It's no huge secret that the differences between LTE and WiMAX
aren't exceedingly drastic, and with the right support, the two could theoretically form one big, happy family. During this morning's
CTIA keynote with Dan Hesse (Sprint's CEO) and Bill Morrow (
Clearwire's CEO), the latter noted that he wasn't interested in waging a war with LTE, suggesting that his spectrum is "designed and built so we can add on LTE should we need to." 'Course, one would suggest that Clearwire's in no position to get angry with the standard that boasts larger industry support, but we digress. A few hours later during
Verizon's LTE roundtable, the carrier's CTO (Tony Melone) responded to an audience question related to LTE and WiMAX becoming one. His brutally honest opinion? It'll never happen, and the "only big happy family" he can think of is the 3GPP to LTE crew, of which Verizon Wireless is obviously a member. He wouldn't elaborate on the whys or whats, only noting that it was his frank opinion on the matter from his knowledge in the field, but we can't candidly say that we'd love for the war to rage on -- competition is stellar, but joined efforts to create a larger, more robust 4G network sounds a lot sweeter to our ears than the clanging of swords.
posted March 24th 2010 6:28PM
@Ricky Do you Beceem?
"Beceem is the only company to provide a 4G chip which has support for both WiMax and LTE standards, meaning that they remain a potential candidate for future handsets from both Apple and Verizon."
Okay, they are the only company out there making this combo chip. Does any cell phone out there contain a chip made made these guys? Unlikely. Will this chip also support WCDMA and GSM for areas where there is no LTE/WiMax coverage? Unlikely. Do you know anything about this product at all, besides the fact that some CEO mentioned it once to cover up the fact that WiMax is going to die? Unlikely.
I suspect that Verizon wants to end their cozy roaming agreement with Sprint, and if they can keep Sprint out of LTE, then the roaming ends, less competition.
It's a supposition, I have no evidence. And I have no idea if Sprint could Wimax on Verizon's LTE network. SO there.
lol. Dam. Everyone here seems to be really into the matter. Except for the people talking about the dude in the pic lol. Man I'm loco for sprint and there wimax network. This is how I see it. All of the four major careers want cash. Revenue is what this is all about. But you see att n verizon wireless have 2 huge advantage n it's that they have the bigger costumer base there four the bigger pockets. N because they have more people on there network already they can do more of what they like. Like charge mre for basic stuff like txt n calls. They dnt have much of a hurry because they knw they can do less to get mre. Bigger cellphone providers are expected to go to them before they go to the smaller ones because they have the deaper pockets n cosumer base. Now why I like sprint.. This is where it gets good. Sprint is stuck in the middle right now. In a more perfect balance that wnt last long. If they fuck up right now they go down under. To 4rd with lame tmobile or even the likes of metro pcs. But they knw this. N they knw which way they wana go. Which is up. N that requires them to do 2 extreamly hard things to do from any major telecom company which is provide excellent serivice at an extreamly low price. Or in other words the best of both worlds. The great covrage like that of verizon but the great price almost like that of metro n other smaller cariers. N so what there dng now may nt be the best in the future like wimax but what they need now is what works NOW. (maybe that's why there the now network) lol nt what well wrk 5 yrs frm now. The worst thing is do that if the telecom wars between the big 4 was to end in the next 12 months verizon wld win. Why? Because this is all about customer base. VZW new that early. N they bought smaller competetors. Good for them. Why does this matters do? Because. If ever a price war happened between the big 4 verizon wld in because they have the bigger costumer base. There for allowing them to wage a price war longer then anyone else. Leaving them standing at the end. N that without there already extreamly deep pockets.
fuck. I just wrote the longest of comments. So awsome. So genious. So unique. So inspireing that it wld settle this wimax vs lte maddness once n for all but stupid palm didn't load it!!! That's the last time I have a moment of zen on my palm pre! Fuck!!! tthats it pre. I'm trading you bad boy for a htc evo. Teach you a lesson!
@saddam3 your "zenly awesome" comment is right above your last one...
@Celz Bad grammar lol.. But really good train of thought I pretty much agree.. But I will add this tho..
A large majority of people go with higher priced goods for their own piece of mind. Someone who doesn't really understand how business works will always rationalize that the more expensive option is of better quality. So Verizon and At&t get the people who have more disposable income since they believe the more expensive service is a higher quality. This allows them to buy more commercials and repeat the cycle.
@Celz lmao peace of mind...
big red wants to get into bed with at&t... not sprint!
@ips0fakto big red is a dirty man hore. If it was really up to them they wld get in bed with every other carieer. Except for t'mobile. There like the teen age grl who never developed her brest. Lol (3G)
I think whats funny here is that while Sprint is siding with ClearWire for WiMAX because it is a proven technology to work, was on market sooner, and Sprint needed something to be innovative (how they used to be), they havent completely ruled out LTE like everyone thinks. Sprint and ClearWire have said that they are open to LTE, but committed to WiMAX. Marriages are meant to be broken sometimes, and fortunately Sprint and ClearWire both have more then enough spectrum to continue to run both networks, as well as the 2G/3G network in current operation.
With so much technology coming and competition heating up not to gain more subscribers but to keep subscribers loyal, I think Sprint is being smart by putting ANYTHING to the table quickly, and if I might add, rather stable technology, but keeping it open if the market demands something different. They certainly are putting themselves in a position to be able to swap technology quickly, by outsourcing their 2G/3G and building capital of free cash, merging with major companies in the telecommunications/cable industry to get this thing going.
Regardless if LTE or WiMAX are compatible, or if you like Sprint, you gotta admit, they are doing something TODAY..BEFORE their 3G network is bogged down like AT&T's or like Verizon's COULD be, rather then wait another year or in AT&T's case TWO years before launching any sort of 4G in any market. I think that says something.
Why do any of you care what frequency or modulation your 4G works on anyway?
First off, 4G is all data. So data modems cost almost nothing to make. It doesn't matter what modulation it uses. So equipment prices aren't really a problem
Second, as someone pointed out, competition is good. Since the Cable Co's got in to HSD, and telephone, and satellite has gotten into TV prices are stable and not exorbitant.
This is a good thing. Not a bad thing.
@dataninja It's pretty important what frequency it works on.
Clear's WiMax is a freaking joke in my experience.
About a year ago our company had a meeting at a hotel in Bellevue, WA. Like most convention center hotels, they charge obscene amounts of money for an internet connection ($250/day). Clear had a 14 day satisfaction guarantee and was pennies compared to what the hotel would charge us.
We dropped by Clear's corporate headquarters in Kirkland, WA, signed up for service, and rented a modem. Set it up in our office and tried it out. We immediately noticed that it was getting 2-3/5 bars when sitting by the window, but speeds were decent at 1.5Mbit/s.
When we took the modem to the hotel in Bellevue (borders with Kirkland) we found that it couldn't acquire a signal sitting right in front of the window. Only when we took it outside the hotel would it pick up 2-3 bars. Apparently, the signal couldn't pass through the double-paned tinted glass the hotel was using.
At the same time, my Verizon smartphone worked perfectly fine inside the hotel.
When we went to return the modem we were thoroughly hassled by sales people. They even had the audacity to repeatedly ask us why we were canceling service as we told them how terrible their coverage is in an area where there should be zero issues. After the interrogation, they told us to fill out a form and ship it to them as apparently they don't take them.
I hope Verizon's LTE will be better than WiMax due to the lower frequencies being used...
Verizon's CEO....is this the same guy who turned down the Iphone and wanted all verizon phones to have that red mess of a UI on all their smartphones?
wait wait wait the first at&t phone is gonna be a brick right... the IBRICK
@drksilenc hahaha. Yes I believe you are correct sir.
from what i understand the standardization of communication technologies has a methodical and sequential unfolding, which makes perfect sense if you think about it.
i believe sprint is riding the bridge of 3g/4g, taking current consumers into the next step and goal of 4g, lte and wimax compatibility. the steps of making money and investing it into new networks make each generation buffered by transitional half generation technologies. wimax is a type of fully 4g network that can double as a large part of the future 'backhaul' traffic of the greater 4g network or be an 'edge' provider in the interim.
here in this weblog post the the ceo of clearwire is stating that wimax is capable and open to compatability and cooperation with the future lte. the verizon cto is a fool if he really doesnt think it can happen, if he knows it can happen he is just casting doubt on a competitor, and that makes him unethical and grasping.
sprint and wimax are doing a necessary and i hope lucrative part in delivering 4g service to us all, if gsm is a precedent i hope sprint can secure a nice marketshare before the competition gets caught up, and if not i hope they gouge a huge chunk of the backhaul of the networks.
@danthemanxf
while researching what is better wimax vs lte and even why cdma vs uts i saw this old blog post:
credit - http://www.wimax.com/commentary/blog/blog-2009/september-2009/why-the-wimax-vs-lte-battle-isnt-a-battle-0909
this seemed logical and made someone as ignorant as i, feel educated a little more about the telecom state of affairs, i am sure my understanding is incomplete so please share your thoughts.