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Clearwire Shifting Toward Wholesale?
Anonymous hardware vendor claims Clearwire's changing strategy...
Though they'd already essentially made this shift as builders of a network used by Sprint, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and others -- Clearwire is apparently making a harder shift away from the direct retail sector, and instead focusing its efforts toward being a wholesale broadband operator, according to Digitimes. The website (which has a good record of being, well, wrong sometimes) cites an anonymous source that claims Clearwire is also slowing their own hardware purchases, and companies like Comcast may be carrying a heavier part of the network build load moving forward:
quote:
Instead of focusing on retail business, Clearwire is now operating as a wholesaler, leasing its WiMAX network space to telecom and MSOs (multi-system operators), including Spring Nextel (sic), Comcast and Time Warner Cable, the sources noted...The cable operators such as Comcast may not necessarily purchase WiMAX CPE products through Clearwire's supply chain, and instead could source equipment themselves, the sources added.
Based on Clearwire's history of poor fixed wireless reviews around here, and the early problems they've been having with their new mobile WiMax deployments, maybe that's not a bad idea? Clearwire's going to need all the help they can get as Verizon and AT&T slowly ramp up their deployment of LTE (long term evolution) wireless broadband technology over the next few years, given AT&T and Verizon's deep pockets and massive lobbying influence.
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questionable1
join:2005-10-18
Phoenix, AZ

questionable1

Member

Spring Nextel,

Do we have a new company out there? LOL

hitecradio
@rr.com

hitecradio

Anon

Re: Spring Nextel,

Clear is not what they have advertised. There back haul is slow and they are losing customers daily.
LineNoise
join:2006-06-25
Downers Grove, IL

LineNoise

Member

too little too late

They're only doing this to try and clean up their image. Clearwire had horrendous reviews on it's expedience network and they're not doing too much better with WiMax.
Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Canonsburg, PA

Sammer

Member

Re: too little too late

Clearwire was never really prepared for such a huge task. Offloading a lot of the responsibility onto its partners makes sense and better late than never.
soccerguy9
join:2004-06-28
Seattle, WA

soccerguy9

Member

No issues here...

I signed up for Clear's 4G service in December. I was up and running in 10 minutes and have had zero connectivity issues, whether using the home modem or the laptop usb stick.
Sallack
join:2003-09-07
Charlotte, NC

Sallack

Member

Re: No issues here...

I signed up 31 Dec 09.

And like you had zero issues...until 15 Jan 10. Then it was down for the weekend.

Coincident with my DSL being out. (It was supposed to be a backup while transitioning ISPs and provisioned speeds.)

Modem is on ebay now.
MRCUR
join:2007-03-09
Lancaster, PA

MRCUR

Member

Re: No issues here...

Don't you think that's a little rash of a decision? If I switched providers every time there was an extended outage, I would be hopping all over the place.

morgan1112
join:2003-04-07
Round Rock, TX

morgan1112 to soccerguy9

Member

to soccerguy9
I've been a Clear WiMAX customer for the past 30 days. During that time, I have not experienced a single service outage at home or on the mobile connection. I agree that they need to add more bandwidth to their backhaul. However, their speeds have been pretty good considering the service is brand new. I usually get between 12 Mbps - 8 Mbps Down and 1 Mbps up every day. However, sometimes the download dips unexpectedly to between 4-5 Mbps. This appears to have nothing to do with signal because I am always getting about 4 bars and I live within a mile of the tower. If they would just pump up the service to the 30-40 Mbps download range I would not even care if it dropped 5-10 Mbps randomly. However, they would need to fix the backhaul issue first before being able to do that.
decifal7
join:2007-03-10
Bon Aqua, TN

decifal7

Member

yup

I've already stated what will happen with this service.... Unless they do some backhauls and build to areas actually needing providers... /bye /bye
Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Canonsburg, PA

1 edit

Sammer

Member

Re: yup

said by decifal7:

Unless they do some backhauls and build to areas actually needing providers... /bye /bye
Supposedly shifting more responsibility to their corporate partners (owners) will allow them to do just that. Four of their partners are a national cell phone company and three major cable cable companies all who deal with backhaul themselves. Comcast also has existing business relationships (indirect for Clearwire) with smaller cable companies. The reason they are building out some large cities is to build total subscribers more quickly but they are also going to some places that could be said to need providers. The last thing I will mention is the rumor may be true that Clearwire's next business partner is Wal-Mart.
ernliz
join:2001-11-25
Albemarle, NC

ernliz

Member

Clear must evolve!

ANYTHING would be a better than the current Clear service. YES, yes, I know that some customers get fine service: those living on top of a Clear tower, but many don't. These are customers who live well within the 5 mile LOS tower range and still get lousy connectivity.

Just 2 Cents
@clearwire-wmx.net

Just 2 Cents

Anon

Re: Clear must evolve!

All wireless carries will eventually evolve. Look at at&t. They just upgraded their 3G network(but for some reason didn't decided to expand their coverage). If anyone thinks LTE is going to be any different.......guess again. They just released a testing with LTE that supposedly was going to get more download and upload Mbps then Wi-Max. They both look similar and all wireless providers work the same way. Also, speaking about evolving, Wi-Max 2 is already in the talks and may commercially launch in 2012.

Here is the link to the LTE Testing:
»www.unstrung.com/documen ··· d=187003

Here is the link to the talks of Wi-Max 2:
»www.unstrung.com/documen ··· d=186735

vikingnyc
@verizon.net

vikingnyc

Anon

They keep changing the rules

I invested in a Clear distributorship a few months back. I received my first commission check last week. This was after they'd already changed the rules as to how commission revenue would be paid. Now they're getting out of retail altogether?

There has to be others like me out there. Saw the $4 billion warchest and thought "no brainer". I'm smelling class action coming up.