WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a broadband wireless standard and is hailed as the ‘super powered Wi-Fi’. One of the key advantages of WiMax is that it can be used over much greater distances than standard wireless technology, working over distances of many miles rather than just within the same building or small area. The real benefit is that you can run signals very close to each other on wireless channels using narrow lines with a lot of traffic over them, but without disrupting each other.
For broadband suppliers, WiMax reduces the need to lay cable to hook up remote areas and is seen by some as having the potential to make the UK 100 per cent broadband-enabled. WiMAX will also be much easier to install, which makes it more cost-effective for service providers and hopefully some of those savings will accrue to users.
Milton Keynes was the venue for the first commercial WiMax trial by Freedom4. The town was been chosen due to its less-than-great broadband coverage and sprawling geography, which seem ideal to test the technology's potential. The service has now been rolled out commercially.
Find out more about the ‘next big thing’ in wireless at Wireless08.
