t e c h i e - t a l k s ::: technology at its best

Most notebooks these days are equipped with WiFi connectivity. WiFi allows us to connect to the internet minus the hassle of carrying around “Cat. e” cables and the agony of finding sockets to plug in those cables. WiFi is great but its range of coverage is limited to the building equipped with WiFi routers or in the case of home usage, the vicinity of your house. Leave your house or your office, you’d probably won’t get any internet connection at all. (unless you subscribe to those expensive mobile wireless plans) Wireless signals work in a way such that as you go further away from the source, the power of the electromagnetic waves carrying the signals diminish by a factor of approximately r². Hence, you won’t expect getting any signal from your house router when you step out of the door. (or maybe with some luck, you might get a weak signal)
With WiMax, you can receive internet connection even if you are outside the normal range of a WiFi connection. WiMax stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access and it belongs to the IEEE 802.16 family of standards. Unlike WiFi, WiMax provides high speed data transfers for an area about a portion of a large as a city. (about 10Km radius) Multiple nodes are needed to give city-wide connection. Although WiMax is not compatible with the current WiFi hardware standards, special hardware bridges can be used to connect the WiFi users to the internet through the WiMax networks. This can be achieved by erecting WiFi bridging poles that relay the signals from the WiMax networks to the users.

The speed of data transfer greatly depends on the distance the user is, from the WiMax tower. (similar to the rationale behind the “WiFi signal strength vs distance” rule) However, the mean transfer rate should roughly hover around 40Mb/s in between 2 different WiMax nodes. WiMax will keep everyone connected to the web wherever they go and not be restricted to staying indoors or near WiFi routers. Isn’t it a great gift for a city to have wireless connection everywhere? Imagine the possibilities!

DoTA picnic at the parks anyone?