Sprint Announces Expansion Areas for 4G WiMAX
Sprint could definitely use a boost these days, and it's apparently hoping to get that from upcoming expansion of its Sprint 4G services. For those who haven't followed this epic sequence of events, Sprint 4G is the new tagline for its WiMAX services, which went by "XOHM" for, oh, a day or two. After linking up with Clearwire, however, it ditched the inexplicable moniker and went with something entirely more digestible -- and now, the circle of explanation is complete.
At any rate, Sprint 4G is currently only available in around Baltimore, Maryland, which obviously won't put a huge increase in the revenue line. By the time 2009 draws to a close, however, that situation will be drastically different. The carrier has just announced that its 4G services will spread to Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Portland and Seattle during 2009, with Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. joining the fray in 2010.
So, what exactly does Sprint 4G promise over traditional 3G offerings? For starters, mobile broadband users will see peak downlink speeds of up to 12Mbps and average downlink speeds of 2 to 4Mbps, which Sprint says is "three to five times faster than today's 3G service from any carrier." In addition to the service expansion, Sprint has stated that it has several new 4G devices planned for 2009 and 2010, including a single-mode 4G data card, embedded laptops, a small-office-home-office broadband modem and a tri-mode phone. So, LTE -- where are you these days? Oh, still a few years out? Understood.
At any rate, Sprint 4G is currently only available in around Baltimore, Maryland, which obviously won't put a huge increase in the revenue line. By the time 2009 draws to a close, however, that situation will be drastically different. The carrier has just announced that its 4G services will spread to Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Portland and Seattle during 2009, with Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. joining the fray in 2010.
So, what exactly does Sprint 4G promise over traditional 3G offerings? For starters, mobile broadband users will see peak downlink speeds of up to 12Mbps and average downlink speeds of 2 to 4Mbps, which Sprint says is "three to five times faster than today's 3G service from any carrier." In addition to the service expansion, Sprint has stated that it has several new 4G devices planned for 2009 and 2010, including a single-mode 4G data card, embedded laptops, a small-office-home-office broadband modem and a tri-mode phone. So, LTE -- where are you these days? Oh, still a few years out? Understood.
