Maybe WiMax Isn't All That
Finally! There has been story after story after story in the press about how WiMax is the greatest thing since the internet was invented, making all sorts of assumptions about how WiMax had already killed plenty of technologies that actually exist already (when WiMax doesn’t). Now, some analysts have actually taken a look at WiMax and 802.20 (or, since everything needs a marketable name these days: “MobileFi”), and pointed out that, despite buckets of drool from the press, they’re unlikely to kill of DSL anytime soon. At least initially, these technologies are much more likely to provide service to underserved markets. When they start competing directly with DSL, the economics just don’t support the wireless offerings any time soon. They may eventually get there, but the stories that seem to assume WiMax and other broadband wireless technologies will simply wipe out their wireline competitors within days of being launched are clearly going overboard.
