Keith, (and all, of course) As this is my profession, (some would say my passion) I thought it might be appropriate for me to add to this conversation. I opted for the in-line method to assure I address all of your questions.
On 1/7/05, Keith Birkhold <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I was reading though the message submitted by Lee Thorn and was > particularly interested in his use of WiMax technology. Lee could you > exaborate on how far you have been able to progress with the WiMax > technology? If there are any others in our group with WiMax experience, > I would appreciate your comments. At this time there is no formal WiMAX equipment available in the world. The best estimates are that you will see WiMAX certified equipment towards the end of this year. There is what is commonly being labeled as Pre-WiMAX equipment being sold but this is not the technology being employed by the Jhai project (unless I missed a memo) The terms WiMAX and WiFi are used quite often but the reality is that both of these terms are clearly defined standards for specific technology and what we are really talking about is what is known as License Exempt wireless. I offer this explanation not to be pedantic but rather to explain that using the wrong technical term is analogous to walking into an automotive repair facility and telling them that your television isn't working. While you may gain some sympathy, it is doubtful you will receive the help you are seeking. > We are in the process of building a hybrid e-school to be regionalized > around Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA. There are several choices for connectivity in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I am pretty sure you can get a full T1 dedicated to your project for under $500/month. If you need help with finding connectivity please contact me off-list and I will be glad to assist you. > Even though we do not have the last mile connectivity issues that many > participants in the GKD group face, we too are limited in the type of > education we employ by the lowest connectivity speed. I did some > reasearch on using this technology to create a metropolitan area > network, and with the potential for a 30 mile coverage radius from one > tower a lot of headaches could be eliminated, but the feedback I > received was that it is still several years off, and that the hardware > is not yet small enough to fit into a notebook computer. I am not sure where you got that information as misinformation abounds in this field but many cities have WiFi connectivity citywide. As to whether the hardware is small enough to fit in a notebook computer most notebook computers come with wireless connectivity built in. Intel uses the brand name Centrino, If you live in a city that has ubiquitous coverage you should be able to open your notebook just about anywhere in the city and connect. As to the idea that you would want to set up one tower and cover 30 miles, this is not how the networks are designed. There is only so much connectivity one can supply from one tower and the more people you try to service from that one tower the slower service everyone receives - we all share a connection. Instead of one central tower that everyone is serviced from, many locations are used with each location having their data then "relayed" back to one specific point (commonly referred to as a NOC or Network Operations Center) to be forwarded to the net from there. > If any of you have additional info, I would appreciate hearing from you. I do this for a living and I can tell you this is something that I could write volumes on. Please consider contacting me off-list if you need further assistance in this project. Respectfully, Ken DiPietro New-ISP NextGenCommunications ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>
