WiMAX and LTE

WiMAX and LTE are both wireless network technologies suitable for data connections to mobile (and sometimes stationary) devices.

WiMAX is an IEEE standard, 802.16; its original name is Wireless MAN (for Metropolitan Area Network), and this name appears intermittently in the IEEE standards. In its earlier versions it was intended for stationary subscribers (802.16d), but was later expanded to support mobile subscribers (802.16e). The stationary subscriber version is often used to provide residential Internet connectivity, in both urban and rural areas.

LTE (the acronym itself stands for Long Term Evolution) is a product of the mobile telecom world; it was designed for mobile subscribers from the beginning. Its official name – at least for its radio protocols – is Evolved UTRA, or E-UTRA, where UTRA in turn stands for UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access. UMTS stands for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, a core mobile-device data-network mechanism with standards dating from the year 2000.

4G Capacity A medium-level wireless data plan often comes with a 5 GB monthly cap. At the 100 Mbps 4G data rate, that allotment can be downloaded in under six minutes. Data rate isn’t everything.

Both LTE and the mobile version of WiMAX are often marketed as fourth generation (or 4G) networking technology. The ITU has a specific definition for 4G developed in 2008, officially named IMT-Advanced and including a 100 Mbps download rate to moving devices and a 1 Gbps download rate to more-or-less stationary devices. Neither WiMAX nor LTE quite qualified technically, but to marketers that was no impediment. In any event, in December 2010 the ITU issued a statement in which it “recognized that [the term 4G], while undefined, may also be applied to the forerunners of these technologies, LTE and WiMAX”. So-called Advanced LTE and WiMAX2 are true IMT-Advanced protocols.

WiMAX can use unlicensed frequencies, like Wi-Fi, but its primary use is over licensed radio spectrum; LTE is used almost exclusively over licensed spectrum.

WiMAX and LTE both support a number of options for the width of the frequency band; the wider the band, the higher the data rate. Downlink (base station to subscriber) data rates can be well over 100 Mbps (uplink rates are usually smaller). Most LTE bands are either in the range 700-900 MHz or are above 1700 MHz; the lower frequencies tend to be better at penetrating trees and walls.

Like Wi-Fi, WiMAX and LTE subscriber stations connect to a central access point. The WiMAX standard prefers the term base station which we will use henceforth for both protocols; LTE officially prefers the term “evolved NodeB” or eNB.

The coverage radius for LTE and mobile-subscriber WiMAX might be one to ten kilometers, versus less (sometimes much less) than 100 meters for Wi-Fi. Stationary-subscriber WiMAX can operate on a larger scale; the coverage radius can be several tens of kilometers. As distances increase, the data rate is reduced.

Large-radius base stations are typically mounted in towers; smaller-radius base-stations, generally used only in areas densely populated with subscribers, may use lower antennas integrated discretely into the local architecture. Subscriber stations are not expected to be able to hear other stations; they interact only with the base station