Commonly referred to as
WiMAX or less commonly as
WirelessMAN™ or the
Air Interface Standard,
IEEE 802.16 is a specification for fixed broadband wireless
metropolitan access networks (MANs) that use a point-to-multipoint architecture. Published on April 8, 2002, the standard defines the use of bandwidth between the licensed 10GHz and 66GHz and between the 2GHZ and 11GHz (licensed and unlicensed) frequency ranges and defines a
MAC layer that supports multiple physical layer specifications customized for the frequency band of use and their associated regulations. 802.16 supports very high
bit rates in both
uploading to and
downloading from a base station up to a distance of 30 miles to handle such services as
VoIP,
IP connectivity and
TDM voice and data.