As long as you have need in an area of good service. In that respect, this upcoming service, which the article in Maximum PC says could occur on Monday, might be like the early Sprint service – dynamite if you are in a well served area, and not worth your time if you don’t have great signal strength.
Because the initial offerings of this service will be at higher frequencies (just like the PCS service that Sprint brought out 12 years ago) this is going to be something you really should check out fully before committing to the hardware.
In a conference call next Monday, Clearwire is expected to detail a “pay as you go” mobile data service. The service would use Clearwire’s 4G WiMAX network, and may have a tie in for Sprint 3G data. Sprint is the majority owner of Clearwire. The monthly cost is currently unknown. These details were gleaned from an SEC filing late this afternoon.
Sprint has begun using the faster data standard in several phones, including the Evo 4G and Epic 4G. Presumably, this contract-free service would be based around data cards, but a MiFi-like device is not out of the question (maybe a re-branded Sprint Overdrive). Customers would likely have to pay the full price for their data modem, though.
WiMAX coverage is still limited, and the 2500MHz frequency in use means it tends not to penetrate buildings very well. But users with good signal can get several megabits down. How much would you pay for contract-free 4G data service?
As I had said back in May, upon my trip to Arizona, I found that WiMAX did work, but the implementation was not what I had read about. It was nowhere near as fast as I was led to believe it should have been. It did however, make it possible for some people otherwise not served to have higher-than-dialup-speed service.
It will be nice to have this service, if the service comes at the right price (in the same way that early Sprint service was the right price, for so many budget talkers), otherwise it may fail quickly, giving WiMAX a black eye in many markets.
Let’s hope for the best.
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By the way, some may have noticed that article productivity was low over the last days – there was a death in the family, which has become the beginnings of a piece for “The Greater World” as I will be exploring the current quality of medical services in our nation.
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The future ain’t what it used to be. Yogi Berra |
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