LTE vs WiMax .. charges and control of data.

Throttling, controlling, limiting, parcing, reducing. Doesn't matter which words are used, carriers shouldn't be in the business of doing anything to data that's not harmful to the network. And by harmful, I don't mean slowing it down - that's not harmful, it's a nuisance that can be addressed by the carrier network and pricing.

What it boils down to is I don't care about Wimax vs LTE so much as who's going to provide great service at payable prices.

Consumers don't know what to believe (and don't want to spend a lot of time looking it up) so they'll continue to go for what's getting the best hype, spin, and publicity.

I truly hope Sprint gets full Wimax deployment sooner rather than later. At some point that's more important than screaming fast speeds. Unless you're a serious gamer, the current Wimax, HSPA+, and LTE speeds are more than adequate. But they're not available everywhere.

The thing I care about most in these debates is when will full 4G coverage be available. No one's racing to "industry first" on that one!

 

Oh I love doubters, I can prove it to you. What if I get someone else to say it too? On camera even?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjjNI3vcSrY

Is a few years old, but about 4:20.

MetroPCS LTE Plans to Charge More for VoIP & Streaming: Tech News and Analysis

 

This is depressing. I don't wanna be stuck with Sprint cause they're the only ones with Wimax and I don't wanna be on LTE because of all that BS I just read.

Future Fail

 

Scary stuff. People want this so they can access the very applications that they will be forced to pay extra for. So they are paying twice. And people are angry about Sprint? No one wants to see their bills go up, granted, but this is a whole lot worse IMHO.

 

If all of this actually happens, my next phone may be "dumb" - calls and (maybe) text only. Neutral, non-tiered, internet access is still available at home.

 

Dumb phones are going to go away. You will be stuck with smart phone in the near future. Finding a dumb phone in 3 years will be like finding a type writer today.

 

The WiMax standard is an IEEE standard, brought to you by the same (neutral) standards body that controls specs like those for WiFi and USB.

The LTE standard is a 3GPP standard. 3GPP is a telecom industry funded organization, and it was specifically designed with the sorts of policy control functions network operators foresaw as tools they could use, in part, to do things like differentiate between data type for control and monetization purposes that are contemplated in this post.

More info on this:

LTE Blog: How Heavily Will Policy Control Feature in the Operators' LTE Strategy?

For 'enabling subscribers to enjoy a wide variety of services and a high quality experience,' substitute 'enabling network operators to discriminate between high- and low-value traffic types, and adjust tariffs accordingly.'

The Pipe Camiant Scores LTE Policy Management Coup at Verizon

Scary stuff.

 

There's no turning back now.

 

There will always be Jitterbug phones.

 

I've got a typewriter in my closet. No phones, though.

 

Another bad thing I read about LTE is that it is assigned a private IP address so you can not access it from the outside. Not as big of a problem on phones as it is on data cards, but it will not allow you to access a slingbox or security cameras or things like that from the public side of the internet.

 

The differences are too small between LTE and Wimax at this time. I have Clear 4G in my home. I use about 180gig a month in bandwidth, and my speeds are typically in this range.



It's been reliable enough to replace Comcast in my home.

I'll be adding a Sprint 4G phone sometime this year after I see what is in line to replace the Evo.

 

^^
That kicks my Cable internets ass

 

Here is a test I ran just now to show I am not selecting only good tests. From my prospective, I have little incentive to deal with Verizon's capping policies and prices for LTE.

Mind you, my speed is on a live network with actual Wimax devices eating bandwidth. LTE's "blazing" speed is on a basically dead network with no users. Let's see how things change after you can actually buy an LTE device.



Sometimes I burst higher, but not often

 

I think both VZW and ATT LTE is in the 700Mhz spectrum. LTE (and Wimax) will still need 3G and other ways to backhaul data from towers. VZW has done a better job investing in backhaul, which is why their coverage is faster/better than ATT in many areas. ATT is behind, instead choosing to focus on adding HSPA+ as an interim step before going to LTE. My guess is that ATT did this because they simply weren't ready to move on LTE and HSPA+ at least offers enough speed for them not to be totally left behind. Besides, even HSPA+ is now being called "4G" (TMo started it). ATT would likely have been really crippled had they not been able to get additional LTE spectrum by purchasing FloTV from Qualcomm. As we all know, FloTV is being shut down because it was never a big seller and doesn't have spectrum to cover continuous TV streaming and data required by ATT services.

As to increased traffic issues at VZW due to iPhone, we'll see. There's no reason to believe VZW won't have accounted for the influx of iPhans. VZW has been working to expand 3G traffic handling for years knowing that the golden egg was getting iPhone. Though I think VZW's a bit expensive, they are that way so they can do things like get the iPhone off exclusive. I don't think any other carrier could have put that much pressure on AAPL.

I believe the issue with LTE speed won't be the LTE towers so much as the backhaul strength. That's what slowed 3G, and it can slow 4G as well. I'm curious whether the issue could be worse with 4G though since the data is moving in much higher volume now.

As to Sprint with Wimax, I still think it's the better technology in the long run since it can easily handle uncompressed data exchanges. I also like that it's not a technology developed out of wireless carrier frustration.

 

[OT]
Agree that WiMax is a better tech from the user's perspective, because LTE is a 3GPP spec that was designed by the telecoms industry with their interests in mind (e.g., policy control, etc.) whereas WiMax is a 'purer' IEEE spec (like WiFi).

But it is sadly looking like a Betamax/VHS situation, where the best technology ends up losing out. People don't understand that the industry's intention is to use the next gen networks to return us back to the walled garden/AOL days, and that they are succeeding in their intentions.

I think if more people understood this, people might look at Sprint a lot differently. And I think that Sprint/Clear could perhaps incorporate this fact into their marketing, and that if they did it might make at least a bit of a difference, but that they are afraid to do so.

It's sad.

[/OT]

 

I don't want everyone migrating to Sprint. I just want Sprint to do well enough to keep at it alone.

Remember - Betamax died because Sony didn't let other makers in. They changed that with Blu-ray and killed HD-DVD.

What Sprint doesn't have is a go-to manufacturer. The window with HTC is closed even though Evo was a game-changer.

 

While this was the intent of wimax, the real world implemntation will be just like lte

 

They legally can't.

 

In simple terms, what's the difference? And since our phones are WiMax based, once Sprint goes LTE, does that mean that the 4G service in our EV3 phones will stop working?

 

As long as they keep Wimax active then we'll be able to use it. Supposedly that will be through 2012. The good news is that the Network Vision is supposed to improve 3G service as well so our phones should be good until we are ready to upgrade. I mean, the iPhone only gets 3G anyway so we should be in at least as good of shape as the iPhone users are I happen to be in an area with excellent Wimax coverage so I am really hoping that LTE will be as good.