Components of Its Name That Make Wimax What It Is

Sometimes you can learn a lot from something's name. Although the names of many technologies these days don't tend to correlate well with what they offer, Wimax is different. You could get a good idea of what it has to offer by looking at the components of its name. When you also start looking at its plans, pricing, and performance, then it really starts to shine.

"Wireless" is one of those terms that has a lot of different meanings even though you would expect there to be only one, namely that something doesn't make use of wires. There are varying degrees of wireless technologies though. For example, there are cordless phones that work within a short distance of your telephone jack and can only be used for voice calls. Then there's something like Wifi, which is a networking solution that allows you to use the internet in and around your home without wires. What if you wanted to use the internet at a local coffee shop? If they don't have Wifi installed, then you'd be out of luck. What's needed is a wireless solution that works anywhere, and that's where Wimax comes into play. Like the first part of its name suggests, it is a wireless technology that you can use all over your city, even when you're on the move. You could be in the back of a moving vehicle and still be able to browse the internet, as long as you have signal to the network of course. Unlike Wifi though, you won't be limited to using the internet in and around your house; your entire city will be fair game. With varying degrees of wireless in mind, you could say that Wimax is more wireless than most other technologies because you'll have more freedom with it.

The second part of the name is "max" and it can describe the technology in two ways. As previously mentioned, it could be used to describe its range, which is much greater than most other internet technologies. Another way the term could be interpreted has to do with the transfer rates you can achieve with the service. Unlike cellular technologies before it, Wimax can compete with the best of them. Put it in a head-to-head competition with either cable or DSL and there's no telling who will come out on top. Depending the plans involved, the wired broadband connections could actually end up losing. Of course, the very high end cable and DSL solutions are probably going to win at the current time, but the future of cellular is looking extremely bright. All of the current standards have room for bandwidth improvements as time goes on, so it's only a matter of time before Wimax achieves the kind of transfer rates that high end cable and DSL solutions have right now. Given the fast pace of technological evolution, that time could come a lot sooner than you think. In any case, if you're looking for a fast wireless connection that will give you maximum range and speed now, you now know what to sign up for.

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