you have to sign a 1year contract but I'll pay that for a 1Mb connection and 9GB Cap per month any day!!!

My Question to MWeb.

If the have WiMax services running in Namibia, why would they want to test it then in SA? Haven't they done enough testing on their network in Namibia?
 
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I think those prices are per month for a period of one year,
 
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