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.
