WIMAX getting better for you?

[DaQue]

My WIMAX speeds here in St Peters Missouri (I70 and Midrivers Parkway area) has gotten a lot better of late, up from 3-4M and 300 ms ping to top Steedtest.net of 11.13Mbps with most over 8Mbps with pings 150-200. Like the title says anyone else getting better WIMAX service? Remember WIMAX is not service from Sprint equipment so NV updates don't play into it.

 

 

I guess its just how it works on a cell network, if I drive down 70 toward St Louis aI couple miles I get much better pings but much slower download speed. 4Mbps and 70ms pings.

[kct1975]

My Wimax has gotten better too...

 

My personal belief is towers being upgraded and, honestly, the Sprint Network Optmizer has helped too.

 

KCT - "No Matter Where You Go, There You Are!"

[dedub]

I am pretty sure they are not doing any wimax upgrades or changes other than perhaps emergency maintenance. Any improvements you see in wimax are from decreased use as customers upgrade from wimax phones to lte phones.

[Febby]

It got worse here in my 323 area of Los Angeles county. This speeds below are my 4G wimax speeds during non busy times.

 

 

Sent from my anti team themers phone!

[S4GRU]

We are seeing some WiMax reports from members that they are getting higher WiMax speeds now than at initial WiMax launch two years ago. It's possible that Clearwire is upgrading their backhaul in front of LTE deployment.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy S-III 32GB using Forum Runner

[kct1975]

We are seeing some WiMax reports from members that they are getting higher WiMax speeds now than at initial WiMax launch two years ago. It's possible that Clearwire is upgrading their backhaul in front of LTE deployment.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy S-III 32GB using Forum Runner

That sounds reasonable

 

KCT - "No Matter Where You Go, There You Are!"

[tybo31316]

Maybe its from people shifting to LTE devices. Using 3g and not WiMAX

[S4GRU]

Maybe its from people shifting to LTE devices. Using 3g and not WiMAX

 

I think in a lot of instances it could be a reduction of WiMax devices on the network because of LTE. But Sprint has sold only one million LTE devices as of last week. That's not even 10% of the number of WiMax devices out there. So it could be some of the impact.

 

However, many people are now reporting WiMax speeds higher than ever. Even before WiMax was first deployed. That cannot be from LTE devices alone.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy S-III 32GB using Forum Runner

[nova46]

I have also seen much improved WiMAX performance. Early morning/night I'll get a consistent 12 Mbps, during normal hours it will stay around 6 Mbps, and peak hours it won't go any lower than 3 Mbps. This is making it easier to hold out for the new nexus phone.

[mellimel2212]

This is my sppeds at night on the westside

 

Sent from my White Epic 4g Touch rockin Jellybean

[dedub]

I remember when wimax was first rolled out (I had a launch day evo), upload was capped at 1 meg flat, but sometime within the last year or so I noticed it went up to 1.5, but I can vaguely recall seeing peaks of about 2mbs.

[mellimel2212]

My upload peaks at 2 sometimes 2.5 but always end up at 1.5

 

Sent from my White Epic 4g Touch rockin Jellybean

[S4GRU]

My upload peaks at 2 sometimes 2.5 but always end up at 1.5

 

Sent from my White Epic 4g Touch rockin Jellybean

 

That's my experience too.

 

Robert

[nova46]

Every single one of my recent wimax tests have upload speeds of 1.7 mbps, literally within a few kbps of each other, regardless of the time of day.

 

I am curious though, since it appears clearwire is upgrading their backhaul (in addition to less wimax users), what is the benefit of jumping to LTE? I have always read/heard that wimax was not the problem (in reference to coverage), but that it was the spectrum. This makes sense, but Clearwire is depolying LTE on the same spectrum they are currently using for wimax, so what's the benefit?

[pyroscott]

Every single one of my recent wimax tests have upload speeds of 1.7 mbps' date=' literally within a few kbps of each other, regardless of the time of day.

 

I am curious though, since it appears clearwire is upgrading their backhaul (in addition to less wimax users), what is the benefit of jumping to LTE? I have always read/heard that wimax was not the problem (in reference to coverage), but that it was the spectrum. This makes sense, but Clearwire is depolying LTE on the same spectrum they are currently using for wimax, so what's the benefit?[/quote']

 

Clearwire will have a much easier time selling LTE as capacity instead of Wimax.

[iansltx]

The nice thing about LTE is that it's compatible (seamless handoffs, etc.) with other LTE networks.

 

The way Clearwire will be wholesaling its network in the future is as a capacity shot-in-the-arm for localized areas, rather than as a high-capacity coverage blanket over an entire city (though in areas where they already have WiMAX and are upgrading backhauls anyway, the latter, in some form or fashion, may be a nice consequence). To do this, handsets need to be able to seamlessly switch between the (more congested, lower-frequency) macro-cellular network of one carrier (e.g. Sprint) to the (higher-capacity, lower-reach) network of Clearwire. WiMAX-to-LTE won't work well there. LTE-to-LTE will.

 

Plus, thanks to technical advances between 802.16e and LTE-A, LTE will have significantly more capacity than WiMAX, both from a raw perspective (bits per Hz) and a spectrum reuse one (you can use the same frequencies on two adjacent LTE sites, or even two adacent LTE panels...WiMAX is a bit iffy in that regard).

[S4GRU]

I am curious though, since it appears clearwire is upgrading their backhaul (in addition to less wimax users), what is the benefit of jumping to LTE? I have always read/heard that wimax was not the problem (in reference to coverage), but that it was the spectrum. This makes sense, but Clearwire is depolying LTE on the same spectrum they are currently using for wimax, so what's the benefit?

 

There are tons of advantages of Sprint LTE over WiMax. Here is my list in order

1. Most Sprint LTE devices use battery the same in LTE mode as CDMA only mode, but all are better than WiMax device battery life
   
2. Sprint LTE will penetrate buildings better and provide more uniform coverage
   
3. Sprint LTE works better with a weaker signal. WiMax petered out around -85dBm RSSI, Sprint LTE peters out around -95dBm RSSI
   
4. Handoffs to other LTE sites is so much better than WiMax did even in the best circumstances, and WiMax was not ever capable to seamlessly handoff to 3G, as the LTE network is designed to with eHRPD.
   
5. Sprint LTE coverage does not end at the edge of the city, it will cover the entire Sprint market
   
6. Sprint LTE is a lot faster
   

I probably am missing a couple of things. But these are the key differences. WiMax is completely fine to wait on LTE. However, when you have good coverage of LTE in your area, it is definitely time to jump off WiMax. Everything is better on LTE in every way.

 

Robert

[nova46]

Thanks for the info guys. Seeing as I probably won't be getting LTE for a while, I'm happy to wait on WiMAX the way it sits.

[hiltonMIA]

I am in Miami/Fort Lauderdale and use a WiMax hotspot at my office in the 33324 zip code. For the past few weeks my service has been really buggy with the signal going out several times a day. My signal strength indicator light usually glows red, indicating poor and has never been higher than average (yellow). Suddenly this week the signal is glowing bright green and the bugginess has stopped. My guess is that they were working on the tower and now the work is complete and the signal strength is MUCH better.

[S4GRU]

I am in Miami/Fort Lauderdale and use a WiMax hotspot at my office in the 33324 zip code. For the past few weeks my service has been really buggy with the signal going out several times a day. My signal strength indicator light usually glows red, indicating poor and has never been higher than average (yellow). Suddenly this week the signal is glowing bright green and the bugginess has stopped. My guess is that they were working on the tower and now the work is complete and the signal strength is MUCH better.

 

Did your speeds improve? Although WiMax is completely separate from the Sprint network and not affected by Sprint's Network Vision/LTE deployment, there has been a lot of reports from people out there that WiMax speeds are improving. I have speculated that perhaps Clearwire is upgrading backhaul to their sites to be prepared for LTE deployment late this year and next year.

 

Robert

[hiltonMIA]

Yes, but I attributed that to the fact the signal was suddenly much stronger than it has been in the past. I'll run some speed-tests on Monday when I'm back in the office.

[tommym65]

Where the Wimax transceiver is on the same tower as Sprint CDMA, does it share the same backhaul? If so, that could help to explain improved data rates on towers which have the complete NV upgrade.

[digiblur]

I don't believe they are mixing the projects at this time. That would require them to bog down the contractors with more work. Trust me they have plenty to do already!

 

Sent from my C64 w/Epyx FastLoad cartridge

 

 

[S4GRU]

Where the Wimax transceiver is on the same tower as Sprint CDMA' date=' does it share the same backhaul? If so, that could help to explain improved data rates on towers which have the complete NV upgrade.[/quote']

 

No. WiMax and Network Vision never share backhaul.

 

Robert via Samsung Galaxy S-III 32GB using Forum Runner

[mrzood]

WiMax is pretty saturated in my area, San Antonio suburbs. During the day it's lucky to break 1Mbps. While in the early morning, 3-4am, hours it'll pull 15-17Mbps.

 

Not 'Sprint' but utilizing the same network.

 

Daytime:

 

Early Hours: