Official 4G/WiMax: what is it, why do we want it

[Rigmaster]

I have a question regarding 4G WiMax equipment. Is there a visible difference between WiMax antennae and 3G antennae on cell towers? I drive by several towers going to and from work and was wondering if I would be able to observe a 4G build-out by Sprint?

There is a difference, but you'd have to be up close to see it. Sorry I don't have a photo (there were some listed in either a NYT or NY Daily News back in Feb but not from Sprint/Clearwire Wimax).

What you should be able to notice though is that Wimax tower locations tend to be at least 2 times higher than traditional cells. Wimax has a stronger radiation footprint so it's usually placed well out of range of people.

Tall building tops are good locations in major cities - probably more so than getting approvals for standalone or add-ons to existing cell towers.

I don't think the installations would be so obviously different that you'd be able to drive by and pick one out though unless the equipment/vehicles advertised Wimax.

 

[Nem_Zero]

Other than the initial release speeds ideal between WiMax and LTE, the reason LTE has such a stronger backing is because of it's relativity to the cell network. One of the things LTE is advantaged over WiMax is that it has the penetration traits of its cell predecessors. Building penetration is WiMax's biggest weakness outside of it's coverage issues. I remember that little flash presentation from Intel about WiMax, showing how well it bounces off structures to echo it's signal, but that in itself means weak penetration.

I think it was you River that posted a website, that had a list of towers specifically.

It had a black background.

Sorry, going off memory here but I'd love to check that site out again!

You talking about TowerCo.com?

 

[Firemans Wife]

I have a question. The EVO shows it can be a mobile hotspot for up to 8 devices, well a sprint rep told me yesterday that it will not power a laptop internet connection, that all it will power internet for are sprints Wi-Fi devices like the thouch pro2. So I was just checking the phone out on best buy's site and watched the demo video for the phone and when it talks about the mobile hotspot it has pics of laptops so does anyone know the real answer to this?

 

[Nem_Zero]

The EVO doesn't judge the connection use as "laptop data" or "cell phone data" use, it's just being a hotspot. Anything wi-fi enabled can use EVO's hotspot.

 

[Firemans Wife]

Thank you, thats what I thought. I think that guy was really confused by all my questions about the phone anyways.

 

[Rigmaster]

Another easy to understand summary of Wimax.
What Is WiMAX?

 

[HopeofCarter]

Oh wow so 4g is up in nyc? thats great to hear.

 

[RiverOfIce]

Oh wow so 4g is up in nyc? thats great to hear.

It is a soft launch so it will not have the speed or the coverage. But it will improve.

 

[Smiles]

It would be interesting to get the specs for the 4G transmitter side of the EVO device. Because.... wondering out loud, what do you suppose happens to the battery when you have 8 devices tethered to the EVO? Probably not realistic. Few people would have more than 2 or 3 I suspect. But if the 4G transmitter is, for instance, a 2-3 watt device, not only would it suck battery with constant use by multiple tethered devices (it would probably fry eggs and brain cells too) I wonder if they have a nuclear powered option available?

 

[RiverOfIce]

It would be interesting to get the specs for the 4G transmitter side of the EVO device. Because.... wondering out loud, what do you suppose happens to the battery when you have 8 devices tethered to the EVO? Probably not realistic. Few people would have more than 2 or 3 I suspect. But if the 4G transmitter is, for instance, a 2-3 watt device, not only would it suck battery with constant use by multiple tethered devices (it would probably fry eggs and brain cells too) I wonder if they have a nuclear powered option available?

You are looking at about 360 mw. Fcc files contain all the info you are asking. All the readings fell with in normal ranges. Which is down right now. Off the top of my head, 180 of 3g, 120 for wimax, 110 for wifi, and 50 for the rest. Off the top on my head.

 

[THEFORCE]

does the tower height affect the signal of wimax and 3g?

 

[RiverOfIce]

does the tower height affect the signal of wimax and 3g?

yes, dramatically. The higher the tower the better line of sight you have, the stronger the signal.

 

[Rigmaster]

does the tower height affect the signal of wimax and 3g?

No, height of tower doesn't directly affect signal. Wimax towers will be higher because 1) stronger, larger radiation footprint that has to be removed from people and 2) extra height is to help reduce/cope with obstruction from trees and buildings.

 

[eieio]

This is the list of cities up coming on the next Launches. Some have been posted already I think. These should be online by Aug-Sept at the latest. There will be some more added by then..

Merced, CA

Modesto, CA

Stockton, CA

Visalia, CA

Los Angeles, California

Rochester, NY

Syracuse, NY

Tampa, FL

Miami, Florida

Jacksonville, FL

Daytona, FL

Kansas City, KS

Nashville, TN

St. Louis, MO

Salt Lake City, UT

Wilmington, DE

Grand Rapis, MI

Eugene, OR

Yakima plusTri-Cities, WA

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cleveland, Ohio

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Salt Lake City, Utah

St. Louis, Missouri

 

[twospirits]

What about Omaha Nebraska?

TS

 

[legacy]

where is Denver? After September? If so

Oh, and Salt Lake is on there twice.

 

[eieio]

There are more and I probably missed a few. Those were In an email that I saw today so I just copied and pasted them here..

 

[TheBarron]

To keep it simple. Every time you pass a packet it must ping off the Dns address server, get your current ip, then transfer to your ip.

Wrong

If the dns address server fails to deliver your ip address, your ip server will recommit the packet and try again. With a static is a to b. With dns server it is a to b to c. If packets into b exceeds the bandwidth of the dns server, your connection to c will slow. Regardless of what the connection of a and c are, you need to wait for b to pass packets.

No!

In simple terms, you have 3 guys with radios. Person 1 and 2 do not change channels. Person 3 must change channels every few mins.

Person 1 call person 2 to get the channel for person 3. If person 2 does not answer back, person 3 can not be contacted. With wimax it is alot harder.
Because you have like 20 people, and 10 of them are changing channels. But with wimax, they system knows when 1 of the 10 stop communicating, and just works around him.

Bottom line is that if your dns server stops tell you the new ip, your connection will slow or stop. It just adds another step in the process.

Some accuracy here, in that the DNS *does* have to answer...

Two fundamental things you have wrong here. #1 - A DNS server, your 'point b' or 'person 2' does NOT become part of the route for your packets from source to destination. Your data packets do not flow through it. #2 - You do not query the DNS server for every packet, it gets locally cached for a time.

A DNS server can add a touch of initial latency (for the lookup) of the first packet in a given data stream. Subsequent packets are delivered directly to the translated and cached IP, with neither another lookup to the DNS server nor the data flowing through the DNS server. So bandwidth is not affected, though a touch of latency might be added at the start.

So back to the 3 guys with radios analogy, Person 1 calls person 2 to get person 3's channel, then switches to that channel and talks to person 3. Person 2 can go get a snack in the meantime, and person 1 and 3 have a nice conversation without having to continue re-asking person 2 for channel info, or having person 2 relay the messages back and forth between them. Now later, after the conversation is over and person 3 has switched to another channel, person 1 will have to call person 2 again to get person 3's new channel. It's all good so long as person 2 keeps his radio on and with him, and person 3 gives person 2 timely updates as to what channel he's currently on...

There, I muddied that up nicely for you, no?

 

[RiverOfIce]

There, I muddied that up nicely for you, no?

I was just trying to keep it simple, in human term, not greek techno-babel. . You are right technology, but wrong speed wise. DNS can slow down your connection greatly. Why do I know that, because I USE IT 300 times a day.

When everyone pings the server at the same time, about 30,000 request, guess what? It does not answer back. When the "dns" server does not respond you connection dies. It does not effect bandwidth which is true, but it does effect down load time.


So even though you are actaully right, in the real world, dns servers slow you down.

Now a quote from the gods of dns servers. Google.

The DNS protocol is an important part of the web's infrastructure, serving as the Internet's "phone book". Every time you visit a website, your computer performs a DNS lookup. Complex pages often require multiple DNS lookups before they complete loading. As a result, the average Internet user performs hundreds of DNS lookups each day, that collectively can slow down his or her browsing experience.

 

[eieio]

DC is ready to launch I took 295 from BWI airport down to DC signal on the highway dropped in an out but picked up a signal at almost ever exit. I want to assume there is coverage almost all the way down from Baltimore in to DC..

I will try to take 95 back up when I leave and check out some of the cities while I am here

 

[THEFORCE]

DC is ready to launch I took 295 from BWI airport down to DC signal on the highway dropped in an out but picked up a signal at almost ever exit. I want to assume there is coverage almost all the way down from Baltimore in to DC..

I will try to take 95 back up when I leave and check out some of the cities while I am here

cool..ive seen 4 wimax towers in my area, but im on a hil and the tower is at the bottom and i know my signal is gonna suck...im on the other side of the hill so i dont have los to the tower

 

[eieio]

cool..ive seen 4 wimax towers in my area, but im on a hil and the tower is at the bottom and i know my signal is gonna suck...im on the other side of the hill so i dont have los to the tower

What area?? I might be able to check it.. I am here for about 4 days and will be out and about a bit..

 

[THEFORCE]

What area?? I might be able to check it.. I am here for about 4 days and will be out and about a bit..

im in riverdale md....basically im inside greenbelt park which is on the other side of the hill that the tower is on. i will pm u my street name.

 

[ImmaSlave4U]

That is a soft on. You can get 4g in some parts of eugene now.

Really? I live in the West University Neighborhood...do you know if 4G is available in the WUN?

 

[Mateo]

Posted this in another thread but thought it should be here. Check this article out from yahoo talking about the EVO, Wimax, LTE etc.. 4G wireless: It's fast, but outstripped by hype - Yahoo! News