Our word is our bond. Shemesh Bond
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Sprint and Clearwire call off WiMAX plans
THE SPRINT AND CLEARWIRE partnership to jointly do WiMAX didn't last a year.
In January 2007, Sprint said it would spend billions on WiMAX. In June, The Wall Street Journal speculated that Sprint was going to spin off their WiMAX projects into a new division by joining with Clearwire.
Clearwire was founded by Craig McCaw, the man behind the proliferation of North American cell phones. Craig is famous for cobbling together North America's first nationwide cellular empire, which he sold to AT&T for a large pile of wanga ($11.5 billion) in 1994. McCaw woke up the mobile data world in 2004 by announcing Clearwire would use WiMAX. Along the way, Intel tossed in $600 million and Motorola jumped up with a puny $300 million, all dumped into McCaw's Seattle area bank account.
Clearwire's WiMAX signals cover a few west coast cities with concentrations in Texas and North Carolina. Clearwire opened shop in a town about an hour from INQminds Califrornia office. That town's largest local ISP also has wireless services. They claim Clearwire hasn't cost them any customers.
Clearwire made noises about WiMAX coverage for Brussels, Belgium. However, customer buy-in is equally sparse as their USA coverage map. Clearwire's slow roll out is what made the Sprint and Clearwire partnership sound like WiMAX was gonna be everywhere.
Friday, Sprint's press bunny claimed in an 'official release': “Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) and Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) have mutually agreed to terminate the Letter of Intent (LOI) signed in July 2007. The two companies could not resolve complexities associated with the LOI and failed to reach final agreement on the terms of the transaction.
“Sprint remains fully committed to developing WiMAX services and deploying a WiMAX network that will allow customers to realize the benefits of a mobile broadband Internet experience. Sprint expects to continue to work together with Clearwire on future opportunities to enhance the deployment of robust WiMAX capabilities through ongoing discussions that include the possibility of roaming, frequency interference coordination, spectrum exchanges, technology evolution and development and network standards.”
So does this mean mobile WiMAX isn't going as well as we've been told? Could this be a way for Sprint to make a graceful exit from WiMAX? Or at least a way to create some distance from it? Could Sprint's firing of top management, after their recent bad financial report, be because WiMAX is stalling out?
As WiMAX's promise fades, where will WiMAX chip vendors go to sell their wares? Intel promised a Wi-Fi-WiMAX Chipset in 2008. Laptop makers Lenovo, Acer, Asus, Panasonic, and Toshiba are all signed up for Intel's upcoming 25-watt Montevina mobile platform which is supposed to have WiMAX. At IDF-San Francisco Intel's Chief executive, Paul Otellini, said "We are on the cusp of a new global network".
Is this all just a game by cash-strapped Sprint to get cash-rich Intel to toss more wanga into their WiMAX game?
If any of our readers know the “real story” behind this shift in WiMAX's direction, drop us a note. We are really curious about this one. µ
Tags: Intel
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I live in southwestern Idaho and used Clearwire for nearly a year or so. It was convenient at the time, as I did not require a phone line or TV service. However the latency was always a problem, 170ms was about the best you could see for anything meaningful. Use of BitTorrent was slow to the point of deliberate and the problems got worse the longer I used the service. It was heavily promoted here at times and I believe the outstripped capacity rather quickly. Overall, this is certainly not a service I would recommend to anyone other than the elderly.
There's a WiMax precursor system popping up around Halifax Nova Scotia. I've been waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting for them to send the WiMax Installation truck out to my local cell phone tower.

Now I've given up waiting.

I've just ordered a EVDO gadget that plugs into my PCs by USB. Slightly more expensive per month than WiMax, but at least it actually exists today.

When I die a very old man, I want my headstone to read, "I'm still waiting for WiMax..."
Sprint did not have a partnership with Clearwire. A Letter of Intent existed which outlined a proposed collaboration, which if finalized required government approval due to spectrum matters. Sprint ended network collaboration discussion with Clearwire when complexities associated with seamless services delivery became obvious to both parties; we would not be able to offer the simplified user experience as planned. Clearwire has a fixed WiMAX network while Sprint is pursuing a mobile WiMAX strategy. There is still the possibility of roaming agreement. Sprint is getting ready for soft launch of Xohm WiMAX service in Chicago, Washington DC and Baltimore by yearend followed by commercial launch in the second quarter of 2008.
If WiMAX was so great, it would have replaced Wi-Fi by now. It hasn't. The connections are flaky in the spots that do have it, and the costs and equipment don't help, either. Perhaps it will still come about if the hardware becomes standard like Wi-Fi cards and the connections are fast, secure, and solid, but that might be awhile.