sprint phone wimax upgrade to lte

[phatpat38127]

with sprint eventually going to lte and most likely leaving wimax phones out to dry. i think sprint should upgrade everyone's phone free that bought a wimax phone. i personal bought an epic 4g and have never even used wimax 4g and probably never will have the opportunity. lawsuit? what do y'all think? feel about sprint changing to lte? me personally think it might be for the best but everyone that has bought wimax 4g phones should be compensated some how.

 

[NMherron]

I don't think it's reasonable to expect Sprint to pay for free devices. They'll go bankrupt. Besides, WiMax will still be supported for years. So there will be no merit to lawsuits.

What Sprint should do is offer a contract upgrade to everyone who is still under contract. You have to sign a new two year agreement from the date you get your new LTE/WiMax device, but you get it for the contract price. No need to be upgrade eligible.

This would be a fair way to handle the issue.

I just don't like class action lawsuits. They do financially punish the company, but the only party that wins are lawyers. They will get millions and millions. But the victims will get a check for $8 each. Hardly worth it. And in the case of Sprint, it would probably put them out to pasture. You get $8, and the privilege of being raped by AT&T and Verizon for the rest of your life.

Besides, I hate lawyers...

 

[phatpat38127]

so everyone that has bought a wimax 4g and won't be able to use it if there in area that doesn't have 4g. by time they get lte 4g phones out alot of us will already be out of the contract. we're post to bite the bullet and by an lte 4g phone if we want 4g. when we thought we was going to eventually get 4g with our wimax phones. i say thats bs and we deserve some short of compensation. if its only free premium data service for x amount of months. i think we deserve something for buying phones we will never going to be able to use 4g with.

 

[stoneworrior]

so everyone that has bought a wimax 4g and won't be able to use it if there in area that doesn't have 4g. by time they get lte 4g phones out alot of us will already be out of the contract. we're post to bite the bullet and by an lte 4g phone if we want 4g. when we thought we was going to eventually get 4g with our wimax phones. i say thats bs and we deserve some short of compensation. if its only free premium data service for x amount of months. i think we deserve something for buying phones we will never going to be able to use 4g with.

I never will see wimax in my town and I never thought I would. I bought the OG Evo because it was the best hardware on sprint at that time. The same goes for my Evo 3D. I wanted the dual core processor. Even with paying the extra $10. 00 a month my unlimited everything plan is still way cheaper than Verizon and AT& T.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk

 

[McPlot]

clearwire not Sprint deploys the wimax. Clearwire is going to belly up. So we are not likely to see anymore wimax 4g. Now clearwire says they too are going LTE. With partnership in two LTE companies, Sprint is coming out way ahead.

As for wimax 4g, it is similar to LTE and Clearwire can run a tower both wimax and LTE at the same time. So it will be many years before no more wimax

Lawsuit? If you want some lawyer to make millions and for Sprint to raise your bill, then sure, but go for it. But you would lose. Even if Wimax is never in your area (if it is not by now, it most likely never will be), the contract says the 4g coverage not available in all areas. The $10 premium data charge says nothing about it being for 4g. Even if you have a 4g wimax phone and never get to use it on 4g, Sprint never promised you would ever be able to. Lawyers know this and would never take the case. Unless they find some loop hole.

 

[BlackHawkA4]

I vote for early upgrade for those who do not have upgrades coming. 1) They aren't losing any money 2) They are making money buy selling a phone anyways and keeping your service 3) it might stop people from going else where for lte if they are going to have to wait or spend full price on an lte phone.

I say that as for people in WiMax areas. I, currently, don't have WiMax where I spend 99% of my time; nor, will I ever actually see it now because of this. So, I will be switching as soon as my contract is up assuming Sprint hasn't rolled out LTE to my area yet at that time.

 

[anon62607]

so everyone that has bought a wimax 4g and won't be able to use it if there in area that doesn't have 4g. by time they get lte 4g phones out alot of us will already be out of the contract. we're post to bite the bullet and by an lte 4g phone if we want 4g. when we thought we was going to eventually get 4g with our wimax phones. i say thats bs and we deserve some short of compensation. if its only free premium data service for x amount of months. i think we deserve something for buying phones we will never going to be able to use 4g with.

Unless sprint promised you that wimax would be coming to your area I don't think you have any position ask for a free upgrade. As far as I know, they never promised 100% wimax coverage.


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[NMherron]

For people with first generation Evos/Epics, they will just need to upgrade on their own by the time the dual LTE/WiMax devices come out. Because 80% will be off contract by then.

The big deal will be for Evo 3D, Photon and Conquer device owners (and WiMax only devices still in development like the Samsung Galaxy SII). These folks will likely be less than 50% through their contracts. Only the people who paid cash for their devices will be off contract by that time.

Sprint will need to come up with a reasonable solution for these folks to upgrade. Because even if there will be no merit to lawsuits for these folks, they are going to be royally torqued at Sprint.

However, if you think about it, by the time dual LTE/WiMax devices come out, how much LTE service is going to be out there? Not much I'd guess. Maybe three or four markets if we're lucky.

Maybe what Sprint could do is when LTE goes live in a market, offer contracts users in that market upgrade eligibility. That way they don't have to take the financial hit of taking millions and millions of devices all at once. Its really only the people that have LTE access that are affected. If you live in a non LTE area, what does it matter if your phone is WiMax only? Most of us WiMax device holders never have had WiMax anyway.

What I think is the smartest move of all (especially since Sprint is likely buying out Clearwire now) is for Sprint to fully deploy WiMax and LTE together with Network Vision. They could then market WiMax as a Value 4G service and LTE is a Premium 4G service. Then install them both on every NV tower. Clearwire has 150MHz of spectrum. This could easily be done. And most of the equipment between WiMax and LTE can be used together under NV. Its not really that expensive to dual deploy.

Sprint's LTE is going to be deployed in 20MHz channels versus WiMax's 5 MHz channels. The LTE network is going to be about 4 to 5 times faster than WiMax.

So in this scenario, you let the WiMax-only device holders keep them as long as they want and upgrade whenever they want (at their expense). And eventually we all get WiMax and LTE and we choose which one to use by which devices we have. Since Sprint's LTE will be faster, they could even charge a $20 data fee for it, I suppose. And if we have the choice of using WiMax only, I'd be OK with the higher fee for LTE.

But this makes too much sense for consumers, so I'm nearly certain it won't be done.

So in the interim, I will not be upgrading my Evo. I love all the dual core processor units that are coming out. They are definitely better. But the Evo still meets my needs for the time being. So I will plug along until the dual 4G devices come along in 2012.

 

[Linkchomp]

i don't mind a contractual upgrade when they conver to LTE. I have two wiimax phones but neither have ever successfully connected to 4G

 

[sndplace]

I agree with the scenario you have setup there 100%. I love how people still post about being charged for 4G no matter how many times it has been posted that they are not. lol I think that people will complain about the $20 fee as they do the $10's lol
I also think that if possible to then just use WIMAX for these new phones as the 3G equivalent of today and LTE as 4G. Feature phones will maintain the use of the 3G service....
My wife has the EVO4G so for what she uses her phone for , she will be fine for the next 2 years. I love new tech and i dont think i can hold out with my Epic. It is a worthy and strong phone but i want to use my upgrade lol...
I don't think Sprint should offer anything for those who have bought WiMax phones just because its the way things are. I bought a widows XP comp and a few months later Visa came out. I could upgrade or not. If your a Premier customer you will be able to if not be come one .... But i do see the logic if they do offer them something. 80% is a lot of customers...
I can't wait till Sprint rolls out this service and Phones. I do wonder if at the time they roll out LTE do you think it will be at lte/Wimax second gen Speeds or at the current speeds being offered now?

 

[anon62607]

I thought wimax was deployed on a single 10 MHz TDD channel on sprint / clear (with around three stacked sectors per geographic sector).

For people with first generation Evos/Epics, they will just need to upgrade on their own by the time the dual LTE/WiMax devices come out. Because 80% will be off contract by then.

The big deal will be for Evo 3D, Photon and Conquer device owners (and WiMax only devices still in development like the Samsung Galaxy SII). These folks will likely be less than 50% through their contracts. Only the people who paid cash for their devices will be off contract by that time.

Sprint will need to come up with a reasonable solution for these folks to upgrade. Because even if there will be no merit to lawsuits for these folks, they are going to be royally torqued at Sprint.

However, if you think about it, by the time dual LTE/WiMax devices come out, how much LTE service is going to be out there? Not much I'd guess. Maybe three or four markets if we're lucky.

Maybe what Sprint could do is when LTE goes live in a market, offer contracts users in that market upgrade eligibility. That way they don't have to take the financial hit of taking millions and millions of devices all at once. Its really only the people that have LTE access that are affected. If you live in a non LTE area, what does it matter if your phone is WiMax only? Most of us WiMax device holders never have had WiMax anyway.

What I think is the smartest move of all (especially since Sprint is likely buying out Clearwire now) is for Sprint to fully deploy WiMax and LTE together with Network Vision. They could then market WiMax as a Value 4G service and LTE is a Premium 4G service. Then install them both on every NV tower. Clearwire has 150MHz of spectrum. This could easily be done. And most of the equipment between WiMax and LTE can be used together under NV. Its not really that expensive to dual deploy.

Sprint's LTE is going to be deployed in 20MHz channels versus WiMax's 5 MHz channels. The LTE network is going to be about 4 to 5 times faster than WiMax.

So in this scenario, you let the WiMax-only device holders keep them as long as they want and upgrade whenever they want (at their expense). And eventually we all get WiMax and LTE and we choose which one to use by which devices we have. Since Sprint's LTE will be faster, they could even charge a $20 data fee for it, I suppose. And if we have the choice of using WiMax only, I'd be OK with the higher fee for LTE.

But this makes too much sense for consumers, so I'm nearly certain it won't be done.

So in the interim, I will not be upgrading my Evo. I love all the dual core processor units that are coming out. They are definitely better. But the Evo still meets my needs for the time being. So I will plug along until the dual 4G devices come along in 2012.

 

[NMherron]

I thought wimax was deployed on a single 10 MHz TDD channel on sprint / clear (with around three stacked sectors per geographic sector).

Currently, the FCC limits the EBS/BRS spectrum to 5.5MHz channels. Clearwire petitioned the FCC on June 9th for a waiver that would allow widening these channels. Clearwire is wanting to use 20MHz channels for it's upcoming LTE service.

I guess it's conceivable that Clearwire deployed 10MHz carriers, but they would be limited to 5MHz TDD channel broadcasting. But I don't know if that's technically possible.

Article: FCC rule change could boost Clearwire's data rates

 

[drjb74]

I think it's funny that people have these expectations of a company like Sprint. "I bought my phone, and now there is something ____ (new, different, better, faster, etc.) so I deserve something in return."

When you buy a car, do you go back to the dealer the following year, and ask them to replace your car with the new model? Why would cell phones be any different? Technology is constantly changing, and advances and improvements are always being made. If you don't want your tech to become outdated, don't buy any. Otherwise, it is a part of life.

I can understand why people are upset about the "4G/Premium Data" fee, but after looking at other providers, I can say that if my paying $10 extra gets me unlimited data, then I think it is a fair trade.

When new services come out, like LTE on Sprint, the existing handsets will continue to operate. It's not like Sprint is turning on LTE and turning off WiMax or 3G at the same moment. They same things happened when carriers switched from "2G" to "3G." People had several years to upgrade their devices, until carriers announced they were shutting down the older technology. The same thing will happen in these cases, and everyone will get the chance to upgrade. If you don't want to wait, then you pay more. That's how it works.

 

[anon62607]

Currently, the FCC limits the EBS/BRS spectrum to 5.5MHz channels. Clearwire petitioned the FCC on June 9th for a waiver that would allow widening these channels. Clearwire is wanting to use 20MHz channels for it's upcoming LTE service.

I guess it's conceivable that Clearwire deployed 10MHz carriers, but they would be limited to 5MHz TDD channel broadcasting. But I don't know if that's technically possible.

Article: FCC rule change could boost Clearwire's data rates

Note here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/wimax-clearwire-storch,2174-3.html clear is referred to using 10 MHz channels, compared to the unnamed competitors at 200 kHz and 1.25 MHz (obviously edge and evdo). I've seen it referred to many times that clear is currently deployed using 10 MHz, my clear modem reports it using 10 MHz, and when I interviewed a clear network engineer (for a job) I had asked him about the channel used and got told it was 10 MHz.

 

[anon62607]

Currently, the FCC limits the EBS/BRS spectrum to 5.5MHz channels. Clearwire petitioned the FCC on June 9th for a waiver that would allow widening these channels. Clearwire is wanting to use 20MHz channels for it's upcoming LTE service.

I guess it's conceivable that Clearwire deployed 10MHz carriers, but they would be limited to 5MHz TDD channel broadcasting. But I don't know if that's technically possible.

Article: FCC rule change could boost Clearwire's data rates

Note here in this FCC document http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2011/db0527/FCC-11-81A1.pdf that it notes in the background secton, point 4, that clear uses 10 MHz channels.




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[anon62607]

Currently, the FCC limits the EBS/BRS spectrum to 5.5MHz channels. Clearwire petitioned the FCC on June 9th for a waiver that would allow widening these channels. Clearwire is wanting to use 20MHz channels for it's upcoming LTE service.

I guess it's conceivable that Clearwire deployed 10MHz carriers, but they would be limited to 5MHz TDD channel broadcasting. But I don't know if that's technically possible.

Article: FCC rule change could boost Clearwire's data rates

Note in the actual filing: http://assets.fiercemarkets.com/public/mdano/wcaipfr.pdf that it states (again, repeatedly) that they are deployed in 10 MHz TDD. The only 5.5 MHz aspect is the original rule *assumed and recommended but not required* 5.5 MHz channels. The filing requests that this assumption be removed, but doesn't change the fact that they're already deployed in 10 MHz TDD.

 

[NMherron]

Thanks for the info. I just was going by what I had read in several news articles relating to the FCC petition.

 

[anon62607]

Thanks for the info. I just was going by what I had read in several news articles relating to the FCC petition.

Have you ever known any news source or blog to be correct on any aspect of anything technical? If they say "the sun will rise tomorrow" you should check for yourself to make sure.



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[anon62607]

Thanks for the info. I just was going by what I had read in several news articles relating to the FCC petition.

That all said, it will increase Clear's data rates, as they could deploy in 20 MHz channels. In all likelihood, wimax in 20 Mhz TDD will outperform in the general case Verizon's 10+10 FDD Rel 8 LTE.

 

[NMherron]

That all said, it will increase Clear's data rates, as they could deploy in 20 MHz channels. In all likelihood, wimax in 20 Mhz TDD will outperform in the general case Verizon's 10+10 FDD Rel 8 LTE.

I remember Clearwire saying (I believe it was in their 2Q conference call) that they were planning to only deploy LTE in the 20MHz channels. They would sell WiMax as deployed as an entry 4G product and LTE as an upgrade product.

This kind of torqued me because it will just further the misconceptions that LTE is faster and better than WiMax.

With 150 MHz of spectrum available, Clearwire should have petitioned the FCC in the very beginning for 20MHz channels. It would have skunked Verizon's LTE before it even started.

The WiMax vs. LTE environment would be very different today. Its kind of sad how the whole thing has been bungled by Clearwire and Sprint.