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One such is 802.20, which its supporters say is more cost effective as it is more purely IP based and they claim more effective at delivering fast bandwidth at high travelling speeds, such as above 250 Kph. However, unless you’re speeding in a Bugatti Veryon that’s not so much of an issue and if you’re a passenger in a Bugatti travelling fast and you’re busy browsing the Argos web site on a laptop, then dude, you’ve got issues.

But anyway, there are other more real threats to WiMAX. One such is HSDPA - High-Speed Downlink Packet Access. This is an extension to the existing 3G standard that is finally becoming widely established. The advantage of HSDPA is that it’s essentially just a software upgrade so won’t incur the expense of a new infrastructure. The existing cell network could then offer users effective bandwidth of several hundred Kbps – 3.5G if you will. Ok, this isn’t WiMAX speeds, but it works and 02 has a network up and running on the Isle of Man, along with many places in the US from other providers.

However, once again Intel thinks it has the answer. It believes that WiMAX will sit comfortably alongside existing 3G services and future improvements such as HSDPA. WiMAX be most effective at providing bandwidth in metropolitan areas and then as you move further out, the existing 3G networks will take over. Thereby much of the heavy data traffic will be offloaded from the 3G network, freeing up capacity for voice calls and other services.

The ultimate situation them is this. You start working at home, fed by a super high-speed pipe such as 24Mbps ADSL2+. You’re working on your laptop over 802.11n Wi-Fi, but you then have to catch a train. Here you can carry on working at speeds of up to 5Mbps and when you’re too far from a base station you are connected to a 3.5G network – still at speeds comparable to today’s basic broadband connections. What Intel is working on right now is chips that make this all happen seamlessly, with no interruption in service as you move from one technology to another.

This all could in theory happen, for those that can afford the service rates, by mid-2007. However, as ever, political wrangling over technology is likely to mean that Riyad and the rest of us are going to have to wait for this ubiquitous wireless network to become reality. Whatever happens though I wouldn’t bet too hastily against Intel making WiMAX the success it wants it to be. With its creation of the Centrino platform, Wi-Fi quickly become a default inclusion in practically every laptop, which helped to make it popular worldwide. With Intel’s design expertise and huge manufacturing resources you can see it doing the same for WiMAX, making it succeed despite the threat of competing technologies

But if we stop for a minute, is this really the nirvana that we think it might be? It would mean even less possible down time from the office with your boss ever present at the end of a radio wave. A scary thought but perhaps a topic for another time.

When it does happen though, we can most likely look forward to some more reality-stretching advertising campaigns from Intel. It’s just going to have to think of some new far fetched places to suggest that WiMAX enabled laptops will work. Hmmm... now when was that manned mission to Mars scheduled again?

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