inteller
Sociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK | Ion.
Sprint ION was way ahead of its time. It only failed because people didn't completely understand what it could do. |
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rodrod5
join:2001-02-28
Houston, TX | I still wish I had my ION
I keep the hub just in case  |
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DaveNJ
No Fear
join:1999-09-01
New Jersey
 ·Comcast
·Patriot Media
| I wanted sprint IOn but was not in a service area, what gets me about Sprint, is they dont do things to save money. When Sprint merged with Nextel, they should have converted to GSM/3G, which has better economies of scale. If sprint could bring back ION, and integrate it with a cell phone, and use GSM. Sprint might have a chance at 3rd place. |
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Fox McCloud
Crazy like a fox.
join:2006-07-23
 ·Embarq
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to inteller
said by inteller  :Sprint ION was way ahead of its time. It only failed because people didn't completely understand what it could do. I hate to be the idiot here, but what, exactly was Sprint ION?
Yeah, I too can't see Clearwire being a very good investor; as someone else said, most likely Sprint will just purchase them some day (can you say WiMAX Monopoly? :P).
Anyway, maybe they'll try to get Embarq to fund them; hey, Sprint screwed over their landline division once before... |
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CMoore2004
Premium
join:2003-02-06
Jonesville, MI | reply to DaveNJ
Ummm, no. |
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Time4aNAP
Premium
join:2007-04-09
Des Plaines, IL
| reply to inteller
said by inteller :Sprint ION was way ahead of its time. It only failed because people didn't completely understand what it could do. Bull.
I heard the news of Sprint ION while I was in a backwater town (as far as Internet access goes) in Arkansas, and immediately rushed to place my order. At the time I had a beautiful line of sight path to their antenna atop the Sears Tower. I thought that I was set.
I have never heard so many excuses why the installer allegedly couldn't set me up. My plan was to locate my antenna on the inside of a window with the great view. "No that won't work" they said. Bull. The STL antenna for one of the TV stations that I worked for was mounted behind a window inside of the Sears Tower, no less! When I secured permission for roof access, they balked again, citing liability issues, with the potential for high winds to tear loose their cabling. Never mind the fact that the existing MATV cabling had been there for decades with no such problems.
The bottom line is that Sprint, or whoever Sprint hired to do the installations, was absolutely determined to prevent the deployment of this product. After three months of bogus excuses for not signing me up, they nailed the lid on their own coffin by claiming that I "was too late", that they had saturated the market already. When I pointed out that I was literally the first person in this market to apply for service, they had no reply. Later on Sprint announced that ION service was discontinued.
Imagine my surprise when, years later I befriended a satisfied ION customer whose allegedly "terminated" ION service was still going strong, with no end in sight.
I'm reminded of a TV commercial that used a line "we didn't plan to fail; we just failed to plan." Well somebody at Sprint is hard at work, planning on making Sprint fail. I wish that someone would find the jackass and fire him. |
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Time4aNAP
Premium
join:2007-04-09
Des Plaines, IL
| reply to Fox McCloud
Sprint ION is a technically successful wireless Internet delivery system that has been around for a half-dozen years. It works, no doubt about it. It's simpler and easier to deploy than Canopy, and a lot less costly. It could have been a raging success if not for the people within the Sprint organization who are determined to keep the company from making big money. |
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Time4aNAP
Premium
join:2007-04-09
Des Plaines, IL
1 edit | reply to DaveNJ
said by DaveNJ :When Sprint merged with Nextel, they should have converted to GSM/3G, which has better economies of scale. Wait a minute. Are you seriously suggesting that Sprint throw away its far superior EV-DO equipment to buy GSM? That means replacing their entire infrastructure, and force all of their customers to buy new equipment, whether they want to or not? That would most certainly kill Sprint for good.
What is it about Sprint that attracts you "plan to fail" types?
EDIT: Precisely what "economies of scale"???  |
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inteller
Sociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK | i wouldn't throw it away for GSM equipment, but I would throw it away for WCDMA....which is what the rest of the world is going to. |
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inteller
Sociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK | reply to Time4aNAP
you sir, are an idiot. ION was not a wireless technology. |
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inteller
Sociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK | reply to Time4aNAP
ION != to Sprint's MMDS. Get your shit straight. |
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DaveNJ
No Fear
join:1999-09-01
New Jersey
·Comcast
·Patriot Media
| reply to Time4aNAP
said by Time4aNAP :said by DaveNJ :When Sprint merged with Nextel, they should have converted to GSM/3G, which has better economies of scale. Wait a minute. Are you seriously suggesting that Sprint throw away its far superior EV-DO equipment to buy GSM? That means replacing their entire infrastructure, and force all of their customers to buy new equipment, whether they want to or not? That would most certainly kill Sprint for good. What is it about Sprint that attracts you "plan to fail" types? EDIT: Precisely what "economies of scale"??? Lets see there are 2 Billion GSM users, and 3 million cdma users. Thats a significant economy of scale. The fact you can go into a store just about anywhere in the world and get a quad band phone that will work worldwide.
3Gsm(umts) is being added to just about every gsm network. So when all the nextel people who must buy new equipment, because of frequency changes, could be buying easily accessible sold worldwide handsets. Sprint should just forget Wimax and go HSUPA, at least in metro areas. Maybe they will get some roaming revenue.
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Go courageously to do whatever you are called to do. fear nothing. - St. Francis de Sales
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en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
| Well, its not quite as bad as 2billion GSM/UMTS to 3 million CDMA, however the difference is more than significant, plus the roaming arrangements.
GSM/UMTS (from 3Gamericas.org) = 2.5 billion
CDMA (from cdg.org) 350 million.
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Canada = Hollywood North |
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Time4aNAP
Premium
join:2007-04-09
Des Plaines, IL
| reply to DaveNJ
said by DaveNJ :Lets see there are 2 Billion GSM users, and 3 million cdma users. Thats a significant economy of scale. No...those are just two suspiciously round numbers. What orifice did you pull them out of? Don't you know what economy of scale means?
The fact you can go into a store just about anywhere in the world and get a quad band phone that will work worldwide... ...has nothing at all to do with this topic.
3Gsm(umts) is being added to just about every gsm network. So when all the nextel people who must buy new equipment, because of frequency changes... Whoa there! What new equipment? What frequency changes? Who's getting the existing frequencies?
could be buying easily accessible sold worldwide handsets. Sprint should just forget Wimax and go HSUPA, at least in metro areas. Maybe they will get some roaming revenue. So precisely how will this benefit Sprint in any way? Has it still not dawned on you that Sprint has no GSM infrastructure? By what stretch of the imagination do you believe that Sprint could possibly recoup the massive capital investment necessary to build a completely different physical plant (from scratch, no less)? "Maybe they will get some roaming revenue" is not a business plan! |
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Time4aNAP
Premium
join:2007-04-09
Des Plaines, IL
| reply to inteller
said by inteller :ION != to Sprint's MMDS. Get your shit straight. Pardon me? MMDS? We're talking about wireless ISP connections here, not wireless cable TV! Take your own advice. While you're at it, learn some manners. |
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inteller
Sociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK
| no, you are talking about wireless ISP connections, I'm talking about sprint ION, ATM switched networking to the premise. It was FIOS before there was FIOS (in concept, not actually fiber)
ION was a service that combined DSL, phone, fax into one devices. similiar to what Homezone does today (minus the TV)
The relavance of this is that Sprint was always on the cutting edge of things, just like with WiMax. however, back then they were an upstart and investors let them get away with highly experimental technologies. Not these days. If investors see risk, like they do with WiMax, they pull the plug. |
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DaveNJ
No Fear
join:1999-09-01
New Jersey
·Comcast
·Patriot Media
| reply to en102
said by en102 :Well, its not quite as bad as 2billion GSM/UMTS to 3 million CDMA, however the difference is more than significant, plus the roaming arrangements. GSM/UMTS (from 3Gamericas.org) = 2.5 billion CDMA (from cdg.org) 350 million. yes that is correct, i couldnt get to cdg (dns issues) but it was a bad guess, although gsmworld yesterday said 2.2 billion. But there is a significant difference.
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Go courageously to do whatever you are called to do. fear nothing. - St. Francis de Sales
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