In case you didn't know:

Wimax is used in 146 countries around the world. Its eco system is well developed and Wimax phones have been on the market for some time. If anything the US is the laggard on this front. The current mobile Wimax being deployed is based on the IEEE 802.16e standard however this summer the IEEE will be ratifing Wimax 2 which is based on their 802.16m standard. The mutation from .16e to .16m will be at a minimal cost with little more than a software upgrade, however the speeds will be substantially faster. In the laboritory Wimax 2 has clocked speeds anywhere from 300Mbs to 1Gbs. This should put the final nail in the coffin of the Verizon spin masters.

You're asking why the US isn't using a standard that isn't done yet?

We've had 4G in several cities since last year.

It's other countries that break compatibility to protect their home market companies. That's why your 'standards' always come later. They wait until they can break backward compatibility on purpose. It's just foolish these days because both the US and EU stuff will be made in the same factories in China.

Jane i guess you dont know a lot about mobile tec. But in the US only sprint will use wimax the rest will use lte

Once again, the United States chooses a mobile standard just for itself (WiMax) that few other countries will use.

The majority of the world is going with LTE. Why does the US need to be different?

Hey Tim, this is a tech website keep your narrow minded redneck political views out of it!

As soon as OBAMA is out of office this will happen. But for now lets just praise and love Sprint for the future to come.

They should start concentrating on health care and education, not internet speeds. Its enough!