TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
 ·Comcast
2 edits |  Sprint targeting Wimax to cities; where it is least needed
This is unfortunate, because though financially maybe the best move for Sprint, Wimax will not be reaching those areas where the technology can have the most impact - rural areas where broadband options are scarcer. By keeping to the major cities, all Sprint will be doing is adding another option to people who already have several.
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02 | And why is fair and even deployment of service suddenly a concern for you, Tom? Don't have Sprint stock? |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
| said by Karl Bode  :And why is fair and even deployment of service suddenly a concern for you, Tom? Don't have Sprint stock? I have over 500 shares of Sprint thru one of my mutual funds. And the concern is that Sprint may actually do better by marketing Wimax to areas where their take rate would be much higher(rural areas) than in cities where the competition would be much stronger. I am sure Sprint did research on this, but I am not sure I agree that their current strategy will maximize their profits from their Wimax investments.
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cpayne5
join:2004-01-06
| They will have nearly all of their rural areas covered by RevA by the time they start deploying WiMax. At that time, the rural customers will be able to buy a RevA/WiMax card and subscribe to the cheaper service. I'm not too worried about rural areas being covered. (I live in a very rural area that has had RevA for ~4 months now.)
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Hail To The Redskins |
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Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02
Host:
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quote:
I am not sure I agree that their current strategy will maximize their profits from their Wimax investments.
Keep in mind we're talking 2Mbps for an estimated $55 and no limits, which throttles Verizon and Cingular/AT&T 3G offerings. Targeting dense and relatively affluent large markets makes sense. |
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sirwoogie
Blah
Premium
join:2002-01-02
Carleton, MI
 ·AT&T Midwest
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to TKJunkMail
Keep in mind the cities listed are really "areas." When they announced rev. A for Detroit, most of the sticks around the area lit up at the same time. Translate when they say Detroit, this typically means Southeastern-lower Michigan. For other top-level cities, this is also the case.
Remember, this is being marketed first as a roaming broadband offering, and secondarily a last resort long reach for people with no other broadband option besides satellite.
At least for now, Sprint has been pretty genuine in their offerings so far. Take a look at their coverage maps now. They hit some pretty remote areas with at least Rev. 0. That's more than I can say for most other carriers. Bad mouthing them at this point seems pretty disingenuous.
I live in a semi-rural area with approx 15 housholds per "block." It'd be a cold day in hell before AT&T (2,000 ft. to from from CO) and Charter (750ft. from tap) run service for me. Hell, Verizon can't even provide EVDO service to our area. |
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BosstonesOwn
join:2002-12-15
Everett, MA
clubs:
·Comcast
| reply to Karl Bode
said by Karl Bode : quote:
I am not sure I agree that their current strategy will maximize their profits from their Wimax investments.
Keep in mind we're talking 2Mbps for an estimated $55 and no limits, which throttles Verizon and Cingular/AT&T 3G offerings. Targeting dense and relatively affluent large markets makes sense. Is that symmetrical ? If So Ill dump comcast in a second.
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA | reply to sirwoogie
I live in a fairly urban (suburban ?) area of Los Angeles, and Cingular doesn't even offer 3G here.. they may by the end of the year. I wonder why they're not purching WiMAX in Los Angeles ? |
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plk
bo may sleep in loft
Premium
join:2002-04-20
Ogden, IA
| reply to TKJunkMail
Hopefully they waste little time deploying along rural Interstates. Plenty of folks along those roadways still on dialup. A roof top CPE unit will tap this market. Maybe even a wall mount with high gain antenna.
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ksw_92
join:2001-05-13
La Verne, CA | reply to en102
LA will get WiMax from two or more providers in the next few years. There's a lot of stuff that needs to happen in the LA market first; transition the ITFS band users to the MBS being the first step. |
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tc1uscg
join:2005-03-09
Saint Clair Shores, MI
| reply to cpayne5
lest not forget that Sprint also has roaming agreements with ALTEL to roam w/Data. Maybe, just maybe, WIMAX will be a metro fad while rev A and B? could find it's way out in the boonies? Lets not also forget that a few years ago, sprint tried to deploy what was called Wireless broadband by using line of sight antennas in the Detroit metro area. It didn't go over very well at the time due to those big green leafy things we call trees..  It was a crash and burn for that service. Too bad. Those poor sprint techs spent a hour on my roof trying to get a good signal. |
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roamer1
sticking it out at you
join:2001-03-24
Atlanta, GA
clubs:
| Nothing in the Southeast, California, or NYC? Huh?
There are several very noticeable gaps in the city list -- most notably, no cities in the Southeast or California are on it, and NYC isn't either desipte most of the rest of the major Northeast Corridor cities being on it. My guess is that Sprint just doesn't have enough (or any) spectrum in those areas to build out service...still, I believe Sprint was supposed to get some spectrum from the former BellSouth as a condition of the BellSouth/AT&T merger, so the Southeast should see something eventually.
-SC
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"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today. There might be a law against it by that time." -/usr/games/fortune |
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cmaenginsb
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-19
Palmdale, CA
| reply to TKJunkMail
Re: Sprint targeting Wimax to cities; where it is least needed
Sprint has always been interested in using a wireless infrastructure for the last mile to replace the need for copper loops controlled by the telcos. Their previous wireless launches reflect this as does their Wimax strategy.
As to take rate, which is better 1% of a 10,000,000 customer market in a 30 mile radius or 100% of a 10,000 customer market in a 30 mile radius?
Keep in mind that WiMax will initially require truck rolls and service calls, it's alot easier to start to deploy where you already have this infrastrure than a new area. |
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N3OGH
Bear patrol must be working like a charm
Premium
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs | reply to Karl Bode
OUCH! |
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sunnyhenry
@sbcglobal.net | wimax cpe
clearwire bought nextnetwireless and gave it to motorola
motorola expedience residential subscriber unit
rsu-2510 2496-2690 Mhz
OFDM - 4/16/64/ QAM |
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA | reply to roamer1
Re: Nothing in the Southeast, California, or NYC? Huh?
Its also possible that they don't want to errode their EVDO customers in those markets. |
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fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
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Re: Sprint targeting Wimax to cities; where it is least needed
Business cares about maximizing profits and getting income from the most they can - which they should..
Governments care about reaching out to a few people here and there and don't care about how much money it cost them, I mean, the tax payers.. Government redistributes wealth, not private business.
If you were in business, had to spend/invest millions.. would you deploy in a rural area to be nice? or would you deploy in a competitive market place where you'd see sales.. lots of them. Also, think outside the city. Many people who buy this stuff are also business travelers who need to connect mobile.
What I *DO* see is once it's tested, making money, etc.. it will ultimately be a push to the rural areas.
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"Complaining is the least path of resistance for the self-reitchous and lazy ... those who also never take the time to point out a good fortune when the opportunity presents itself. It says a lot about one's moral character." - Unknown |
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jdir
join:2001-05-04
Santa Clara, CA | reply to en102
Re: Nothing in the Southeast, California, or NYC? Huh?
I guess the reason they don't want to deploy in California (espcially San Jose area) is that WiMAX can't handle the load. Hell, DSL and Cable can't handle the load and you expect WiMAX can? |
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RR Conductor
RailRoadDude
Premium
join:2002-04-02
Redwood Valley, CA
·Comcast
1 edit | reply to cpayne5
Re: Sprint targeting Wimax to cities; where it is least needed
Most rural areas out here don't even have Sprint, let alone EVDO, we don't have service from Sprint up here, and we're still waiting on 3G from the local carriers (Verizon, US Cellular and Edge Wireless (Cingular Affiliate).
I don't think wireless does good in areas like this either, Mendocino County (NW CA) is very mountainous, and heavily forested (and some of those are Redwoods, which can reach 300 feet or more!), we can't see the local wireless outfit's site due to hills. Thankfully, Comcast (formerly Adelphia) has HSI out here, and we have it. |
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wavelength
join:2007-03-03
Spring Hill, KS | reply to TKJunkMail
Sprint did a spectrum swap with Clearwire.
Clearwire is going to move into markets smaller than mid-size. Try researching things sometime, k? |
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