Central Western Daily, 19 April 2007
I am amazed Gavin Priestley knocks WiMax wireless broadband in CWD, 19/6/07, 'Mega Mistake'. It gives the best bang for the buck for regional areas. You can increase the dB to get further coverage from an antenna. May be he has a vested interest in linesmen laying cable. With wireless internet all you need is an antenna with sufficient gain and minimal physical obstacles to roll it out. With cable there is millions of dollars for digging trenches. I am in favour of improving wireless internet. Next G claims 1 MBit/sec (it reached that speed when I tested it in Robinson Park when they came by in a roadshow earlier this year). WiMax is much faster and much cheaper to roll out. There is no timed connections like with Telstra Next G plans. It is more like Unwired's network in Sydney and Melbourne. I saw on TV the antennas the Government is planning to use for WiMax - they are minimal compared to all that fibre optic cable being laid. Sure if you want faster speeds you will have to replace the antenna and the antennas on the client's premises. That is possible at a reasonable cost and right away. There is a Fresnel calculator on Bathurst Wireless's site: http://www.bathurstwireless.org/wireless-calculator/. This lets one work out the dB to get enough coverage. Which is easier? Increasing the dB or laying more cable? I think increasing the dB. Wireless is tons more easy to deploy than cable. Until WiMax gets out here next year there will only be ADSL, dialup or expensive Next G and GPRS available. It is lucky CENTROC did not get the stupid satellite system they wanted. It was not appropriate out here in my opinion. I am a software engineer with a BSc in computer science. Satellite is slower and more expensive than decent wireless internet.