Mobile WiMax & Existing Cell Phone Services

(Via Pondering Primate).The just published WiMAX specification for high-speed wireless Internet service, has attracted several manufacturers looking ahead to rolling out the next generation in wireless broadband service: Mobile WiMAX. Known as 802.16e, Mobile WiMAX would allow consumers to roam between wireless hot spots without interruption, just as mobile-phone users travel between cells without dropping calls. South Korea is getting ready to offer WiMAX roaming, dubbed WiBro, which should provide a glimpse of possible future U.S. applications. Samsung expects the world`s first Mobile WiMAX service up and running by April of next year. Initially, there will be compatible Mobile WiMAX cell phones and PC Cards for laptops, with speeds topping out at around 15 megabits per second.Such data rates could help promote services that tax the limits of current high-speed cell-phone services, such as video on demand, music on demand, and mobile blogs. Proponents also see Mobile WiMAX as offering services currently beyond the capabilities of 3G networks, such as high-quality live TV broadcasting and telematics applications with live traffic reports in cars. A Mobile WiMAX car system, for example, could alert a driver about traf- fic congestion ahead while a song downloads to the car`s music player and the kids watch a streaming movie.
South Korea will likely be first with Mobile WiMAX services - roaming WiMAX could threaten established cellular services in the U.S., however, since the capability exists to offer VoIP services over the same wireless connections in the future