Clearwire Ditching Retail, Going Wholesale Only? Multiple Sources Say An Announcement Is Coming According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Clearwire plans to exit the retail business and become solely a wholesale WiMax (and perhaps someday LTE) operator. An anonymous source (potentially at Sprint, who benefits the most from the news) doesn't specify when exactly this will happen, though they say the company has no plans to shut their 140 stores "at the moment." Reuters, who also spoke to two anonymous insiders, notes that Clearwire is stuck in leases so they can't cut retail presence just yet -- but they can cut advertising costs and put that money toward funding network expansion: One of the sources said that while it would be difficult for Clearwire to get out of lease agreements for its stores it could instead pull back in areas such as advertising in order to prioritize spending on expanding its network. "It's more about not putting any more investment into areas like new ads," the person said. That may not necessarily be a bad thing. Clearwire hasn't shown they're a particularly good retail residential ISP, their fixed service suffering from poor reviews, and their new WiMax service fairing only somewhat better, with users complaining of inconsistent coverage, signal quality issues, and random service throttling. The move could certainly be good news for Sprint, who would then operate as the sole retail arm of the network -- something Sprint executives have preferred all along. It could also be good for Clearwire, who could now see more funding from a happier Sprint. Clearwire and Sprint's relationship had been fracturing over the last few years, with indicates that Sprint might just go ahead and build their own LTE network. Those plans could be less likely under a Clearwire LTE/Mobile WiMax wholesale model with Sprint as the primary retail player. If you recall, we reported how Clearwire's shift toward a wholesale operator was also hinted at by an anonymous vendor in February of last year, though the suggestion was laughed off or otherwise ignored. Shifting from retail to wholesale to just focus on the network likely has been Clearwire's plan all along should financing get particularly tight. Clearwire isn't commenting on the reports and there's no word on when Clearwire will make an official announcement -- but one could come when the company reports quarterly earnings on Thursday, February 17. It seems likely that such a shift would involve eventually offloading Clear customers to Sprint, though we won't know for sure for several months.
|
 | | "put that money toward funding network expansion" And I hope they do. Its so spotty here in KC its not even funny, and to top it off, I get faster speeds on my iPhone 4 most of the time. They also need to get rid of that 1Mbps cap on the upload. | |
|  | criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY Reviews:
 ·Sprint Mobile Br..
| Re: "put that money toward funding network expansion" said by powerspec88:They also need to get rid of that 1Mbps cap on the upload. Good luck with that. With Sprint possibly inheriting a ton of former Clear customers, if anything Sprint will feel pressured, perhaps, to even move that cap downward, or perhaps lower a cap on download speeds as well.
Oy. | |
| | | | | Re: "put that money toward funding network expansion" There is no reason for Sprint to lower the cap on DL or increase it on upload 1mb upload is fine for everything I do well actually 512 on my DSL upload is fine | |
|
criggs
join:2000-07-14
New York, NY Reviews:
·Sprint Mobile Br..
| Will Sprint Inherit Clear Customers? Personally, as a happy Sprint 4G user, I'm a bit concerned about this. Does this mean we will see a huge influx of former Clear customers landing with a thud on Sprint's 4G service?
Don't get me wrong, I love Clear customers to death, and some of my best friends are Clear customers. But too much of a good thing...
Not to mention the fact that Sprint may adopt Clear's data management policies. (Yes, I realize that some maintain stoutly that the two companies' data management policies are the same already, but I have yet to be convinced. Notice too that Karl rather clearly states above that Clearwire customers suffer from "random service throttling," while NOT stating the same where Sprint 4G customers are concerned.) | |
| |  Frankis chillingPremium
join:2000-11-03
somewhere | Re: Will Sprint Inherit Clear Customers? said by criggs:Personally, as a happy Sprint 4G user, I'm a bit concerned about this. Does this mean we will see a huge influx of former Clear customers landing with a thud on Sprint's 4G service?
Don't get me wrong, I love Clear customers to death, and some of my best friends are Clear customers. But too much of a good thing...
Not to mention the fact that Sprint may adopt Clear's data management policies. (Yes, I realize that some maintain stoutly that the two companies' data management policies are the same already, but I have yet to be convinced. Notice too that Karl rather clearly states above that Clearwire customers suffer from "random service throttling," while NOT stating the same where Sprint 4G customers are concerned.)
isnt it the same network already though? i know that I've gotten some ip addresses that have hostnames that end in *.clear.com on my htc evo.
--
At first I thought everyone on the highway was drunk but then I realized I was driving in Florida  | |
| | | MRCUR
join:2007-03-09
Columbia, PA | Re: Will Sprint Inherit Clear Customers? If the throttling is done by MAC address though, it's very easy for them to distinguish between Clear branded gear and Sprint branded gear.
I personally have been affected by the throttling as a Clear user. I've not found any Sprint user who has been affected. | |
| | | | | | Re: Will Sprint Inherit Clear Customers? yes they do use the MAC address...BUT you can use your Sprint equipment on CLEAR if you sign directly up with them. I use my Sprint 3g/4g card on Clear with no problem. | |
| | | |  espaethDigital PlumberPremium,MVM
join:2001-04-21
Minneapolis, MN
kudos:2
·Clear Wireless
| said by MRCUR:I personally have been affected by the throttling as a Clear user. I've not found any Sprint user who has been affected. The Clear NIMS system was implemented in September and has been continuously tweaked over the last couple months. While I personally was affected by the throttle in Tampa, FL in November, I can't seem to trigger it no matter how hard I try at home in Minneapolis.
There are definitely more threads about Clear throttling, particularly in Clear's own forums, but those forums are also significantly more busy than any of the forums that cover Sprint 4G.
One thing Sprint definitely doesn't do is blanket markets as they launch them with ad campaigns about how people should switch from their ISP with caps and limits to Clear "Unlimited" service. Clear's major misstep was marketing the product as something that could compete with ISPs setting 100+GB/mo caps. | |
|
| | | No Silver Bullet I hope Clearwire isn't thinking that wholesale is some kind of easy quick fix. The only way it will work for them is if the wholesale side is already profitable on its own. Even then, not having enough quality retail providers can easily sink the business since they become the public face of their network.
The network architecture also needs a reboot. Microwave backhaul between towers may be economical, but it creates a lot of latency and doesn't provide nearly as much capacity as quality fiber connections. That's an issue for applications like voice, two-way video, and gaming.
Clear's problem is and always has been money, or rather a lack thereof. Verizon and AT&T cross-subsidize the ever-living daylights out of their operations and use their own in-house backhaul wherever possible to cut costs. Clear and Sprint just don't have that. It's impressive that they've gotten as far as they have on what they've got, but absent some truly excellent execution and a dose of luck, I don't see any major turnaround.
--
--
Jesse Harris
Chairman, UTOPIA Citizens Advisory Network
»www.freeutopia.org/ | |
| | | | Re: No Silver Bullet said by JesseHarris:The network architecture also needs a reboot. Microwave backhaul between towers may be economical, but it creates a lot of latency and doesn't provide nearly as much capacity as quality fiber connections. That's an issue for applications like voice, two-way video, and gaming.
All of the Microwave BH, that Sprint and Clear are using will give you less than 2ms of latency which in fact is far less that fiber. Also there is UP TO 800MB-10GB of throughput on Microwave.
But if Clear is only paying for 60mb (example I have no idea) that is were the problem is.
Going wholesale is what they should have done from the start. They hae wasted 100's of millions on have a store based business. When they should of just been online based. | |
| | |  knightmbEverybody Lies
join:2003-12-01
Franklin, TN | Re: No Silver Bullet said by rlharris02:said by JesseHarris:The network architecture also needs a reboot. Microwave backhaul between towers may be economical, but it creates a lot of latency and doesn't provide nearly as much capacity as quality fiber connections. That's an issue for applications like voice, two-way video, and gaming.
All of the Microwave BH, that Sprint and Clear are using will give you less than 2ms of latency which in fact is far less that fiber. Also there is UP TO 800MB-10GB of throughput on Microwave. But if Clear is only paying for 60mb (example I have no idea) that is were the problem is. Going wholesale is what they should have done from the start. They hae wasted 100's of millions on have a store based business. When they should of just been online based. I have to chime in as well, radio BH links between towers are worlds better than any cable run between them. Less distance (speed of light matters) and the technology for it has advanced so much, latency is usually around 0.7 Ms between each hop. Speeds are only limited by the amount of width you use. Fiber is great when you don't want to use a tower for financial/geographical reasons. 
--
Fight Insight Ready (Was NebuAD) and the like:
Click Here to pollute their data | |
| | | | bn1221
join:2009-04-29
Cortland, NY | Re: No Silver Bullet I have to chime in as well, radio BH links between towers are worlds better than any cable run between them. Less distance (speed of light matters) and the technology for it has advanced so much, latency is usually around 0.7 Ms between each hop. Speeds are only limited by the amount of width you use. Fiber is great when you don't want to use a tower for financial/geographical reasons.
--
I don't know as i believe that. Propagation speed in fiber is 90% of through the air but the fiber switching speeds are faster than microwave. Plus you can go 100 miles on a single fiber hop that would be 5 or so microwave backhauls? | |
|
 Romney2012Defeat Obama 2012-Chg we can believe inPremium
join:2002-03-03
USA
kudos:4 |  Sprint retail store employee hints at LTE switch this summer
| |
| | Reviews:
 ·WOW Internet and..
| Re: Sprint retail store employee hints at LTE switch this summer sprint employees have been saying that for over a year now. I don't see it happening. The only way they'd do that is if they did it on the Clear side and TMO become a partner. Sprint needs their CDMA network to operate until they have something else to slowly merge over to. | |
| | | Romney2012Defeat Obama 2012-Chg we can believe inPremium
join:2002-03-03
USA
kudos:4 | Re: Sprint retail store employee hints at LTE switch this summer said by hottboiinnc:sprint employees have been saying that for over a year now. I don't see it happening. The only way they'd do that is if they did it on the Clear side and TMO become a partner. Sprint needs their CDMA network to operate until they have something else to slowly merge over to.
Maybe there is finally some truth to the rumors:
»Sprint Posts First Subscriber Gain Since Early 2007
On the call Hesse also stated that the company would have some major news on their 4G migration path later this year, hinting at either Sprint's possible migration to LTE, Clearwire's new role as a purely wholesale operator, or both. | |
|
| | i will miss the trashy little chicks at the mall..  | |
|  BHNtechXpertBHN StaffPremium,VIP
join:2006-02-16
Saint Petersburg, FL
kudos:32
·Clearwire Wireless
1 edit | And they doubted me last time we discussed Clear.... This is a company piloted by incompetent boobs. They have no clear direction (pardon the pun) and can't make up their minds as to what they want to be PLUS the team of idiots responsible for charting their retail path time and time again has demonstrated they haven't a clue as to what in the hell they are doing.
One thing is for sure, they won't survive in the retail environment they've currently developed and it's doubtful they will survive as Clear in a wholesale environment but their best chance is to go wholesale and hope for the best.
At least this way they will be able to shed most of the bad publicity of the past because future issues won't be about Clear but instead about the entities reselling them (if they do this right Clear will cease to exist and the reselling entities will essentially brand the product). It's the first intelligent thing I've seen Clear do but honestly it might be too late for that. Only time will tell. | |
| | | | | | | | | Reviews:
·WOW Internet and..
| Re: And they doubted me last time we discussed Clear.... Sorry but Clear is Sprint. Did you forget that? You must have.
Also Clear doesn't prove anything except their changing business plans and they should. They wouldn't have to deal with people like you on a daily basis and claim shit that isn't true. And i can handle the truth and you must have missed. I don't work in the industry anymore. I work in healthcare and i own my own business. Sorry. So I'd be careful if i were you saying shit that's not true- People in healthcare have a nice rep for only doing what the law calls for in terms of treating people when that person is an asshole  Cops will tell you that all the time. Ticket a nurse or a doctor- don't look to get treated if you're ass get shot. Sorry- we did all we could- we just lost him. | |
| | | | | BHNtechXpertBHN StaffPremium,VIP
join:2006-02-16
Saint Petersburg, FL
kudos:32 Reviews:
·Clearwire Wireless
1 edit | Re: And they doubted me last time we discussed Clear.... said by hottboiinnc:Sorry but Clear is Sprint. Did you forget that? You must have.
Also Clear doesn't prove anything except their changing business plans and they should. They wouldn't have to deal with people like you on a daily basis and claim shit that isn't true. And i can handle the truth and you must have missed. I don't work in the industry anymore. I work in healthcare and i own my own business. Sorry. So I'd be careful if i were you saying shit that's not true- People in healthcare have a nice rep for only doing what the law calls for in terms of treating people when that person is an asshole Cops will tell you that all the time. Ticket a nurse or a doctor- don't look to get treated if you're ass get shot. Sorry- we did all we could- we just lost him.
No Clear isn't Sprint. The sooner you realize this the better. Sprint holds a 54% stake in Clear but that's it. Different management teams and in fact management teams that have been at odds with each other for months now. Please...get your facts straight.
As for your beware of ticketing nurses or doctors statement let me tell ya something pal. I spent 5 years working in a hospital designing one of the most state of art networks of its time working very closely with doctors, nurses and other medical staff and if you truly feel that workers in that field think or behave that way and its acceptable you need to get the hell out of medicine or better yet let us all know who you are so we can stay the hell away from you. If you truly feel that way you sir are a disgrace to the medical community and the fine people who give their all every day regardless of the disposition of the patient. You make me physically sick. | |
|
AmmlerPremium
join:2005-04-19
Pittsburgh, PA | Cracking from the pressure! Obviously they can't handle all you gluttonous, hogging, unruly customers! What is wrong with you people! You are still getting speeds faster than a 56k dailup modem.....Aren't you?  | |
| | BHNtechXpertBHN StaffPremium,VIP
join:2006-02-16
Saint Petersburg, FL
kudos:32 Reviews:
·Clearwire Wireless
| Re: Cracking from the pressure! Hahahahahaha now that was funny | |
|
| |
|
|
·
