1 edit | Backhaul and spectrum Providing enough backhaul to every site will be a major challenge for all 4G carriers. Then there is the spectrum issue. ATT and Verizon may only have 25Mhz per market while Sprint/Clearwire combined will have well over 100Mhz per market.
And, WiMAX 802.16m is expected before LTE is widely available. 16m is spec'd to up to 1Gpbs fixed and 200Mbps mobile. While Sprint will have enough spectrum to do it, backhaul will still be the challenge. |
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 MarkyDPremium
join:2002-08-20
Oklahoma City, OK | that's just it. Backhaul should NOT be a huge issue for the LTE guys. They have a couple years to get the circuits in place. That's plenty of time to equip all the cell sites in most large metros with fiber backhauls to handle the speed. |
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 en102Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
2 edits | reply to xenophon
True... spectrum for WiMAX is huge, potential is huge, getting it off the ground and successful deployment/implementation isn't one of Sprint's strong points.
While Sprint has always been at/near the cutting edge, they've had difficulty capitalizing on their deployments.
What will be interesting is how their model goes against the current scale of what will be LTE. +3.3 billion GSM based subs with a most likely migration path of LTE. I'm sure there are/will be other WiMAX carriers out there.
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Canada = Hollywood North |
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"in most large metros..."
Yeah, because that is where next-generation wireless is so badly needed: in major metro areas, as there is certainly no other way for those poor city-dwellers to connect to the Internet. While us in rural areas have so many options: dialup, satellite, dialup, satellite, dialup, satellite...
SIGH |
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| said by SierraRob:"in most large metros..." Yeah, because that is where next-generation wireless is so badly needed: in major metro areas, as there is certainly no other way for those poor city-dwellers to connect to the Internet. While us in rural areas have so many options: dialup, satellite, dialup, satellite, dialup, satellite... SIGH Amen! Its great to see tech like this but you know they will start it in big city's. It seems that's what company's care about. Getting big city's faster and faster speeds and wonder why they are not signing up new customers. There just passing there customers back and forth on whoever has the better speeds.
Why not bring this tech into rural areas first. That will be a real test on how well it works. As well as gaining lots of new customers that have not been able to get anything else. |
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| Higher population density => higher ROI => more $$$.
Until they see the profit in doing it, they'll be in no hurry to deploy outside large population areas. |
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| said by meh37 :
Higher population density => higher ROI => more $$$.
Until they see the profit in doing it, they'll be in no hurry to deploy outside large population areas.
If you fish in the same pond with everyone else eventually there will be no more fish to catch. At some point these ISP's need to start fishing in the streams that feed the ponds. |
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MarkyDPremium
join:2002-08-20
Oklahoma City, OK | reply to BB_Hunter
said by BB_Hunter:said by SierraRob:"in most large metros..." Yeah, because that is where next-generation wireless is so badly needed: in major metro areas, as there is certainly no other way for those poor city-dwellers to connect to the Internet. While us in rural areas have so many options: dialup, satellite, dialup, satellite, dialup, satellite... SIGH Amen! Its great to see tech like this but you know they will start it in big city's. It seems that's what company's care about. Getting big city's faster and faster speeds and wonder why they are not signing up new customers. There just passing there customers back and forth on whoever has the better speeds. Why not bring this tech into rural areas first. That will be a real test on how well it works. As well as gaining lots of new customers that have not been able to get anything else. While I feel your pain, do you have any idea how much it costs to provide high bandwidth backhaul to towers in the middle of nowhere? It's business 101...ROI is just not there.
I know if I were a major wireless carrier/ISP, I'd naturally start with the larger, more dense areas, and work my way to the rural areas. It's just common sense. |
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| that is true... BUT the tech never seems to get there while its useful. I finally got fair evdo at my house, good for 150KBps down. That sounds good until you consider that an update for Vista can still take an hour, or my update for World of Warcraft that still takes the better part of a day.
They never have cared if the rural market gets anything. They keep giving the Metro guys bigger, better, faster... and we get... leftovers. |
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