Wait! We’ve barely gotten used to Wi-Fi and haven’t even begun to use it to its potential. Already there’s another acronym coming our way!

WiMAX is considered to be the likely successor to cable modems, DSL, and other longer distance ‘wired’ connections. While Wi-Fi can reach around 300 feet, WiMAX will go up to 31 miles with speeds up to 10 Mbps. However, initial implementations will probably only cover 3 - 5 miles. Proponents are calling it an addition to Wi-Fi, not a replacement.

WiMAX is backed by Intel and Nokia, among others but also has a competitor called Mobile-Fi, backed by Lucent. Although Mobile-Fi was designed to handle communications even in speeding vehicles, it will have a hard time competing against WiMAX, which will be installed with Intel chipsets within a relatively short time.