Introduction
Worldwide
Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is the industrial name given to
the 802.16-2004 amendment by the vendor interoperability organization. WiMAX is
a 4G (Fourth Generation) of wireless technology. The IEEE 802.16 standard is
the real revolution in wireless metropolitan area network (WirelessMANs) that
enables high-speed access to data, video, and voice services. IEEE 802.16 is
mainly aimed at providing Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) and thus it may be
considered as an attractive alternative solution to wired broadband
technologies like Digital Subscriber Line (xDSL) and cable modem access. The
IEEE 802.16 standard provides network access to buildings through external
antennas connected to radio BSs. The frequency band supported by the standard
covers 2 to 66GHz. WiMAX wireless communication technology is based on OFDM
(Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) technology. WiMAX supports
roaming service in metropolitan and regional networks, so allows mobile
connectivity to mobile users. The target mobility is 120 km/h and the peak
throughput is 18.7-Mbps downlink and 5.0-Mbps uplink in the case of DL/UL ratio
= 29:18 and 10-MHz bandwidth. It utilizes the cell concept and the coverage of
a cell is in the range of few kilometers. The protocol layering of the IEEE
802.16 system consists of a MAC layer and Physical layer, with the MAC layer
divided into three sub-layer, namely, service-specific convergence sublayer (CS), MAC common
part sublayer (CPS), and security sublayer. Another distinctive feature of
Mobile WiMAX is that it defines the security sublayer as a formal layer in the
protocol architecture. The security sublayer provides authentication, privacy
key exchange, and encryption function that are necessary to realize secured
communication.
WiMAX implementation in Malaysia
In March 2007,
Malaysia government gives a license to 4 companies which is Green Packet Bhd,
YTL E-Solution Bhd (YTLe), REDtone International Bhd (REDtone) and Asiaspace
dotcom Sdn Bhd (Asiaspace). Every company is implementing their own
technologies in the different areas. P1 was the first company that introduces
their service in Malaysia.
P1 WiMAX (www.p1.com.my)
Packet One Network (P1) is a
Malaysian converged telecommunications, broadband and WiMAX service provider
under Green Packet Bhd. P1 was one of four companies awarded 2.3 GHz spectrum
licenses by Malaysian Government to develop WiMAX services in Malaysia and
became the first company in Malaysia to launch the commercial WiMAX services.
Klang Valley was the first place that becomes the WiMAX area trial through
voluntary residential and consumer services the business. P1 is the first
company in Malaysia introduces 802.16e 2.3GHz WiMAX networks on a large scale,
and the first implement it after Korea. P1was formed strategic alliances to
deliver WiMAX services with others companies like Alcatel-Lucent, Intel
Corporation, Oracle Corporation, EMC Corporation, and ZTE from china. P1 also
formed a partnership with Sunway Group and completed development of the first
phase of the wireless of the Sunway project at Sunway city. There is two
products of P1 which is P1 WiMAX and also WIGGY. P1 WiMAX offers three types of
modems to their customers which are P1 WiMAX DS300, DV230, and DX230. WIGGY is
a portable modem that comes with three packages which are WIGGY 129, 89, and 58
series. P1 also was chosen to implement and set-up a WiMAX for Kuala Lumpur
Wireless Metropolitan Project (Wireless@KL) that consists of over 1,500
hotspots in Kuala Lumpur. P1 also engaged in a project in Penang called
Wireless@Penang. Wireless@Penang is a state government initiative engaging the
WiMAX-based P1 wireless internet service. In P1’s Phase II project, ZTE was
short-listed as a trial network and become as long-term strategic partner of P1
in March 2009 after ZTE excellent job in testing the functionality and KPI test
by adopting new-generation distributed BS to construct the network rapidly.
In general, P1
coverage area is only limited to Malaysia peninsular which means that the
coverage is not reached to Sabah and Sarawak. The area that the P1 cover is
Selangor, Kedah, Johor, Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Pahang, Perak, Pulau Pinang,
Negeri Sembilan, Terengganu, Perlis, and Kelantan. Almost all major cities in
peninsular Malaysia is coverage by P1 WiMAX. In general, all capital cities in
peninsular Malaysia are covered by WiMAX technology. Population coverage of P1
is 45%.
Service that
offered by P1 is ONE Pelan, Home & Office, On-The-Go Postpaid, On-The-Go
prepaid, Quota Top-Up. For ONE Pelan, 2 modems is offered by P1 which is home
modem with in-built WiFi for home or office use, and a portable modem called
WIGGY that can be used for personel use outdoors. This pelan also offers a
voice calls at low cost by using home modem that allows customers to connect to
a regular phone to make calls. Home & Office plans come with 3 packages
which are based on monthly payment of RM139 and RM99 for modem DX230 model, and
RM59 for DV230 model. Each package is different based on download speed rate,
usage quota, and monthly fee. On-The-Go Postpaid plans also come with packages
based on monthly fee like RM89 and RM59 for modem UH235 model, and RM39 for
UT235 plus UH235 models. This pelan also is measured based on download speed,
usage quota and monthly fee. For On-The-Go Postpaid pelan, there are two
packages offered which is RM20 for 15 days and 500Mb usages, and second package
is RM50 for 30 days and 2Gb quota.
Yes 4G (
YTL e-Solution
Bhd. launched its WiMAX service under the brand YES on 19 November 2010. The
population coverage by Yes 4G is 65% of peninsular Malaysia which covers most
of the west coast. In term of services offered by Yes 4G, Yes 4G offers a
wireless broadband like P1 but in addition, Yes 4G offer a voice service for
mobile user which is no limited to home usage and this services can be used
across all the devices that it offers.
On
top of that, Yes has developed an application that you can download for free
called Yes Life. What this application does is it allows you to make and
receive phone calls and SMS from your PC. The application also allows you to
store your contacts in a cloud address book where it is accessible from any PC
with Yes Life installed. You can also access this cloud-based address book from
the Yes Buzz mobile phone.
Yes also offers
a web-based email account and calendar client simply called Yes Mail. All this
services are offered for free.
Other than that,
Yes 4G also allows users to use one account to connect a multiple devices. For
example with just one account can connect to the Yes USB dongle, the Yes MiFi
and home gateway to go online simultaneously. You can even connect multiple
device of the same kind using one account. Meaning one account can access the
internet using two Yes USB dongles on two separate computers at the same time.
This
characteristic is useful is when you’re a family man with kids who have their
own computers. It’s possible for you to give each a Yes USB dongle but have
them all connected to one account with means you don’t have to pay multiple
monthly fees for each device.
In term of plans
and packages, basically Yes 4G charge their customers based on their usage. Yes
4G offers two plans for their customers which are 4G Mobile Internet and Mobile
Voice and SMS. For 4G Mobile Internet, customer is charged 3 cent per MB usage.
For Mobile Voice and SMS plans, the price is 9 cent per minutes used.
Redtone (www.redtone.com)
Redtone is
another WiMAX operator in Malaysia that offers USB WiMAX portable devices.
Redtone comes with 3 plans which are Flexi pelan, Home pelan and Office pelan.
Flexi pelan comes with two packages, Flexi50 and Flexi80. The packages are
subscribed based on speed of downloading, usage, and monthly fee. Home Pelan
offer packages called HomeLite. Office pelan offers 2 packages, Basic package
and BizLite package. For the coverage areas, Redtone coverage area is only in
East Malaysia which is Sabah and Sarawak. In Sabah, area that covered by
Redtone is Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, and Tawau. In Sarawak, area that covered by
Redtone is Kuching and Miri.
AMAX (www.amax.my)
AMAX is a WiMAX
mobile technology powered by Asispace dotcom Sdn Bhd. In 2009, AMAX provide
packages for wireless broadband. The packages that offered are Single User
package, Multi user, Business Package and others. AMAX also offer bundling
packages like HP Mini plus USB Modem Bundle, meaning that customer will be
given a computer laptop for subscribe certain contract. Another example for
bundling packages is Compaq Presario CQ40 plus USB Modem bundle. This is some
of AMAX strategies of attract customers to subscribe with their products. Other
than USB Modem, AMAX also offer other devices/bundles like multi-user 4 port
Modem and also WiFi Router for Multi-user or for Business plans. For the
coverage area, as the first step the AMAX network cover the entire Klang Valley
in Selangor only and not available in other places.
No comments:
Post a Comment