Wireless News

More proof?  Here ya go:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/11/t-mobile-webconnect-rocket-available-march-14-already-blowing-m/

Notice what the author noted:

"Additionally, the kids at Mobile Burn got their hands on a unit for a review and were generally quite impressed with consistent download speeds ranging from 1780Kbps to 2797Kbps "on a couple of [DSLreports.com] East Coast servers." ****, after moving to a location with "prime, perfect signal (-51dbm)" things picked up considerably, with, on average, 6480Kbps downloads and 2160Kbps uploads. Not bad, eh?"

Now look at the numbers that T-Mobile's 3G network produced in the REAL WORLD versus WiMAX's real world numbers?  Looks like a mere 3G network offers both at least comparable, let alone faster, UPLOAD AND DOWNLOAD speeds.  So what is the point of WiMAX when even lowly T-Mobile can offer faster using not so new technology?

The way Sprint operates, and how they're trying to influence Clearwire, I'd say this 4G speed race is over...and the winner will ultimately probably be AT&T because they can offer LTE-like speeds without having to invest in LTE yet...AND they will be able to piggyback onto Verizon's LTE network for roaming until they get their own network up to offer LTE.  Granted, Verizon will be investing heavily, but that CDMA network that Verizon is on is going to hinder any serious long-term investment and deployment (unless they quickly go from CDMA to LTE-only...and I don't see that happening.  T-Mobile could win, but they're simply too small compared to the other two.

In the end, Sprint (and WiMAX) loses.

I guess it all depends on how you see things.  Mr. Hesse believes that the world is heading towards a data-centric standard.  That would, in turn, translate into the fastest network wins.  As such, that would mean that iDEN subs that have been leaving are doing so ONLY because the iDEN network is so slow. 

However, IF that were the case, you'd have thought that we'd have seen a huge up-tick in the Sprint CDMA post-paid additions side.  We haven't.  So it obviously has little to nothing to do with data speed entirely.  It has to do more with the fact that customers view anything and everything Sprint as a negative.

And I don't see that changing because Clearwire is offering WiMAX...after all, the Sprint name will still be affiliated with it.  And unless and until Sprint goes away, WiMAX (or at least Clearwire) won't take off either.

That's actually one interesting observation.  Sprint sold itself on the idea that Qualcomm Kool-Aid that CDMA is the future.  It obvious has not been.  The world has gone to GSM, and now HSPA/HSPA+.  Ultimately, it will go to LTE as well. 

Now, does that mean that WiMAX is not going to be a worldwide standard? No, far from it.  WiMAX is deployed in several countries...but all but a few of those countries have little in the form of high speed broadband infrastructure.  For example, most of eastern Europe (think Russia, Estonia, Romania, Serbia, etc.), the Middle East, and and some Far East countries (most notable being S. Korea) have already deployed WiMAX.  England has already ruled that WiMAX spectrum will be in the 2.5Mhz spectrum (or is it Ghz?  I forgot now...not that it matters) band: LTE will have to go to a different spectrum allocation.  So, as far as standardizing a signal, Intel has WiMAX designed quite well.

And honestly, WiMAX could develop and become a game changer, even here in the US.  In S. Korea, WiMAX (known over there as WiBRO) devices are selling fairly well...at least if you believe what their manufacturers and service providers are claiming.  I know early last year, one of Russia's WiMAX providers was going to launch a WiMAX-only handset.  So, wireless VoIP via WiMAX (VoMAX) is possible.  How well that handset sold though, I have no idea.  So, there could be potential upside for WiMAX here in the US.  And Clearwire is on record stating that they could easily convert their entire network to work on LTE and dump WiMAX within a few hours/days (if memory serves, it's allegedly merely a software conversion?).  The problem though will be for Sprint.

Sprint could sell a bunch of WiMAX-based handsets...and what will those customers do when Clearwire opts to go to LTE?  Will they opt to want to stay with Sprint or Clearwire? I doubt it.  And that's Sprint's serious Achilles' heel.  Sprint needs to really differentiate itself.  WiMAX CAN be the way.  But it has to do 2 things first.

1. Launch (preferably at nearly the same time)...a CDMA/WiMAX handset as well as an iDEN/WiMAX handset.

2. Change it's brand name from Sprint and/or Nextel to a completely different brand name...maybe Sextel? 

Why?  Because if VoMAX works (and so far, in Russia, it looks like it does), then the transition from CDMA to WiMAX as well as from iDEN to WiMAX becomes a no brainer.  And at that point, you can't call it Sprint b/c you have former Nextel users on the network.   And, for the same reason, you can't call the service Nextel because you have a bunch of Sprint users on that WiMAX network.  So I say call everyone Sextel, or Clear.  Either way works.

As for Cisco no longer supplying WiMAX infrastructure, I didn't see that.  And I thought Cisco held a press conference last month to acknowledge that they WERE going to be a WiMAX supplier.  Maybe I'm wrong on that though.

http://mobile.engadget.com/2010/03/12/teliasonera-already-upgrading-lte-network-practical-speeds-of/

So...now we're already talking 80Mb/s on the download.  So much for WiMAX maxing out at 10Mb/s without updating to 802.16m.  Ah well.