The Now Network

[Poke]

Man this is cool! Sprint Rocks and their rolling out their 4G network.

Welcome to the Now Network.

 

[Ramy]

They have been advertising that on their new commercials. What does it add over 3G?

 

[grydlok]

They have been advertising that on their new commercials. What does it add over 3G?

WiMax.

 

[TheForce]

Details:

Sprint Extends 4G Leadership by Announcing Additional U.S. Markets for Sprint 4G
4:34p ET August 11, 2009 (Business Wire)

Sprint (NYSE:S), the first national wireless carrier to test, launch and market 4G technology, is extending its 4G leadership by launching the next-generation service across the country. Today, it announced the addition of 17 new markets to its national Sprint 4G roll-out plans. These additional markets join the previously announced markets of Atlanta; Chicago; Dallas-Fort Worth; Honolulu; Las Vegas; Portland, Ore.; Philadelphia and Seattle.

The new additions for 2009 are: Abilene, Texas; Amarillo, Texas; Austin, Texas; Boise, Idaho; Bellingham, Wash.; Charlotte, N.C.; Corpus Christi, Texas; Greensboro, N.C.; Killeen-Temple, Texas; Lubbock, Texas; Maui, Hawaii; Midland-Odessa, Texas; Raleigh, N.C.; Salem, Ore.; San Antonio, Texas; Waco, Texas; and Wichita Falls, Texas.

Sprint also expects to launch service in multiple markets in 2010, including Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

These markets will join Baltimore, where Sprint made history when it launched 4G in September 2008. As previously announced, Sprint 4G is scheduled for an August 2009 launch in Atlanta, Las Vegas and Portland, making the cities among the first in America to experience the lightning-fast speeds of the first wireless mobile 4G network from a national carrier. Additional information about launch plans and services in those cities will be announced soon.

Sprint 4G offers turbo-charged mobile broadband - with peak download speeds of more than 10 Mbps and average downlink speeds of 3-6 Mbps. Sprint 4G speeds and capabilities are three to five times faster than the 3G service offered by any national wireless carrier today, based on average download speeds.

Sprint was also the first carrier to offer wireless access to both 3G and 4G with the 3G/4G USB Modem U300 in December 2008. Last week, Sprint expanded its 4G product offering with the announcement of its new Sprint 3G/4G Mobile Broadband Routers: The Sprint Personal Hotspot PHS300S Router and the Cradlepoint MBR-1000 Broadband Router for business. Used in combination with the U300 or other Sprint mobile broadband devices, these Mobile Broadband Routers can simultaneously connect smartphones, laptops and other WiFi-enable devices to the Sprint 3G and 4G networks. For more information, visit Sprint: Meet the 3G/4G Card.

Sprint is harnessing the power of 4G through its partnership with, and majority ownership of, Clearwire, an independent company that is building the WiMAX network. Sprint is the only national wireless carrier to offer 4G services on the Clearwire WiMAX network.

Surprised that Jacksonville, FL isn't on the list since we've had Clearwire here for a number of years now. We were one of the first Clearwire cities in the nation. Unfortunately, it never really caught on since most I talked to who tried it were not satisfied with the service, complaining that it was very spotty and unreliable. When it worked it was like wifi, however.


One oif the things I saw that I find curious is the bandwidth of Sprint's offering in 4G. See this webpage

Not long ago we saw the word "UNLIMITED" on our contracts for web services until a small few in the nation decided to actually use a good chunk of bandwidth to listen to streaming music and You Tube stuff. Then they changed our contracts to read 5Gb service limits. Sprint has always been the pioneer in new technology but will they maintain the "Unlimited" terms as they didn't in the past?