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The Future, WiMax and competition for data. Clear is here.

SamsungVibrant

Android Expert
Jul 23, 2010
1,613
165
update below, amazing in my opinion: I can just see what the future holds, competition! The virgin mobile card and stuff like this is great for competition. Tired of data charges being so high on cell phones, really T-mobile, and Verizon...30 bucks on each line to have internet on your phones tiny screen? Get outa here, bring the competition!

So, I really hate the fact consumers must get data(4g/3g) on their phone through their wireless provider. I feel like their is not enough competition. Sure their are 4 carriers, but they all seem to charge 30 bucks for data, 50 bucks for corporate date/emails. (Unless you are grandfathered of course).

wouldn't it be nice to have more competition. Maybe we could get voice through our carrier, but data through someone else.
It might be possible in the future.

seems like sprint is not the only wimax provider.

check out www.clear.com
Their service sounds awesome, although in the coverage map, my area was unavailable at the moment. Then again, wimax is still new.

if more providers like clear.com pop up. I can just imagine competition driving data down to 15bucks. Also with wimax you can replace not only your phone data plan but also your home dsl/cable home internet. That would be awesome. We need more competition in this area, cell phone plans and data plans just keep going up in price.

UPDATE: THIS IS JUST AMAZING, YOU HAVE TO CHECK IT OUT! The size of a credit card, unlimited 3G hotspot in your POCKET. Uses sprints 3G network. 40 bucks a month, no contract required!!!!!!!! Man oh man, if you aren't on a contract with t-mobile, just carry this card in your pocket, it will replace your cell phone data plan, allow you to use 3G on your laptop too, and you can use it at home too. Whenenever the card is with you, you have internet on your phone, laptop, desktop, iPad, whatever you get the point!
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Your-Own-Hot-Spot-and-nytimes-362333608.html


Can't wait to get the Samsung Pad and this Virgin Mobile card, I think i'm having an out of body euphoric experience....ohhh goodness I can't wait!
 
So, I really hate the fact consumers must get data(4g/3g) on their phone through their wireless provider. I feel like their is not enough competition. Sure their are 4 carriers, but they all seem to charge 30 bucks for data, 50 bucks for corporate date/emails. (Unless you are grandfathered of course).

wouldn't it be nice to have more competition. Maybe we could get voice through our carrier, but data through someone else.
It might be possible in the future.

seems like sprint is not the only wimax provider.

check out www.clear.com
Their service sounds awesome, although in the coverage map, my area was unavailable at the moment. Then again, wimax is still new.

if more providers like clear.com pop up. I can just imagine competition driving data down to 15bucks. Also with wimax you can replace not only your phone data plan but also your home dsl/cable home internet. That would be awesome. We need more competition in this area, cell phone plans and data plans just keep going up in price.

It would indeed be great to see more competition and subsequently lower prices for the consumer, but I have to wonder about the costs involved for any company trying to break into the market. The infrastructure costs must be huge, though perhaps not as significant for something akin to WiMax compared to traditional cellular service. And what about spectrum? Who can afford to pay billions for a prime slice of frequency for such service? I'm not at all disagreeing with you; I think data costs are far too high, especially for services like tethering and mobile broadband (where you pay $60-$80/month for a measly 5GB for using your laptop with a cellular dongle), but I have to wonder about the feasibility. More power to Clear.com if they can pull it off. Even so, I have to wonder...are they piggybacking on another company's system/frequencies?
 
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I tried Clear once because i want to get rid of my Cable internet that is too high and would be cut in half using Clear. However, Clear isnt very fast and i couldnt get as strong a signal as i would like so i had to dump them. I was disapointed because i really feel my internet is ridiculously high as they add $10 to it because i dont have their TV service which i think is bullshit.
 
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Sprint and Clearwire have a partnership. I don't think that's gonna do much in terms of driving prices down.

Sprint and Clearwire

Thats not actually accurate, there is still competition. Remember T-mobile and at&t have had a long partnership. most of the towers t-mobile was using when they first started were owned by at&t. To this day, t-mobile still uses some of at&ts towers.

There is actually a discussion about this on a different forum, it appears at&t may not renew t-mobiles contract, many areas that depend on t-mobile for edge may go in the dark. T-mobile is worrying me lately, they are losing customers, besides adding 100,000 new customers on fathers day, they still had a net loss of customers, their financial reports look troublesome, their cash on hand is virtually non existent, they may lose at&t towers. Not looking good.
 
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Thats not actually accurate, there is still competition. Remember T-mobile and at&t have had a long partnership. most of the towers t-mobile was using when they first started were owned by at&t. To this day, t-mobile still uses some of at&ts towers.

There is actually a discussion about this on a different forum, it appears at&t may not renew t-mobiles contract, many areas that depend on t-mobile for edge may go in the dark. T-mobile is worrying me lately, they are losing customers, besides adding 100,000 new customers on fathers day, they still had a net loss of customers, their financial reports look troublesome, their cash on hand is virtually non existent, they may lose at&t towers. Not looking good.

Wow...that sounds bleak indeed. What would your next choice be? I'm thinking Sprint myself. Verizon...dunno...good coverage but I'm still torqued that they hobbled the GPS on my first BlackBerry. AT&T just plain sucks...I don't miss them one bit.
 
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Wow...that sounds bleak indeed. What would your next choice be? I'm thinking Sprint myself. Verizon...dunno...good coverage but I'm still torqued that they hobbled the GPS on my first BlackBerry. AT&T just plain sucks...I don't miss them one bit.

Verizon is the best value. You get best coverage, and most plans include 10 numbes, any network even landlines, anytime, anyday, completely unlimited.
 
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I laughed when I read the title.

WiMax+future don't mix somehow. They're going to be a niche at most...

Explain your comment. WiMax is the future. Almost all laptops and tablets will soon include built-in wimax. In the coming months, when people purchase laptops, everybody is going to be making sure it has built in wimax capability, how is that not the future? It's like someone laughing at built in wireless a/b/g/n a few years ago, wifi and the future, how funny, hahahahahah...umm okay.

Intel is throwing millions behind wimax, putting it in their chipsets, and endorsing it in upcoming laptops. I guess thats just hilarious, because intel is known to make tons of stupid decisions right. As far as intel is concerned, and almost everyone else who doesn't find this funny, WiMax is the next Generation of wireless technology. Wimax is exploding around the world. Europe, Africa, Italy, Germany, Ireland, Asia. I guess when everyone uses WiMax you can laugh at us some more... Oh silly intel, you know nothing, you only set the standard when it comes to wireless technology, yet you know absolutely nothing, it's just a niche intel, just a niche. http://www.intel.com/technology/wimax/providers.htm

WiMAX: Broadband on the Go

WiMAX Technology

4G WiMAX Wireless Technology - Intel
 
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Explain your comment. WiMax is the future. Almost all laptops and tablets will soon include built-in wimax. In the coming months, when people purchase laptops, everybody is going to be making sure it has built in wimax capability, how is that not the future? It's like someone laughing at built in wireless a/b/g/n a few years ago, wifi and the future, how funny, hahahahahah...umm okay.

Intel is throwing millions behind wimax, putting it in their chipsets, and endorsing it in upcoming laptops. I guess thats just hilarious, because intel is known to make tons of stupid decisions right. As far as intel is concerned, and almost everyone else who doesn't find this funny, WiMax is the next Generation of wireless technology. Wimax is exploding around the world. Europe, Africa, Italy, Germany, Ireland, Asia. I guess when everyone uses WiMax you can laugh at us some more... Oh silly intel, you know nothing, you only set the standard when it comes to wireless technology, yet you know absolutely nothing, it's just a niche intel, just a niche. WiMAX Global Providers

WiMAX: Broadband on the Go

WiMAX Technology

4G WiMAX Wireless Technology - Intel

But would you not agree that there has been a lot of difficulty getting WiMax efficiently deployed? It seems as if it's been a start/stop situation for quite a while. One has to wonder too if it will end up being like 3G...great in theory but never realizing the potential it was initially said to have. Don't get me wrong...I do hope WiMax makes it big, but I believe it still remains to be seen.
 
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Yup, t-mobile currently is the worst bang for your buck. I will do a thread comparing carriers and price plans shortly.

Compare if you want. I have 5 lines, two with data and im paying $170 a month. You wont be able to beat that. I dont really care for Verizon either though i can get 19% off my bill by using them. Problem is that MIGHT bring it down to where i am now.....MAYBE!
 
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Compare if you want. I have 5 lines, two with data and im paying $170 a month. You wont be able to beat that. I dont really care for Verizon either though i can get 19% off my bill by using them. Problem is that MIGHT bring it down to where i am now.....MAYBE!

Okay, hence the wording "currently." Currently, meaning current offerings, not grandfathered. I'm also on a grandfathered plan that blows most deals away.
 
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Just read the article...amazing really. How long can something like this last I wonder? With the raking over the coals we get from the big carriers, this is almost too good to be true.

Here it is...and only $150...not bad at all!

MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot | Virgin Mobile

Seriously, this makes purchasing the phone at full retail totally worth it. Purchase the phone at full retail, tell T-mobile to shove their 30 bucks for data up the ass, and get this card instead. You have a freaking hotspot in your pocket people! You can use it for your phone, bring your laptop to the coffee shop, have your Pad or netbook use it, have your computers at home use it. This is insane. Come on come one more competition please!

*surely someone is goingto reply "I don't pay 30 for data." I'm very well aware of grandfathered data plans that cost below 30 bucks. No need to point that out*
 
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Heres an idea, so you never forget your virgin mobile credit card sized hotspot card. Just slip it between your phones battery cover and your phones case, now its with your phones all the time :) Heck it might even fit under the battery cover itself.

Yeah...there's something to be said for that idea, especially if you're a road warrior of sorts.
 
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Yea...considering Intel dumped like 1.2 billion into WiMax, of course they want them to succeed. But it isn't doing well. Nearly all the major carriers around the world is jumping ship to LTE.

LTE is the future. WiMax is not.

http://www.investmentu.com/2010/August/long-term-evolution-vs-wimax.html

You could find numerous articles about this. My guess would be carriers around the world want to push 1 standard to decrease equipment cost down, which is a huge advantage.

WiMax is not exploding throughout the world...I don't know where you're getting this from.
 
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