Bet you didn't see this one coming. With everyone's eyes fixed firmly on Sprint's supposedly
forthcoming US WiMAX deployment in Baltimore, Chicago and Washington, DC, DigitalBridge Communications has snuck in to steal a little of the spotlight. As we speak, America's "first" (um, really?) mobile WiMAX deployment has gone live in
Jackson Hole, Wyoming courtesy of Alvarion's
BreezeMAX gear. The firms are hoping that high-brow tourists that come to tackle the black diamonds of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort will also bring their WiMAX-enabled device and / or WiMAX card to send enviable photos back home, but only time will tell if folks find value in the offering. DBC is expected to expand the network's reach in the area (which currently hits 3,000 homes and businesses), and then "add mobile capabilities throughout its 200,000-household footprint."
[Image courtesy of
TerryDreams]
posted Jul 1st 2008 11:49AM
ok. this was a total surprise!
never even heard of them
LOL...
So, does this mean we have to stop them so SkyNet can't take over their network in the future?
@blackstar,
oddly enough, I have internet access via a long-range fixed wireless connection, and the company is actually named "SkyNet". lol.
On a different note, the title of this article is misleading. It should say first MOBILE Wimax deployment goes live, seeing as clearwire has been providing regular fixed WiMax service for years in different cities...
Wow, there must be nothing to do there! "Hey Dale! Wanna go over the mountain again? Yeah sure!"
:D
now they have wimax in the hole
WTF is Wyoming? lolz.
Wyoming is an old Indian word for "No state here"
I thought Engadget made a funny but its an actual place.
Makes more sense to roll out services like that in smaller areas than in large cities. It gives them a smaller footprint to cover, plus they don't have the competition. Where I live, I can't get DSL (in the middle of the city) and cable internet is RIDICULOUS, but I and thousands of others in our city use an indoor wireless modem that has a 20 mile range and works great.
this is like reporting that someone got wifi in their house.
Possibly one of the best ski areas in the country and next door to Yellowstone National park. This is a tourist mecca.
Some engadget posters may need to get out of the house or office.....
I will be there in a couple of weeks. Doing a trip through CO, into Cheyenne, up into Jackson, and then to Yellowstone. Should be a good vacation.
Have fun! I did there. And i guess if you have a WiMax device, you can take full advantage of it too!
They should have done like N.Y., S.F. or in L.A.
Another lame move on Sprint's part!
you do realize that sprint had nothing to do with this right? Its a local carrier why would a carrier in wyoming care about NY?
Sprint didn't do this, DigitalBridge Communications did dumbass.
Read->Comprehend->Post.
I suspect it's more of a "last mile" where the telcos fear to tread kind of deployment. We can't get DSL or broadband cable here in Jackson Hole but the kind folk at DigitalBridge Communications have done us a solid and given us high speed wireless. If Sprint were really smart they would be doing the same thing with their WiMax.
Actually Digita Bridge has rolled out the WiMAX d product in Idaho region before Jackson Hole. THier e Nomadic Mobility WiMAX is to be deployes soon, but yes this is a Last mile solution in highly under-served rural areas. the price points are good. The Cable MSO's or RBOC's in these areas have in many instances chose not to deploy Broadband Internet in these locale's.
Anyone wanting to know more, ping me.
And all 11 people there who have gadgets that support it are really happy - WTFBBQ??1?!
why bbq??
welcome to the internet
because it's tasty.
You guys have obviously never been to Jackson, Wyoming. It's one of the most beautiful and affluent (average home price is well over $1million) places in the country to live. Nothing to do? Jackson Hole is one of the top ski resorts in North America and Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks are at their doorstep where around 3 million people a year visit.
harrison ford and dick cheney live there too
They don't actually live in Jackson, they just own vacation homes there. Tiger Woods, too.
dick cheney lives there...
he probably brings a gun w/ him to the slopes. you never know when he feels like shooting someone in the face.
Good for Wyoming!!
No one is denying it's not a beautiful place but, just very small. Im down in Miami and if I was going skiing I would sooner go to Colorado then Jackson Hole, Wyoming or Big Sky, Montana etc. Again that's all preference but you know how it goes....opinions are like @$$holes and everyone walks around thinking theirs doesnt stink.
@ Chad: Good for you guys! No more dial up I suppose.
you probably wouldn't go to Jackson Hole cause you're poor.
Mountain folk and their Wi-fi.
Hey we're getting it in south dakota too.
I wonder which Sprint exec has their lodge there... :->
One more reason for me to want to move there....
That and it having the best ski area EVER
Wow, this makes no sense. Does Jackson Hole even have full time residents?
The First? Juneau Alaska has had WiMAX for almost a year now via AT&T. Alaska gets some of the faster wireless technologies sooner than you lower 48 people :P We were one of the first to have EVDO too, about 4 years ago.
http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/ATT-WiMax-in-Alaska-86403
Hawaii has had WiMax from clearwire as well. Probably about the same timeframe.
Sorry, sometimes we just forget about you guys up there. Sort of like Canada and Puerto Rico, we don't remember you're there till we need fishing guides or rum...or grizzly bears, respectively.
Yeah I know those manly woodsmen living out in a cabin in the middle of the forest are always on the bleeding edge of technology. It makes sense to roll wimax out in Alaska before anywhere else. But I think the oil tycoons are the ones behind it all.
An important omission is that the actual ski area, Jackson Hole, is about a 20 minute's drive from the pictured town of Jackson.
Is it free, local business financed WiMax run by a non-profit organization of Linux like tech volunteers who won't sell your data, shape packets, remove anonymity, or monitor traffic? If not, I'll just use my neighbors WiFi that works for the little Internet time I use.
That's a nice looking town. It looks like someone built it with SimCity!
I've had WiMax in Rexburg, Idaho from the same company since last fall...
Yeah, me too. Digital Bridge has WiMax in Twin Falls and Idaho Falls as well. Maybe more. I guess Jackson Hole was just the "first" for places people care about.
yeah, but that had NOTHING to do with Sprint. That was just citywide wifi, if I'm not mistaken.
I used to sell phones in Idaho Falls.
No, no - this was genuine 802.16 W-i-M-a-x.
Neither I, nor this article, attributes this WiMax launch to Sprint.
Here's a link to Digital Bridge Communication's list of town's that they administer WiMax to:
http://www.digitalbridgecommunications.com/OurTowns/tabid/69/Default.aspx
This is not the first US deployment. WiMAX has been in Seattle since 2004, using the Space Needle as the antenna. Someone needs to do a little research.
Slightly off topic, but I went there a few years ago (beautiful place, great slopes), I remember the tour guide said Harrison Ford lives in the area and one time (him being an aircraft nut) actually flew his private helicopter to rescue some stranded hikers on the mountain. How bad ass is that! Imagine the shock of the hikers when you see Harrison Ford in the cockpit picking you up, makes you think he's filming Indiana Jones or something.
So what? Here in Sävsjö, Sweden there have been WiMAX available for like a year :S.
haha what the shit i just got back from there yesterday-i was mountain biking and kayaking. Kick ass place.
did you use teh wimax?
Jackson Hole is awesome. If you are ripping on the place you obviously haven't been there.
You're referring to Janet Jackson, right?
first off why, jackson hole.....Aspen, Co would of been much better, Wyoming sucks ass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I live in a small town in central Massachusetts....we've had Wimax for a while now provided by Alvarion. Long story short...it pretty much sucks, very slow, not to mention the ginormous poles they set up along the roads to get the antennas up high.
This isn't the first deployment, I've been using WiMAX in Pocatello Idaho for 3 months now from DBC. They currently have access in Pocatello, Idaho Falls and are working on setting up their network to connect the cities (about 50 miles).
Indians use smoke signals for communication in Wyoming. On a clear day it works far better than WIMAX with less energy consumption.
I lived in JH (Or Jhole as we liked to call it) from 2000 until 2005. It was a great place to live and full of billionaires and millionaires. You wouldn't believe the folks that live there -- you just don't know it.
Anyway, in 2000 there was very little broadband and over the 5 years it was pushed out all around the area. Cell phone service was lousy due to two reasons... the mountains and 98% of the land there is owned by the US Government (blm, forest service and national parks service mostly) and they don't allow cell towers on Govt land. Not even in the National Parks (Teton and Yellowstone are there).
Only 8,000 live "in town" and 25,000 in Teton Co. But during the Summer months there are 50,000+ in town every day.
This is an unusual thing to happen in JH, that's for sure, but it's great!
Lived there for a year, and I still have friends there. One of my friends works for a company that rolls out network solutions for other companies, and were approached by DigitalBridge, and given 2 pcmcia cards to try out the Wi-Max. It's apparently pretty sweet. Sorta wish I was still living there now.
I've been to Jackson Hole. It's actually a pocket western city where millionaires and billionaires spend a lot of time. This doesn't surprise me at all. The funniest thing is, I worked for Best Buy in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and we were the closest Best Buy to Jackson Hole. (Two hour drive.)
I hope they enjoy wimax. Rich peoples.
Why are they rolling wimax out first in an obscure town in Wyoming instead of a major metropolitan area? Doesn't any1 follow the status quo anymore?
Well, I would had understood Sprint doing this - to try to test their network with a small town but Digital Bridge Communications? I don't know how big they are but they are counting on this town to succeed.
I've seen how many companies and experts talk about WiMax as a 3.5G technology and that LTE will be the real 4G. You can read this article on why "LTE will rule but WiMax survives": http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=526&doc_id=150821&f_src=flffour
Jackson appreciates this technology... we will have to see what our Executive Protection clients think of it! Shepard Humphries
The school I go to has had WiMAX setup and working for a couple months now.
This so called "First" time isn't a real first. Unless you're counting the first time the company rolled out WiMAX on any given place.
http://www.wimaxday.net/site/2006/10/25/wimax-launch-in-puerto-rico/
Are you sure it's the first?
whats really funny, is I just got out of a meeting with digital bridge since they want to licence part of our spectrum to bring this same service here to Billings Montana, I used this article as an ice breaker... the first time engadget has helped me with my job. thanks engadget.!!!!
Doesn't Clearwire use WiMaxx? They've been in the seattle area for some time now.
Hello from Wyoming. I'm not sure why WiMAX is going into Jackson Hole but the town has the wealthiest popluation of any town in the USA by an extreme margin. With a few thousand residents most are millionaires and a few are billionaires. I bet the average net worth in Beverly Hills isn't in the hundreds of millions ;) Oh, and there are three ski resorts in Jackson Hole. There is one on that hill right next to the town. There is also Jackson Hole ski resort that is within minutes and Grand Targhee which is a bit more of a drive. BTW - last time I went to Jackson Hole my hotel room was $69 a night so you can afford to visit and ski.
Brokeback WiFi
It is the first US Mobile WiMAX launched, and not just for testing purposes.
If you are in Jackson Hole using WiMax
How is the performance? and What is the price?
Not Jackson Hole, but pocatello Idaho. I pay $14 a month for 1.5 down and 512kb up. It is quite reliable, and I get between 1-2mbits a second down.