EVO 4G shortages may hurt 4G adoption, Sprint gives customers in seven new cities the chance to be disappointed
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted July 12th 2010 12:57PM
posted July 12th 2010 12:57PM
It looks like Sprint's head start in the 4G service race may not be quite as big as the carrier would like. According to the Wall Street Journal, HTC EVO 4G handset shortages are mitigating whatever advantage the company should have, being first out of the gate with the technology. "The early move to 4G has benefited Sprint from a marketing perspective, but it hasn't really proven out in a major way in subscriber growth," said Dan Hays, an analyst for PRTM. Good news, perhaps, for both AT&T and Verizon, who looks to take its first, tentative steps into some markets later this year. In other news, Sprint has announced a handful of 4G rollouts, including such far-flung locales as Rochester and Syracuse, New York; Merced and Visalia, California; Eugene, Oregon; Tri-Cities and Yakima, Washington. Hopefully HTC can start providing the necessary handsets! PR after the break.
[Thanks, Vaha]
[Thanks, Vaha]
Sprint Launches More 4G Markets in New York, California, Oregon and Washington
Next generation wireless service to reach customers in Rochester, N.Y., Syracuse, N.Y., Merced, Calif., Visalia, Calif., Eugene, Ore., Tri-Cities, Wash., and Yakima, Wash.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan., Jul 12, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
Today, Sprint (NYSE:S) launched 4G service in Rochester, N.Y., Syracuse, N.Y., Merced, Calif., Visalia, Calif., Eugene, Ore., Tri-Cities, Wash., and Yakima, Wash. These seven metropolitan areas add to the growing list of markets that are 4G-enabled and mark the first 4G launches for New York and California. With today's seven metro launches, Sprint now offers 4G in 43 markets and expects to have 4G service in many more - including Los Angeles, New York and Miami - by the end of 2010.
With 4G, Sprint defines a new era in wireless. Sprint 4G customers experience fast mobile downloads, seamless streaming video, and turbo-charged Web browsing. This new wireless technology also allows for video chat via the recently released HTC EVO(TM) 4G, America's first 3G/4G wireless smartphone. To demonstrate the confidence that Sprint has in the power of 4G, Sprint offers the Sprint Free Guarantee, which allows customers to try 4G for 30 days. If they are not satisfied, they can cancel service and have the opportunity to be fully reimbursed.1 Sprint also offers simplicity and savings vs. competitors with Everything Data plans, which include unlimited Web, texting and calling while on the Sprint network for one low price.
"We are hearing a lot of positive feedback from our 4G customers who are using HTC EVO and mobile broadband connectivity," said Matt Carter, president of 4G, Sprint. "People are hungry for faster wireless speeds, 3G/4G smartphones and unlimited data plans - and, Sprint offers all of these. With Sprint 4G, we are entering a new world of wireless possibilities."
As summer travel begins, people will find that 4G is available in many markets across the country: California - Merced and Visalia; Georgia - Atlanta and Milledgeville; Hawaii - Honolulu and Maui; Idaho - Boise; Illinois - Chicago; Maryland - Baltimore; Missouri - Kansas City and St. Louis; New York - Rochester and Syracuse; Nevada - Las Vegas; North Carolina - Charlotte, Greensboro (along with High Point and Winston-Salem), Raleigh (along with Cary, Chapel Hill and Durham); Oregon - Eugene, Portland and Salem; Pennsylvania - Harrisburg, Lancaster, Philadelphia, Reading and York; Texas - Abilene, Amarillo, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, San Antonio, Waco and Wichita Falls; Utah - Salt Lake City; Virginia - Richmond; Washington - Bellingham, Seattle, Tri-Cities and Yakima. For more information, visit www.sprint.com/4G.
Sprint is harnessing the power of 4G as the majority shareholder of Clearwire, the independent company that is building the WiMAX network.
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 48 million customers at the end of the first quarter of 2010 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, and is the first and only wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, Common Cents Mobile and Assurance Wireless and instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. With its customer-focused strategy, you can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
Next generation wireless service to reach customers in Rochester, N.Y., Syracuse, N.Y., Merced, Calif., Visalia, Calif., Eugene, Ore., Tri-Cities, Wash., and Yakima, Wash.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan., Jul 12, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
Today, Sprint (NYSE:S) launched 4G service in Rochester, N.Y., Syracuse, N.Y., Merced, Calif., Visalia, Calif., Eugene, Ore., Tri-Cities, Wash., and Yakima, Wash. These seven metropolitan areas add to the growing list of markets that are 4G-enabled and mark the first 4G launches for New York and California. With today's seven metro launches, Sprint now offers 4G in 43 markets and expects to have 4G service in many more - including Los Angeles, New York and Miami - by the end of 2010.
With 4G, Sprint defines a new era in wireless. Sprint 4G customers experience fast mobile downloads, seamless streaming video, and turbo-charged Web browsing. This new wireless technology also allows for video chat via the recently released HTC EVO(TM) 4G, America's first 3G/4G wireless smartphone. To demonstrate the confidence that Sprint has in the power of 4G, Sprint offers the Sprint Free Guarantee, which allows customers to try 4G for 30 days. If they are not satisfied, they can cancel service and have the opportunity to be fully reimbursed.1 Sprint also offers simplicity and savings vs. competitors with Everything Data plans, which include unlimited Web, texting and calling while on the Sprint network for one low price.
"We are hearing a lot of positive feedback from our 4G customers who are using HTC EVO and mobile broadband connectivity," said Matt Carter, president of 4G, Sprint. "People are hungry for faster wireless speeds, 3G/4G smartphones and unlimited data plans - and, Sprint offers all of these. With Sprint 4G, we are entering a new world of wireless possibilities."
As summer travel begins, people will find that 4G is available in many markets across the country: California - Merced and Visalia; Georgia - Atlanta and Milledgeville; Hawaii - Honolulu and Maui; Idaho - Boise; Illinois - Chicago; Maryland - Baltimore; Missouri - Kansas City and St. Louis; New York - Rochester and Syracuse; Nevada - Las Vegas; North Carolina - Charlotte, Greensboro (along with High Point and Winston-Salem), Raleigh (along with Cary, Chapel Hill and Durham); Oregon - Eugene, Portland and Salem; Pennsylvania - Harrisburg, Lancaster, Philadelphia, Reading and York; Texas - Abilene, Amarillo, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, San Antonio, Waco and Wichita Falls; Utah - Salt Lake City; Virginia - Richmond; Washington - Bellingham, Seattle, Tri-Cities and Yakima. For more information, visit www.sprint.com/4G.
Sprint is harnessing the power of 4G as the majority shareholder of Clearwire, the independent company that is building the WiMAX network.
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 48 million customers at the end of the first quarter of 2010 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, and is the first and only wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, Common Cents Mobile and Assurance Wireless and instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. With its customer-focused strategy, you can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
Yay.
@anonymousx Make a white one please that is actually white on BOTH sides!!!
@Ninetysix
You're feeling excited?
What the hell is wrong with you?
@Ninetysix
Not even Apple can accomplish such a daring feat of engineering.
@Revolutionary
Also Samung Galaxy S series get chance.
@Ninetysix Lul.. The oreo combination is sweet.
One word, BETAMAX!
First doesn't always mean longevity. WiMax died the minute Sprint waffled and included "the possibility of LTE in its future road-map".
LTE FTW!
@Frankenstein Black
Where you, and probably most others, are wrong is that Sprint/Clear can switch their WiMax network over to LTE with just some software/firmware updates. They wont be left in a dust if LTE has a greater advantage over WiMax. Sprint/Clear are STILL ahead of the game!
http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobilize/sprint-clearwire-may-move-wimax-lte-4g-725
@raiden8383
Well the Epic and Sprint's 4G network will get a better chance if they'd give us a damn release date for the Epic...
@Frankenstein Black
That's what I told someone trying to get me to go to a WiMax in Government technology seminar.
@cr3amy yeah, i am waiting on the Epic for my upgrade from an iPhone 3G. but Grand Rapids has been promised 4G "this summer" so I am in no hurry to pay the extra tax on the Epic until we actually have 4G here . . . which could be later September. sigh.
@raiden8383
EXACTLY!!
GO AHEAD SPRINT LAUNCH THE EPIC!!!!
@Frankenstein Black
That is possibly the dumbest post I've seen on here. How can WiMax be dead if they continue to expand it? That just doesn't make sense. Sprint has also said that their Clear towers can support both WiMax and LTE at the same time. So neither is WiMax dead or LTE alive. In fact, it's the complete opposite right now. WiMax is here, LTE is not.
@jayhawk
Hah, yeah. I'm ready to get rid of my damn G1. Even though I'm in LA, which also won't get Wimax until later this year, I don't care about the $10 fee. I need to get the hell rid of this phone.
Does any care what the Wall Street Journal and "NIRAJ SHETH" have to say?!
@cr3amy
sho you right!
@anonymousx
How much hate can there be in one title? Like you never want it to be successful? If something, this kind of blogging could affect consumers.
@The Dark Knight I'm looking forward to wimax 2.
@anonymousx
Yaaay! 10 EVOs available per city.
@cr3amy I'm in Glendale and just saw 4g light up
I kind of miss this device.
@Alegator
It'll be back! :)
@dudewholikesgadgets Maybe HTC is working on the construction issue with the screen or the wretched battery life so they halted production temporarily.
The poor adoption could be the rediculous commercial that just let's you know everything technological becomes obsolete fast.
Or maybe it is because Sprint won't let people with good plans keep them if they want the only phone in their line up that isn't antiquated yet.
HTC isn't doing a real great job keeping things in stock. The incredible and EVO cant be found anywhere.
@JXCGunrunna, luckily they have the demo units to play with until then. But yea they do sell quick.
@JXCGunrunna I got my EVO on launch day at BB... WITHOUT a reservation.
Then walked back in two weeks later to get one for my wife, without a reservation. And this is in an actual 4G city.
Dunno how people are having such a hard time.
@Superbelt
You're right, most of these reports of shortages MUST be bogus because you could get one.
@cr3amy Two. I could get two.
Walked in after 5 pm on launch to get mine. Walked in two weeks later to get my wife's.
People can pop down a 50 dollar deposit on one. It's not like you pay more for it to reserve one. You'll get it in what, 2 weeks at the absolute max? That's not so bad.
Sorry HTC doesn't have their own near-dedicated pool of what is just short of slave laborers to crank out 1.7 million iPad 2.0's for launch.
@JXCGunrunna
Anybody want mine? Switched to Sprint because I thought 4G was a feature that was worth it. I live in Houston and it seems the 4G is non-existent. Iv'e only gotten a strong signal outdoors or on a major highway in my car. Sometimes I'll get one bar indoors, but the 3G signal has always been faster in this situation.
Anyways, I was ready to jump back to Verizon for the Droid X but now that it has been confirmed that it will not be able to load custom roms, I don't know what to do.
@Superbelt
We found 2 after launch, this was when reports of them selling out were really picking up. YES we got two, but that doesn't mean good ol Charles is gonna be able to hunt em down.
Brother was looking, none. He was traveling through multiple states and trying everywhere - nothing. Sprint site, last I checked, is out. But ironically someone I know got one a few days ago. It's maddening. So yes, WE found em, but if only Charles had some luck.
@j3oomerang
The Incredible or the Fascinate. Those are the best. Two great reasons to get a smartphone on Verizon, and both at least equivalent to the Evo.
(Easily annoyed people may stop reading here.)
The Droid X doesn't seem as good. Same clock speed, lamer Blur. Same screen size as the Evo, same resolution as the Droid.
Nothing beats Sense at this point, and the Fascinate has the best screen possible right now.
@musicssound
Which makes no sense since it has a higher res than the Evo with the same size screen. A much faster processor than the Droid Incredible and Galaxy. Not only that but you can just not use the moto services that are on the phone pretty easily. Anyone who is talking about custom roms uses custom home screens anyway.
We do not know if we can get into the bootloader yet. A bunch of us are actually working in it as we speak. Well we r working on breaking the Milestone bootloader but they should be the same. Either way, Droid X has the best hardware til the Droid 2 hits.
@Superbelt I put a deposit, and it took almost 4 weeks to receive one, and I don't even live in a 4G city. The shortages are definitely real. My officemate has been waiting over 3 weeks to get a replacement for his phone, which has the light leak issue. It's definitely frustrating. What I heard was that some stores have been accidentally selling pre-ordered/reserved phones to walk in customers, so that has added to the wait time.
@j3oomerang
I actually, well my friend is having a wonderful experience in the city as well as in the suburb where we live. Everytime I use his phone, I fall harder for Sprint's 4G network. And while I'm longing for a WebOS 4G device, the EPIC is my choice as of now. Have talked to Sprint about your issues.
@musicssound @j3oomerang
I live in Houston as well and get plenty of 4G signal here. Where are you? It's not great indoors, but I still manage to get 1 to 2 bars, it's just that most places where I'm in doors I also have WiFi coverage and would rather run that then run battery down for 4G.
As for Droid X or Fascinate, either one of these has compromises over the EVO. I haven't confirmed that Droid X doesn't run custom ROMs, but to my knowledge it hasn't been rooted yet and MOTO does not play as nice with HTC does with the Android community (EVO and HERO kernels released directly). As for the Fascinate, the EPIC has it beat in every category, if you can tolerate the little extra depth for an amazing backlit 5-row keyboard. All except for onboard RAM--why Samsung is choosing to hamstring their CDMA devices with 1GB(EPIC)/2GB(Fascinate) when the GSM devices get 16GB is beyond me!
Whether you have 4G coverage here in Houston or not, Sprint's 3G coverage smokes here on the EVO, and Sprint is still _always_ going to be cheaper than any other plan. +$10 or not. If you don't want your EVO, I'll be proud to give it a good home!
@dalex7777 Its either money or carrier specs, the latter essentially meaning the same as the former. Carriers essentially dictate specs to a manufacturer, the intl galaxy s was a bit diff but samsung got away with it do to their size and the phone screen and specs.
In the US carriers either asked for down spec'd storage to save money or were trying to cut in on samsungs pricing too much so something had to give. Samsung is best known for their hardware and theyve said indirectly that in the US the carriers are the reason for the gimped memory and missing ff cams. Still everyone looks at the like they dont love being #1 feature phone mfg in the US and trying to extend that to smartphones.
Yay Rochester! I'm moving there to attend RIT in September. I'm glad to hear that 4G will be available there.
This sort of reminds me of the PS3. It was (arguably) the most powerful console of the three current-gen, but it was just so poorly presented and maintained that it only recently start collecting customers. Give 4G a few more years, and it'll be the standard; that's just technology for you.
@Venomous Zer0
Enjoy your 150k in student loans!
Better hope you have a scholarship.
I almost thought it was a typo. Dan Hays / Dan Hesse. Lol
@Gavin M gizmodo did also... they actually say the ceo said it
this is dumb. I'd line up to get one. im waiting to dump my iphone and ATT but you cant get one of these phones anywhere... ugh. have they ever been in stock??
@oompatoomp Go to Best Buy. They have them in stock regularly and no mail-in rebate!
Its really disappointing, Sprint and HTC have a chance to kick Apple and AT&T's ass, but they can't.
@orbitrod
Agreed, the EVO and Sprint network blow Apple and AT&T away!
@dudewholikesgadgets Sprint's prices are more affordable than AT&T but their network hardly blows away AT&T's. I'd contend that Verizon stands at the top tier and Sprint and AT&T both sit one notch lower. I had an unpleasant experience while on Sprint with my Blackberry. Great prices, mediocre coverage. The reason I decided not to keep my EVO was purely because I could only occasionally get one bar of 4G coverage in Atlanta. While even at $10 more for 4G coverage, I couldn't accept paying a fee for something not properly working yet.
@tasteskindasalty
Are you kidding me? Sprint's 3G network is the 2nd largest, go read a fucking book, so if you say its mediocre, then what do you say for AT&T? Non-existent? Damn close buddie
@orbitrod Truthfully, the 4G service would probably get clobbered and bogged down if they tried making it available in NYC right now. It's the only explaination I can think of. Why not offer 4G in major markets, unless that was the reason?
@dudewholikesgadgets yeah til sprint starts getting att's load - which already seems to be happening
yeah i like paying 10 dollars extra for nothing. yes i like my new phone. even if i had 4g. i wouldn't use it, for battery consumptions sake. if anyone on here has one. u know it barely lasts 6 hours with moderate use of internet browsing.
if they are so low on quantities. HTC should of had apple make them at Foxconn, at least they had millions of those Right Handed Iphones ready for sale at launch.
@DoomLight I really don't know why people bitch about the $10 fee. It is still cheaper than any other carrier. A lot of people wouldn't even have noticed had Sprint silently increased the price to $79.99 instead of making it clear that the $10 is for 4G/premium whatever.