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A joint venture between UK ISP Pipex and Intel, Pipex Wireless is working with wireless technology provider, Airspan Networks to test WiMax-based broadband services in a number of locations.

Using an internal antenna, performance speeds in excess of 2Mbps up and down have been achieved indoors at a range of 1.2km from the base station with no direct line of sight. Drive tests using the indoor antenna in a vehicle at various distances from the base station have shown symmetric speeds of 5Mbps.

External antennae have achieved speeds of 10Mbps down and 9Mbps over the same distance, while longer range tests at up to 6km from the base station reached 6Mbps down and 4Mbps up.

The operators said that they were particularly impressed with the ability to deliver near-symmetric performance in most environments

'This will mean that businesses and home users will benefit from being able to send content such as email attachments and large files at the same speed as typical broadband downloads,' said a spokesperson.

Pipex said that the next stage is to begin commercial trials with a number of local authorities and 'live customers'.

'WiMax is an exciting opportunity for Pipex and we're delighted that the tests have been completed and successfully shown the technology's potential,' said Mike Read, CEO.

Airspan's CTO, Alastair Westgarth, was also pleased with the outcome of the latest trial.

'The combination of range and throughput demonstrated by the achievements to date are very encouraging and provide an added baseline for our continuing product development of this platform,' he said.

WiMax, an acronym derived from Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is based on successive evolutions of IEEE 802.16 standard, and uses the 2-60GHz frequency range to provide wireless connectivity as an alternative to a traditional landline phone/Internet connection.