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Sprint, Clearwire to finally get hitched thanks to FCC approval
We're relieved, here's why: we don't have to report on this on-again / off-again relationship like we're a celebrity tabloid rag anymore. Around the same time it gave the thumbs up to Verizon and Alltel, the FCC also decided that tumultuous lovebirds Sprint and Clearwire can finally get hitched. Their eventual offspring will be the WiMAX network they've been promising with a bunch of other partners -- the plan is to offer wireless broadband to 140 million people within 30 months' time, so today's a big day for WiMAX and corporate romantics everywhere.
Clearwire touts fully open, third pipe "New Clearwire" WiMAX network
It's not exactly a surprise that Sprint Nextel and Clearwire have some pretty big plans for their newly-merged WiMAX network, but a recent FCC filing has now revealed some tantalizing details about exactly just what they have in mind. As Ars Technica reports, the two companies foresee the "New Clearwire" WiMAX network as being nothing short of a true "third pipe" into the home, and a fully open one at that. That would let users use any "lawful device" on the network so long as it's "compatible with and not harmful to the WiMAX network," and it'd offer non-exclusive wholesale access to the network to anyone looking to hop on the WiMAX bandwagon. The two companies are also promising that customers can expect to get speeds up to 6Mbps on the downlink, and 3Mbps uplink, and that the network will cover 140 million people by 2010 -- and a full 220 million by 2017.
