In November 2006, I switched to a new broadband service called WiMax

This is a new experimental service available only 2 places from AT&T. There may be other providers other places, but here in pahrump, the provider is AT&T.

Some of the advantages are speed, portability and price.

With other over the air systems like Keyon that I was using, an outdoor antenna is mounted on your building and a cable is routed into your house. With all of these systems, you must have line of site to the tower and distance is limited. Some are as little as 3 miles. If you are not within the right distance or have physical obstructions (like trees), you are out of luck.

In Keyon's case, I needed to move my computer system to another room on the other end of the house and could nopt easily move the antenna input.

With the WiMax system, the distance is much greater (about 30 miles) and you have a portable box (called a SomaPort) that you can locate in any room in the house. They also have an outside version. It is a different type of signal and is not line of sight.

The cost is comparable. The equipment cost is currently $230 and is self install so no one has to come out and install it. The best part is the monthly cost of $29.95, same as Keyon. The only catch is that you have to have a wired telephone from AT&T since that is how they bill you. Since AT&T bought SBC, they are the only phone company in Pahrump.

Speed is another story. I happen to be in an interference zone between two towers and it causes me headaches. Most customers see speeds in excess of 1500 MBPS up and down. Mine varies a lot but is still usually upwards of 700 MBPS. I took my antenna box (Called SomaPort) to a clients house and we got 1600 down and 1800 up. His Keyon has been going steadily down to below 200. Guess what his next move is.

You can read some technical info at http://www.wimax.com/
You can see a photo of the outside unit here http://www.dailywireless.org/
Go here to see a photo of the indoor unit http://staging.somaasia.com/

Click here to read about bandwidth testing.