By I think pretty much everyone expected Sprint to do away with WiMax in the early parts of this year, and now it’s official: Sprint won’t be putting any more money into providing WiMax-enabled devices. That word comes from Sprint senior networks VP Bob Azzi who confirmed the news to reporters. He says the company is in its last set of field tests and that the network provides better benefits than they originally imagined.
As we approach the Now Network’s promise of 4G LTE in the middle of this year, they’re opting to gear up for a network which will seemingly be better than WiMax and one which they’ll have much more control over. While they’ll still be offering WiMax services (up until when, exactly, is not quite known), they’ll be setting their sights on far greener planes.
Clearwire is simply broke, so those without WiMax in their area now will probably ever get it. Your best bet is to get excited for one of the many LTE devices being served up this year. Sprint’s confirmed that their Galaxy Nexus will have the new radios, but we also believe the HTC EVO One (HTC One X) will, as well.
There will be a smattering of other tablets, smartphones, and MiFi devices to choose from starting from the moment the network launches (not all will be available at that time but we’re sure at least a MiFi device will be). But I digress – WiMax is dying in the US, and this is the first of more blows to come. [via Electronista]
Seemed like they were done 2 years ago
so how about they give me something worthy to buy NOW????????? like the G-Nex or G-Note and stop dicking around????????????
do you hear me Hesse you SOB??????????????????????
Lmao @ dicking around and Hesse you SOB… I’m literally laughing reading that at work
The last real Android phone worth buying from was the SGS2E4GT and that came out in September, after being out in the rest of the world for 5 months before that. Verizon GNex is sweet.
The problem is if you don’t have WiMax now, you’re not likely to get LTE any time soon either. After all, I can’t imagine the rollout will be too different.
It’s VERY different. Check out S4GRU.
It’s completely different because Sprint is handling the rollout, not Clear.
where did you get that silly idea??
http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/212-network-visionlte-deployment-running-list/
Bring on the Galaxy Nexus! My brother and my friend really need to get off their Evo and Hero (respectively).
If someone is STILL using the Hero, they could have upgraded to a much better phone many times already.
Yes, and he’s well aware of that fact, but my friend is an extremely patient man. Extremely.
Ohh hey! Thanks Sprint for telling us. Ya know, because the last several years you haven’t been selling WiMax phones or been charging us monthly for 4G that nobody has coverage for. You certainly haven’t been advertising 4G in areas that nobody can get it & most certainly haven’t been “promising” WiMax coverage to multiple areas “soon” before this announcement.
A> I have coverage, so unless I’m nobody, that’s a fallacious argument
B> How many times do you have to be told that it’s not a 4G surcharge? Are you dense, or just a stubborn ass? Smartphones (Including Apples, which you’ll notice don’t have 4G) use more data. Sorry if you’re shortsighted enough to want to put Sprint out of business. They have to pay for all of these upgrades, ya know. Would you rather have them start pricing like Verizon? So shut your pie hole about the fantasy 4G charge. We’re all heartily sick of people who live in craptastic towns whining that they’re paying a whole $10 a month that the dumbphone users don’t have to pay.
Just because you are misinformed doesn’t mean you have to get aggressive. The charge WAS originally a 4G charge. They simply changed the name of it after people started complaining about it.
They didn’t change it because people started complaining about it. They changed it because they analyzed their data use and saw people with smartphones, whether 4G or 3G, use X% more data than featurephone or dumbphone users.
It was a coincidence that people were complaining about no 4G in their area at the time.
Well, at the time, they had such a minimal 4G foot print that it wasn’t surprising that so many people were complaining about not having 4G and being charge an extra $10 for data.
umm… this is nothing new.. Sprint announced this many months ago!
So does this mean now we can get 4G tablets on the cheap or trade in our 4G phones for LTE (I have 17 months remaining on contract)? No? Didnt think so.
No kidding… +1,000
WiMax won’t be disabled for a few years. That being said, if you had done any research at all, You’d have known Sprint was moving toward LTE, even 7 months ago.
Dan? Is that you?
Pardon me Mr Hesse, it is not my fault you went on a bender and signed a $15 Billion agreement to sell their precious iPhone. Still shaking my head on that one, as is your Board of Directors.
Then without any “real tangible timeline” you announce that you’re dropping WiMax devices. Why would anyone buy a 4G device now knowing that netwok is going bye-bye during their 2-year contract?
Perhaps you should get a job with RIM?
Signed,
What the Hell, Dude?
>>>
Now, before you say trading in your device early with reduced penalty would be unprecedented? They’re doing it right now,
By the way, I am also a current Sprint customer typing this on a Motorola Photon. Not someone on a competitor’s network.
They should have some kind of program like this, but they justify not having a program because they are keeping their Wimax service up for a few more years. As much as I like Sprint, its total bullshit.
Yeah ifear Sprint itself will be dying soon. It will just be another big name company to die off in these times. I am sure iwould have jumped ship along time ago…
Remember when everyone was complaining because new phones were coming out too quickly? They slowed down the release schedule and now people are complaining that phones don’t come out fast enough.
Why should a carrier come out with a FLAGSHIP phone any more often than 2 or 3 times per year? Who is really looking to buy a new phone every 4 to 6 months???
It’s about attracting new customers not necessarily getting subscribers to upgrade all the time. Where would you rather go, a place that has the newest phones or one that hasn’t released anything of note in months?
Totally agree ^.
Only issue is that those people that just got the “latest and greatest” sometimes want the next “latest and greatest”. It’s a tradeoff that we can’t win.
I know.
I was referring to certain people on websites such as this one.
“Come on, Sprint! I JUST bought the Photon, and now you come out with the Epic Touch!” and “Come on, Sprint! I’ve had this Epic Touch FOREVER! Where is something new?”
Switch out the names of those phone with any successive phones.
It’s official Wimax is HD DVD!
…Or Betamax depending on how old you are;)
*cough* 8 track tapes.
It’s dead like BetaMax, but in the VHS vs BetaMax battle, BetaMax was actually the better of the two…Sony just made the same error they did decades later with the mini disc: try to keep it all to themselves. At least with BluRay they partnered up with several other companies.
You reported this back in Jan……
http://phandroid.com/2012/01/16/no-more-wimax-phones-for-sprint-lte-is-the-focus/
should say “Sprint Officially Done….”
Evo One is a dumb name for a 3rd generation product.
HTC 3vo
Name used for the Evo 3D.
So we have to look forward to LTE chips that eat batteries like after dinner mints, nice. One more reason to go back to T-Mobile, who has announced they are keeping their HSPA service, at least I’ll get 3G speeds while sitting in my living room, never even got that with Sprint. By the time HSPA eventually gets killed they should have LTE chips that are actually battery friendly and run cool. Samsung Epic Touch 4G, I shall miss thee. Let’s hope T-Mobile’s S3 will be as greatly tweaked out as Sprints version of the S2 is.
I`m wondering why all of you guys complaining about Sprint ! I had TBLOT on VZW and the EVO 3D on Sprint, back in July, which in my area 4G LTE VZW as they claiming and Sprint has 3G. Inside my house and at work, the network on both phone it`s the same, I did return VZW TBOLT for the reason VZW claiming the 4G LTE which I never seen, but the charges it`s $119.99 a month and Sprint $79.99 a month for the same service… CONCLOTION : It`s personal choice, if you like to pay more go on where you`ll be happy. and maybe you`ll be able to buy every phone VZW will offer it every two months.. Sprint it`ll be Sprint for the people who`s love to be on it network and who`s dislike it STOP COMPLAINING AND MOVE ON. Because all the complainer is just need the big phone and unlimited from any carrier just to play games and watching a videos, that`s why Sprint never been to all of the game players.
I agree with your message, somewhat, but your comment is worthy of a dramatic reading.
Please edit.
I am by no means a grammar nazi, but Damn man. Stop abbreviating words. This site is NOT Twitter, there are no character limits. Following your post was painful.
Oh!? WiMax was dead the moment they said the frequency was 2.xGhz. -_-
Because I’m really going to stand outside in the middle of an intersection to watch Youtube.
I hope this LTE is something to look forward to. I’m a bit disappointed with Sprint. I wonder how that HSPA+ 84 with Tmo will work out.
Time will tell this future.
LTE for Sprint will be 1900mhz initially, 800/1900mhz in 2013, and 800/1900/2500mhz later on. The 1900mhz should have better coverage than their current 1900mhz 3G.
T-Mobile plans to run LTE in the 1700mhz band, HSPA+21 in the 1900mhz band and expand out to rural areas currently plagued with glacial Edge coverage.
Both plans look pretty solid to me.
Sitting in the my apartment on the bottom floor and getting 4 bars of WiMax on my Nexus S 4G. Yes it sucks that some people can’t get it even standing in the street, but that’s the way technology is.
I remember when broadband internet came out. I was in a small (30K pop) college town that was a test bed of uncapped cable internet in the 90’s and it rocked. Then I graduated and moved to a large city and was on dial up for another 5 years because the technology was still being implemented. Hell I can still go visit my parents and not be able to get any signal on my phone and they are still on dial up where they live.
All that said I’m happy to pay my Sprint prices for “UNLIMITED” data while you non Sprint people pay more for capped data. So who cares if you can download an app 5 seconds faster or load a YouTube video 3 seconds faster, I can do it more often!
Surprised it took em dis long!!
Surprised it took em dis long!! Former Vision Tier 1 tech took Tier 2 calls too! When needed!! 2004 em sure did liked those calls eh ha lol
Sprint must be very close to releasing new phones because there giving the EVO 3d away for free now online!