Wireless

Wireless

by Mike Masnick





Earthlink Offering Not WiMax

from the but-it-ain't-WiMax dept

Earthlink is no stranger to experimenting with alternative forms of broadband. Last year they started experimenting with letting their customers connect wirelessly over a 1xRTT network (the data network Sprint and most of Verizon Wireless offer for dataspeeds that usually are slightly better than dialup). Earlier this year they started trials with broadband over powerlines, and now they're announcing that they're going to offer wireless broadband in a few northern California cities - offering speeds from 384 kilobits per second or up to 1 megabit per second with pricing between $21.95 a month or $29.95 a month. Seems like a pretty good deal, though, depending on the specific technology, wireless broadband has had a spotty history so far. Of course, the reporter on the article claims that this is WiMax - which is impossible, since WiMax doesn't actually exist yet (it's amazing how confused the press is about WiMax). In this case, the reporter mistakenly believes that all wireless broadband is "WiMax" and it's not a specific standard that still hasn't been approved. Either way, it should be interesting to see how far these trials go, as most major broadband providers haven't done much publicly concerning wireless broadband offerings.

3 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 

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  1. No Subject Given

    by Anonymous Coward - May 19th, 2004 @ 8:48am

    I believe the people in charge of Wimax have started transmitting certain radiowaves that cause people to think too much about a technology that won't be out for years.....even when they don't mean to.

    This is only a theory.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  2. Maybe It IS WiMAX

    by Ananymous Coward - May 19th, 2004 @ 11:54am

    You'll note that the service is vaporware, so it's quite possible that it is planned to be rolled out as 802.16 rather than 802.11.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  3. Re: Maybe It IS WiMAX

    by icon Mike (profile) - May 19th, 2004 @ 4:23pm

    If they're waiting for WiMax, then they'll be waiting a very long time.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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