Australian wireless network operator Buzz Broadband told attendees at an worldly WiMAX conference in Bangkok that month that it had experienced insurmountable problems with WiMAX. The problems included covering distances of more than two kilometers, reaching indoor locations more than 400 meters from the transmitter, and integrating VoIP telephony.

According to an Australian report cited by The New York Times, Buzz Broadband CEO Garth Freeman said his company was forced to move to a mix of other technologies after its WiMAX trials “failed miserably.”

However, a number of WiMAX networks in Asia, Africa, Eastern and Western Europe and North America have not seen similar problems, said Gartner Vice President Ian Keene. “Instead, we are seeing those networks expanding as conformance-tested products become available,” he added.

“There certainly isn’t any universal opinion that something is fundamentally wrong with WiMAX,” Keene said. “Any technology can produce poor performances whether you don’t get it right.”

urgent Distinctions

Sprint spokesperson John Polivka said two crucial distinctions need to be drawn amidst the unsuccessful trials conducted in Australia and the successful launch of WiMAX systems in the U.S. and South Korea.

“Buzz Broadband was working with a fixed WiMAX installation in the 3.5-GHz spectrum, which is in stark contrast with Sprint’s use of mobile WiMAX technology in the 2.5-GHz spectrum,” Polivka said.

WiMAX systems running at 2.5 GHz attain better building penetration than those operating in the significantly higher 3.5-GHz spectrum, Polivka explained. “Fixed systems are plus heavily dependent on line of sight, whereas mobile WiMAX does not,” he noted.

Polivka cited the trials that Sprint and its partners conducted in Chicago last October as an example of what WiMAX can do. “In the thick of an urban environment, and even underground in some places,” Polivka said, “the signals were continuously available with no disruption.” He plus noted…

Orginal post by Top Tech News