WiMax, meet Wal-Mart

Consider WiMax. WiMax is a industry forum seeking to provide wireless broadband that can work in up to a 30 mile radius. Its supported by Intel and others, and expected to be operational in late 2005. More on WiMax. In particular it's been mentioned that Wal-Mart has looked into the idea of providing area wireless broadband. Wal-Mart already has stores everywhere, so why not use their facilities to broadcast locally, act as provider, and along the way connect with local shoppers? They could also provide VoIP phone service as well ... Ma-Wal-Mart! Other folks have been thinking about this for some time. For example, Dan Sherman provides a rather useful view of what Wal-Mart Com might look like:

...Walmart, within 10 years or sooner, could be a one stop shop for your data, video and telecommunications service... all bundled under one account, using the same wireless feed. They could feasibly do this without even TOUCHING a local telephone company's facilities. That means cheaper service for everyone. Imagine having your laptop with you on the bus to work and being able to watch HBO or any other station via your wireless cable TV link through your wireless Walmart WiMax connection ...

Read the rest of the post for more thoughts. See also, the Zigbee Alliance, which takes this a bit beyond to networking standards and appliance control.

I know there are others at IFTF and elsewhere that know far more about WiMax than I do, I invite them to comment.

Comments

[Ken DiPietro]

I have been hearing rumors of this for several months now on some of the industry forums. Could this become a reality? Possibly but I would like to clearly state that the mechanics of a deployment like this isn't as easy as selling the CPE to every customer that walks into the door and expecting a flawless installation to take place the majority of the time.

As someone who does this for a living I can safely assure you that while in some areas in the Midwest where the topography is flat you may get a fair amount of the customers that purchase CPE to connect but here in the hilly terrain I am located I would be surprised if 50% of the people who purchase CPEs will get them to work.

Even with all the promise of WiMAX the reality is that it is not a solution that will work the same under all topographical conditions.

[Scott Stevens]

Well, we have alot more info then meets the eye. All I can say is you might want to decide (as a WISP) not to get run over and look at joining instead of staying behind. Here's the link - happy reading and we all look very forward to hearing from you wireless operators.

http://defactowireless.com/everwave/everwave_infopac.zip

Sincerely,

--

Scott Stevens

Defacto Wireless Distribution

970.274.3070 Mobile

888.275.5159 x86 Main Office

"wirelesscott" AIM/MSN/Yahoo

http://defactowireless.com/scottstevens.shtml

"Helping you turn ambition into success!"

[Ken DiPietro]

Scott,

Well considering that WalMart is an hour and a half drive away from me I'm feeling pretty secure.

Personally, I don't think you're backing the right horse in this race but everyone needs to do what they think is right. I need you to know that I am often wrong and if I ever forget that, I have a wife to remind me.

If I had a dime for every time a big corporation...

[Maurice Troute]

I think it would be a next to impossible model for Wal-Mart to pull of. It would require a whole new operational layer for billing, tech support and customer service. Is Wal-Mart's Telco group going to manage the infrastructure as an internal IS asset? Pie in the Sky if you ask me. Besides they would never be able to exert thier retail might on the circuit providers (AT&T MCI) to make the bandwidth cheap enough to make a profit from people who are looking to save a buck on laundry detergent. Do you think they are going to buy Broadband at $40-50 per month. That good drinkin money...

[TATAR Farid]

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