Sprint chops WWAN price by $10

Robert Hallock 15 Jan, 2010 at 11:31am ET Article published in Tech

Comments

1. 
   15 Jan 2010 ~ 12:25pm Cliff_Forster The Sprint WiMax is solid in the Baltimore/DC metro area. I have played with it at several locations, and each one delivers speed, its pretty impressive.
   
   Its the future of broadband. I think many will sacrifice some speed and reliability in infrastructure in order to be able to take their connection wherever they go.
   
   Eventually these networks will be robust and available to the point where wired infrastructure is no longer necessary for delivery of any kind of content, be it internet, or television, it will all come out of the air, and be portable.
   
   As the digital music boom has shown, people will choose convenience over quality, and I think thats what we will see in wimax over the next few years. People will start to abandon their wire to the house in order to have that portable convenience.
2. 
   15 Jan 2010 ~ 12:28pm Thrax Terrestrial broadband will always be faster and offer data in greater volume than aerial connections; it's just simple physics. Also, nothing is going to happen with WWAN until the prices aren't nearly twice as much as a wired broadband connection which is at least 50% faster.
3. 
   15 Jan 2010 ~ 1:57pm Cliff_Forster I agree that it will take years, but I think the natural progression of the broadband industry is wimax. Comcast knew this a few years ago when they merged with AT&T.
   
   Its going to take a while, but like I said, given the choice people will trade a reasonable amount of performance for ultimate convenience. Most users are not going to be concerned about massive downloads like you and I might, they will want to know, can I browse the net fast? check, can I get and send email fast? check, can I stream digital quality video even if it takes me an extra 20 seconds to build a solid buffer? check. Consumers will take portability over a little extra speed. It will take time for the networks to be realized, but by this time next decade I would be willing to bet the only wire that runs to your house is to carry the power. Wired infrastructure may still be necessary for corporate consumption, but for the typical home user, probably not.
4. 
   15 Jan 2010 ~ 2:10pm Thrax I doubt WiMAX will ever gain any significant traction. WiMAX's only supporter is Sprint/Clearwire, and they're a B-list carrier at best.
   
   The next true cellular standard is Long Term Evolution (LTE), which refers to its origins in today's GSM-based UMTS standard (AT&T/T-Mobile). The entire US cellular industry, except for Sprint, is transitioning to LTE by 2013. Verizon and AT&T have already completed trials, and are planning initial deployments this year.
   
   It's a 100% IP-based network, it's quite faster, and uses a frequency that far and away offers better coverage than WiMAX. It also has all the same mobile broadband convenience.
   
   WiMAX is the loser, and I predict Sprint will sink with that ship.
5. 
   15 Jan 2010 ~ 2:51pm Cliff_Forster

   Thrax wrote:

   I doubt WiMAX will ever gain any significant traction. WiMAX's only supporter is Sprint/Clearwire, and they're a B-list carrier at best.
   
   The next true cellular standard is Long Term Evolution (LTE), which refers to its origins in today's GSM-based UMTS standard (AT&T/T-Mobile). The entire US cellular industry, except for Sprint, is transitioning to LTE by 2013. Verizon and AT&T have already completed trials, and are planning initial deployments this year.
   
   It's a 100% IP-based network, it's quite faster, and uses a frequency that far and away offers better coverage than WiMAX. It also has all the same mobile broadband convenience.
   
   WiMAX is the loser, and I predict Sprint will sink with that ship.

   
   You may be right about that.
   
   Let me clarify, when I say WiMax, I'm just using it as a generic term for high speed cellular internet access.