There are as many forms of "wireless" as there are itchy skin rashes. That's part of the problem and so I'll start by qualifying that this article - and my expertise, extends to wireless that's used to connect one corporate network (LAN) to another, typically building to building and for bandwidths of 10 megabits or more. That's where the highest telecom costs are and where phone companies and fiber providers charge the big bucks.
The wireless business is rife with confusing terms and conflicting information. It seems that no two vendors agree on anything and stats can be very misleading. That doesn't mean that wireless isn't a great solution, but which is best for you and who can you trust?
First, a definition. A "Wireless WAN" is simply a wireless connection between two or more data networks in place of telephone lines or fiber optic cabling, thereby taking a Local Area Network (LAN) and extending it to form a Wide Area Network (WAN). Typically, when people speak of a "wireless WAN" they're referring to a network to network connection, rather than one that connects a single user to a network presence, for instance, via a PC modem. Read our common sense intro...
