Knowing About wrote:

>
> A related development will be interfaces that combine both 802.11
> wireless LAN and 802.16e mobile WiMAX chips. "These combined chipsets
> will be common," he says.
>
> Sprint's subscribers will be using indoor access radios to connect to
> the WiMAX net. The intent is to make this connection extremely simple
> to use, he says. Initially, a lot of users of the Sprint network will
> connect via PCMCIA cards with mobile WiMAX chipsets. Because West
> thinks the availability of truly pervasive multimegabit wireless
> Internet will be a powerful attraction, part of his time is spent
> talking to consumer electronics companies, including Sprint's WiMAX
> partners Motorola and Samsung, persuading them to integrate WiMAX into
> their devices.
>
> For further information about wimax visit
> http://www.knowingabout.com/wimax

I really don't understand why sprint is throwing billions of dollars into
somethat that is already done, works, and is commercially available for way
way LESS.... And even the chipset they use will work with the existing
system before theirs is even deployed!
At my place in Northern idaho, one of the nodes of the spokane-rathdrum
skynet covers 263 square miles (and they have 5 others at the moment, some
covering even larger areas) with 802.11b providing wireless internet to
hundreds of square miles, works great on pda's and laptops, or even on
desktops.... (want VOIP? great for skype etc).. See the current map of
places covered at http://www.onelasvegas.com/wireless/ID.html
Lets see.. wimax will cost the companies a lot of money, this version will
only work on the sprint equipment, rather than any commercially available
product, and be a whole lot slower (802.11b is 11Mbps, Wimax as sprint
imlements it is only a measly 5Mpbs, shall we talk about latency? Wimax is
slower than a turtle... Nah, beyond my comprehension why they think there is
any money it, other than to screw the stupid people that think they have to
have something newer (but NOT better IMO)....