Gadgetopia

Wireless Internet access about to go extra 5 miles: We had WiMax-like service here in Sioux Falls as a test market for Monet Mobile. You could surf the Web from a laptop in the back seat of your car driving down the interstate.

Sadly, it looks like Monet was a bit ahead of their time. If they had only made it one more year, they’d have hit the coming WiMax craze.

WiMax is essentially high-powered Wi-Fi, the kind of wireless Internet now common in coffee shops. Wi-Fi’s range is much shorter, usually enough to cover only one or two buildings.

[…] Intel is working on a future chip that will go into laptops allowing them to hop onto a WiMax network anywhere there’s a signal. WiMax may also incorporate Internet phone-calling technology, turning it into a land-line and cellular-like phone service.

And here’s a benefit we’ve talked about before: less stuff.

[…] there’s a good chance WiMax will be a hit, especially because it saves carriers the trouble of laying cable.

A tsunami can’t break a WiMax connection, provide the sending and receiving points are intact, right?