Opinion: WhichMAX?

You know, those uber-geeks who might actually know what will work best where. Nobody is going to ask their opinion until the stuff doesn’t work, then we’ll rush to the experts and ask them to please explain. Instead, we’re going to get the technology which the ISPs and IT vendors prefer.

Among ISPs it’s obviously Telstra which calls the shots locally, so we’ve got NextG broadband, and it does indeed work as advertised but the pricing is outright piracy. Even at the current price of petrol it’s still cheaper to drive across town with a memory stick than it is to download anything substantial over NextG.

Clearly, this must change. The technology and towers are already in place for mobile phones. The pricing is fictional. There won’t be a mass uptake of the service until it gets seriously more affordable.

Among IT vendors it’s obviously Intel that is pushing the WiMAX handcart, and is about to start shipping the technology integrated into its standard chipsets. That means container loads of notebooks and “netbooks” will soon be arriving here with limited connectivity outside the capital cities, except of course when within range of their built-in WiFi.

It now seems unlikely that Intel will bundle the wireless technology used by Telstra’s NextG into its chipsets unless a truckload more ISPs globally go down that same path.

So, will a local ISP, Telstra or not, step into the breach and graft some WiMAX transmitters onto their towers? Optus was heading in that direction before the government pulled the plug on its joint venture with Elders.

Does Optus actually have a secret warehouse full of WiMAX kit ready to be installed? Surely they must at least have every detail of the engineering sorted, so all they need is the black boxes and some ladders.

The convenience of NextG broadband is utterly addictive on a notebook – therefore WiMAX wouldn’t be any less so. But it’s not so addictive that you’ll embark on a life of petty crime to pay for your habit – yet – so which ISP is going to grab the entire market by making it affordable?

And affordable means matching the ADSL2+ deals now on offer, with a wireless desktop modem for the home/office and wireless dongles included for a wandering notebook at no extra cost. I’d like to see that.

Would you?

mobility opinion whichmax