The Need for Wireless Speed

Filed in archive Wireless on September 30, 2008

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With video-streaming from mobile phones and other data-intensive applications, such as push-technology, 3D gaming, etc., the mobile telecommunications infrastructure needs to rapidly upgrade to provide the bandwidth needed by these apps. Whilst 3G is not as widely available as we thought it was, current mobile users rely on WiFi for more data-intensive mobile applications. Personally, I have 3G turned off primarily because 3G services in the Philippines sucks! (yes, Smart and Globe, are you listening?)

However, folks over in Baltimore, Maryland, are lucky to have their Sprint's XOHM-WiMax network activated. This 4G technology seems to be the solution to the bandwidth-hungry mobile applications. However, it is not without competition from the GSM-based Long Term Evolution (LTE) solution, which is also being field tested.

Current heavy-users of these mobile apps definitely will benefit from these new and fast technologies. However, several questions remain - [1] how affordable is it? [2] how much will transceivers cost? [3] when will it support non-Windows systems? And others.

To me, I'll be jumping on it once it is made available but the major question is - how much?