Chicago Gets WiMAXed Out

By Matt Wood in Miscellaneous on Jan 10, 2007 7:51PM

As a commenter on our iPhone post pointed out, there was another exciting wireless technology announcement this week sure to set Windy City geeks' hearts aflutter, and it's something that actually one-ups the vaunted love child of Steve Jobs and Cingular. Sprint announced that Chicago would be one of two initial metro areas to get WiMAX coverage (D.C. being the other). WiMAX is a fourth-generation wireless broadband technology that could reach speeds close to those of WiFi networks, and much faster than the third-generation EDGE technology used by Cingular. One of the gripes against the new iPhone is that the slower Cingular data network will take some of the zazz out of its fancy Internet capabilities. In English, this means don't feel left out if you can't get an iPhone yet. By the end of this year, you'll be able to browse the web, check email, etc. on Sprint's network almost as fast as you can on your wireless network at home. So have fun trying to look at porn on the sly at work on your iPhone, suckas. That shit is so January 9th.

Motorola didn't get completely punked by Steve yesterday, because they get a piece of this new broadband action too. They announced plans to start developing phones and such that work on WiMAX networks, so maybe we can expect a Moto KrzyFstRzr by the end of the year.