Qualcomm throws in the towel on UMB, 4G race down to LTE and WiMAX
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Nov 13th 2008 4:29PM
posted Nov 13th 2008 4:29PM
Realistically, the death knell tolled long ago for Qualcomm's stillborn Ultra Mobile Broadband initiative, its own special flavor of 4G and the logical next step in the CDMA2000 family of technologies. To make things nice and official, though, they went ahead and officially announced that they've halted development on the spec during an analysts' meeting earlier today, throwing support behind the competing LTE standard -- one of the two remaining techs vying for the hearts and minds of the world's 4G-wanting public. So where's one of the world's great patent enforcers going to collect cash now? Oh, don't worry about little ol' Qualcomm; the company claims it has plenty of 4G-relevant intellectual property that'll keep its bankrolls full for years to come.[Via dailywireless.org]
lol FAIL!
FAIL it might be, but EV-DO/HSDPA/LTE/WiMax all doesn't matter. all those technologies allow Qualcomm to laugh all the way to the bank, as they're still the largest single holder of patents and IP on all the standards save WiMax
ph4il*
very good, made me laugh!
what race? LTE has pretty much the whole world waiting on it while wimax will have... what?... the koreas and?....
heck even in the US alone, which isnt exactly the "standard" by which mobile carriers and tech is measured, wimax will be outnumbered 3-1(?)*.
*(im not even going to assume that sprint is going to be around much longer, with their growing financial hole.....)
i'd say this "race" was over before it began, and with LTE not even having to get off the starting line..
Actually, you would be surprised at the ridiculous number of deployments of WiMAX in the United States and North America in general.
It really is practically everywhere.
The thing is, its all operated by small companies covering county size areas. The reason you don't hear about it is because the national carriers aren't using it.
I guarantee that there's a deployment of it within 100 miles of any reader of engadget.
you're not getting it.... Let me try to break it down for you:
I know wimax is up and running and LTE isn't. That's why I said LTE didn't even have to get off the starting line. The only national carrier in the US capable of carrying and distributing wimax to the public (sprint) is going down the toilet. Their losses just keep gettng worst and it's only a matter of time before they fold if things don't improve. Even if they DO keep going, wimax will still be outnumbered by LTE as far as the NA carriers go. Verizon, AT&T and T-mo will be going to LTE. Ditto for Rogers/Fido in Canada. And telcel and telefinoca in Mexico. The majority of the world is on GSM and will also take the LTE route. So yes, even though wimax is up and running the natural, REASONABLE consensus is that they've already lost.
I agree, the race was over before it even began!
http://www.upp.me
upp.yours
The problem with WiMAX is that it has a much smaller range than any cell standard does, so you need more antennas to cover the same area that less cell towers/antennas would cover. Looking at the Xohm map, I live near Baltimore and the only areas covered in WiMAX are the areas within a mile of the Sprint towers near me.
But UMB's coffin was nailed shut when Verizon, Alltel, Telus, and Bell Canada announced they were going to LTE. This isn't surprising news.
1 down, 1 to go. Hey Dan (Sprint) read the writing on the Wall and ditch the dopey globally incompatible WiMax ambitions.
Just sayin...
Even if WiMax succeeds, its spec is similar enough to LTE that chipsets could easily support both, especially with software-controlled radios.
A whole lack of education on WiMAX going on here. Sprint has never announced WiMAX to be their 4G cellular solution. WiMAX, in it's current form, is just a 4G mobile broadband solution. Sprint, as part of the Nextel acquisition, was required to have a high-speed mobile broadband network in the 2.5GHz spectrum that reached at least 30 million people by Summer 2009 which would have been impossible if they wanted to go LTE.
WiMAX itself isn't capable of any voice capabilities outside of VOIP, and it is only being utilized on the 2.5GHz spectrum. Sprint has nationwide holdings in the PCS (1900MHz), 900MHz, and SMR (800Mhz) and most assume Sprint will utilize LTE on those holdings. Sprint probably will not announce that they're going LTE until their are either in a better financial position or drop Nextel (the last thing shareholders would want to hear is that Sprint is trying to operate four networks when they royally screwed up when operating two). Sprint has to go LTE if it wants a decent chance of remaining competitive in the long term.
Wow, someone who actually knows what they are talking about. Kinda refreshing on this site. If Sprint does go the LTE route, it will be announced much later in the game, long after the WiMax footprint is greatly expanded by New Clearwire...and shortly after LTE is considered a viable, marketable product...which could be 2012 for all we know.