By 
Fielding a question at Sprint’s Overland Park headquarters in Kansas regarding Sprint’s stand-still status on 4G WiMax rollouts, CEO Dan Hesse let everyone know that he hears your concerns about the lack of deployments in recent months and says to expect a big announcement regarding 4G sometime this fall.
You know what immediately came to our mind – Lightsquared. Hesse is rumored to mention a deal with Lightsquared in a financial earnings call on July 28th, a deal that would eventually bring LTE speeds – hopefully some of the same speeds Verizon customers currently get – to their subscribers.
A fall announcement doesn’t fit in with July 28th, but Hesse could always choose not to talk about that on the conference call as it’s not really a formal platform for such an announcement.
Another possibility is that the fall announcement is something different altogether, but we can’t imagine what it’d be. For starters, we know Sprint wouldn’t wait that long to announce new rollout plans with Clearwire after they invested in the company to keep them afloat in order to continue rolling WiMax service out.
And if this autumn’s announcement is indeed LTE-related, the wait for a widespread network like Verizon’s is further off than you might hope. Sprint still has many devices with WiMax radios and many customers own those devices – it’s not smart business to just leave them in the dark. A 4G LTE launch regiment will need to take into consideration Sprint’s WiMax network so expect them to tread lightly, cautiously and probably slowly. [BGR]
I just want something better than 111kbps.
How about 112 kbps?
Every little bit helps I guess.
You said bit.
Kilobit ;)
this is comedy
I might have switched back from AT&T to Sprint except the Nexus S is WIMAX not LTE and there are no WIMAX rollouts within a radius of at least 400 miles from me.
If they are going to switch to LTE, they should just do it. And start yesterday.
I like my Nexus One, and I’m about up for a new phone this fall.
LTE! LTE! Wait- my Evo 3D only uses WiMax. Shoot. =/
if they do roll it out and leave all those with wimax phones in the dark they could have alot of angry customers on their hands.
Wimax isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon. You’ll probably have replaced your phone twice before Wimax is phased out.
Just bought the EVO 3D, really hoping to see some 4G action in Iowa someday
WiMax already exists in Iowa. The towers are owned by a company called http://www.speedconnect.com/
I heard they were working out a mutual roaming agreement with Sprint for an Iowa Launch in 2013.
It’s actually possible for them to roll out a LTE network that our WiMax handsets can connect to. Their frequencies can be merged.
Richard Yarell is named new spokesman and CEO?!?!
I can’t wait to see how this plays out. I have a gut feeling that Sprint is going to ask customers to send in their phone or go to a local Sprint store for them to tweak their radios to pick up that new LTE signal. I know this has to do with Lightsquared. Sprint already signed a 10 YEAR DEAL WITH THEM (Go look it up on Bloomberg) Either way I can’t wait for these LTE speeds. :3
Sprint didn’t sign nothing with LightSquared is the point you and others failed at understanding. I knew nothing was being announced on the 28th or that this deal was never official, but just wanted people to post like it was otherwise.
Here’s an idea. Look it up and find your proof. Then bash my claim.
Here’s a better idea, post up either Sprint’s or LightSquared Official Press Release stating this deal, and then I’ll humbly retract my claim. Sprint signs deal in June (2Q), yet expect big announcements this fall (3Q/4Q). Yep, make sense. Sprint’s not signing shit until the FCC approves their network. Period.
What a great way to close out the year in grand style. There will be a few more VERY BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS HANDSET WISE BETWEEN NOW AND NOVEMBER to go along with this LTE ANNOUNCEMENT. All current handsets will be just fine whenever the change takes place both WIMAX AND LTE will work on all current sprint 4G devices. Sprint simply has KICKED INDUSTRY BUTT ALL YEAR LONG and the BEST is yet to come. I won’t disclose that here but STAYED TUNED MR. HESSE IS TAKING CARE OF MUCH BUSINESS…..
“All current handsets will be just fine whenever the change takes place both WIMAX AND LTE will work on all current sprint 4G devices” Reallllly now? And what makes you think this is true? All the info I’ve read has stated that because Wimax and LTE are completely different technologies, the two will NOT work “just fine”. Why do you think there are different versions of the same phone with completely different radios? Keep the stupid posts coming…
richard. go away man. jesus christ. u r such a downer on my day.
I am leery of any deal with LightSquared right now. It has been proven that their LTE implementation interferes with GPS signals. Unless they fix that problem, the FCC is not going to let them proceed with the rollout.
HAS ANYONE NOTICED THE NEW SPRINT DATA COMPARISON AD? THE PHONES IN THE AD ARE iPHONES WITH OUT THE MAIN BUTTON. IF THATS NOT A HINT THAT THE iPHONE IS COMING TO SPRINT I DONT KNOW WHAT IS. OH AND TO GO A STEP FURTHER U CAN TELL ITS AND iPHONE BUT THE SQUARE BRICK SHAPE AND THE CERTAIN CUTS IN THE SIDES OF THE PHONE.
WHY ARE WE YELLING????
While I have no doubts that any ‘Big Announcements’ will include some sort of mention of LTE, have any of you looked at the Clear coverage map recently? Pick a spot just about anywhere in the eastern half of the country, and zoom in twice.
Lots of single-tower small town light-ups. I tested at over 7Mbps in Joplin, MO a few days ago. None of these single-tower areas are acknowledged on Sprint’s coverage map, but they sure work.
Sprint doesn’t show 4G coverage there because there is very low capacity in those cities. Clear purchased spectrum in all those small markets and needed to light it up this past March, otherwise they would lose the spectrum license.
itll probably be something about lte but i hope wimax gets a speed boost in the DL department
I’m pretty sure they’ll be announcing some sort of Wimax rollout, as I was assured that my little town on the coast of Oregon was set to have Wimax by the end of summer/beginning of fall. I literally quadrupled checked with the lady at customer service to make sure she had the zip code right. I wouldn’t be shocked to see sprint launching some sort of huge web of Wimax in smaller cities across america, targeting areas not yet covered by 4g by the other big carriers.
I signed up for wireless internet with Clear this weekend. The salesperson was very knowledgeable about their service. I asked him about LTE and he said to expect it as early as September of this year and that they, along with Lightsquared, would be providing LTE service through Sprint.
Sweet people !
Your Android-centric world eclipse Your brain.
Start to think again.
Use logic,data,dates.
Apply correlations,equitation and circulations between them.
When You intelligently mix all these elements,You will end up with only one result.
Apple iPhone 5
Greetings to all and only ……smart folks
How much does Apple pay you to write this garbage?
I heard that some of the Wimax phone one sprint have the chipset that can work on both wimax and LTE with a firmware update. Sprint is going to build super tower with but wimax and LTE, that is what I heard so I don’t know if it is true or not.
does this have anything to do with the reason their newer phones are equipped with 800mhz capability?
The big announcement is that they are going to light up all the light green areas listed on this map http://www.clear.com/coverage . I know a guy who knows a guy who heard of a guy that gave me this intel from Sprint. I hope they are right.
Sorry, this is an old post, but just go by your local tower location and look for boxes that look like this: http://newsroom.sprint.com/press_kits.cfm?presskit_id=19 You’ll probably see them, we have them here in my area (which is currently light green)
Lilghtsquared will never see the light of day, at least not in its current form. It will totally destroy the GPS system that the military, airports, and consumers rely on every day. No way the FCC is ever going to approve it over the objections of the military. If Sprint is banking on that, they’re in bigger trouble than we thought.
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/lightsquareds-gps-interference-plan-leaves-more-questions-answers/2011-06-23