Did You Know: Consumer WiMax Survey

According to a survey, consumers are looking forward to using WiMAX for responding to e-mail, reading and watching live online news, enjoying mobile TV and downloading music on the go. These are the four top uses customers see for WiMAX in a recent survey commissioned by Motorola. In the survey, WiMAX was defined as a new, long-range wireless broadband technology that provides secure, high-speed Internet access, which can be used in a fixed or stationary setting. Nearly half of those who responded to the survey said they would likely use WiMAX to read or respond to e-mail; 31% would read or view real-time online media; 28% would enjoy mobile entertainment, such as mobile TV; and another 28% said they would use WiMAX to download and listen to music. They survey also found that 57% of respondents think its important that wireless broadband services be available wherever they are. Other uses consumers listed in the survey for wireless broadband would be to e-mail videos and photos to friends in other cities, and watching sports replays at events they were attending live. The survey of 601 U.S. Internet-using households was conducted by Centris through a national telephone survey in May of this year.

Source: www.wirelessweek.com

Sprint's Announces WiMax Plans

Chicago and Washington, D.C. will be the first WiMax markets deployed by Sprint. The WiMax network will cover at least 100 milion people by the end of 2008. The initial WiMAX markets are supposed to be online by the end of this year with additional markets selected based on market-readiness estimates. Sprint is in the midst of building out its EV-DO Rev A network, which currently covers more than 60 million pops. Sprint is the first and only carrier who has commercially announced Rev A service.

Nokia Corp. will provide the network equipment for the WiMAX network, and Motorola Inc. will be developing chip sets for devices. According to Sprint Nextel, Samsung Corp. will develop chip sets and has also committed to producing half a dozen WiMAX-capable devices, including “ultra mobile” PCs and personal media players. LG Electronics Co. Ltd. intends to develop “an infotainment device that would work on the Sprint Nextel WiMAX network.” Intel Corp. has already completed the design of a single-chip, multi-band WiMAX/Wi-Fi chipset that the company says it will “sample in card and module forms in late 2007.” The WiMAX network technology and future applications are being demonstrated this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.