Isn't WiMax kinda sorta vaporware at the moment? I work with a bunch of cutting-edge tech nerds and I don't think any of them have tried it. Maybe we just don't talk much anymore...

WI-WHO?

We have an ISP here that uses the NextNet Expedience wireless modems... gets 10-15 miles no problem, and at shorter distances you can get perfect signals indoors through multiple walls. Unfortunately, their modems are on a frequency that seems to be directly adjacent to Sirius' sat signals, and with no Sirius repeaters for hundreds of miles, you can't listen to Sirius within about four blocks of the 'central' intersection in town because their WiMax stuff drowns out the birds. XM's fine, though.

Screw 'em. They're not even using most of their licensed spectrum anyway, what do they care? Not to mention that it doesn't benefit XM any to use that spectrum outside their allocation, since all of our receivers can't receive any signals outside of the standard allocation.

I think XM and Sirius should take the fact that WCA/WCS isn't using much of their spectrum back to the FCC in an appeal of the reallocation of that spectrum. Even if they only get 6MHz of it back each - more or less 50% of what each has right now - that's still additional bandwidth, and with upcoming hierarchial modulation it's just that much more they end up with in the long run. Think of how good sound quality could be with that much more bandwidth!