Wimax shutdown date leaked.

[Nickel]

Not so much.

 

iDEN deserved to die.  WiMAX deserved a chance that it never really received.

 

AJ

Perhaps, but the industry went in a different direction, for better or worse. 

[Fraydog]

I think we can be way more nostalgic about WiMax.

[dnwk]

They'll probably give out midrange spark devices that will be part of the same lineage as the Sharp Aquos Crystal to increase triband adoption in the budget range of $100-300.

But remember most Clear user were using modems. They may need to receive an LTE modem.

[Tajustin95]

Yea was going to say that because I still have the old clear modem for Internet use . I was wondering is our is still going to be unlimited

[marioc21]

So now it is officially official.

 

Sprint (NYSE:S) confirmed it will shut off service on its mobile WIMAX network on or around Nov. 6, 2015, giving further clarity on its network evolution.

 

Sprint spokeswoman Adrienne Norton confirmed the date to FierceWireless. The date was first unearthed in an internal company email posted by the blog Android Central.

 

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-shutter-wimax-network-around-nov-6-2015/2014-10-07?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Editor&utm_campaign=SocialMedia

[lilotimz]

So now it is officially official.

 

 

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-shutter-wimax-network-around-nov-6-2015/2014-10-07?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Editor&utm_campaign=SocialMedia

3,2,1 fabian, dougl, Robert, s Ali.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[CaptainSlow]

If ~6,000 WiMax sites will be decommissioned as the article says, that leaves ~11,000 sites that Sprint will retain and convert to Network Vision. That's good news.

[mozamcrew]

If ~6,000 WiMax sites will be decommissioned as the article says, that leaves ~11,000 sites that Sprint will retain and convert to Network Vision. That's good news.

I'm guessing those 6000 sites are sites where both Sprint and Clear had separate leases on the same site, or they are Clear protection sites where Sprint won't need the added Clear sites for density/coverage once they do 8t8r on all the current Sprint sites.

[CaptainSlow]

^^ I have no idea but would guess it's the former, at a minimum. Not sure about the later. Maybe someone more knowledgeable can comment.

[S4GRU]

40% of Clearwire sites are colocated with Sprint. These were always planned to be decommissioned after the end of WiMax. The other Clearwire sites are now being assigned Sprint Cascade ID numbers. Some may get full Network Vision improvements. Most will just get 8T8R conversions, because they are already well covered by other technologies of the network.

 

Motorola WiMax sites are being replaced with new 8T8R equipment, because they do not support dual mode. Huawei WiMax sites are being replaced with either Samsung, ALU or Nokia 8T8R equipment, depending on location. Samsung WiMax sites in ALU or Nokia areas will be replaced with ALU or Nokia equipment.

 

However, there will be no urgency to change Samsung Dual mode WiMax sites that in Samsung areas (not very many). Because they fully support B41 and there is no difference in vendor. Eventually these will change to 8T8R, but these are the lowest priority.

 

As for Protection Sites, ones that are colocated with Sprint will likely go away and a new 8T8R panel will be added to the Sprint rack, decommissioning the old Clearwire site. Ones that are not colocated with Sprint and use Huawei equipment but are in Sprint service areas, the Protection Sites will likely be moved to existing Sprint towers. As their coverage area is not important. Just that it covers enough POPs to protect the license. No sense in wasting money in these areas, unless they plan to expand service.

 

All Huawei and some Samsung Protection Sites completely outside Sprint coverage areas will be converted to 8T8R. Samsung Protection Sites inside Samsung's geographic area might not, but there are not a lot of these. Most are Huawei. What is not known is if these will be given full NV deployments with the 8T8R or not. In my opinion, they should. If they don't, the 8T8R site would only be usable to hotspots, smartphones in LTE Only mode and possibly iPhones. It would reduce roaming fees and likely pay for themselves to do a full NV conversion. And in some places where they have G block build out requirements, it's a no-brainer. Do it!!!

[towermonkey]

I'm happy that I still got over a year left for WIMAX I hope Sprint and other carriers lower their prices for data by then like $5 per GB instead of $15 VZW charges. I can't get cable internet due to Time Warner sent me to a collection agency on a $300+ overdue bill and I owe WOW over $200. $30/month for 8mbps down and 1 upload Isn't bad plus It's UNLIMITED on Clear. 

[ab30494]

the protection site in council bluffs, IA will most likely go away, since there is a tower about 5 blocks away. 

[WiWavelength]

I'm happy that I still got over a year left for WIMAX I hope Sprint and other carriers lower their prices for data by then like $5 per GB instead of $15 VZW charges. I can't get cable internet due to Time Warner sent me to a collection agency on a $300+ overdue bill and I owe WOW over $200. $30/month for 8mbps down and 1 upload Isn't bad plus It's UNLIMITED on Clear. 

 

I doubt that anyone will shed a tear for you when you lose WiMAX, nor should anyone wish for you lower data prices.  The rest of us pay for your usage in increased costs, since you appear to rack up chronic bad debt and jump the bill.

 

AJ

[gnoj]

I'm happy that I still got over a year left for WIMAX I hope Sprint and other carriers lower their prices for data by then like $5 per GB instead of $15 VZW charges. I can't get cable internet due to Time Warner sent me to a collection agency on a $300+ overdue bill and I owe WOW over $200. $30/month for 8mbps down and 1 upload Isn't bad plus It's UNLIMITED on Clear. 

 

I am sympathetic to those who really have no other choice for residential broadband (which I currently define as ~10 Mbps down/1 Mbps up w/ a ≥100 GB cap and <100 ms ping) than Clear, and am hopeful that the Dish/Sprint fixed TDD-LTE trials will eventually be extended to all such areas. In your case, however, you are quite fortunate really in that you have not one but two choices for cable, and likely a DSL option from a telco as well. Your area is likely to be low on their priority list for deployment, due to the existing state of competition. 

 

If the charges you owe Time Warner & WOW were billed in error (which, given my experiences with both Comcast & Mediacom customer service, is quite possible), and their corporate/executive customer support team cannot or refuses to help, then I suggest you contact your local franchise authority, so that you can resume service with one of them with a clean slate. If not, then just pay your bills already, as the number of ISP's left that you haven't ditched with an outstanding balance is bound to reach zero.

[jefbal99]

I wonder what will happen with the protection sites in Iron Mountain, Ishpeming, Ironwood, Sault Ste Marie, Marquette, and Houghton/Hancock up in da U.P.?  Sprint has no native coverage up there, could shuttering the protection lead to license questions from the FCC?  Would Sprint make a small network in the urban areas of those towns with full build NV sites?  Will they toss up B41 LTE that is data only (until VoLTE)?

[S4GRU]

I wonder what will happen with the protection sites in Iron Mountain, Ishpeming, Ironwood, Sault Ste Marie, Marquette, and Houghton/Hancock up in da U.P.?  Sprint has no native coverage up there, could shuttering the protection lead to license questions from the FCC?  Would Sprint make a small network in the urban areas of those towns with full build NV sites?  Will they toss up B41 LTE that is data only (until VoLTE)?

 

Sprint is not likely to shut down any Protection Sites.  The question becomes whether they just get rid of the Huawei equipment and replace with some extra WiMax equipment and leave it a WiMax only Protection Site.  Or do they upgrade it with some extra dual mode WiMax/LTE parts and call it a day?  Or do they do a full 8T8R conversion on these sites, but not do a full NV conversion just leaving them as LTE data only sites?  Or do they do a full NV conversion on these sites, introducing CDMA and LTE on all three bands?  We don't know yet.

 

But what we do know is we are seeing many Protection Sites show up on the schedule with B41 upgrades in next 180 days.  So it is not likely they are doing the first option listed above.  But it still could be any of the others.

[RCM]

The WiMax protection site at the Soo is co-lo'd with existing Sprint

[exadyne]

Sprint had no native coverage in Sault Sainte Marie? Is it an affiliate because they show up as native coverage as far as my phone was concerned.

[RCM]

There is a Sprint site in the Soo. On that same tower is a Clear protection site. i'm not sure any concern is warranted with the protection site there. Sprint probably will just convert it to B41 LTE. The other protection sites, however, are the big question since the other Clear protection sites are not located within any native Sprint service.

[randamin]

There was this one protection site in town that was in a different area and wouldn't reach my home. Because of that I gave my Atlas usb modem that I got 2 years ago to a family member who could receive signal from the protection site in their home since usage was very little and would be not be cost effective to use a home broadband service. A few days ago I got a call from them saying the internet wasn't working so I went over with my 803S and 4082 and as I feared, neither of those two could locate a Wimax signal. I don't know the exact date but the last usage shown was on Dec. 7th so somewhere between now and then the signal was lost.