Sprint, Clearwire to cooperate on WiMAX build-out

Sprint's open mindedness to hooking up with Clearwire for a national WiMAX network has blossomed into something just a little more serious, it seems. The two companies have announced that they'll be collaborating on making mobile WiMAX a reality in a comprehensive agreement that covers roaming and combined marketing efforts under a single to-be-announced brand name. Specifically, Sprint will be responsible for covering about 185 million potential customers with Clearwire swooping in for another 115 million over the next few years; 100 million total are expected to be covered by the end of 2008, which is curiously the exact same number Sprint had been throwing around on its own accord before the agreement was announced. This is a pretty serious deal, too -- the two are bound in holy matrimony for at least 20 years with options for up to three 10-year renewals. Looks like that hot WiMAX smartphone from Palm might still be in the cards, eh?

[Mark @ Jul 19th 2007 12:58PM]

Are we getting to speeds that are just too fast for the measly processors in cellphones?

[ark_v2 @ Jul 19th 2007 1:21PM]

Not really. It's just that the hardware, and not only the processor, are not made to handle them and with 3G I really don't see a use for WiMAX on a cellphone. It's actually targeted at laptops, not mobile phones.

[TVGenius @ Jul 19th 2007 1:16PM]

Good. Those of us outside the largest 100 metro areas can look forward to being able to use this technology in 2026 or so.

[Mark @ Jul 19th 2007 1:54PM]

Move!

[Jason @ Jul 19th 2007 2:20PM]

I had heard rumors that Clearwire was secretly testing a new strategy to see what they would have to do to consistently lose customers. This must have been the plan. Good luck Clearwire!

[Craig @ Jul 19th 2007 2:26PM]

A lot of new clearwire customers that think this is going to be everything they ever dreamed of and will have a rude awakening when they try to use any P2P torrent client. Even though torrents are for pirated data, there are legit uses for it.....

They traffic shape like crazy! I live 4 blocks from their world HQ and I rarely see speeds over 1.2mb/sec, can't wait to see how much slower it gets when they have more subscribers!

just google "clearwire sucks" and you will see how crappy they truly are.

[MasterCKO @ Jul 19th 2007 3:03PM]

I think that this is a very good thing. Sprint is really starting to push the speed of their wireless network in this new "Sprint ahead" campaign. I think that this is just what they need to push that even further (and you know, backup their marketing with actual improvements). They can improve their overall brand image and get more subscribers and start posting better profit numbers again. This partnership makes perfect sense for them.

[Brian @ Jul 19th 2007 4:03PM]

Woohoo! Let's get it on!

I want to see this network in Kanas City by the end of next year! (Sprint's HQ is here)

[thatguyrightthere @ Jul 20th 2007 11:59AM]

Only reason that packet shaping is in effect is because the current network does not allow for a whole lot of bandwidth anyhow. WiMax will clear this up and packet shaping will go away. Everyone who says Clearwire is WiMax currently is full of it. It's based off Expedience, which in itself is a flavor of OFDM. And all this whole partnership does is allow CW to roam on Sprint's network, and vice versa. It's about time that US companies start cooperating with each other, as Europe and Asia have been doing for years.