Is this the beginning of the end for BPL?

The item on Wi-Max at the bottom of this page from the Wireless Institute of Australia expresses the hope that it will make BPL obsolete. This would be a good outcome, but since Wi-Max is a radio system, we have to consider which part of the spectrum it's going to use.

Scott Richardson, General Manager of Intel's Broadband Wireless Group has said:

WiMax will spread around the globe on a mixture of frequencies, Richardson said, using a combination of licensed and unlicensed bands on 2.5GHz, 3.5GHz
and 5GHz. "WiMax is viral, in that over time, more and more frequencies will be opened up," he said.

He predicted that WiMax would migrate to bands currently used for terrestrial television. "Nirvana for wireless is sub-1GHz, when the signal can go deep into buildings," he said. "Over the next three years in the U.S. and elsewhere in
the world, these frequencies will start to become available, and Intel is working on this with the regulators."
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Note his comment about looking for spectrum below 1 GHz.

I understand the FCC are making 2.495 - 2.690 GHz available to services such as WiMax which fortunately misses our 2.4 GHz band.

BROADBAND WIRELESS SET TO MAX OUT BPL
Intel Goes Full Speed With Wi-Max

The WIA has said for some time now that wireless broadband technology will make BPL obsolete. That prediction has come one step closer with chipmaker Intel announcing that they are to include Wi-Max technology in some of their products as early as 2005. Technology information provider, ZD-Net, reported;

"Wi-Max is a radio technology that promises to deliver two-way Internet access at speeds of up to 75 megabits per second at long range. Its backers claim that WiMax can transmit data up to 30 miles between broadcast towers and can blanket areas more than a mile in radius with bandwidth that exceeds current DSL and cable broadband capabilities".

"Intel predicts three years of solid development in wireless
broadband and have showcased the first samples of a chip for WiMax equipment.

"Rosedale is the first generation of the technology and will
do last-mile fixed access to the home" said Scott Richardson, general manager of Intel's Broadband Wireless Group. "In 2006, we'll see notebook integration for portability and in 2007, handsets for mobility."

"Intel has three business models for WiMax: fixed access,
where it does the job of cable or DSL (digital subscriber line) broadband; portable use within in metro zones, akin to giant hot spots; and a fully mobile system with inter-cell hand-offs".

Last mile fixed access is exactly the application where the
BPL industry have targeted their technology, and where they
are most vulnerable to competition.

73 de Trevor M5AKA

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