WiMax vs. IEEE 802.11n – In A Nutshell

Ten main differences between WiMax and 802.11n – in a nutshell.

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- Date: Friday, January 02, 2009 Time: 5:22 am Discussion: View Comments Category: IPTV and Mobile Video, Telco2.0 Tags: 802.11n, Access Network, backhaul, femto cell, QoS, spectrum, WiMAX, wireless Print this blog post!

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After the last post I got some comments / questions on WiMax and 802.11n, mainly: “What’s the real difference?”, with the emphasize on “real”. I read up a bit on it and asked around, here my summary (yes, I know, in a nutshell, so apologies for the ‘simple’ answers):

802.11n is a draft, but WiMax is drafter – adoption-wise. Ok, WiMax is standardized already, but not widely used, while with anything that sounds like Wi-Fi – or 802.11a/b/g – the entrance barrier is much lower.

802.11n also works in an unlicensed 2.4Ghz so called “ISM band” and “5GHz “U-NII band”, while WiMax requires licensed spectrum. As far as I can read, that is even true for WiMax Femto cells.

802.11n uses multiple antennas and two (2) 54Mbps channels, while WiMax dynamically adapts to frequency bands and modulation requirements.

802.11 is limited to the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequency spectrum, while WiMax can use bands between 2Ghz and 11Ghz – depending on the licenses an operator has!

Points 2-4 lead to the assumption that interferences might be far less as problem in WiMax than in 802.11n.

WiMax will allow higher client velocities than 802.11n – you can actually be mobile, not nomadic.

WiMax supports QoS natively, important for voice and streaming video, while the QoS in the 802.11 family is provided by 802.11e – and non-mandatory for 802.11n to use, as far as I can read.

WiMax can have higher reach than 802.11n because of fewer (anticipated) interferences and because the regulator allows higher transmission power for WiMax – so fewer cell-towers to hop.

WiMax is connection-oriented, centralized controlled, and scheduled. However, an 802.11n operator could provide similar features (but rarely does – you have to have a multi-service provider subscription such as BoingBoing to have a similar “seamless” service, and your video stream and voice conversation will be gone with that next hop.)

10/

Currently, WiMax equipment is primarily being developed by telecommunications infrastructure vendors (Alcatel Lucent, Alvarion, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, etc.) while 802.11n equipment is being developed by consumer/edge technology companies (Apple, Cisco).

One questions that I in turn came over is about WiMax beiing called an “open” standard – what exactly is open? The specification? Like 802.11a/b/g/n?

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2009 Predictions, Part 1

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