the next big gadget...

An interesting little development is that someone has written a little voice messaging programme for 2.5G/3G phones. It's kind of like turning your phone into a walkie talkie but you can use your data services to send voice at much lower cost if you have an unlimited data package.

in the US this is still the case for most cellular networks. I don't think rural area customers would be very likely to adopt this sort of technology anyway (QoS & bandwidth issues abound).

*This is not backbone technology*

802.11b is not a viable access solution
802.11b does not have enough reach or capacity to service a city. Limited bandwitdh, 11 MB/sec makes deployment in highly populated areas an un-reality. Each node can realisticly support 10 or 11 households. To support densly populated areas, hundreds of nodes would be required. In addition there is no real "roaming" available with 802.11b. The G simply ups your limited bandwidth to something higher, at the cost of range. That's not really a viable solution. Finally the limited range makes deployment in rural and suburban areas an impossibility.

The way of the future
A *SINGLE* 802.16 node would be capable of hosting about 1100 64K voice over IP channels. The same bandwitdh could be used to provide appx. 140 "broadband wireless" subscribers with 512K channels. That's pretty impressive. Stack 10 Nodes and you have 1440 broadband subscribers. Not only that, 802.16 was designed as a solution for Metropolitan Area Networks. 802.16 is simply an evolution of the 802.11 technology, scaled for carrier grade deployment, and the servicing of a large number of end users.

The real last mile solution
In rural areas, and even some city suburbs the reality of "broadband" isn't coming to fruition. The primary reason is cost. It costs too much to deploy cable systems and becuause of the distance from a central office, DSL is not feasible. Satellite isn't really all that great as on of it's "Features" is the very high latency.

A new age
802.16 will begin a new wireless age. In the coming years we will find that there is no Data and Voice usage with our cellphones, as the notion of a "Data Channel" and "Voice Channel" will go away, all calls will be just data. Instead of an 802.11b card, you will have an 802.x chip built into your laptop or handheld device, you will gain access to the same network that your phone uses and the protocol to do so will be the same. We will all have access, uniquitous access to data from any place that currently has cellphone coverage. 802.16, and it's future generations will be "The way" that data networks are accessed wirelessly.

I'm still not convinced by VOIP, myself, but I'm willing to be proven wrong. I'm inclined to agree with the above.

Is the following article shows that it's already a reality?

http://www.wirelessreview.com/ar/telecom_aiirnet_makes_cerritos/

"Wireless ISP Aiirnet Wireless said it has reached an agreement with the Cerritos, Calif., city council to begin offering service on Jan. 1 through an 8.6-square-mile Wi-Fi hot zone that will cover the entire southern California community of 50,000 people.

The hot zone is based on 802.11 mesh technology provided by Tropos Networks(...)"