Intel’s upcoming WiMAX 2 standard should be much faster than the existing standard in practice, the WiMAX Forum’s marketing lead Declan Byrne said this weekend. Existing WiMAX often tops at around 3-6Mbpsdownpipw and a little over 1 Mbps up-pipe in the real worls. The new 802.16m version should provide average speeds over 100Mbps, Byrne told Computerworld. Range would be the same as it would use the same frequencies, such as the 2.5GHz band in the US.
The standard should be ratified in November and could be in commercial use as soon as 2012. Clear, Comacast and Sprint are the most likely to use it as they share one of the largest WiMAX networks in use.
An upgrade could have a significant impact on Internet use, as 100Mbps would outpace most current landline access and would permit streaming 1080p video or other very high-bandwidth apps. WiMAX is also much lower latency than 3G and is already more practical for time-sensitive functions such as video chat.
