The technologies are very similar and With Line of sight for Point to point links the distances are about the same between the two, in fact WiFi may be a slightly better technology for Point to Point because you can use larger channel sizes e.g. 20MHz, 40MHz. That said, for providing last mile access (e.g. Skypilot business model), it all comes down to how much power, how low in the frequency spectrum you are operating and what is your channel width. Thus for access, WiMAX dominates and the signal goes much (2-6X) farther simply because you have much higher Tx power, smaller channel sizes (e.g. Clearwire uses 10Mhz channels), absolutely no noise (given licensed spectrum) and operates lower in the frequency from 450MHz to 3.6GHZ, instead of 5Ghz like 11a or 2.4 for 11g/n.
Clearwire is using a range of about 4000ft for their mobile network, whereas with metro WiFi you are really looking at 500-750 feet max and you still have inconsistent coverage. As another example, we are currently doing two large train broadband projects (putting internet on the trains), one with 802.11a at 5.4GHz/4.9GHz, one with WiMAX at 3.6GHz. With WiMAX, we can get by with a tower along the track every 10-15 miles or so, with WiFi, we need one every 4-7 miles or so. Almost twice the distance with WiMAX, for the same net throughput. Both WiFi and WiMAX have there pros and cons depending on what you are using it for and both are great technologies. But for wide area last mile mobile access, WiMAX is definitely the way to go, Wi-Fi really does not cut it. tyler ------- Tyler van Houwelingen Founder & CEO AzulStar, Inc. 1051 Jackson, Grand Haven, MI 49417 Main: 1-877-AZULSTAR Fax: 616-842-1104 www.azulstar.com -------------------------------------------------- From: "Michael Weinberg" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 8:08 AM To: <[email protected]> Subject: [ptp-general] SkyPilot Purchased > > This has been reported by a few people, including Mike Rogoway at the > Oregonian, but I'm particularly intrigued by a quote in CNET's article > (http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10250943-54.html): > > "SkyPilots Wi-Fi mesh networking gear has the range of WiMax but is > cheaper, said Brian Jenkins, director of marketing for the company. > "We take standard chips and make system look like a WiMax in terms of > range and capacity," he said." > > Does anyone actually believe that? If that were the case, I'd expect > that the Portland MetroFi deployment would have worked much better. Of > course, if that's even half true, then I really would like the City of > Portland to take down the gear and put it in the hands of the > community to do something with. > > One possibility is that Jenkins is (somewhat disingenuously) referring > to unlicensed, 5GHz WiMax, rather than the expensive licensed stuff > ala Clearwire, and happily accepting the public's confusion over WiMax > flavors. > > -- > Michael Weinberg > President > Personal Telco Project, Inc. > A 501(c)(3) Non-Profit > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ The Personal Telco Project - http://www.personaltelco.net/ Donate to PTP: http://www.personaltelco.net/donate Archives: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.network.wireless.portland.general/ Etiquette: http://www.personaltelco.net/index.cgi/MailingListEtiquette List information: http://lists.personaltelco.net To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
