Clearwire International, and Taiwan’s Tatung InfoComm and VMAX have for the first time demonstrated mobile WiMax global roaming, the WiMax Forum said on Monday.
The demonstration was done at the WiMax Forum Member Conference in Taipei. It used a USB (Universal Serial Bus) modem, a username and password from Clearwire to gain access to both Tatung InfoComm’s and VMAX’s respective WiMax networks in Taiwan. The operators talked to each other via Aicent, a third-party roaming exchange provider. Other companies participating in the demos include Samsung, Futureinfonet, Alcatel-Lucent and Bridgewater Systems.
Unlike its cellular rivals, WiMax does not have roaming specified in the IEEE standards, explains Clearwire’s International’s president Barry West in this Light Reading video. West wants WiMax to get to the “same position” as GSM roaming, whereby any GSM device can be used on any GSM network in the world.
Clearwire’s international roaming deal means that someone using Sprint’s USB WiMAX modem, for example, could seamlessly roam to other WiMAX networks, explains Unstrung. Clearwire has also signed agreements with WiMAX operators UQ Communications of Japan and Yota of Russia for WiMAX roaming between the operators.
WiMAX Roaming.org, under the auspices of WiMAX Forum, provides a forum for working out roaming standards. Roaming may also be applied when Comcast or Time Warner WiMAX users in the United States venture into other regions that are served by other providers such as Clear or Sprint.
