Covering CES can certainly be challenging enough without having to worry about staying online for more than three minutes at a time.
Indeed, WiFi coverage is intermittent and unstable, while those blessed souls with a 3G connection are forced to endure annoying bottlenecks and long periods of downtime.
But not at the Intel booth. While others at CES were struggling to check their e-mail or upload pictures, I was blissfully streaming one my favorite YouTube videos – Mad Season: Live at the Moore.
I was also surfing the web, downloading pictures and checking out some content on Hulu.
How and why you ask?
Well, I was lucky enough to demo an Intel Core i5-based Dell laptop with integrated WiMAX (4G) Link 6150 – which was formerly codenamed Kilmer Peak.
According to Intel spokesperson Suzy Ramirez, the WiMAX service provided by Clearwire is capable of achieving speeds of 12 megabits for downloads and a two megabit upload rate.
“What are some of the advantages of WiMAX? Well, think about the current technology such as 3G which is leveraged by millions of iPhone users,” said Ramirez.
“Now, 3G was not originally developed for the large amount of data that is currently flowing through the network pipes and that is why users often experience bottlenecks. However, WiMAX was specifically design to handle and flawlessly process huge amounts of data.”
Ramirez told TG Daily that Intel was quite pleased with the current progression of WiMAX in the US, which has now grown to encompass at least 25 cities, including Baltimore, Portland, Las Vegas – with NYC and San Franciso expected to receive coverage later in 2010.
Ramirez also noted that Intel had observed a jump in international WiMAX coverage, especially in countries such as Russia, Japan and India.
