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Rural U.S. Granted Access to WiMax

Evan Kessler on October 27, 2010 | 1 comment

One of the early goals outlined by the Obama administration was to make high-speed Internet access a basic privilege of living within U.S. borders. Though the likes of Clearwire, Verizon, and AT&T have the bigger markets covered with their scheduled WiMax and LTE rollouts, those in the nation’s less-populated areas aren’t exactly on the high priority list for that caliber of broadband access.

In an effort to bridge the schism between big city broadband and lagging rural service, more than $500 million in broadband stimulus grants have been awarded to 40 companies by the the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A hefty chunk of the Rural Utility Service Fund’s second round of grants, the money will focus on the buildup of speedy networks in areas that are still stuck in the stone age of dial-up.

The operation will see the deployment of WiMax networks across 22 states from Washington to Mississippi. Two of the bigger ISPs to get government checks for their heartland-helping efforts are Washington state’s EcliptixNet Broadband and Virginia’s DigitalBridge Communications. The former will tackle the task of constructing a WiMax network for 46,000 households in rural Washington, whereas the latter will take on the challenge of spreading similar services across the expanses of Idaho, Mississippi and Indiana and covering around 76,000 rural residents. Those numbers may seem like small potatoes when compared to the national population, but bear in mind that is only the work of two of the forty grant recipients.

Just because these buildouts are subsidized by government grants doesn’t mean rural customers will be receiving their service for free. Bill Wallace of DigitalBridge estimates that his company’s service will cost $30/month for the home WiMax service, and an additional $15 for customers to use a USB device to take it with them.

Regardless of the cost, the fact that wireless broadband is ready to expand to the hard-to-reach regions in between the shining seas, is good news for the buildup of our national infrastructure. It may not turn Internet access into one of our inalienable rights, but it goes a long way towards helping Americans chase life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness online.

… Read the rest

Time Warner Taps Into Clearwire’s NYC WiMax Party Line

Evan Kessler on October 19, 2010 | 2 comments

For all the talk of the impending irrelevance of WiMax, it sure is making a big splash these days in some of the nation's biggest markets. The recent article in the New York Times trumpeting the arrival of WiMax in NYC, LA, and San Francisco via Clearwire may have been a boon for the 4G brand. Even with Verizon's impending LTE rollout, there is a groundswell of WiMax activity occurring as the number of cities covered by Clearwire's 4G network jumps to 57.

On top of the advancement of their mobile broadband network across the American expanse, Clear is seeing increased interest from one of the largest names in the media world. Time Warner has announced that they'll be tapping into WiMax 4G, using Clearwire's technology, in order to bring faster Internet to NYC. The cable giant's service will give customers access to nationwide 3G service and 4G coverage in the ever-growing list of cities where Clearwire's network exists, so long as users subscribe to another of the company's cable services.

The partnership has its pros and cons for Clearwire. One of the original selling points for their own brand of 4G WiMax was that it offered customers a faster alternative to those who felt there was little available alternative to the vertically integrated services offered by their own cable providers. I know, as a Time Warner customer, I've often been dissatisfied with the frequent internet speed issues that plague my apartment. By allowing Time Warner to get in on their WiMax efforts, they, in effect, give users access to the same technology and the ability to roam with it without the inconvenience of dealing with multiple providers. Thus, the possibility of needing to pay more than one bill is eliminated. Sure, Clear's mobile internet service has a different and somewhat more convenient price point for those hard up for cash, but when one-stop shopping is the name of the game, you'd be surprised how little customers might take that into consideration. Not to roll over and die on the issue of vertical integration by corporate behemoths, but sometimes it's just easier to get all your stuff from one place. Does the name Wal-mart ring a bell?

On the flipside, the diversification of Clearwire's efforts to bring their WiMax technology to the masses via cable, a tad before Verizon brings LTE to the market, could prove a masterstroke … Read the rest

Microsoft Keeping Windows Open for WiMax

Evan Kessler on October 11, 2010

Today is an historic day in the world of gadgetry; No it's not the day Christopher Columbus discovered GPS to help guide the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria to the New World or wherever he was going. It was on this day in 2010, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer launched his company's arsenal of Windows Phone 7 wireless devices. Much pomp and excitement was produced during the live stream conference which revealed 9 new phones from the likes of HTC, Dell, Samsung and LG Electronics that will run on the new Windows Phone 7 software. While there's no way of telling whether Windows phone 7 devices will be to Android what the Zune was to the iPod (not quite competition), we can surmise that at least one of the new phones will be wandering into WiMax territory fairly soon.

In the hours preceding the launch announcement, it was found that the network icon for 4G WiMax had already been included on Windows Phone 7 support pages. While the first round of phones is said to be a GSM launch, we can use our keen powers of deduction to guess that out of the 9 that were introduced today, the HTC 7 Pro– slated to be released to Sprint users early in 2011–could likely be WiMax-compatible. Five of the other Windows 7 phones will make their debut in the U.S. on the soonish side, with AT&T getting three and T-Mobile getting two. Since neither of those carriers have WiMax networks, it's probably safe to assume they're not yet cut out for 4G duty on such a network. So far it looks like HTC is continuing to lead the 4G WiMax phone market, as they're currently pushing the EVO to Sprint users. With this Windows Phone 7 device coming on down the line, Sprint's 4G users might be the first to decide if the new Microsoft operating system has any staying power.… Read the rest

Sprint, Clearwire Spread WiMax “Magic” to Orlando

Evan Kessler on September 20, 2010

There are a lot of magical things about the Orlando area; the capital of American amusements boasts the “Magic Kingdom” of Disney, a “Magic-al” basketball team, and the wondrous spot where the members of ‘N Sync first started rehearsing their teen girl-enthralling dance moves way back in ’95.

If that weren’t enough to get the The International Brotherhood of Magicians to move their annual convention to the city that’s constantly saying, “Abra Cadabra,” then perhaps the latest announcement from Sprint and Clearwire will change their mind.

As of this week, the two wireless broadband service providers are pulling the WiMax rabbit out of a hat in “the Magic City”. The land of theme parks seems ripe for access to high-speed 4G action, since tourists have a need to stay connected to the outside world at the click of a button, even when on vacation. After all, the wait for Space Mountain is at least 45 minutes long at any given time, why not take the occasion to browse the lightning-quick Internet while standing around?

Though offering quality mobile access to the world wide web is not exactly sorcery, Sprint and Clearwire are confident the combination of WiMax technology and affordable prices will be a trick Orlando users will want to see again and again. … Read the rest

Sprint 4G WiMax Adds Some Country Twang

Evan Kessler on September 15, 2010 | 1 comment

Not a lot of people know this, but the main reason so many Nashville residents have a tear in their beer has nothing to do with the Hank Williams song playing on the jukebox; rather, it’s the less-than-stellar wireless service that’s been driving those in the Music City to drink and cry.

Sprint is hoping to change that somber tune echoing from the Bluebird Cafe to the Grand Ole Opry, now that their 4G WiMax network is officially available in “the Country Music Capital of the World.”

With the announcement, Nashville becomes the 52nd city (in 22 states) to have access to the 4G service. Sprint has two phones currently capable of effectively utilizing the high-speed offering, including the new Samsung Epic; and for those that want to take advantage of the network on the go, they’re offering the Overdrive mobile hotspot.

Sprint isn’t the only big name making improvements to Nashville’s wireless scene. They are accompanied by their WiMax partner, CLEAR, who is pushing their distinct brand of affordable, fast, “take-it-with-you Internet” to the musical masses. And with an online only limited time offer to take 50% off their service plan over the first two months, Nashvillians may start noticing the watery taste of tears of joy in that bottle of beer just yet.… Read the rest

At Last – Clearwire releases 4G in NYC and LA

Tiferet Weiss on September 14, 2010 | 3 comments

….But, being resident New Yorkers, we must confess it’s the NYC release of CLEAR 4G that has filled our minds with the glorious swells of Etta James’ “At last – my love has come along – my lonely days are over – and life is alive with song!”

Clearwire Will Be the First Of Four “4G” Providers In Boston

Ahuva Zucker on August 25, 2010 | 7 comments

Bostonians are excited to hear that they are going be some of the first testers of “4G” service (see article here) from various providers by the end of the year. They are the only city that is going to be privileged enough to have a taste of “4G” speed services from four different service providers, two offering WiMAX technology, the other two being LTE. An article in the Boston Globe happily describes the faster data services that are going to be available for the city starting in the upcoming month.

There is no question as to which companies are unrolling “4G” services this year; there are only four companies releasing what they are calling fourth generation wireless service within the next few months and they are Clearwire, Sprint, Verizon, and MetroPCS. Clearwire and Sprint utilize WiMAX technology, and Verizon and MetroPCS make use of LTE technology. Luckily for Boston, they are all scheduled for deployment in that one city in 2010.

Clearwire and Sprint are, for all intents and purposes, the same thing. Sprint is the majority shareholder of Clearwire and they share the same WiMAX network.
“We should launch sometime during the month of September,’’ said Sprint CEO Dan Hesse in a speech while in Boston last week.This will please many Sprint customers, especially those who have the first “4G” compatible smartphone, the HTC EVO 4G, that is currently sold out in many stores all over the country. Sprint has another “4G” phone due to come out next week, the Samsung Epic 4G, which will probably also sell out, especially in cities like Boston that get “4G”. Clear, however, will be launching within the next week, according to Matthew Drinkhahn, Clearwire’s general manager for Boston. Data service will be available under the brand name Clear with plans starting from $30 a month.

Verizon and MetroPCS also have launching plans in Boston for the current year using LTE technology. They will likely be offering similar services. MetroPCS already has a LTE-enabled phone, the Samsung Craft. Verizon is sure to follow, but their cell phone services won’t be available until they create their own LTE-enabled phone. Until then, Verizon will be releasing dongles to expand coverage. Those two LTE carriers still have a long way to go before they release “4G” services that are even comparable to the WiMAX services that Sprint and Clear are going to be … Read the rest

T-Mobile’s HSPA+ G2 “4G” Speed Is Just Another Market Ploy

Ahuva Zucker on August 19, 2010 | 38 comments

The executives of T-Mobile should be ashamed of themselves. They are playing on the ignorance of the American public. Well, in all honesty, Sprint and Clearwire are doing something similar, but at least they have better reasoning. Let me say it once and let’s make this clear: There is no 4G service in America yet. Americans can’t help it if they don’t know what 4G is if no one is going to be brave enough to come out against the marketing strategists who are duping the general population.

There are committees set up in the free world market who standardize what these universal terms mean. They decide which speed equates to which generation (the G in 3G and 4G) of mobile broadband access. The ITU, International Telecommunication Union, determines the quality of speed that defines the latest generation. They have set the 4G standard at having peak rates of 100 Mbps for mobile users/cell phone services. Carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile are throwing the word 4G around as if it has any value when in reality the 4G standard was only approved in mid-June, AFTER the EVO marketing campaign, and the broadband networks approved hadn’t then been put into use yet.

WiMAX and LTE are technologies that have had their latest versions approved, in terms of 4G speeds. These newer technologies haven’t been put into usage yet, though. Verizon and AT&T aren’t even up to marketing their speed capabilities yet, so we have yet to see which version they will advertise as which speed. Sprint and Clearwire, however, are still using their IEEE 802.16e (first generation WIMAX) connection standard, the version that wasn’t approved. IEEE 802.16m is considered 4G speed by the ITU and it will be implemented as soon as it’s done getting touched up for commercialization. It will be marketed as WiMAX 2 even though it’s the first 4G approved WiMAX and will get probably get automatically updated from most 802.16e enabled models to the m version, like the Sprint HTC EVO “4G”. So, at least from Sprint’s side they have produced an almost 4G standard that they will soon upgrade to legitimate 4G.

T-Mobile, on the other hand, has been blasphemous in calling their HSPA+ connection as running on “4G speeds”. No, their speeds are on 3GPP (later 3G) speeds and this is their latest version. They project peak speeds at 56 … Read the rest

Rural Broadband: Miles to Go Before We Sleep

Craig Dingwall on July 16, 2010 | 4 comments

As the United States recovers from the great recession, it is even more critical to focus on broadband deployment to ensure that Americans have the necessary tools to compete worldwide. This is the first of a series of articles that addresses broadband deployment, with recommendations for its improvement. This article focuses on rural broadband deployment.

Broadband allows users to reach the Internet at higher speeds than they could with traditional modems. Broadband uses data processing capabilities that compress voice, video, and data information into bits that become words, pictures, charts, graphs, or other images on computer, wireless phones, or screens. High-speed Internet access allows information downloads at significantly higher speeds than traditional modems. It also allows online access without tying up telephone lines, videoconferencing, and access to entertainment resources. Broadband access comes in several flavors, including Digital Subscriber Line (“DSL”), cable modem access, fixed and mobile wireless, satellite Internet, and Fiber to the Home (“FTTH”).

Wi-Fi, or wireless fidelity, allows Internet access by short-range signals, and it is available at thousands of hotspots around the country. WiMAX, or Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a standards-based wireless technology that provides high-throughput broadband connections over long distances. WiMAX is similar to Wi-Fi, but it permits usage over much greater distances.

Federal legislation clearly favors rural broadband deployment. Section 706 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act requires the FCC to “encourage the deployment on a reasonable and timely basis of advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans.” The Act also mandates that consumers in “rural, insular, and high‐cost areas” should have access to services and rates that are “reasonably comparable” to those in urban areas. On February 17, 2009, Congress passed the Recovery Act, which charged the FCC with developing a national broadband plan that seeks to ensure that all Americans have broadband access. In response to this Congressional mandate, the FCC recently delivered to Congress a national broadband plan for robust broadband capability for Americans with benchmarks for meeting that goal.

Broadband deployment in rural areas is critical for economic development, growth, jobs, education, tele-medicine and other data-centric services, and for the United States to remain competitive with other countries. But rural broadband deployment in the United States considerably lags broadband use in urban areas. In light of this need, Congress passed the 2008 Farm Bill, which recognized the critical need for broadband in rural areas. That law requires the FCC … Read the rest

Tiered Pricing- Where Does Mobile Money Fit?

Jeremy Kagan on July 16, 2010

“Open Buffet” and “All you can eat” plans can bring in the customers. It works for restaurants, casinos and other establishments where competition is high, and where the economics make sense as a loss-leader and/or where there is adequate margin on volume or turnover. But, with the recent announcement by AT&T that they are ending their unlimited data plans in favor of tiered pricing (i.e., pay for what you eat), it looks like they have come to learn what MNOs in the more mature mobile markets of Europe learned. Namely, that once you have captured a customer, you need to find other ways to keep them. Using unlimited data plans as the “sticky” service to keep a customer, can cause an operator to lose their shirt through service degradation, and sully their reputation with the overwhelming majority of their other customers.

Customers who use the iPhone, which is sold through AT&T in the U.S., consume seven times the bandwidth of typical mobile phones, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York, as reported by Bloomberg, But, that is not all. They also quote company sources at AT&T who say that 98 percent of their smart phone customers use less than 2 gigabytes of data a month. The Handset-Base Station Radio Network is still a limited resource, and having a lot of smart phone users can “hog up” this most precious resource for an MNO.

European MNOs learned this lesson a while ago. They offer data plans either prepaid or postpaid with varying pricing based on tiered usage and contract type. I tried a prepaid 3G data stick on one of my visits to London last year. It cost 39 GBP and included 1 GB of data with 1 GB top ups for 15 GBP. I was very happy. It was a cheaper solution than paying for daily Wi-Fi access in Starbucks or at the hotel, and I was connected everywhere. I have seen the light and I have become a believer.

European MNOs also learned another lesson early on in the mobile life cycle. That they have another resource that is generally underutilized, and that they can use to increase revenue with very little risk- their Billing System.

MNOs, and most Telcos for that matter, are exceptionally adept at tracking and charging for lots of very small events. Billing calls in One Second Increments, user authentication, fraud detection, … Read the rest

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