WiMax vs Broadband

Pinky123

Ok, ye are all gonna think I am totally brainless but can someone please explain what the difference is between WiMax and broadband. I have no fixed landline in our house and the USB key connection I have is woefull so I need to get something sorted. All advice is greatly appreciated

dvdman1

only try it if your certain the mast is close to your home. i mean 1.5 miles max

Rennboy88

Even if your close enough they allow so many users the congestion an thus speed it shocking on their own speed test I'm averaging 256kps its like dial up be very careful about commiting

runswithascript

I've heard it mentioned on boards.ie that technically it's midband not broadband at all, which is why there's a forum here specific to midband internet under Tech >> Net & Comms >> Broadband >> Midband, and I'd Imagine your post will be moved there.

Will be following this thread with interest.

On a personal note, I encounter a lot of WiMAX customers that it works great for, and a lot of customers it doesn't - my advice? If in doubt go with NTL.

Pinky123

Hiya Dusf,

Can you get NTL without a fixed landline. Have Sky for our TV

runswithascript

Pinky123 wrote: »

Hiya Dusf,

Can you get NTL without a fixed landline. Have Sky for our TV

Yup but unfortunately not in my area

The broadband is coming over their fiber optic network and then down the 'pipe'. If you have television with them already great, if you don't they do charge a premium of €7 or €7.50 but from my understanding of their services it is well worth it.

runswithascript

How has this thread not been moved yet to the appropriate forum so we can get some input from people in Tech >> Net & Comms >> Broadband >> Midband? :rolleyes:

Sparks

dusf wrote: »

How has this thread not been moved yet to the appropriate forum so we can get some input from people in Tech >> Net & Comms >> Broadband >> Midband? :rolleyes:

Because day jobs and cooking dinner tend to eat up moderator time...

runswithascript

Sparks wrote: »

Because day jobs and cooking dinner tend to eat up moderator time...

Evidently not so much time you cannot respond to a request to move a post to the correct forum without fulfilling it.

Sparks

Sure... after dinner and the day job are over. And I'm not training on the range.
And sometimes I'll do stuff while on coffee break or when code's compiling.



But mostly, the mods are volunteers with limited available time, and folk ought to keep that in mind.

runswithascript

Sparks wrote: »

Sure... after dinner and the day job are over. And I'm not training on the range.
And sometimes I'll do stuff while on coffee break or when code's compiling.



But mostly, the mods are volunteers with limited available time, and folk ought to keep that in mind.

Thank you

Now anyone in the industry on the difference between Broadband and WiMAX, and possibly why WiMAX is actually midband? Google is vague on the matter, although admittedly I like everyone else do not review every single hit.

watty

Fixed WiMax can be Broadband,

Mobile WiMax is not too likely to be real broadband. Mobile /Nomadic (indoor aerials) works best at lower bands.

Dialup (1200bps to 50kbps) and ISDN to 128kbps is officially Narrowband.

Midband is technology that can be better than Dialup or ISDN (though not always) and can sometimes deliver Broadband performance but it can't be guaranteed and is usually much poorer at peak times on economically viable masts than at quiet times on less used masts. Often the speed quoted (unlike dialup, ISDN or Broadband) is a peak speed with only a single user connecting to the mast!

See the charter here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055442502
Similar here http://www.techtir.ie/forums/internet-faq


Imagine's WiMax is a Mobile/Nomadic system on a Band only suitable for Fixed WiMax. This sacrifices a huge amount of performance in exchange for low roll out costs.

Lots of People offer Fixed WiMax and just market it as Wireless Broadband.

There are some other reasons why Imagine's flavour of WiMax may be inferior. But the main issue is that it's a mobile/Nomadic system on an unsuitable band (3600MHz). 3G/HSPA uses 2100MHz, and GSM/EDGE uses 900/1800MHz. Clearwire's WiMax (USA) is a lower band (2300 or 2500MHz I think). Clearwire has pulled out of Ireland and assets/Customers taken over by Imagine.


Imagine WiMax can't guarantee stable latency or speed, nor ensure speed and latency recognised as Broadband.

Why even 1Mbps DSL or Fixed Wireless (Wimax or not) can be better than Imagine WiMax 7Mbps package or 3G/HSPA 21Mbps.
http://www.techtir.ie/comms/mobile-vs-fixed

Fixed WiMax is doing OK, but really what Intel would have liked is Mobile WiMax and Intel WiMax in every laptop/netbook. The fixed WiMax is not mass market and the radio is outdoors, not in laptop or dongle. see http://www.techtir.ie/watty/mobile_wimax_dying

Pinky123

Fecking Hell, that is a lot of info for a non tech head to take in but am guessing that the general opinion is to go for a standard broadband connection

watty

Great executive summary

jor el

Pinky123 wrote: »

Fecking Hell, that is a lot of info for a non tech head to take in but am guessing that the general opinion is to go for a standard broadband connection

Pretty much, yes. Go with proper fixed wireless (not a mobile system like Imagine WiMax or any 3G service). Proper fixed wireless are Breeze (BreezeMax if it's available), Metro, and others, though these are the two most widely available. Also cable (like UPC) and DSL (eircom, Magnet and all the others). Fibre (FTTH) would be the best, if you can get it. This is almost as rare as hen's teeth.

Why is Imagine WiMax not broadband? Well, basically it's the latency (delay from you requesting something to the server receiving that request). This delay can be hundreds of milliseconds, and with several requests required to load a single page, the delay can be seconds before your page even starts to load. On proper broadband, the latency is 10s of milliseconds, so pages load far quicker. This delay also effect gaming and VOIP in a major way.

The other major drawback with a mobile system is the uncontrolled congestion/contention. This can cause your speed to drop dramatically from the stated maximum.

Both of these drawback often combine to make a terrible browsing and Internet usage experience for the end user. So when it's bad, it's really bad.

watty

However they appear to be replacing Breeze with the newer "Imagine WiMax" even though the later BreezeMax is proper Fixed WiMax. They probably can't run both on the same frequency and thus changing over from the more expensive to install system. Though some Breeze might be on licence Free 2.4 or 5.8 and the "Imagine WiMax" seems to b e just 3.6Ghz.

However Imagine has been less than transparent about what they are doing.

runswithascript

watty wrote: »

However they appear to be replacing Breeze with the newer "Imagine WiMax" even though the later BreezeMax is proper Fixed WiMax. They probably can't run both on the same frequency and thus changing over from the more expensive to install system.

Your observation is correct.