The question that is troubling the whole telecom industry is that whether 3G is better or Wimax. This Wimax vs 3G war is heating up. Here is a look at both the technologies.
3G is a popular cellular technology around the world. The infrastructure used by 3G is actually an upgrade of the existing GSM infrastructure available in India. the users in India are really familiar with GSM, therefore the migration to 3G is not going to be hard for the consumers.
Also there are various handsets available in the market that can support dual-mode UMTS/GSM; hence it is a technology that can be easily accepted in India.
On the other hand, WiMax is a popular broadband technology. Wimax is designed to provide an internet access at really high data rates. WiMax when used as a cellular network is able to operate on a licensed spectrum. Still the WiMax enabled devices are not to be available until later next year.
The 3G technology is currently in operation in more than 77 countries and the 3.5G technology is available in more than 63 countries. Hence the 3G technology has a much wider coverage. Therefore it has a much wider coverage.
On the other hand, the WiMax technology will take a much longer to achieve a coverage like 3G all over the world. An important thing is being heard in the industry that in places where there is no Wimax coverage, the connection is to be handed off to a 3G network. However the users will need dual mode devices. Also the users will need a dual-mode device that can be connected to the WiMax network in the cities and to the 3G network in the rural areas.
Well it can be really said that the in the Wimax vs 3G war, 3G clearly emerges as a winner.
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I think in the war between the two different technologies Wimax and 3G,ultimately it should be Wimax which should emerge as a clear winner.3 G is a cellular technology intented to provide high speed data like video streaming.movies,online games etc to the users on their mobile phones where as Wimax is purely a broadband technology which aims to provide internet access to the users on their computers.Wimax should emerge as a winner in long term because of 2 reasons:
1) High data speeds max of 70 Mb/s where as 3G only provides a max of 14.4 Mbp/s
2) Wimax can also be used as a Backhaul Technology avoiding the need of traditional T1/E1 copper lines.
3)Wimax complements Wifi technology for home users
4) Not as many towers needed for Wimax as needed for 3G or the upgrade cost from 2G to 3G.