Cox Announces First Wireless Broadband Markets > EVDO & LTE Costs

EVDO & LTE Costs

Why would you do this? LTE can easily handle both, and, because it is shaping up to be the dominant world standard, there should eventually be plenty of handsets. Using it for both data and voice would make the most sense.

Besides, EVDO is a data standard. I'm sure it could be adapted for voice, but EVDV could've done that, and it wasn't adopted. And if you did try to shoehorn voice into EVDO, you'd either need specialized handsets or software to be loaded onto current devices, neither of which makes much sense at CDMA's late stage of use.

LTE isn't shaping anything, yet, if it will. Everyone is only "testing" with no real plans. VZ is the only one giving time frames, which we all know they most likely will NOT meet for what ever reasons they give.

WiMax has the end-user devices and works. If companies were smart they'd deploy what works TODAY and not what is still in the labs with NO equipment available.
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reply to ISurfTooMuch
I'm sure Cox isn't going to launch an EvDO-only market. Like everyone else, they'll do EvDO Rev. A for data and 1xRTT for voice, albeit with more EvDO carriers and less voice carriers in all likelihood. Then, once LTE is released by someone else (Verizon) they'll upgrade their equipment, since Verizon will buy enough stuff to drive prices down.

reply to hottboiinnc
And they very well could go WiMAX, especially if they want to roam on Sprint, but, whichever way they go, they aren't going to try to retrofit EVDO to do voice. While I'm sure it could be done, there's little point in doing it, considering the cost, the limited deployment (Cox's limited footprint), and the limited time it would be in use.

reply to iansltx

reply to iansltx
It won't just be VZW buying. Every major carrier, with the exception of Sprint, has announced plans to go LTE. Cox could end up with WiMAX if they stick with Sprint as a roaming partner, but only time will tell if that happens.

The mix of voice and data could be a tricky one for them. With such limited local coverage, they'll have to undercut the big carriers on price if they want to be competitive for voice, but if they go too low, they run the risk of becoming a bargain carrier like Cricket or MetroPCS. That will get them customers, but they run the risk of overselling their network, which could ruin the experience for data users.

If I were them, I think I'd sell the service like an extended-range home phone. Offer a plan that includes a femtocell that offers fairly cheap unlimited calling, then throw in a modest bucket of cell minutes. That way, the frmtocells will take the brunt of the usage, leaving the cell network uncongested for data users.

Just because you announce plans do go to a certain platform doesn't mean that they'll go.

Plans change. Businesses change. TM made comments about LTE. now they're looking at partnering with Clear. Guess what! ITS WIMAX!
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www.two-pugs.com www.2pugs.etsy.com

Whether they use LTE or WiMAX is irrelevant, assuming they have adequate roaming partners. What matters more is how they need to price their service to get the customers they want. It depends on whether they want to be voice-centric or data-centric.

As for T-Mobile wanting to partner to grow their network, I suspect that the direction they go with that is going to depend heavily on what direction Europe takes. The T-Mobile brand is used in several countries, and DT has a strong incentive to build an international presence that's as uniform as possible. They have to be aware of Vodafone's unhappiness with VZW for going CDMA instead of GSM, and I'm sure they'll want to minimize such a risk. So if Europe adopts WiMAX, T-Mobile will likely do the same, but if Europe goes LTE, then they'll likely go in that direction.

reply to ISurfTooMuch

You do know that Clear has roaming agreements in Russia and Japan and a few other markets for WImax don't ya?