Sprint 4g in more cities..including the Plains

[Jason Foster]

Sprint 4G extends networks to the following cities:

Originally Posted by ;

The new additions for 2009 are: Abilene, Texas; Amarillo, Texas; Austin, Texas; Boise, Idaho; Bellingham, Wash.; Charlotte, N.C.; Corpus Christi, Texas; Greensboro, N.C.; Killeen-Temple, Texas; Lubbock, Texas; Maui, Hawaii; Midland-Odessa, Texas; Raleigh, N.C.; Salem, Ore.; San Antonio, Texas; Waco, Texas; and Wichita Falls, Texas.

Watch the streamers clammer over this one.

Here is the full Press Release

[Billy Griffin]

I'm waiting for it here in Seattle, for sure! Local talk says it may be online by the end of '09.

I've streamed to stations using 3G, satellite connections, etc. - but nothing to the level that 4G promises to deliver.

I'm really looking forward to it when it's launched here!

[David Drummond]

I'll believe it in Lubbock when it happens. They have been promising EVDO (any rev) since 2007. So far Lubbock is STILL on 1xRTT! Only way I can get EVDO now is to force roaming on Alltel.

I'll be the happiest person ever if they turn on 4G, but I am the last gonna believe it will happen until it does.

[Jerry Prsha]

I'm wondering if anyone has seen any stories on how Sprint plans on deploying this? They've sold most of their own towers and are leasing space I believe. I'm thinking that 4G will only be in cities on their own towers.

I'm rather surprised that they didn't start this in Kansas City...

[Jason Foster]

Originally Posted by Jerry Prsha

I'm wondering if anyone has seen any stories on how Sprint plans on deploying this? They've sold most of their own towers and are leasing space I believe. I'm thinking that 4G will only be in cities on their own towers.

I'm rather surprised that they didn't start this in Kansas City...

I'm sure there are those with more information than me on this, but selling and then leasing towers back is an internal cost review measure meant to save money to Sprints bottom line. This is not uncommon for companies to do with office space, infrastructure and more. Sometimes it just comes down to tax write offs, so I don't put any value into that. I also can see that perhaps it is a move that Sprint needs to take because the newer system will require a different set-up than the current tower program. Perhaps more smaller rooftop applications is better. The 4G network I believe is also being called WiMax, which was a term that we all talked about sometime back in 2002 or 2003, but under a slightly different technical set-up. But again, there is likely someone more educated on the matter than I.

[Scott Weberpal]

Originally Posted by Jerry Prsha

I'm wondering if anyone has seen any stories on how Sprint plans on deploying this? They've sold most of their own towers and are leasing space I believe. I'm thinking that 4G will only be in cities on their own towers.

I'm rather surprised that they didn't start this in Kansas City...

Sprint sold all of their towers to a company, who is not in charge of operating and maintaining them, and leased ALL the towers back to Sprint long-term. Sprint still has the same number of towers as before and there will be no difference in how they deploy 4G.

[Billy Griffin]

Although 4G has yet to launch here in the Seattle metro, Portland now has it.
The talk is that Seattle will be live with Sprint 4G service within a month.

I've just upgraded my connection card to the U300 3G/4G and all I can say is "Wow!"
Even the 3G speeds seem much faster, but the 4G is like having my home LAN on the go!
The speeds are insane and this will definitely open up a whole new world of streaming video for chasers.

[Jason Foster]

I keep trying to get some info on when Sprint is going to infill the areas between the cities, but haven't heard anything yet. I'm just worried that it might end up being in the metro areas only, at least for years to come...so chasers really won't see much improvement while on the road.

[Scott Weberpal]

Verizon says they plan to have their entire 3G network built out to 4G by 2013.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/biztech...ef=mpstoryview

I imagine Sprint will attempt to do the same before Verizon does. It seems like Sprint is trying to push 4G before anyone else to try and gain back customers they've been losing.

[Mark Blue]

It sounds like the Xohm brand name coined by Sprint will be transitioning to Clear in the upcoming months. Here is an FAQ page detailing the name change to Clear.

http://www.xohm.com/en_US/support/fa...re-transaction