After a somewhat troubled existence, Buzz Broadband, Australia’s first WiMAX operator has shut down its doors. What was most notorious however is that while on its way out, CEO Garth Freeman talked harshly about the technology during an international WiMAX conference in Bangkok, calling it a “disaster” that “failed miserably.”

Despite efforts from a multitude of high-tech companies, WiMax has largely remained a technology limited to a number of test sites. From the information we were able to gather from its website, Buzz Broadband was not your general purpose ISP. With a big emphasis put on VoIP, the company failed to use the technology effectively over long ranges, and was very limiting when indoors, according to Freeman. Other panelists and members of the audience at the Bangkok conference did not share the CEO's opinion, saying they have had a much better experience dealing with WiMax's still infant platform.