Confused about the differences between WiMAX and LTE? Don’t worry about it, says Jason Hiner of TechRepublic. Hiner says the major differences are in the business model, not the technology.
Randall Bennett at TechVi, asks Jason Hiner where WiMAX is going to be deployed, and how it compares with competing standard LTE.
Major technical differences between LTE and Mobile WiMAX include:
- LTE primarily uses FDD for full duplex on two 5 Mhz channels, while WiMAX uses TDD for half duplex on one 10 MHz channel. Both will do voice, but WiMAX is designed around data while LTE is designed around voice.
- Clear has 120 Mhz available in most major cities on the 2.6 GHz band, while cell carriers have perhaps 12 Mhz (in the 700 MHz band) and another 12 Mhz in the AWS band (1.7/2.1 MHz). That’s a difference of 5 times.
Cell carriers, explains Hiner, will implement voice-centric LTE in the next 2-3 years. Data-centric Mobile WiMAX is expected to be available in New York, Washington DC, Chicago and SF next year.