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I had Clear WiMax in a big metro for a few years and it was awful. Miserly speeds, lots of interference and congestion. Modern wireless ISPs use a mesh of poin
by ak217 7y ago
I had Clear WiMax in a big metro for a few years and it was awful. Miserly speeds, lots of interference and congestion.
Modern wireless ISPs use a mesh of point-to-point directional radios operating on WiFi frequencies (see https://mikrotik.com/products/group/wireless-systems https://mikrotik.com/products/group/wireless-systems and https://www.ui.com/products/#airfiber https://www.ui.com/products/#airfiber for some popular products). These radios are much higher performance than WiMax (10 Gbit links are possible over short distances, 1 Gbit is normal over several miles) and suffer less interference because of directional antennas.
WISPs have been staging a quiet revolution across areas that don't see much competition. In San Francisco, known for atrocious bureaucracy preventing ISP competition, traditional fiber providers have been struggling to expand service for decades. Meanwhile, a local WISP called MonkeyBrains has quietly covered almost all of San Francisco and much of Oakland and Berkeley in their mesh, and is continuing to expand.
- dwighttk 7y agoyeah, I was in Durham, NC and was pretty close to the tower. I don't think there was much congestion.