Sprint, WiMax and LTE

[fredsmith]

I keep reading about how LTE is the future of high-speed wireless data and that WiMax is a dead end. That said, it would seem pretty peculiar for a company to release a phone based on a standard that is supposedly dying. I really don't know anything about this, so I thought I would start a thread to see if other people have any information. I also read that the two standards are technically very close. The CEO of Clearwire said that switching his network was just "a software update". If Clearwire switches to LTE and leaves Sprint out in the cold, could a firmware update restore the high speeds?

I love my Evo. I don't have 4G in my area (metro Detroit), but optimistically hoped that it would be available within 12 to 18 months. Now I'm reading that my standard I depend on may already be dead.

Some links to read to get the discussion rolling:
Is Sprint/Clearwire merger doomed to failure?
Clearwire may switch to LTE

 

[htcevolee]

Wimax i dont think is going anywhere, i think it will be built alot further along by the time LTE gets here.

 

[sikclown]

Your first link is 2 years old. The majority owner of Clear is Sprint so if Clear switches Sprint switches (They have already stated they have not ruled out the switch) . And yes it really is some software upgrades. No WiMax is not dead and will not be for a while to come (at least not in the lifetime of your Evo). Not to mention a lot of big companies are backing WiMax... which at the very least will live on as a backhaul for LTE networks. Plus there is way more Spectrum available for WiMax as opposed to LTE so I see them sticking with it for at least the next 3 or 4 years. Right now they are concentrating on building out the 4g WiMax network and increasing Clear's and Sprint's subscriber bases. Don't worry about it.

 

[Rigmaster]

LTE is years away from being widely available, and it's costly to implement so I don't see it being universally available even when released. As far as Wimax viability, Wimax is used by carriers and cable providers as well so I'd expect Clear to support both if necessary. In addition, Sprint is a majority owner of Clear so I hardly see Clear going anywhere it's majority stakeholder doesn't want it to go. So far LTE is just for data transmission so both LTE and Wimax are still going to rely on 3G to carry voice. LTE's still doesn't even have fully agreed upon standards so I expect rollouts to be late.

As far as 12-18 months, when has any new technology come on the scene and had widespread availabilty, full functionality, and lots of devices that use it in the projected timeframe. Zero. If that timeline was 24-36, I'd still only believe it partially.

In the end, I expect all carriers including Sprint to implement LTE because they can't afford to roll it out without each other. Sprint could afford to roll out Wimax because it's that much cheaper and easier.

 

[RiverOfIce]

There is a whole thread on what wimax is and why we want it. http://androidforums.com/support-tr...69-official-4g-wimax-what-why-do-we-want.html

LTE is a good technology. But has some SEVER limitations.

1.) Tower density
2.) Bandwidth

These are two problems that can not be gotten around. They can not place the towers close enough to maximize throughput. Which means less bandwidth per user. That means less speed per user.

LTE REQUIRES all gsm, cdma, evdo, and hspa bandwidth be changed to LTE-A in order to achieve the promised speeds to less then 10% of it users. Wimax has enough bandwidth to cover all the current 3g usage, lte and lte-a useage, and wimax usage. Wimax is really not focused on mobile broadband, that really is the realms of LTE-A. But wimax is going to provide wireless broadband.

In the near future, you will use lte to get data from the internet. Wimax will transmit that data from the lte tower to the internet and back. It is called backhauling. In the future you will get a wimax/lte phone. From ALL of the major carriers. Why? Money is king. Verizon has stopped laying fiber, because the cost can be 1 million dollars per mile, the same data speeds can be used with wimax at less then 1000 dollars per mile. So, it is not wimax vs lte, but wimax and lte.

Wimax will be used a lot like wifi, just covering cities not your house or coffee shops. LTE-A will be used when you move from wimax area to wimax area. This could change dramatically in the next few months.

The D block of 700mhz is coming up for auction. Att and verizon can not bid on that block.

The 5 top companies in line for that auction is
1.) sprint
2.) comcast
3.) google
4.) intel
5.) time warner
All of them are wimax founding members. This will allow wimax to directly compete would lte-a outside of city areas and give wimax even more bandwidth.

 

[fredsmith]

Wow, you guys really came through. Thanks for the informative posts, I really appreciate it.

 

[IOWA]

Wow not bad guys. Came in here to help out but you got most of it covered. Awesome

Tapatalk. Samsung Moment. Yep.

 

[twospirits]

Saw this article this morning and whats interesting about it is the following points...

-Project leapfrog (new base station supporting CDMA, 3G EV-DO, WiMax and possibly LTE)
-dual-mode LTE and WiMax chipsets
-LTE-WiMax chipset in the works for sometime in 2011 (could this be set for the EVO 2 or 3)

It will quite interesting to see in the next few months/years, how fast these will play with each other. It will be nice to see a Wimax-Lte combo EVO/EPIC replacement although I don't see it happening anytime before 2012.

TS

 

[Mughato]

And it seems to me I read that there is a WiMax 2 initiative out there somewhere....

 

[RiverOfIce]

And it seems to me I read that there is a WiMax 2 initiative out there somewhere....

Wimax 2 is nearly true wimax. Not a hack job. It is currently being tested in a few markets including portland oregon. Wimax 2 will offer stable data flow. So you are not bouncing around the data speeds and it will offer faster data speeds, up to 100mbps (only about 12mbps will work with the evo, if that). But you will get consistent data flows and higher data flows with wimax 2.

 

[IOWA]

Wimax 2 is nearly true wimax. Not a hack job. It is currently being tested in a few markets including portland oregon. Wimax 2 will offer stable data flow. So you are not bouncing around the data speeds and it will offer faster data speeds, up to 100mbps (only about 12mbps will work with the evo, if that). But you will get consistent data flows and higher data flows with wimax 2.

WiMax 2 is showing insane END USER throughput speeds as well.

 

[RiverOfIce]

WiMax 2 is showing insane END USER throughput speeds as well.

Not really that much unless you get more the 10 hz channel, whicn the evo cant do.

 

[IOWA]

Not really that much unless you get more the 10 hz channel, whicn the evo cant do.

From what I've read (which could be wrong)

They are getting 120Mbps Downstream speeds on 20hz

 

[RiverOfIce]

From what I've read (which could be wrong)

They are getting 120Mbps Downstream speeds on 20hz

There is always a perfect lab. There is always real world where you have to deal with the internet. If i was honest, the internet backbone of this county could not support a land line of 120mbps.

Your internet connection is only as fast as the internet. The current united states internet is about 6mbps, peaking to 10mbps. (One of the many lovely things I like about speed apps, they always manage to tell you want you could get, not what you are actually getting) To have a 120mbps line, connected to a 6mbps system would leave you with only 6mbps. Do to the free market principles of the united states, this will not change anytime soon.

US broadband's average speed: 3.9Mbps
Broadband Speeds Increase Around the World - But Not in the U.S.
15 U.S. states with the fastest broadband Internet speeds | Technology | Los Angeles Times

Just some light reading.

 

[IOWA]

There is always a perfect lab. There is always real world where you have to deal with the internet. If i was honest, the internet backbone of this county could not support a land line of 120mbps.

Your internet connection is only as fast as the internet. The current united states internet is about 6mbps, peaking to 10mbps. (One of the many lovely things I like about speed apps, they always manage to tell you want you could get, not what you are actually getting) To have a 120mbps line, connected to a 6mbps system would leave you with only 6mbps. Do to the free market principles of the united states, this will not change anytime soon.

US broadband's average speed: 3.9Mbps
Broadband Speeds Increase Around the World - But Not in the U.S.
15 U.S. states with the fastest broadband Internet speeds | Technology | Los Angeles Times

Just some light reading.

That would all be relative to where your at though. Here in Chicago, the average speed would be much higher (if everyone subscribed to the higher tier services mind you).

With comcast I DO get 15-16 Mbps (advertised up to 25mbps though )

But yeah, With WiMax2, I know (almost)for sure that the bottleneck would be at the backbone. btw the studies I read said those throughput speeds were in a "real world" scenario but who knows what that means, eh?

 

[RiverOfIce]

With time it will be, with time.