Broadband wireless Internet access is simply the delivery of broadband Internet rates over a wireless connection.  Especially popular for rural areas, broadband wireless competes with fiber, DSL, and HFC.

As defined in my article on broadband Internet, broadband is a persistent connection at rates of about 200 kbps or higher, and two important broadband wireless technologies for providing these rates are WiMAX and LTE.  Older technologies used by wireless broadband Internet providers include LMDS, MMDS, Free Space Optics (FSO), satellite, and point-to-point microwave links.  Both WiMAX and LTE provide rates that likely require fiber uplinks to the towers, hence the new term Fiber to the Tower or FTTT.

WiMAX

WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) broadband is a form of broadband wireless Internet access that is standardized by the IEEE and currently capable of rates of up to 15 Mbps or more, though typical wireless internet service rates are a few Mbps.  WiMAX technology has been a popular method of delivering broadband wireless access to rural areas owing to its ability to serve a large geographic area with relatively modest investments compared to DSL, fiber, and HFC.

The IEEE is working on a new version of WiMAX known as 802.16m or WiMAX-m that provides for access rates of up to 1 Gbps.  The IEEE 802.16m working group has produced this Draft IEEE 802.16m System Description Document, which provides an overview of where the WiMAX broadband wireless standard is going.  The IEEE 802.16m WiMAX standard will specify multiple carriers to increases the bandwidth available to a subscriber.  The WiMAX Forum is dedicated to increasing the acceptance of WiMAX networks by wireless broadband providers and WiMAX broadband service by subscribers.

LTE

LTE (Long Term Evolution) is another form of broadband wireless access and a competitor to the new WiMAX 802.16m standard for attention by wireless internet service providers.  LTE is being standardized by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), which is a global collaboration of telecommunication associations that work on broadband wireless internet standards under the aegis of the ITU.   Release 8 of the 3GPP standards (frozen December 2008) defines LTE and provides an all-IP network, data rates well over 100 Mbps, and low latency (generally less than 10 ms).

LTE-Advanced is the successor to LTE and provides peak data rates as high as 1 Gbps.  Work on LTE-Advanced is underway by 3GPP, and will be part of 3GPP’s Release 10, which is still in development.   The evolution to LTE-Advanced is shown in 3GPP’s evolution chart below.

© 2009, The Product Group LLC. All rights reserved.

Related posts:

1. Long Term Evolution (LTE) Overview LTE (Long Term Evolution) is a form of broadband wireless access standardized by the 3GPP, which is a global collaboration of telecommunication associations that work on broadband wireless...
2. Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-Advanced) Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE-Advanced) is a mobile wireless broadband standard (for some background and context, read my overview of wireless broadband) designed to meet the ITU’s requirements...
3. WiMAX Overview Standardized by the IEEE and currently capable of rates of up to 15 Mbps, WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a form of 4G broadband...
4. WiMAX Tutorial WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a form of broadband wireless Internet access standardized by the IEEE in its 802.16 series of standards.  WiMAX...
5. A Cornucopia of Broadband Carriers have many choices for delivering broadband servies to residential and business subscribers they choose to serve. The majority of broadband services are delivered with ADSL2+...

1. Ian L says:

   October 22, 2009 at 2:21 pm

   IMO WiMAX will be an effective substitute for DSL and DOCSIS 1.1 cable. However the upgrade costs from DOCSIS 1.1 to DOCSIS 3.0 are low enough that, if the provider so chooses and has enough bandwidht on the headend, cable can beat wireless in areas where plant is deployed.

   As for fiber, it will always win, though for lower deployment costs at lower speeds WiMAX/LTE can be effective entry-level services (up to 10/2 Mbps or maybe 15/5). Which is probably enough for 80% of custoemrs.