Wateen WiMAX: A beginning of sorrow

Wateen WiMAX broadband hasn’t received any accolades in it’s few months of starting up. Something I suspected long ago, would be a poor start to their services. Sadly that has what has happened.

Wateen (and Motorola) promised to Pakistani consumers the WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e) technology in a 2005 roll-out which was then claimed to be the biggest roll-out in the world. WiMAX is a broadband protocol/standard that delivers on the wireless medium. It uses a normal transmission tower like a cell phone tower, and at the user’s side there is a signal receiver. This receiver can then multiplex the signal onto various other mediums (TV, telephone, LAN).

From the people that have used it, it hasn’t really made a good impression with them. The company as a setup might be impressive in their marketing and after sales department, but the user experience thing still needs to be worked upon. From the comments posted on the Islamabad Metroblog things are not so good. User complain of frequent disconnections, slow speed and erratic behavior. Which, honestly speaking, is not surprising it’s a wireless technology. Learn a lesson from your cell provider! Forget internet.

Is Wateen WiMAX a viable gaming solution? Not right now, but since things might settle down, they will figure themselves out. Which is an optimistic way of looking at it. I would suggest you to ask around your neighborhood if anyone subscribing to Wateen’s services is having any problems. Ask about their comments too - because problems are usually localized and not the same for everyone.

I read some positive and negative comments and rants here.

No related posts.