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i wanted to know what round will maryland be in and is nv going underway in this market right now i have seen speeds 1.5 to 2 megs down consistantly before it was under 600 kps so i wanted to ask

Huawei DBS 3900 TD-LTE / Wimax eRAN Equipment The following photographs are pictures of Huawei dual mode capable Wimax / TD-LTE RRU (remote radio units) as part of a DBS 3900 series setup. These equipment were originally made for the Clearwire Wimax deployment and are now being re-purposed via software upgrades to enable TD-LTE capabilities. The Huawei equipment currently used by Clearwire are temporary and will be replaced by one of the TD-LTE vendors (Samsung / Alcatel-lucent / Nokia Solutions & Networks ) in the near future. As of 2017, all Huawei equipment has been decommissioned. Huawei RRU 3702 + Antennae Huawei RRU More Credits to Whomever took these photographs - you know who you are ;-) .FCC

S4GRU members, want to see your name up in lights? Here is your chance...The WiMax countdown clock is up on the front page of The Forums. http://s4gru.com/index.php?/index As a fundraiser for S4GRU, you can claim "naming rights" to the WiMax countdown clock for a day for a $20 donation. Now, who will step up to the plate and meet my challenge to keep the sponsorship going? Celebrate the shutdown of WiMax! Show your support for multiple B41 carriers and carrier aggregation. And, of course, see your name get recognized by tens of thousands of others around the country. Just make a $20 PayPal donation, put "WiMax Countdown" in the message, and the clock is yours for a day (or more). You can sponsor as many days as you like. This is open to anyone, including S4GRU Staff. Only banned members cannot participate. Donations will counted toward your membership cumulative totals, including upgrades to Sponsor, Premier Sponsor and Honored Premier status. Donations will go to the next open day available to be Sponsored. We will not allow specific days to be selected. We are auctioning off the final day. The highest bidder will get the Sponsor privileges of the final day. See post below for more info. Help support S4GRU and be a part of history as WiMax fades off into the sunset. Click here to donate and Sponsor the WiMax Clock

When will the North Carolina (Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, & Wilmington) areas start with LTE Network Vision? When will we expect coverage in the area? Also, how good will this Advance 3G be when revised for better data speed coverage?

I am presently customer of the old Clearwire for home internet service. By twist of fate, there are no other high-speed internet providers in my area - NOTHING! - unless you consider satellite services. Clearwire was reluctant to give me a CLEAR EXPRESS HUB and sign me up originally because my home is literally shown to be in a marginal area of service. My lot was shown to be covered but not the adjacent lots (not sure how that happens?). Anyway, they gave me the modem and I experience around 6 Mbps downloads and 1 Mbps uploads (with an outside antenna). For someone coming off dial-up and satellite (Wildblue) these speeds were terrific! I am happy! I understand my service is not as good as many others, but for this area it is fabulous! With the recent announcements that Clearwire's Wimax service will be phased out by the end of 2015 - I am on pins and needles waiting for the other shoe to drop. I live in Canal Winchester (suburb of Columbus, OH) and would be devastated If I lost my Clearwire service and we are not part of some Sprint LTE upgrade that will allow us to obtain high-speed internet when Clearwire goes away Why isn't Sprint more open about their future plans to provide service to areas they acquired from Clearwire, including types of services and time frames other then generalities that I sometimes see published. The tower I ping off of is located in Columbus (moderate density housing) and I have to believe that Columbus (15th largest city in the USA) would be near the top. The tower is 3 to 4 miles away.

Samsung TDD-LTE gear which are being utilized in Clearwire priority sites. . Clearwire - Samsung TDD-LTE RRH SLS-BD106Q & Antennas Samsung TD-LTE RRUs mounted behind BRS/EBS Antenna Sprint 2500-2600 mhz TD-LTE Setup Note the Antennas are much thicker and fatter than the antennas being utilized by Sprint Network Vision. Clearwire TD-LTE Base Station / Cabinet May be subject to change as TD-LTE sites start being integrated into the Network Vision setups. Happy Hunting! I'll clean the post up this weekend when I have more time. Courtesy of Sbolen from Missouri market. Samsung TDD RRH SLS-BD104Q1 Samsung TDD RRH SLS-BD106Q

I found this while looking at FreedomPop's site and followed some of the links. It seems like that FP is part of connect2compete.org and they offer services for schools and other non-profits via mobilecitizen.org. Now I found this on their website: Mobile Citizen's wireless broadband is powered by WiMAX, a 4G technology from CLEAR. In 2006, CLEAR entered into a 30-year excess capacity agreement with the five EBS licensees which established Mobile Citizen. This agreement allows Mobile Citizen to offer advanced mobile broadband service exclusively to schools and nonprofits, helping to further learning and productivity by providing internet access beyond the classroom or office. Mobile Citizen has been providing its low-cost mobile Internet services since 2009. ---- Now their prices are really great and $120 for unlimited Internet is not bad. But will they transistion to LTE eventually or will Sprint / Clearwire keep some WiMax runnung which covers their EBS licensees?

Yesterday I noticed workers up on a tower out in the south part of the KC area. I took some photos that show what must be an upgrade to TD-LTE at the Clear site. Bill

CDMA is leaps and bounds better then GSM... And LTE was built upon GSM... And WiMAX is a little something different. What did Qualcomm have as their 4G initiative? Was it better then LTE/WiMAX? Was Qualcomm involved in either LTE/WiMAX development? Any CDMA goodness within either?

When I received this month's Sprint bill there was a note on page 2 that the Terms & Conditions would be changing. Following the link www.sprint.com/termsandconditions I found this: New Agreements on the Sprint 4G (WiMAX) Network: Your Service on a device activated on the Sprint 4G (WiMAX) Network may require a new one or two-year Agreement per line. Sprint expressly reserves the right to migrate your Service during this Agreement term from the Sprint 4G (WiMAX) Network to the Sprint 4G LTE network to complete your Agreement term. Reasonable advance notice of the Service change will be provided to impacted customers, who can then select one of the following options: (a) Choose to complete the Agreement term using your existing device without 4G (WiMAX) capability ( Elect to complete the Agreement term by contacting us after receiving notice from Sprint to transition to the Sprint 4G LTE network with no additional term commitment required (Transition Option)© Deactivate service. Deactivations because of this Service change will not result in an Early Termination Fee (ETF). Transition Option: If you select the Transition Option, you will receive a free standard Sprint LTE capable device and can maintain your existing Service plan, if available. During the Agreement term, Sprint may provide other offers that are separate from the Transition Option, and these offers will be subject to a new two-year Agreement per line. Has anyone else received the same T&C notice in their latest Sprint bill or know the details of these WiMax agreements?

This Note is a listing of every single Protection Site in America (work in progress) and a confirmation whether it is working or not. This note will be updated daily as information changes and/or is discovered. Do your part! If you live in or near one of the areas needing confirmation, confirm the signal and post results to Sensorly website via their Android app and post in this forum. Thanks!!!

Once LTE is rolled out on 1900, 800, and 2500 what is Sprint - assuming it owns Clearwire - going to do with WiMax towers/equipment? 1) Is it costing them much to simply "keep the lights on" for the declining number of WiMax people? 2) Is it "costing" them in terms of occupying spectrum that could be used for LTE? 3) At some number of users - 5 mil, 1mil, 100k, etc. - will Sprint decide it's cheaper to do a device exchange for LTE-equivalents instead of maintaining WiMax? 4) Once someone's contract is up, does Sprint have the legal right to simply stop WiMax service? Would they do something like that and risk customer backlash? Also, how would the answers to any of these question differ if Sprint does NOT own Clearwire outright but instead is left with a 65% stake? http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/softbank-ceo-sees-no-need-sprint-raise-clearwire-offer/2013-05-01

When should their LTE Network roll out and does clear plan to offer LTE Devices for their Clear/Clearwire customers? or are they selling LTE Capacity and continuing their WiMAX network.

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 24 July 2011 What are Protection Sites? by Sprint 4G Rollout Updates on Sunday, July 24, 2011 at 10:01am You keep reading around S4GRU about "Protection Sites." But what are protection sites, you ask? Sprint broadcasts it's 4G WiMax signal on 2.5GHz-2.65GHz (along with it's partner Clear/Clearwire). That's up to 150MHz of spectrum (variable by market). More than any other carrier in the country. Before 2007, 2.5GHz-2.65GHz was allocated by the FCC as EBS and BRS spectrum (Educational Broadband Service/Broadcast Radio Service). EBS was used by any public education organization free of charge on a first come, first served basis. However, this spectrum was relatively little used. At it's peak, only 100 education institutions actually utilized the spectrum for educational purposes. Most actually leased their spectrum to Clearwire for their pre-WiMax network. This was deemed a huge waste of spectrum by the FCC (and it was). When you consider the entire population of the U.S. and the total data capacity of the EBS spectrum, it was not even 1/100th of 1% utilized! In 2004, the FCC decided to reallocate the EBS/BRS spectrum for mobile internet and gave notice to the EBS/BRS license holders that in 2007 they would be repurposing the spectrum. EBS license holders could reapply with the broadband carriers in the 2007 reallotment. It was a confusing mess. In reality in the way it was structured, EBS spectrum winners were subleasing spectrum from the schools and universities. BRS spectrum licenses were purchased outright. In 2007 the EBS spectrum went out for bid. Two bidders ended up with the lion's share of the 150MHz of spectrum...Sprint and Clearwire. Sprint ending up with 60MHz of nationwide coverage. Clearwire with 90MHz of nationwide coverage. One of the conditions to the bidders is a clause called "Minimum Coverage Standards." For the EBS Spectrum, the FCC breaks up the 50 States and U.S. Territories into approx. 500 Basic Trading Areas, or BTA's (In other wireless spectrum, they use CMA's, or Cellular Market Areas). They use these to manage licenses for EBS spectrum. Licenses for each BTA are good for 10 years upon issuance. At 10 year intervals, they need to be renewed. At renewal, service provided is evaluated by the FCC. 99% of all renewals are approved. Some carriers have spectrum in all the BTA's (or CMA's). Some only have regions. Some have regions in one set of spectrum and other regions in other sections. It can be very messy and confusing to track FCC licenses. In 2008, Sprint and Clearwire received FCC approval and merged their EBS/BRS spectrum holdings into a singular holding of the 150MHz block and formed the joint-venture company Clear. Back to the Minimum Coverage Standards. The FCC mandated that a minimally acceptable amount of coverage be in every BTA by May 1, 2011. Clearwire started rolling out protection sites in earnest in early 2011. However, did not meet the Minimum Coverage Standards in all BTA's by May 1st, and started filing for extensions. Any winning bidder who did not provide minimally acceptable service within a BTA, will be subject to having the license revoked and the original license holder will be unable to ever regain it. This is very strong language about revocation. Minimum acceptable coverage to the FCC for this spectrum is: 30% of the BTA's Population Has Useable Service, or... 50% of the Geographical Area (Square Mileage) of the BTA has Useable Service. If one of these two items is met, then the license holder has met the Minimum Acceptable Coverage Standards required by the FCC for the EBS spectrum. Sprint/Clear 4G Basic Trading Area (BTA) Map showing all 500 BTA's in the U.S. The ones in green have at least (1) Sprint/Clear 4G tower in operation. The ones in white have no Clearwire service in operation. In the map above, you can see all the 500 BTA's in the United States. What Sprint/Clear have decided was to put up at least one tower every in every BTA in the country. So in 2011, they broke from the conventional rollout. They are deploying "Protection Sites" in all the BTA's. These are sites intended to keep the FCC at bay with the intention of trying to meet minimum acceptable service to maintain licensing. It appears that in larger population BTA's (250k+), they are deploying more than one protection site to meet the 30% population coverage minimum. Sprint/Clear are well on their way to being complete with the BTA Protection Site rollout before the end of 2011. They are averaging about 7 to 10 towers per week. So largely the areas in white will all be filled in green in short order. There will be a few exceptions. BTA's that have Clearwire's Pre-WiMax technology (like Reno, Dayton and Anchorage) will not receive protection sites. They already meet the FCC Minimum Coverage Requirements as the Pre-WiMax is broadcast on the same 2.5GHz spectrum. Most likely, the FCC will not give Sprint/Clear any grief over the minimum service clauses because they are attempting to do something. The clause is largely to prevent people from buying the spectrum and just sitting on it as an investment. The FCC really wants it just to be used. Most likely, the extension for Minimum Coverages will be given. The service requirements on the 700MHz spectrum are far more stringent than they were on the 2.5GHz spectrum. Verizon, AT&T and MetroPCS have less time to roll out. And the terminology used in it's FCC licensing doesn't have vague words like "minimum acceptable", but rather "substantial coverage."

There are a few places that have coverage, but for some reason do not show up on Clear's Coverage Maps. I have added this sticky forum post to keep track of them. I will update this note as they appear (or disappear). Cloquet, Minnesota. The tower went live back in March 2011. It was initiallly on Clear's maps, but disappeared. The tower was recently confirmed as still operational, though not showing. You can view some of the coverage from Sensorly Android users at http://sensorly.com Allentown, Pennsylvania. I received an e-mail back in July that someone was able to get a WiMax signal just south of Bethlehem. Also, a poster in the official Sprint forums mentioned they received a WiMax signal on the south side of Allentown. Also, Sensorly.com shows one blip of WiMax coverage being reported. However, recent comments from folks in the area cannot substantiate this phantom site. Let me know if you are able to connect to it. POSSIBLE OTHER PHANTOM SITES: Fallbrook, California. A blips appears on Sensorly's site along I-15 near the CA-76 exit, SE of Fallbrook towards Paia. Looking for confirmation that there is a signal in this location. Moreno Valley, California. A blip appears on Sensorly's site on I-215 on the west side of Moreno Valley near Edgemont. Looking for verification that this is real coverage from a protection site. Perris, California. A double blip of coverage has shown up on Sensorly on the I-215 corridor through Perris. Looking for verification of this protection site. Eaton Rapids/Springport, Michigan. In a remote spot between the South Central Michigan towns of Eaton Rapids and Springport, a blip of coverage is hown up on Sensorly's maps. Is this a legit prptection site? Or a GPS malfunction? Hobbs, New Mexico. This town is not showing on Clear's coverage maps, but there was a mysterious blip that showed up on Sensorly a few miles west of town. Looking for confirmation if any Sprint 4G users go through this area. Could be a GPS error on the device that reported it to Sensorly. Rocky Mount/Wilson Regional Airport, North Carolina. There is definitely confirmed Protection Sites in the cities of Rocky Mount and Wilson. However, there is a blip along I-95 that has shown up on Sensorly near the Rocky Mount/Wilson Regional Airport. This area would be out of range of the other two towers. Is this a Phantom Site not shown on Clear's Coverage Maps? Milford, Texas. Right along I-35E, between Dallas and Hillsboro, a blip of coverage is showing up on Sensorly's website, that is not shown on Clear's coverage maps. Looking for confirmation of this site. HISTORY: Des Moines, Iowa. In November 2011, Des Moines was removed from the list. The two WiMax towers there have re-appeared back on the coverage maps at clear.com. Ventura/Oxnard, California. In October 2011, Ventura and Oxnard were removed from the list. The one WiMax tower there has appeared on the coverage maps at clear.com. Asbury Park, New Jersey. Removed from the list when coverage showed up on the evening of September 12th on Clear.com's website. Houghton/Hancock, Michigan. The twin burgs were removed from the list when they reaopeared back on Clear's Coverage Maps on August 16th, after being gone for 2 months. Kankakee, Illinois. Coverage finally showed up on coverage maps the evening of July 27th. Thanks to Rai Diaz who discovered this operating cell before Clear even showed it on their map!!! In early July, the tower in Fortuna Foothills, Arizona (just east of Yuma) disappeared from coverage. However, it re-appeared on July 26th. On one message board, it said that it was taken down temporarily because it interfered with an operator in Mexico and now has been rectified. I have been unable to confirm this mystery.

Migrated from Original Forum. Originally Posted 01 August 2011 - 10:47 AM Protection Site Black List! These cities will not likely be getting protection sites. The reason is, in these cities Clearwire is already broadcasting on 2.5GHz. So they are meeting FCC licensing requirements for minimum coverages already in this spectrum. The problem for Sprint users, is that they are broadcasting their legacy Pre-WiMax signals here. Not WiMax. So your Sprint devices don't detect it! Aberdeen/Hoquiam WA Anchorage AK Anderson CA Bend OR Carson City NV Central Point OR Chico CA Chippewa Falls WI Clarkston WA Cohasset Beach/Wesport WA Corning CA Dayton OH Duluth MN Eagle River AK Eau Claire WI Fernley NV Grants Pass OR Hermantown MN Klamath Falls OR Incline Village NV Jacksonville OR Lewiston ID Longview TX Madras OR Medford OR Middletown OH Minden/Gardnerville NV Moscow ID Myrtle Creek OR Orland CA Paradise CA Prineville OR Proctor MN Pullman WA Red Bluff CA Redding CA Redmond OR Reno/Sparks NV Roseburg OR St. Cloud MN Shasta Lake CA Sisters OR South Lake Tahoe CA Springfield OH Stateline/Kingsbury NV Superior WI Wenatchee WA When Clear first started deploying their WiMax networks, they started with their Pre-WiMax markets first. Many, like Boise, Idaho and Jacksonville, Florida had their towers coverted from pre-WiMax to WiMax. However, about halfway through these conversions, Sprint started releasing WiMax devices and pressuring Clear to switch to major metro areas (which of course makes a lot of sense). And then, as we all know, about halfway through the major market rollout, Clear started running into financial problems. Since they were running out of time to meet FCC Minimum Coverage Standards, they have largely abandoned Major Market Rollouts and running around and setting up Protection Sites. However, the cities listed above are likely not to ever get protection sites. The Old Clearwire Pre-Wimax signals are still being broadcast in these cities, and they have pretty substantial coverage areas. So Clearwire is just going to jump right over them. And since Sprint (and likely Clear too) are migrating toward LTE, it is likely these cities WILL NEVER see WiMax signals. Sad! Cities the size of Dayton, Anchorage and Reno are secondary markets. This is a major oversight by Clear and Sprint. Tsk, tsk! Not to mention the major oversights of the primary markets of San Diego, Phoenix, Detroit, Memphis, Indianapolis, Birmingham...

I visited Chicago last week and I was impressed with the 4G Wimax Coverage in the City. I was connected to 4G at O'Hare airport, while traveling on the metro, Downtown Chicago , Millenium Park, even on the 103rd floor at the Willis Tower, Logan Square and others. Speed was great and no Wimax disconnects on my phone. (Nexus S 4G) After using 4G in California ( Orange County, LA, Inland Empire) and Las Vegas, I was dissapointed of the terrible coverage. I thought wimax coverage was going to be spotty due to buildings blocking signals. Wish we had that type of service here in California specially in the OC area

FreedomPop announced today that they now have an agreement with Sprint to use their 3G and LTE network. They will initially launch using Clearwire's WiMax network. By the end of the year FreedomPop will start deploying sleeves with Sprint's 3G and LTE support. In 2013 FreedomPop will stop using Clearwire's network for Sprint's but may go back to Clearwire for extra capacity. For more info go to the following link: http://gigaom.com/mobile/mvno-freedompop-swaps-clearwires-wimax-for-sprints-lte/

I snapped a few pictures of the 3 closest towers to my house, trying to identify the sprint equipment (and clear wimax). One of them is obvious because its a single head on top of a building by the airport, but the rest I'm clueless on. Can anyone help me identify what equipment belongs to who on these towers? DE73XC878 - Remy Dr, Lansing, MI (I don't know enough about the panels, but it looks like two different types on this site. It's on top of a small building near the airport.) DSC_1609 by jefbal99_, on Flickr DE60XC036 - Stanley St, Lansing, MI (Pretty sure there is WiMax on this tower, based on looking at the clear.com/coverage maps. Also, closest to my house) DSC_1599 by jefbal99_, on Flickr DE33XC553 - Filley St (Shared tower by the railroad tracks. I have closer pictures of the individual panels if needed, but this was the only one with everything) DSC_1603 by jefbal99_, on Flickr

Hello, I'm new to the forum, looking to make new cyber friends, and looking for answer about Sprint's service and updates on 3G, 4G, and Wimax. Been waiting patiently for Sprint to get it together, and fix all the issues they have been having.....I been quite the sport! I just hope they fix the data speeds all over the country, before they lose even more people over it! Why have unlimited data, when you can barely use it......smh.....Unlimited is very useless in my area, and it sucks! Thanks for your time!

Rumor has it that the EVO 3D will soon migrate from Sprint over to Sprint's pre-paid division, Virgin Mobile. This will be a pretty nice offering for a prepaid carrier, especially since its getting Android 4.0/ICS "soon." Additionally, If it brings unlimited 4G (WiMax) data along with it.. It would be a steal for those with solid 4G WiMax coverage. I think some people are going to have a great option available if this holds true. http://phandroid.com...s-htc-evo-v-4g/

Danny Bullard Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Tuesday, March 27, 2012 - 8:59 PM MDT Looking to buy a smartphone but not looking to spend $200+? Look no further! WireFly and Sprint are selling HTC EVO 3D for a low price of $0, yes free. Requires you to be a new customer or adding a new line of service. The EVO 3D can still hang with some of the higher end smart phones. The 3D has a dual core 1.2GHz Snapdragon processor, 4.3" qHD display and dual 5MP cameras that can take 3D shots and video. Plus, the EVO 3D is slated to get Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich this year. So, who will be heading over to WireFly's site or Sprint's site to order a free EVO 3D? Or, are you waiting for Sprint's LTE Galaxy Nexus? Sound off in the comments! Source: Sprint, Wirefly

Jeff Foster Sprint 4G Rollout Update Saturday, March 24, 2012 - 12:18 PM MDT The forerunner of Clearwire was a Texas based company then known as Clearwire Technologies, Inc. Clearwire Technologies raised at least $100 million and used it to acquire spectrum allocated to various educational institutions known as EBS or Educational Broadband Service. In 2007, Clearwire and Sprint Nextel announced a partnership to accelerate deployment of WiMAX technology across the US. In 2008, Sprint's new CEO Dan Hesse started serious discussions about forming a joint venture between the two companies in the hopes of bringing in outside funding. Sprint owns 54% of the firm; a consortium of Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Intel, Google and Bright House Networks investing $3.2 billion and owning the balance. Jump to today, and CLEAR 4G is available in 35 of the top 40 MSAs in the country covering 130 million people. Clearwire has had its shares of setbacks in the past several years with the promise of WiMax fading and the explosive growth of the newest 4G standard – LTE. Even with this impediment, Clearwire has something to crow about. Clearwire TD-LTE is headed to some of the highest demand areas first Clearwire CFO Hope Cochran, speaking at a conference sponsored by Goldman Sachs, said her company has the resources that even the top national wireless carriers should envy. Cochran pointed out that Clearwire's network usage jumped more than 700% in 2011. The important thing to note here is that most of that data torrent was driven not by new subscribers, but by existing subscribers greatly increasing their data usage. "Customers are finding more applications and downloading more videos," she said. This, according to Cochran, will be the Achilles' heel for AT&T and Verizon, as well as for Sprint. Sprint will launch its LTE network in mid-2012. Cochran estimates that the LTE network that Sprint will deploy will be able to handle only 5.6 terabytes of data per site per year. AT&T and Verizon, which operate in a different frequency range, will have 22 terabytes per site per year capacity. Clearwire's network carries 22 terabytes today. The company has ~16,000 WiMax cell sites and about one-half of them carry 80 percent to 90 percent of Clearwire's network traffic. Clearwire plans to overlay its WiMAX network with around 8,000 TD-LTE cell sites--Cochran said the move would allow Clearwire to put LTE capacity in areas where its network usage is the greatest. Come and get it boys! Soup's on!!! Clearwire is anticipating to have a tremendous amount of surplus capacity available. So when the big carriers run out of their capacity -- and Cochran thinks that will be sooner rather than later -- the big mobile carriers will have few options other than to divert their LTE traffic to Clearwire's network. Clearwire's future is still very much dependent on its relationship with Sprint. If Clearwire can manage to keep its head above water until more regionals, and ultimately Verizon and AT&T reach the end of their spectrum, the network may indeed be able to reap rewards from the insatiable needs of the major carriers' subscribers. As Cochran told the conference, "We see our own trends, and that is the appetite for data is tremendous." Sources: Fierce Wireless, Fool.com, Wikipedia

Clearwire says that usage on their network increased 705% year over year in 2011! (Via Fiercewireless): http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/clearwire-usage-our-network-increased-705-year-over-year/2012-03-22

Danny Bullard Sprint 4G Rollout Updates Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - 11:39 AM MDT FreedomPop is a company that aims to provide free broadband, founded by Niklas Zennstrom (Skype Founder). FreedomPop plans on releasing a case for the iPhone 4/4S with an integrated 4G WiMax radio according to a "high level source inside FreedomPop." Not only will it allow your iPhone device to use a 4G signal, but this case will be able to share a WiMax connection with up to eight devices, for 30 hours. At the moment, FreedomPop hasn't committed to a release date. Each iPhone case user will have a 1 GB of free data starting off. If you go over the 1 gig cap, it'll cost you $10 per gigabyte or 10 cents per MB. According to TechCrunch's sources, you'll have to put down a $100 deposit for this case. The deposit is refundable if the case is in "good" condition. This case will allow your 3G iPhone 4/4S run on Clearwire's 4G WiMax network. Pretty neat huh? All you have to do is slide your iPhone into the case and BAM you have 4G if you're in a Clear 4G market. We know this case will not beat Verizon's 4G LTE speeds or AT&T's LTE speeds, but it will be a good alternative to 3G (especially on Sprint and Verizon) and users who don't have 4G devices (iPhone users). The Clear 4G footprint covers 130 million POPs. FreedomPop struck their wholesale agreement with Clearwire in February. This concept isn't entirely new. We saw something very similar to this debut on Sprint in November of 2010. It was a ZTE manufactured peel that gave users access to Sprint's 3G EVDO network. ZTE's peel got decent reviews from buyers. A lot of people liked that the peel brought decent data speeds without a contract. It was a wonderful idea, hopefully FreedomPop can improve on what ZTE started on Sprint's network. So, is this innovation at it's finest? I'd say not really, but if FreedomPop markets this case enough, it could be a huge hit. Source: TechCrunch.com, FierceWireless