What is WiMax? What data rate does WiMax provides?

What is WiMax? What data rate does WiMax provides?

- It is a protocol designed to provide an extension to wireless communication. In June 2001 IEEE formed a group called WiMax forum to define the WiMax standards. It’s an IEEE standard 802.16 based technology, which enables a last mile delivery of broadband access. It provides wireless communication at a distance of around 50kms.

- WiMax would not replace Wi-Fi, but rather will fill in between hotspots and extend your Internet access on the go.

What data rate does WiMax provides?

Theoretically it is expected to provide data rate of around 74mbps, but in practice its much less at around 45mbps per channel. However as the channel is shared among multiple users, performance may be even low. IEEE standard 802.16 is expected to offer up to 1gbps of speed (ref: Wikipedia.org).