Sprint makes it official - will switch to LTE

[her209]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20117210-94/sprint-lays-out-its-own-4g-path/

 

[corkyg]

Whoop-de-doo! I still can't get decent 3G when I visit relatives in Pasadena, CA. But, this is good for competition.

 

[foghorn67]

Whoop-de-doo! I still can't get decent 3G when I visit relatives in Pasadena, CA. But, this is good for competition.

YMMV, I can't get a VZW in my own apartment. But Sprint was fine.

 

[you2]

So if I buy a new phone today I should switch to verizon and come back to sprint in two years when they clean up their network ?

 

[foghorn67]

It looks their plans are very thought out. Seems very scalable and robust. I'll have to dig further and make some calls. I always loved how this stuff is rolled out. Fascinating.

 

[swanysto]

YMMV, I can't get a VZW in my own apartment. But Sprint was fine.

I agree. I am on sprint and my 3g is wonderful. My gf is on verizon and hers is meh. But where my parents live, verizon is much better. As a matter of fact, I like the wimax 4g sprint has now, so I can only imagine how nice LTE will be if it is better.

 

[Brian Stirling]

15 months on Sprint and mostly poor reception. In urban areas the 3G was pretty decent even if the data rates were not, but get away from the city and Sprint just sucks! And don't even get me started on WiMax...


Brian

 

[corkyg]

YMMV, I can't get a VZW in my own apartment. But Sprint was fine.

Yeah - if I go out and go one block East towards town, I get four bars. Even on Wigmore just off Orange Grive - 1 to no bars. Usually reverts to 1XRTT. Must be right on the fringe of the 3G coverage. Sprint needs another tower - maybe on top of the Rose Bowl.

But, Sprint is good along the I-10 corridor from Tucson to L.A.

 

[crackerjacks]

so can I assume that my evo will no longer have 4G in the future?

 

[zerocool84]

so can I assume that my evo will no longer have 4G in the future?

They said current WiMax devices with be supported through 2012 so I guess by 2013 is when they plan to phase out WiMax. I was planning on keeping my Nexus S 4G for two years but that doesn't look like it'll happen since no WiMax after next year and Sprint's 3G sucks.

 

[boomhower]

Their plan is certainly ambitious. I have my doubts they will even come close to meeting the coverage goals in the time frames given but only time will tell.

 

[Brian Stirling]

Their plan is certainly ambitious. I have my doubts they will even come close to meeting the coverage goals in the time frames given but only time will tell.

There build out of WiMax was pathetic so I'd be highly doubtful that they'll build out LTE much faster. I travel a lot and get to see how well they do in many places and it's my opinion that there approach to building out new network hardware is to put a token presence in many places so it SEEMS they're building out quickly but in reality the coverage area is, as I said before, pathetic.

If I lived and worked in an area with good Sprint coverage and I did not travel much that would be one thing but since I travel about 85% of the time I NEED better coverage than Sprint seems to provide.


Brian

 

[Bman123]

No one I know with Sprint is happy with their data speeds. 3 people with EVO 4g and 2 with a optimus. The Wimax here is pathetic...

 

[Fingolfin269]

No one I know with Sprint is happy with their data speeds. 3 people with EVO 4g and 2 with a optimus. The Wimax here is pathetic...

I've never had anything to compare to so I really wouldn't know whether I should be happy or unhappy. I'm sure it sucks though.

 

[Bateluer]

There build out of WiMax was pathetic so I'd be highly doubtful that they'll build out LTE much faster.

Far as I know, their build out of WiMAX hit the wall because they couldn't buy the hardware because vendors weren't making it. Wasn't a question of will or money, the hardware just wasn't available.

LTE hardware is much more common, and will likely be cheaper by the time Sprint starts buying it en mass. Plus, they'll be saving a lot of coins when they hill the ~20K Nextel towers they still operate.