Declan Byrne, the CMO of wireless broadband access vendor Airspan, says that his company has developed WiMAX equipment that operates both the 3.6GHz and the 700MHz spectrum bands. Last September, Airspan signed an agreement with incumbent local exchange carrier FairPoint Communications to supply equipment for a fixed WiMAX network that will reach rural communities in Vermont and New Hampshire. Byrne says that WiMAX's potential to run on the 700MHz band in the near future is a particularly enticing option for mobile broadband operators because the licensed 700MHz spectrum propagates more effectively than the lightly licensed 3.6GHz band.

However, WiMAX is not without its issues. Patrick Knorr, the chief operating officer of cable and broadband provider Sunflower Broadband, says that his company had initially looked into using WiMAX to deliver wireless broadband, but that he became concerned that Sprint so far is the only major carrier to adopt the technology. Now he says Sunflower is studying Long-Term Evolution (LTE), the that isn't due to be available commercially for roughly two years.

"Listening to industry chatter, WiMAX seems to be losing some momentum," he says. "Verizon, Cox and AT&T are committed to LTE, and wherever the big deployments go is generally where the technology goes... ideally we want a product that can provide fixed wireless and mobile wireless services in rural areas. It looks like LTE is going to fit that mold better."

In addition to its lack of big carrier support, Glass thinks that WiMAX is less likely to spread as far or as quickly as Wi-Fi technologies have because it usually operates on licensed spectrum and will thus be more costly for smaller operators to offer.

"People refer to WiMAX as though there's no other kind of wireless broadband," he says. "We can go farther and better with other technologies, especially on unlicensed spectrum."