Earthlink Offering Not WiMax

Wireless

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.