Wimax or 3g which is better

WiMax might have a line-of-sight issue with your neighborhood. Here is some recent coverage info on T-Mobile , Verizon , and Sprint. Look for stuff like that. Your current phone likely maxes out at 1.

Even something like HSPA, which is actually an improvement to 3G networks and not a new one per se, needs to be rolled out area by area, and coverage will be as spotty as other services. Ask the carrier representatives, ask your friends, and of course, ask us. This is what your old flip-phone used to download games like Bejeweled. It was the original way of transferring data over digital cellular networks.

There are two major varieties of 2. It is likely that one of the standards will eventually become an orphan, especially if there are deployment or operation issues. Hence it is important that mobile operators and regulators get it right. Michele Marius has a wealth of experience in the telecoms and ICT space, which has been gained in the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and the South Pacific, and in the public and private sectors.

Another excellent and valuable post. One implication is should the Caribbean take some joint position on the technology standards at the coming radio spectrum ITU conference next year. And where is the Fiber To The Home debate going? Is it a case of Fiber co-existing with wireless a la 4G or a new wave of carrier competition? I anticipate that FTTH would coexist with the mobile broadband based on customer device preferences, security considerations and the like. Singapore, Australia, NZ , where the govts put up the funds and implemented tender processes.

Honestly, most of our countries are strapped for cash, and I am sure the telcos would not be keen to carry that financial burden…. However, it may be driven by IPTV particularly with Netflix and other like services pushing into the region.

Also, with the falling costs of fibre, providers will eventually look at using fibre to replace their aging copper plant at some point, particularly as the ramp up of data demand will move to outstrip the ability for that old copper to keep up. WiMAX will remain viable as a fixed-wireless last-mile option, but persons are taking their connections with them, thus the action is in the handheld arena. Based on this, I see LTE becoming the technology of choice. A larger market would then make investments more viable due to greater opportunities for returns.

Otherwise, local governments will have to use their limited and sometimes non-existent dollars to building out telecommunications infrastructure, effectively subsidizing the providers. Interestingly, though, a LLU regime will more likely see FTTH realized, as an infrastructure provider can choose to roll it out and simply lease it out to all providers.

View All Events. Email address:. What is 3G? What is 4G? According to Carl-Henric Svanberg, Ericsson's president and CEO, WiMax emerged because it presented an opportunity for fixed line providers to provide some level of mobility for their users. But he noted that wireless users are limited to areas that have WiMax coverage fo Internet connectivity. In comparison, mobile network coverage is more extensive. He noted that the ubiquity and strength of mobility would continue to encourage people toward 3G.

The industry has seen a huge transition toward mobility , but WiMax and Wi-Fi are not mobile technologies and are typically used to provide last-mile connectivity, said Phillips.

But Alex Tan, director of Qala Singapore, believes both mobile and wireless technology segments are complementary and can co-exist in the market. Each technology is targeted at different audiences or devices to the same audiences, under different scenarios, he said, in an e-mail interview.

Tan explained that while some manufacturers such as Samsung, are positioning WiMax as an alternative technology for mobile phones and handhelds, he said there is a "sizable use" for it as a wireless broadband replacement for wired devices. Tan noted that although it is likely that WiMax could become prevalent in mobile devices, especially if the cost of WiMax chips are comparable to Wi-Fi chips, this trend may not extend so readily for 3G or HSDPA in notebooks.

But there is already indication that this is changing. Some hardware manufacturers are now looking to integrate mobile access technologies into their laptops.

Just this week, Intel signed an agreement with the GSMA to encourage hardware makers to integrate SIM card readers, 3G and other mobile connectivity into new desktop and mobile computers. Dell's U.