One of the biggest challenges facing Clearwire and Sprint is the scarcity of WiMAX coverage. If you spend most of your time in Baltimore or Portland, Oregon, it's not going to matter if you can't get 4G outside of those areas. But for those who want to be able to fall back on 3G when WiMAX isn't available, Sprint is introducing the first dual-mode 3G/4G device.
Sprint has released the U300, a broadband modem that works with both standard EVDO Rev. A networks (operated by Sprint and Verizon in the US), and Sprint's flavor of WiMax, a higher-speed networking standard offered only in Baltimore at this writing. WiMax network performance can routinely top 2Mbps, and reviewers have seen higher speeds; EVDO Rev. A typically has downstream performance in the 600Kbps to 1.4Mbps rate, with brief higher peak rates.
The modem is $149 with a required two-year contract, and can only be purchased by customers in Baltimore, even though limited WiMax networks are active elsewhere. The software supports Windows only (XP, 2000, and Vista). GPS service is limited to Sprint's 3G networks; it's not supported (yet) over WiMax. Service in Portland, Ore., will launch January 6, 2009.
Sprint U300
The Sprint 3G/4G USB Modem U300, as it's formally known, is the first of a number of promised hybrid network devices designed to let Sprint sell higher-speed WiMax service in markets in which it's available, without those customers being cut off from mobile broadband as they roam the rest of the US.
Because WiMax is designed around profiles that define spectrum band, channel width, and encoding method, it's unclear whether Sprint's new modem would work anywhere outside of the US on the few other WiMax and related WiBro networks. On the EVDO Rev. A side, however, the modem should work with any Sprint roaming partner, which includes Verizon in the US.
Sprint and Clearwire put the finishing touches on their WiMAX joint venture earlier this month with $3.2 billion worth of help from Comcast, Intel, Time Warner Cable, Google, and Bright House Networks. The company, which will market its WiMAX service under the "Clear" moniker, has most of the 2.5GHz licenses in the US, including 100MHz or more in most US markets. That's enough for broad WiMAX coverage, the kind that should eventually make dual-band devices like the U300 modem more of an afterthought than a necessity.
But with the WiMAX rollout inching along at this point, the U300 is a good bridge device until Clear comes online across the country. Sprint is promising that 2009 will be a bigger year for WiMAX, and the service is slated to launch in Chicago and Washington, DC really soon now. With competing 4G technology LTE knocking on the door—Verizon is now saying it plans to have LTE up and running by the end of 2009—the pressure to blanket as much of the country as possible with WiMAX is on. Unfortunately for Sprint and Clearwire, the $3 billion to $5 billion needed to finish building the network may be hard to come by. That's going to be difficult with the current credit crunch. Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff told the Wall Street Journal (subscription) that his company might slow things down if the credit crunch affects his company—or it could take on more debt to ensure that the buildout is finished.
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Sprint has released the U300, a broadband modem that works with both standard EVDO Rev. A networks (operated by Sprint and Verizon in the US), and Sprint's flavor of WiMax, a higher-speed networking standard offered only in Baltimore at this writing. WiMax network performance can routinely top 2Mbps, and reviewers have seen higher speeds; EVDO Rev. A typically has downstream performance in the 600Kbps to 1.4Mbps rate, with brief higher peak rates.
The modem is $149 with a required two-year contract, and can only be purchased by customers in Baltimore, even though limited WiMax networks are active elsewhere. The software supports Windows only (XP, 2000, and Vista). GPS service is limited to Sprint's 3G networks; it's not supported (yet) over WiMax. Service in Portland, Ore., will launch January 6, 2009.
Sprint U300
The Sprint 3G/4G USB Modem U300, as it's formally known, is the first of a number of promised hybrid network devices designed to let Sprint sell higher-speed WiMax service in markets in which it's available, without those customers being cut off from mobile broadband as they roam the rest of the US.
Because WiMax is designed around profiles that define spectrum band, channel width, and encoding method, it's unclear whether Sprint's new modem would work anywhere outside of the US on the few other WiMax and related WiBro networks. On the EVDO Rev. A side, however, the modem should work with any Sprint roaming partner, which includes Verizon in the US.
Sprint and Clearwire put the finishing touches on their WiMAX joint venture earlier this month with $3.2 billion worth of help from Comcast, Intel, Time Warner Cable, Google, and Bright House Networks. The company, which will market its WiMAX service under the "Clear" moniker, has most of the 2.5GHz licenses in the US, including 100MHz or more in most US markets. That's enough for broad WiMAX coverage, the kind that should eventually make dual-band devices like the U300 modem more of an afterthought than a necessity.
But with the WiMAX rollout inching along at this point, the U300 is a good bridge device until Clear comes online across the country. Sprint is promising that 2009 will be a bigger year for WiMAX, and the service is slated to launch in Chicago and Washington, DC really soon now. With competing 4G technology LTE knocking on the door—Verizon is now saying it plans to have LTE up and running by the end of 2009—the pressure to blanket as much of the country as possible with WiMAX is on. Unfortunately for Sprint and Clearwire, the $3 billion to $5 billion needed to finish building the network may be hard to come by. That's going to be difficult with the current credit crunch. Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff told the Wall Street Journal (subscription) that his company might slow things down if the credit crunch affects his company—or it could take on more debt to ensure that the buildout is finished.
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