Sprint Unveils WiMax Launch City Lineup > Sprint targeting Wimax to cities; where it is least needed

Sprint targeting Wimax to cities; where it is least needed

And why is fair and even deployment of service suddenly a concern for you, Tom? Don't have Sprint stock?

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

reply to fAcEtIOUs

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I am not sure I agree that their current strategy will maximize their profits from their Wimax investments.

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reply to fAcEtIOUs
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.

reply to Karl Bode

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 ?

reply to fAcEtIOUs
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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Thermaltake 2000a/Asus P4C-e/p4 3.4/ocz3500 2x512/WD.2x200g/raptor2x74 raid 0/ATI 9600/APC sua 1500/Logitech z-680/ Samsung 213t LCD/MX 1000

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.

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.

reply to fAcEtIOUs
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.

reply to Karl Bode
OUCH!

reply to fAcEtIOUs
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

reply to cpayne5
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.

reply to fAcEtIOUs
Sprint did a spectrum swap with Clearwire.

Clearwire is going to move into markets smaller than mid-size. Try researching things sometime, k?

reply to wavelength

Re: Sprint targeting Wimax to cities; where it is least needed

reply to fAcEtIOUs