Wimax nereye koşuyor?

Geçtiğimiz hafta Wimax ile ilgili önemli gelişmeler oldu, kısaca hepsine bir gözatmakta fayda var.

İlk önemli gelişme Amerikan Ordusunun da Wimax’i Samsung ile birlikte şu an test ediyor olması. Eğer olumlu sonuçlanırsa askeri iletişimin Wimax üzerine taşınma ihtimali var. Tabii bu da yaklaşık 3 milyar dolarlık bir pazar demek. Bence Amerikan ordusu da Wimax üzerine yatırım yaparsa, Wimax’i kimse tutamaz.

US Army to evaluate Mobile WiMax use
Mobile WiMax is a version of WiMax designed to provide high-speed broadband connections for users while they are on the move. The Army's tests will take place at the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) On-The-Move experimentation facility, in Fort Dix, New Jersey, the South Korean company said.

Wimax ile ilgili haberler hep olumlu olacak değil, biraz da olumsuzları paylaşayım istedim. Wibro Kore’de Haziran 2006’da devreye girmesine rağmen abone sayısı bugüne kadar ancak sadece 1000’e ulaşabilmiş.

Is WiBro a success or a failure ?
According to some news sources, Korea Telecom's WiBro (which stands for Wireless Broadband) will be expanding its service to cover all parts of Seoul including subway lines. WiBro is Korea's WiMAX compatible wireless internet platform. The service provides users with approximately 1-3 Mbps and mobility of up to 120kph.

What troubles me is when the WiBro service was introduced back in June of 2006, KT only got 1,000 customers in the first six months. This is most disappointing to say the least. One would expect consumers' to line up for such a service, which provides wireless connectivity on the go. The problem may lie in the marketing methods used and promoted by Korea Telecom.

Kore'deki Wimax'ın başarısız olması ile ilgili benim de birkaç naçizane tespitim var, bunları paylaşmak istedim:

a) Koreliler genç nüfusları nedeniyle yüksek hızlı internet erişimine çok önem veriyorlar bu yüzden evlerdeki sabit internet hızları ortalama 10Mbit. Wibro’nun hızı ise max 3Mbit. Ben de olsam 10Mbit’i bırakıp 3 Mbit’e tenezzül etmem. Bir de Fransa’daki gibi ayda 40$’a 50Mbit fiber erişim verirlerse hiç etmem.

50 Mbps for $40, but in France
Neuf Cegetel, the French competitive telecom carrier has just started selling a 50 megabits per second fiber-to-the-home connection that costs about 30 Euros (about $40) a month. In comparison, 50 Mbps costs a while lot of money in the US. Verizon, Surewest and Cablevision are three companies currently offering 50 megs at a wallet-ripping price. For $40 you get somewhere between 3-to-6 Mbps (voice and television not included) from most carriers in the US.

Neuf’s service is currently available in select parts of Paris & Pau (a town in the very south of France) and also includes VoIP and HD & Regular TV over IP services. The company is also in talks to buy the Club Internet broadband business from Deutsche Telekom. It it adds 600,000 Club Internet customers, then Neuf will become the #2 broadband provider in France, behind Orange, which has 4.2 million subscribers.

b) Bence Wibro’unun Kore’deki satış modeli hatalı, Wibro mevcut sabit hat abonelerine bir ek özellik olarak sunulmalıydı. Örneğin aylık ilave 10$ ödeyene, sabit 10Mbit erişiminin yanında 1Mbit Wibro gibi.

c) Son olarak yüksek hızlı kablosuz mobil iletişimin önündeki en büyük engel bence hal pil ömürleri. Bağlantı hızlarımız istediğimiz kadar hızlı ve ucuz olsun, elimizdeki cihazlar bu kapasiteyi dolduramadığı sürece bir anlamı olmayacaktır. Bildiğiniz gibi geçenlerde Samsung Q1 isimli UMPC’yi satışa sundu. Bir forumda bu cihazı tecrübe etmiş birinin yorumlarını aynen paylaşıyorum:

UMPC vs Tablet PC
I have been an active user of the Tablet PCs for the past 3 years, I have owned the Compaq, acer, gateway, fujitsu and Toshiba. Currently using an Acer C110, great size and keyboard for data entry. I was excited when I first read about the UMPC, especially when I saw the price compared to the Tablet's.

Well I got my first UMPC a couple weeks ago (Samsung Q1) and couldn't be more disappointed. There is no comparing the two computer they're different and have different uses. The Samsung is to big to be portable to small to be useful, the onscreen touch keyboard gave me cramps in both hands. The 1 hour battery life (teorikte 3.5 saat) was a joke, and the startup and restart speed was horrible (5 minutes). I did use it with Microsofts streets and trips with a USB GPS receiver which would have been great had the battery not died 20 minutes from my destination. All is all a great concept, which needs major improvements in speed, battery life and text input as well as an operating system optimized for the UMPC not the tablet pc. Oh yeah and what happend to the original price point of $500.00 the Samsung cost me $800.00 on Ebay.

Aslında Wimax'in geleceği ile ilgili endişe edecek çok bir durum yok. Pil meselesi 3G'nin de büyük sorunu. Satış modeli düzgün seçilirse bence Wimax her yerde başarılı olur.