[LINK] The market for wireless [WAS: Work on Next Generation Wireless in Canberra]

[Tom Worthington]

David Boxall wrote:
> On 27/11/2010 12:15 PM, Tom Worthington wrote:
>> ... Some versions of WiMax will not work when the units are moving at
>> more than 100 kph. ...
> 
> Wasn't the first published WiMax standard designed for fixed point 
> applications?

Yes, early versions of WiMax were designed for fixed use, but later 
versions added mobility. There are a few WiMax mobile phone handsets, 
which combine a GSM or CDMA mobile phone service for wide coverage and 
WiMax for high speed on a limited coverage network. An example is the 
HTC EVO 4G Android smart phone: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Evo_4G>.

> ... Of the people I know, fewer than 15% have home wireless networks. ...

Apart from wireless for data access, how many have cordless phones? Why 
do we need to have two different wireless handsets, one for use on the 
street and one for use at home?

> As a long-time PDA user, I find smartphones interesting, but far too 
> expensive. ...

There is a new batch of Smartphones coming out for around $200, which 
should see them becoming very common.

> Is it wise to conflate fixed and mobile? To me, the fixed infrastructure 
> is fundamental; mobile is a handy accessory. ...

It is now commonplace when at a meeting, conferecne or on a bus, to see
people using a smartphone to browse the web or use an "app".

This is ruining social occasions by stifling "pub-talk", that is people 
talking endless nonsense to bond. As soon as one person says "did you 
know that ..." someone else will pull out a smart phone and look up the 
Web to see if it is true. ;-)

More seriously, I may be wrong and wireless networking may not take off.
But in case I am right, I suggest the NBN be engineered to be 
retrofitted with wireless.


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, School of Computer Science, The
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/
Visiting Scientist, CSIRO ICT Centre: http://bit.ly/csiro_ict_canberra