Is WiMAX Going Down?

The wireless technology has meant the escape from the cabled network era, and for a long period of time it has been well under the transfer rates supported by cable transmission, that was the main disadvantage, and many people had to make a choice which proved more of a compromise, speed or mobility. But why not both? Well not wireless specifications such as the 802.11n draft have proven that you can transfer a lot of information through the aid or waves also.

Seeing how cabled network technology has made some big steps when it comes to the supported transfer rates, why does the wireless pose such a big threat to the cable? Because the very high speed cabled Internet connections come with a price tag, a big one for that matter, and most manufacturers include Gigabit LAN connections only on their high end series of products, such as motherboards.

Still, one of the names that created waves of interest among consumers is WiMAX, the long awaited technology that is bound to offer long range networking capabilities. The initial release of the IEEE 802.16 specifications, the specs of WiMAX, talked about it functioning within the 10-60 GHz range, now specifications include the 2-11 GHz range.

Recent information revealed that companies such as Ericsson and Mitac Technology Corporation have lost interest in WiMAX, even Sprint Nextel, an US-based supporter of the technology is said to have become "more conservative about WiMAX". This is after Sprint announced in January that will invest $800 million in 2007 and more than $2 billion in 2008 in order to supply WiMAX in major US cities. A collaboration with Intel for the WiMAX/Wi-Fi chipset and with Samsung and Nokia for WiMAX-enabled handsets was also part of the plan. Too bad they didn't stick to it, to the plan that is.