EPS
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA
| Sprint, or Clearwire?
One wonders which ideology will prevail here- from what I've heard (never had the service) Clearwire is known for restrictions on broadband access the likes of which are rarely seen outside of Canada, worse than US companies like Comcast. Sprint (never had them either) is known for having consumer-friendly policies like "unlimited is actually unlimited", though they have crappy reputations in other things... "The new" Clearwire is 51% Sprint-owned, but my guess it'll just stay in its current route- corporate inertia is a powerful thing.
By the way, I wonder if Clearwire has changed its logo- I've seen a different one on some other sites, which has some circular thing, and without the missing line in the letter i. |
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hottboiinnc
Kyle
join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH
 ·Time Warner VOIP
 ·1and1
| The biggest investor of this new company is Comcast and TWC combined. Sprint can own 51% but in the end its who brought the most money. Piss them off and watch the money walk. Clearwire has different logos all over the place i've seen but their main one is the missing "i" that they've always used. |
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desreversti
join:2002-09-03
San Antonio, TX
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to EPS
I also do hope that Sprint's consumer-friendly data policies do transfer over. One of my current roommates had Clearwire when he lived in Copperas Cove, TX. Although it started off decently, the speeds started to plummet drastically after the first month and the connection constantly dropped. Hopefully those problems won't exist in the "new" Clearwire, but I'm not raising my hopes. |
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hottboiinnc
Kyle
join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH
·Time Warner VOIP
·1and1
| the thing is now they have money from the two largest cable companies and access to a TON of fiber for backhaul and to the 'net. Speeds should not be a problem since with TWC they still have access to Level3, and the ADTN (AOL Network), and Comcast as their own peering network. Speeds should be great with the new money and the backhaul without a problem.
But Bit and P2P will have a clause in the AUP/TOS you can bet on that. |
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xenophon
join:2007-09-17
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
edit:
May 7th, @02:25PM
| reply to hottboiinnc
said by hottboiinnc  :The biggest investor of this new company is Comcast and TWC combined. Sprint can own 51% but in the end its who brought the most money. Um, Sprint's piece is multi-$B worth of spectrum that Clearwire didn't have and the whole Xohm unit. Sprint owns the bulk of the assets. Sprint's overall contribution is likely over 51%. |
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tc1uscg
join:2005-03-09
Saint Clair Shores, MI
·Comcast
·WOW Internet and C..
 ·VoiceEclipse
| reply to hottboiinnc
Don't forget backhaul to the tower is one of the holdups. T1's to the tower can't handle the load for the speeds promised. Microwave will not only bypass this hurdle, but avoid costs for access charges, something that will drive down VZ AND AT&T's earnings even more. Sprint already has lots of backbone to handle the load and speed, it's the last mile that will cause the speed bump. That appears to have been a issue since the planning stages of WiMAX. |
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hottboiinnc
Kyle
join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH | reply to xenophon
they may have the spectrum and the whole Xohm unit but remember Sprint is the one that didnt have the $$$ to start off with to make it any further. Pull TWC and Comcast and Sprint will be begging someone else for more money. |
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hottboiinnc
Kyle
join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH
·Time Warner VOIP
·1and1
| reply to tc1uscg
Clearwire already uses Microwave at many of their locations. but it can only handle so much. But with TWC and Comcast they can drop fiber direct to the tower and avoid costs to all LECs no matter who it is. The key to this would be to make a good share of the network hard wired and all go into those locations where Fiber is not an option direct to the Tower by microwave with that the network should not have a problem.
But with the microwave- it only goes so far as well. Especially when Clearwire's service is so spread out. |
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EPS
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA
| Yes, TWC and Comcast fiber is a big benefit here... Sprint's nationwide wired network is nothing to dismiss lightly, but in a lot of areas where TWC and Comcast are the local cable company this will make the new Clearwire's life that much easier.
...and a hit for the telcos- one wonders how much they get from Sprint for T1 lines to their cell sites, which could now be replaced with cableco lines. |
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xenophon
join:2007-09-17
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
| reply to hottboiinnc
Correct, Sprint couldn't fund 100% of the rollout, but they probably contributed more than 51%. It is incorrect to state that Comcast/TWC had the largest contribution. It is however fair to say that all of the players allow the rollout to continue as Sprint couldn't do it themselves. |
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EPS
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA
| The 51% is the amount of the new Clearwire that Sprint will own, coming with it a controlling number of seats of the new company's board.
Actually, Comcast/TWC/Google/etc. will only own less than a quarter of the company. From what I've seen of the breakup, it goes something like this:
51% - Sprint
27% - CLWR shareholders
22% - Everyone else |
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hottboiinnc
Kyle
join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH
·Time Warner VOIP
·1and1
| reply to xenophon
without TWC or comcast or even Brighthouse this project wouldnt be going anywhere. Clearwire cant do it. their funding is limited and are were not planning any new cities until this project. Google is only in for the stock and to get more people on Google Apps.
So it is fair to say without CC and TWC this would not have the cash. They gave the most in cash. Sprint just gave what they already had. a network that could not operate and a brand name that won't be kept that they spent $$$$$ on getting out. Without the $$$$ to get the network rolling you have nothing. You need the $$$$ to make it work-even if you had the spectrum and tower sites and all the equipment. |
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hottboiinnc
Kyle
join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH | reply to EPS
Sprint already uses cable co lines. They have a deal in this area with TWC. TWC uses them for Digital Phone they use TWC for fiber. |
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patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY | reply to hottboiinnc
Sprint is a Tier 1, TWC and Comcast aren't, so if your looking for cheap bandwidth for the new Clearwire, goto Sprint. |
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rawgerz
In Debt we trust
Premium
join:2004-10-03
Grove City, PA | reply to tc1uscg
Microwave? Are you saying they're going to use the ISM band to backhaul towers? |
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patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
| reply to EPS
said by EPS :...and a hit for the telcos- one wonders how much they get from Sprint for T1 lines to their cell sites, which could now be replaced with cableco lines. From the PR releases, the Cable Coes wont have anything to do with Sprint except with Sprint EVDO/Sprint Voice being a backup and filling in coverage gaps with new clearwire (implying there will be dual mode Sprint CDMA/Clearwire WiMAX handsets branded for Cable Cos). I havn't seen any formal cooperation to improve Sprint CDMA network with cable cos, but Sprint has done backhaul by cable cos before
»cellularpcs.com/gallery/displayi···&pos=221 |
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EPS
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA
| reply to patcat88
Tier one doesn't mean you have easy fiber access in all areas, though.
For example, here is a map of the tier 1 AOL Transit Data Network (ATDN's website is hilariously outdated, so it may have changed since 2003): »www.atdn.net/images/usa.gif |
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hottboiinnc
Kyle
join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH
·Time Warner VOIP
·1and1
| reply to patcat88
the deals with TWC being at Sprint cell sites was an agreement well before this. Several years ago in fact when TWC started rolling out Digital Phone. And well before Clearwire is where they're are today. Everyone here bases things off the news articles and PR pages for things that happened even 2 years ago which you're not going to find in a PR that was written for a totally different product say--even 2 days ago. |
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hottboiinnc
Kyle
join:2003-10-15
Toledo, OH
·Time Warner VOIP
·1and1
| reply to patcat88
Just because TWC and CC arent global doesnt mean their not a Tier1 provider in the US. they own their own network; most of their traffic stays on their network. you can easily get a fiber connection from TWC or Comcast and only take a couple hops to the Internet to where you're going.
You don't need a global network to be tier1. |
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patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
| TWC and CC dont serve datacenters, and they don't have commercial web hosting on them, and you can't buy their bandwidth in peering hotels, and they don't sell bandwidth on 95th percentile, and even Comcast admits, and personally I've seen on traceroutes on TWC, that CC and TWC don't even link their own markets together on their internal network, I see stuff go out on my TWC modem, go onto Level 3, then onto another TWC modem in a different market. |
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