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Sprint to Switch Off WiMax Network By End of 2015

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Clear Customers Deactivated

rwalford79

Apr 7, 2014, 5:37 PM
Guess that means people like my parents, who use and rely on Clear Wimax Home Internet service will be screwed. Sprint better upgrade those areas with their crap LTE and offer the same price, same unlimited data for home use or refund the modem fees for people who bought them at full price for sub par service. Sprint - Screwing over millions every year!
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phonetekmek

Apr 7, 2014, 6:23 PM
Clear was purchased by Sprint. They don't have to offer them a LTE replacement and honestly I doubt they will. Your parents will have to find an alternitive. I'm sure dsl or cable is an option.
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floorguy

Apr 7, 2014, 7:17 PM
not if they are in the boonies...or rather outside what dsl or cable goes to...

or in my parents case...dsl is a whooping 512kb...and this is in an established area of town 😡 😡 😡

and they dont use it to the full extent that they want to pay the cable cost...though they did just bump it so....


anyway...same boat as the 1st poster...i am the one who tracks down my parents "techy" needs...

And by the end of 2015 they may have an option...
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dougm

Apr 8, 2014, 9:22 AM
Oh stop being a drama queen.. Wimax was a doomed technology format from the start - think of it as Beta vs VHS... LTE is clearly the winner and if your parents are served by a Clear site, they will probably get equal if not better service from an LTE overlay - and I am sure Sprint will offer some kind of trade-up to them in exchange for their old Wimax modem. It would be the responsible thing to do.
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Phineas

Apr 8, 2014, 10:21 AM
I agree with the first comment, but the rest doesn't add up. Clearwire often went into areas that Sprint wasn't and they did offer extremely cheap plans for unlimited use which Sprint will not give them as that offer showed that Clearwire was a sinking ship. A lot of people didn' have options other than bad DSL or satelitte and Clear gave them pretty good speeds at a decent price. The only way Sprint will offer something equitable is if Softbank gets the TMO purchase put through on the merits of alternative broadband offer.
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dougm

Apr 8, 2014, 12:34 PM
What do you mean, the rest doesn't add up??

What incentive does Sprint have to shutdown Clear sites and not overlay/replace them with LTE?

As for "cheap" will you please define what qualifies as cheap? Won't Sprint offer Clear customers a comparable plan to switch off to the modern LTE technology?

Sprint is a business, not a charity, and in order to provide a sustainable return on their network investment they must charge a rate that provides a decent return.

Can you please provide your source that says they will do otherwise?
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Phineas

Apr 8, 2014, 2:00 PM
The article states that there are 17K Clearwire sites, 5K have been done and another 5K expected to be completed by 2016. The 7K could be in covered markets already but I bet alot of them are in areas that Sprint won't cover or upgrade. They have plenty of incentive to shut down towers ($$$) that don't provide coverage for enough pops to justify.
Most clearwire plans were around $55 for unlimited use for home internet with good speeds (3MB - 5MB down), this is very attractive to people who are in rural areas with little options and very slow speeds. In general wireless companies aren't interested in selling home modems for mobile data use at home(one exception is a trial Verizon is doing with FiOS). Sprint will not offer comparable plan...
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Slammer

Apr 8, 2014, 3:28 PM
I'm not sure what s4gru has to say about what you are claiming. But, Sprint is on a mission to increase its current coverage footprint in all its markets. Shutting down towers that it purchased from Clearwire only to never offer service to these existing Clearwire customers, is against the directive in what it is trying to accomplish.

John B.
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Phineas

Apr 9, 2014, 9:09 AM
I agree with your statement about increasing coverage, in general Sprint is upgrading network but adding relatively few towers. My real point to all this was just stating that assuming Sprint would automatically offer a comparable home internet plan like Clear had in place for these users is hopeful at best. Nothing has pointed to Sprint allowing an unlimited plan with a home modem anytime soon, I did caveat by saying that Sprint's push to acquire TMO has now been hung on offering broadband alternatives which is a high priority for the government. So if the acquisition goes through on that promise than I totally expect Sprint to offer some sort of plan for home internet.
I only mentioned s4gru.com, as a refernce point for good informatio...
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stevelvl

Apr 8, 2014, 1:17 PM
When Sprint launched WiMax service they never intended it to be a competitor to LTE. Sprint Launched WiMax over 2 Years before LTE was commercially available. Sprint always intended WiMax to be a gap technology, something to give them an edge until LTE was ready.

Once LTE was ready for deployment Sprint Kept with its original plan to evolve to LTE. Now that it's useres have upgraded their WiMax Phones to LTE phones they are ready to convert the WiMax network to LTE.
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