Chicago and Washington DC will be the first two locations to see Sprint and Motorola WiMax deployment this year, according to a Motorola press release. "Motorola will deploy WiMAX infrastructure to at least 1,000 sites in the greater Chicagoland area, providing select area coverage that complements Sprint Nextel's existing EV-DO network," says the company. Network trials are scheduled for late 2007, with commercial launch in early 2008.
Having read the entire Motorola press release this looks like merely a technology field trial, and since Motorola is based in "Chicagoland" it'll probably go something like the cellular phone development trials did back in the early 1980's.
They don't actually have this ready for market yet. I wouldn't get too worked up until it's available for sale to the unwashed masses. Far too much WiMax exists on press releases having yet to see hardware.
Anyone know what this will cost? If it's fixed, will it be competitive with DSL/Cable HSI prices? If it's not fixed, then is the price competitive with the cellular data plans?
No WONDER Sprint is having technical problems with their Nextel subscribers. From the headline: "Network trials are scheduled for late 2007, with commercial launch in early 2007." They're doing it BACKWARD!