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What's so exciting about a trial of wireless? We know it works for data!

Predictably, the announcement of several WiMAX trials around Europe by Alcatel - using Alvarion equipment - has been greeted as a sign that this exciting new technology is on track.

The  announcement is actually more an announcement that Alcatel itself isn't going to do "fixed wireless" WiMAX. It is, it says, keeping the option open to do its own mobile wireless WiMAX some day.

The tests are quite sensible technology; using wireless to get data from point A to point B without having to string cables between them. The technology is in fact pre-WiMAX, however, based on Alvarion's "BreezeMax" wireless, which operates in the 3.5 GHz band - which means, licensed spectrum.

It's not any sort of surprise that if you can get a licence to operate in the 3.5 GHz spectrum, you can use that licence to transmit data from A to B and nor should it be a surprise that this sort of spectrum use comes at a cost. What would be exciting, would be if it could be used by people with their own PCs and hand-helds.

That's not part of the plan, so far. This is based on 802.16 d standards; fixed wireless, not mobile; and licensed spectrum, not open wireless. For it to work on a PC, the PC would have to be licensed to use the frequency, which would add something to the cost; it will be competing with open frequency devices such as WiFi, where there is no licence cost.

An OFDM encoded wireless signal at 3.5 GHz is going to transfer fewer bits per second than an OFDM encoded wireless signal at 5.1 GHz so, unless the politicians can stop WiFi working at 802.11a standards, the WiFi user will be better off that way, too.

What's the point of doing trials on something we know works, when we can't see a way of making it universally applicable?