By Sprint’s pushing that 4G wagon right along with a round of new launches this morning. those of you in Rochester and Syracuse, New York, Merced and Visalia, California, Tri-Cities and Yakima, Washington and Eugene, Oregon can flip that 4G switch on your HTC EVO 4G to be greeted with download speeds of 3-6mbps.
As the year continues to move on, Sprint hopes to bring 4G coverage to more markets before the new year dawns, including major cities such as Los Angeles, New York City, and Miami. Read on for the full press details.
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 orwww.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
1 Refund excludes usage not included in the plan, premium content, third-party billing and international charges.
Why is there only 4G in small cities where virtually nobody lives? Why not start with the major metro areas first and then spread to these small cities. Do you really think people in Visalia, CA give a darn about having 4G…they’re just happy to still have real teeth!
no Massachusetts yet? any idea any one?
is it legal for them to charge ppl for a service they dont even provide??? my friend has an Evo4G in NY and their is no 4G service here….
I’m surprised 4G wasn’t available first in Miami, LA or NYC. Seriously Sprint, what’s up with that?
@ moises Boston in October from what I’m told…in some cities around Boston I have seen the 4G light up probably testing it, so I’m sure it wont be long.
@Frapple, takes time and a lot more effort and fine tuning to get around buildings and large structures and what not. I think Sprint is smart to make sure they get it right rather than just release a terrible network and then you just get pissed because you drop signals. New York I think will be released not too long after Boston, maybe before who knows.
“What will you do with 4G?” absolutely nothing because it covers 2% of America where I don’t live
How much you want to bet Sprint is waiting for DC, NY, LA, SF, Boston all to be fully complete at one time
then they flip the switch to this big Media event to give them some marketing momentum…
I bet that’s it exactly…..
What is with all the ignorant remarks? Do any of you people have any clue what it takes to roll a new service like this? You are also probably the first to complain about price too.
Big cities take a lot longer because they require more cell sites. Geography of the city has a lot to do with it as well. Some cities are easier to cover than others.
Yeah, geography, and also cost – Not only will you need a load more cell sites in a city like New York, but the real estate cost to host them will be enormous compared to less expensive cities.
That said, when the speed is 3-6mbs, who cares? 3G can do that no problem – I was in the financial district of London one bank holiday and I got about 4mbs down speed, with 1.3mbs up. Ok, so it required London to essentially be deserted, but it is possible!
WHAT ABOUT PHOENIX ARIZONA!!!!!!!!!!
Still no 4G in Sacramento and San Francisco CA… :(
I wonder how much area is covered by a WIMAX tower..Because Merced is only 100 miles from Sacramento…
We got it here in Austin tx, and it is amazing
Eugene FTW! Now i just need the EVO.
Come on bring some 4g to wisconsin, milwaukee or madison works for me!!
Yeah this is BS why would you open up 4g to small cities? Jerry Buss didn’t start the Lakers franchise in Visilia California they were meant to be seen which is why he put them in LA…which is exactly why you should have put 4g in LA first. In towns where people would actually use it!!!
I happen to live in Visalia, and agree that the complaint “why Visalia?” is ignorant.
1) If you roll it out and do badly, you’ve only poisoned a small market.
2) Small markets mean that the help desk calls are a trickle, not a flood. Helps with training the help desk ahead of time when the larger roll-outs happen.
3) We aren’t that far from Silicon Valley or Los Angeles. Meaning that if something is completely wonky, and an engineer has to be dispatched to the actual work site – it is a single day trip. Two hours to get here, four hours of debugging, two hours to get back home in time to pick the kids.
4) (You wouldn’t necessarily know this – so it isn’t really an ignorant oversight:) We hear that there are about seven demographic market types, and Visalia is a near perfect match for one of them. Meaning that if a product or service is successful here, there is a very high likelihood that it would be successful in the other similar markets.
Merced has pretty much the same attributes, plus add a University with the increase in college students to the population.
Off-topic story: Fresno was the first installation of an ISDN telephone switch in the PacBell network. Really confounded them when the locals demanded the ISDN phone line also support legacy analog modems. People didn’t want to throw away their $1,200 modems. Who’da thunk it? Not PacBell….
@Fapple, hey we resemble that remark! I work in Merced county (about 25 minutes from the city of Merced, 2 hours from Visalia) and I think others have noted already that the demographics of these areas help determine why they start there first. Hell there are alot of great reasons to start there first, I’m sure they are all considered. I live in the South Bay area, San Jose but work out here. I read this morning about Merced being lit up with 4G, so I did a speed test on my EVO while I was coming to work and WOW!! That was at 8:45am. Now at 11:06am i did several more tests and there is a noticeable strain on the 4G network, speed is not the same. Of course, i’m on one side of town, and my 1st speed test was driving in. I did a few inside, outside, etc. We will see is my point, let us be the trial and error cities. One thing about Merced, Modesto, Fresno, Visalia.. They don’t complain!! If Sprint/Clearwire tried this in the SF Bay area and they had a hiccup in performance even on the 1st day people would come unglued ;-) and those are my people I’m talking about!! PS..it sure is nice seeing “4G” on my phone, even if it is only 1-2 bars of it.
I am getting 0/1 bars of 4G in and around San Jose and Santa Clara. So Im guess it will launch soon.
it will be worth the wait…and i am in NH so i will be waiting. take your time sprint and get it right…
Here in downtown Sacramento I am getting a 4G connection… I don’t know why, but I’m getting 2 bars up in my 10th floor window office, but I lose the connection pretty quickly when I go anywhere else…
@Doug – If you are on the 10th floor you are approx. 120 – 150 feet up. Depending on where you are in Sacramento and where the closest cell tower is in Merced (not to mention the height of that tower), it is possible that you are only 60 miles line of sight to that tower. I am surprised you can get 2 bars, however.
The lakers started out in Minneapolis
Interesting..
Sprint will not consider the market launched until they hit ~60% availability in the area. Right now in LA I can get 4g on my EVO, but not in many places yet. Same goes for San Jose / SF area. I have some random coverage with 4g, but its very hit and miss. Can’t wait until it officially launches!
WHY THE HELL MIAMI,FL / Ft. LAUDERDALE,FL / WEST-PALM BEACH,FL and ORLAND,FL HAVE NO 4G??? NOT EVEN ONE OF THESE DANG CITIES!!?? COME ON SPRINT!! SPEED UP!! I MEAN WIMAX!! LOL… I GUESS I HAVE TO STICK WITH SPRINT 3G!! WHICH IS YET FAST!! IM SATISFIED FOR NOW, BUT IT BETTER BE IN MY AREA BY 01/01/2011!! PEACE!
I believe they have harder times getting approved to place it in big big cities.
Nice, maybe Sprint will actually get service up here someday (Mendocino County, Northwestern California). As it is, they only have ONE site, yep ONE site between Cloverdale and Eureka (a TINY one near Lakeport), sad. It’s okay, we have good 3G from AT&T, Verizon and U.S. Cellular.
I live in Boise ID and its a small city. Well I think the reason they start in the small cities is because if they can’t get it to work in small places how are they going to do it in a big City. Everytime I turn on the 4g it works for about 2 minutes and then it loses the connection. I have a couple of more weeks and if they can’t get it to work right Im taking the phone back Im not going to pay $10 extra for something that doesn’t work. Boise is supposed to have a very good connection on 4g.
What i dont understand is how they are able to charge us for 4G when we can’t even use it yet. They should charge us only when 4G is finally available in our city. Theres gotta be something illegal about that, and if there isn’t then there should be. I do however love my EVO, i swear that thing is my life!
Has anyone considered that CLEARWIRE has had WIMAX available in Visalia and Merced for wireless high speed internet for years? Maybe that’s the reason those cities got it first, because it was already there. Just a thought.
f++k those lil towns we need them in BIG CITYS like CA,AZ,NY,TX,MI,FL,II,AND U ALL KNOW U WHO ARE THE BIG CITIS
A Sprint rep told me that the 4G will not be available in the San Francisco Bay Area for another month or two…yet they take $10 from my bill for premium service for 4G! Shouldn’t they charge only when the service is available??
TJ: The 10 dollars is also for uncapping the bandwidth much like how the Iphone now charges for data usage. Ours is uncapped because of the 10 Dollars.
@Doug:
I went to a Sprint 4G demo event in the Sacramento Convention Center a couple of months ago. One of the reps told me that if I got the EVO (which I DO have now) I would probably pick up a 4G signal because they had installed an antenna for testing purposes on a building in the midtown area. He didn’t say when we could expect full coverage in Sacramento, however.
Some of you are asking why 4G is only in smaller markets. It’s called test markets. If you were rolling out a new service, you roll it out in smaller markets first to be sure it works correctly and all the bugs are out. Basically, if something goes wrong, you piss off a few rather than the many (NYC, LA, SFO, etc.). If you roll it out to the large markets first, and it doesn’t go as planned, you stand too lose alot more than say Richmond, VA.
Everyone is asking why these small cities in the middle of nowhere.
The answer is more likely the partner Clearwire. They could care less about Sprint 4G but these small cities are underserved with high speed internet in peoples houses.
So clearwire can sell fixed site WiMax modems and provide High Speed I-Net to houses that AT&T can not even get DSL to.
Higher profit margin on the Fixed sites to help finace the rest of the US.
The 4G rollout will most likely be based on where Clearwire can sell fixed sites to (ie where AT&T or Cable is not providing high speed)
Bring it to Madison, WI!
Sprint said 4g will come out in sanfrancisco in october and sacramento by the end of november. They are liar. Its been 5 months that im paying $10/mo. For 4g service without even experiencing it. I need a refund for those 4g’s monthly fees!!!!!
Out of the blue I got the urge to turn on the 4g on my Evo in San Jose today, much to my surprise, it worked! I’ve been using the Speedtest app and have reached 9Mbps down and 4Mbps up. San Jose, CA has 4g! I’d been happy with 2Mbps down and 1Mbps up, but now I am elated!
WISCONSIN IS IN NEED OF THE 4G SERVICE. ESPECIALLY HERE IN MADISON, WI WHERE THE GREAT UNIV OF WISCONSIN IS LOCATED. GO BADGERS IN THE ROSEBOWL !!
A lot of interesting comments and info. Does anyone know if Sprint is publishing projected start-up by area? I am interested as to when they think 4G will be available in Fresh and the surrounding area.
The question I have is once everyone is on 4g whenever that happens haha will it be slow due to the amount of people on using it? I remember when 3g was the new thing and it was cool until everyone else got on it and it was a lot slower my flash video would buffer a lot and it wasnt worth using I really hope Sprint has something planned to keep 4g fast.
Bring 4g to Madison, WI already