Sprint to launch WiMAX network this Spring
So far along that we can predict a launch time. Look for Sprint to light stuff up sometime in the early part of the second quarter of 2008. We’re guessing sometime around Easter. Sprint will be able to give its new WiMAX handsets bandwidth that matches today’s rates at a much, much cheaper price. We like the sound of that.
What’s really great about Sprint’s implementation is that WiMAX will be the only service new handsets will need, meaning less transceivers, which translates to cheaper high-end phones. Voice calls will be handled like Skype or other VoIP services, meaning the whole phone network is IP based. That suggests cheaper voice plans. Or, more likely, inexpensive all-you-can-gab plans.
While we’d like to see WiMAX standardized across all carriers, that’s not going to happen. Verizon and AT&T have significant investments in rival technologies, and T-Mobile is on the cusp of opening up its 3.5G evolutional network. This means that in the near future instead of the confusion of two different standards, we’ll have the headache of four. Thanks, carriers!