XOHM's next stops: Boston, Philly, Dallas

Sprint's XOHM WiMAX network is finally due out this month in the launch market of Baltimore, with Chicago and DC to follow, and the company is already working on the next phase of the rollout, which will bring the high-speed wireless service to Boston, Philadelphia, and Dallas-Fort Worth. Sprint says it's already started installing WiMAX equipment in those three cities and that it's a "month ahead of schedule," but given the delays getting XOHM up and running in Baltimore, we're not exactly certain the "schedule" really matters. Still, it's good to hear that XOHM is growing up -- now launch, already.

[MastrCake @ Sep 3rd 2008 1:48AM]

As cool as this whole "XOHM" thing sounds, it's still a Sprint product. And I hate Sprint(ing).

[sr1329 @ Sep 3rd 2008 2:10AM]

No New York? WTF?

[Valicore @ Sep 23rd 2008 7:46PM]

I had the same thought about there being no San Francisco,then I realized that it's most likely because the tech industry is here and everyone will want it, which would probably overwhelm the system. Same thing in NYC because of population density and the huge business population.

[black @ Sep 3rd 2008 2:26AM]

I wonder exactly how fast XOHM will be? Will it offer speeds better than 3G or what? I'm not too familiar with wireless internet speeds.

[Robert Linderman @ Sep 3rd 2008 2:59AM]

Actually, it is really a new company called "Clearwire!" The "new" Clearwire will be launched in the fourth quarter if what I have read is correct so Xohm will be sucked into the new Clearwire company and Sprint will own 51 percent of the new Clearwire company, Clearwire will own 27 percent and the rest will be owned by Google, Intel, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright Star Communications. Craig McCaw of Clearwire will be the new head of the company.

Also, from what I understand, Clearwire is going to be launching their cities and upgrading their existing cities and they have been selling the "pre-wimax" concept with their product for almost five years now. Like most of you, being a Clearwire customer for over four years, I am ready for this thing to become a reality...I expect it to be incredible!

[Robert Linderman @ Sep 3rd 2008 3:09AM]

One other thing I forgot to allude to on my previous post is that I have read that Clearwire is scheduled to launch Grand Rapids, MI, Las Vegas, NV, Portland, OR and Atlanta, GA along with their change over of their existing markets. Also, according to their financials the old Clearwire company has over 400,000 customers with their pre-wimax product who will all potentially become wimax customers at the time when their markets are equipped with the new 4G wimax technology. Also, I have heard the speeds and the range will be improved tremendously. I witnessed WiMax in action at CES in Las Vegas with Sprint's Xohm and I have heard that San Francisco will also have a test from the new Clearwire company at the CTIA convention this month. Since I live close by, I plan to check it out.

This new technology is getting quite exciting and the new products that will be produced for this infrastructure will make it even more incredible. I suppose since we have all waited this long for it, we should have a bit more patience...I think the rewards will be well worth the wait!

[black @ Sep 3rd 2008 4:30AM]

I wonder if 4G is good enough to clear all the trees in Mendicino County...there's close to no broadband options here, and no fios....

[Big Al @ Sep 3rd 2008 10:01AM]

WiMAX is still 3G...
http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2007/30.html

Also, your reception depends more on how much power the wireless providers put into their antennas. Antennas can give you a strong signal and weak coverage area, or vice versa. Companies usually go with the latter in the outlying areas cause it's much cheaper.

What would be better is a coverage from a lower band like 700MHz since a signal on a lower band can go through objects more easily. But 700MHz won't be cleared for another 5 months, and it will be a while before we see any systems take advantage of this.

[Michael @ Sep 3rd 2008 9:23AM]

Great news, I have a Sprint phone now and it works great around Philly. I can't wait to see how XOHM is.

[John Stracke @ Sep 3rd 2008 3:00PM]

Ack, I just bought a Nokia N810 two months back and decided not to bother with the Wi-Max edition, because I didn't think it'd be coming to Boston any time soon.

[Freebsd_Blues @ Sep 11th 2008 1:21PM]

Actually Al, Sprint, Motorola and Samsung Classify MOBILE WiMax as 4G, here are on of the many pages from the IEEE website.[ see below :) ] The industry considers EVDO as 3G; as you can see 3G is out right now. Perhaps the ITU classified FIXED WiMax as 3G. I don't know why the ITU did that. XOHM is clearly a mobile WiMax technology, with speeds a lot faster than the 3G phones you have today. There is a difference between FIXED ( I am stuck in my home or office) and MOBILE (I am in my car, walking to a cafe etc.)

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/defdeny.jsp?url=/iel5/4379018/4379019/04379037.pdf&code=4
I hope that was the right link lol :)