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| WiBro | |
 Wibro Egg sold by KT, produced by Interbro | |
| Korean name | |
|---|---|
| Hangul | 와이브로 |
| Revised Romanization | waibeuro |
| McCune–Reischauer | waibŭro |
_for_korea(kt).jpg)
WiBro (wireless broadband) was awireless broadbandInternet technology developed by theSouth Korean telecoms industry. WiBro is the South Korean service name forIEEE802.16e (mobileWiMAX) international standard. Usage of the service declined due to competition from LTE and WiBro services were officially discontinued at the end of 2018.[1]
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In February 2002, the Korean government allocated100 MHz ofelectromagnetic spectrum in the2.3–2.4 GHz band. In late 2004, WiBro Phase 1 was standardized by theTTA of Korea, and in late 2005ITU standardized WiBro asIEEE802.16e, also known as MobileWiMAX. Two South Korean telecom companies (KT,SKT) launched commercial service in June 2006, and the monthly fees were equivalent to around 30United States dollars (equivalent to $47 in 2024). Though WiBro was most popular and most widely deployed in South Korea, some carriers outside South Korea also deployed WiBro commercially, includingTelecom Italia,Televisão Abril (now Vivo TV) inBrazil,Omnivisión [es] inVenezuela, PORTUS inCroatia, and Arialink (now part of theZayo Group) in theUS state ofMichigan.
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WiBrobase stations offered an aggregate data throughput of30 to 50 Mbit/s per carrier and cover a radius of 1–5 kilometres (0.62–3.11 mi), allowing for the use of portable internet usage, and providing mobility for moving devices up to 120 kilometres per hour (75 mph) compared toWi-Fi having mobility up to walking speed and mobile phone technologies having mobility up to 250 kilometres per hour (160 mph). From testing during theAPEC Summit inBusan in late 2005, the actual range and bandwidth were quite a bit lower than these numbers. The technology will also offerquality of service. The inclusion of QoS allows for WiBro to stream video content and other loss-sensitive data in a reliable manner. These allappear to be (and may be)[weasel words] the stronger advantages over the fixedWiMAX standard (802.16a). While WiBro is quite precise in its requirements from spectrum use to equipment design, WiMAX leaves much of this up to the equipment provider while providing enough detail to ensure interoperability between designs.
WiBro adoptsTDD for duplexing,OFDMA for multiple access and8.75 MHz (10 MHz in later revisions) as a channel bandwidth. WiBro was devised to overcome the data rate limitation of mobile phones (for exampleCDMA 1x) and to provide mobile broadband Internet access comparable toADSL or Wi-Fi.
WiBro broadband connection speeds eventually[timeframe?] increased to10 Mbit/s, around ten times the speed of the initial implementation, which .[2] The WiBro networks were shut down at the end of 2018.[3][4]
WiBro has a theoretical maximum download speed of128 Mbit/s and a theoretical maximum upload speed of56 Mbit/s.
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In Korea, before WiBro service was discontinued[timeframe?], KT (Korea Telecom) offered Wave 2 (18.4 Mbit/s, 4 Mbit/s) for 10,000South Korean won per month with10 GB data usage to ₩40,000/mo with50 GB data usage plus free access to their ownWiFi hotspots, ollehWiFi. The service coverage was advertised as nationwide, but actual coverage was restricted to urban areas, some railroad stations, airports, and major highways.SK Telecom also offered Wave 2 WiBro Service for US$18.87 a month with30 GB data usage. Actual service coverage was limited mostly to major cities and highways.
For short term visitors, KT rented WiBro modems and hotspots at the KT Roaming Center inIncheon International Airport.[5] In October 2012, rental of a WiBro-only USB modem cost ₩5,000 per day (equivalent to ₩5,317 in 2017) plus ₩100,000 deposit (equivalent to ₩106,333 in 2017); rental of a WiBro-HSPA USB modem and WiBro mobile hotspot cost ₩8,000 per day (equivalent to ₩8,507 in 2017) plus a ₩150,000 deposit (equivalent to ₩159,499 in 2017). One-day rental was free at KT Roaming Center, but required a credit card and passport.[citation needed]
In India,Tikona Digital Networks (Independent services provider) offered WiBro service up to2 Mbit/s and4 Mbit/s in many cities. The2 Mbit/s unlimited monthly plan cost 999Indian rupees (roughly US$21[as of?]).
After its official opening in 2006, WiBro expanded to major cities in South Korea[which?]. By January 2013, KT covered all 80+ cities while SK covered Seoul and a few other major cities.
Devices that supported WiBro includedmobile phones such as theHTC Evo 4G+ and theSamsung Show WiBro Omnia (SCH-M830); mobile hotspots from manufacturers including INFOMARK, Interbro,LG Innotek, and Modacom; USB modems from LG Innotek, Myungmin, and Samsung; andnetbooks with integrated WiBro.[citation needed]
In November 2004,Intel andSamsung Electronics executives agreed to ensure compatibility between WiBro andMobile WiMAX technology.[6]KT Corporation,SK Telecom and Hanaro Telecom (acquired bySK Telecom and renamed SK Broadband) had been selected as Wibro operators in January, 2005. However, Hanaro Telecom cancelled its plan for the WiBro and returned WiBro licence in April 2005. In September 2005,Samsung Electronics signed a deal withSprint Nextel Corporation to provide equipment for a WiBro trial.[7] Two months later,KT Corporation (akaKorea Telecom) showed off WiBro trial services during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Busan. On February 10, 2006,Telecom Italia, the dominant telephony and internet service provider in Italy, together with Korean Samsung Electronics, has demonstrated to the public a WiBro network service on the occasion of the2006 Winter Olympics, held inTurin, with downlink speed of 10 Mbit/s and uplink speed of some hundreds of kbit/s even in movement up to 120 km/h.[8] In the same event Samsung tlc div. president Kitae Lee assured a future of 20–30 Mbit/s by the end of this year (2006) and >100 Mbit/s down/>1 Mbit/s up in 2008.[8]KT Corporation launched commercial WiBro service in June 2006.[9] Sprint (US), BT (UK), KDDI (JP), and TVA (BR) have or are trialing WiBro.KT Corporation andSK Telecom launched WiBro around Seoul on June 30, 2006. On April 3, 2007, KT launched WiBro coverage for all areas ofSeoul including allsubway lines.In January 2011, KT's mobile network SHOW and home network QOOK merged. Since then, KT has been changed to olleh. In March, 2011, olleh's WiBro coverage was expanded nationwide covering 85% of Koreans. In October 2012, olleh's Wibro covered 88% of the South Korean population.[citation needed]
Cellular network standards | |||||||||
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| 0Gradio telephones (1946) | |||||||||
| 1G (1979) |
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| 2G (1991) |
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| 2G transitional (2.5G, 2.75G, 2.9G) |
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| 3G (1998) IMT-2000 (2001) |
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| 3G transitional (3.5G, 3.75G, 3.9G) |
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| 4G (2009) IMT Advanced (2013) |
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| 5G (2018) IMT-2020 (2021) |
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