In brief: BellSouth to offer pre-WiMAX service in NOLA

BellSouth is taking its wireless broadband beyond initial deployments and into the storm-ravaged streets of New Orleans. The carrier is offering a pre-WiMAX wireless data service to small businesses in New Orleans that have lost their telecommunications service. The service can deliver as much as 1.5M bit/sec downstream and costs $70 per month. WiMAX is intended as a metropolitan-scale wireless technology with speeds over 1M bit/sec and with a longer range than Wi-Fi wireless LANs. The first products certified by the WiMAX Forum are expected to become available by year-end. They will be able to provide non-line-of-sight service to stationary customer sites; a later version of WiMAX is intended to support mobile access.

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BellSouth is taking its wireless broadband beyond initial deployments and into the storm-ravaged streets of New Orleans. The carrier is offering a pre-WiMAX wireless data service to small businesses in New Orleans that have lost their telecommunications service. The service can deliver as much as 1.5M bit/sec downstream and costs $70 per month. WiMAX is intended as a metropolitan-scale wireless technology with speeds over 1M bit/sec and with a longer range than Wi-Fi wireless LANs. The first products certified by the WiMAX Forum are expected to become available by year-end. They will be able to provide non-line-of-sight service to stationary customer sites; a later version of WiMAX is intended to support mobile access.

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