Mobile WiMAX: Sprint's Status And Personal Testing Aspirations

WiMAX, specifically the 802.16e ‘mobile’ variant, has gotten lots of play in EDN so far this year both by yours truly and others on staff. As such, I thought you might be interested in reading some hands-on impressions of Sprint’s recently-launched XOHM service (which I discussed in detail in a late-February feature article):

• Sprint’s Xohm WiMax Network Debuts In Baltimore, Works Well
• Hands-on with Sprint’s Xohm network in Baltimore: Does WiMax deliver?

When the worst thing a reviewer can critique about a technology is that its implementer isn’t rolling out service fast enough, I’d say that’s a pretty solid endorsement! With that said, I agree that Sprint and its partners have only a few-year window of opportunity to establish robust coast-to-coast WiMAX before LTE (widely endorsed by competitive cellular carriers) also ramps into the marketplace. But even if WiMAX’s domestic future is uncertain, the technology’s fortunes seem much more robust from an international standpoint.

As many of you may already be aware, Sprint plans to merge its WiMAX service with that of Clearwire, in partnership with a host of heavy-hitting corporate investors… Intel, Google, Comcast, Time Warner, and Bright House. As such, I recently became aware that Clearwire’s had WiMAX service (albeit not the ‘e’ flavour) running in nearby Reno for a while now. It’s unclear why the InfoWorld journalist attempted to test a non-mobile WiMAX infrastructure from a moving car (or, for that matter, from locations where WiMAX service was not yet operational, such as Sacramento and Sonoma), but I digress…(sigh)

Anyhoo, I reached out to Clearwire PR rep Susan Johnston to ask if I might also be able to do a review of the service. Here’s her response:

We appreciate your interest in WiMAX - I would like to clarify that Clearwire does not provide mobile WiMAX service in Reno. Instead, we currently offer our pre-WiMAX service in 46 markets throughout the U.S., including Reno. Our first mobile WiMAX markets will be in Portland, Oregon along with Las Vegas, Atlanta and Grand Rapids Michigan. We expect to upgrade the bulk of our existing pre-WiMAX markets - such as Reno - to WiMAX by the end of 2009.

When I replied with an indication that I realized service was ‘pre’, that I therefore wouldn’t be testing it in mobile usage environments, and that she could trust my technical competence to ensure that my review would comprehend the current service’s capability boundary conditions, here’s what I got back.

We’re really focused on promoting mobile WiMAX going forward – our existing pre-WiMAX service is very different. It’s a proprietary technology that’s based on Motorola’s Expedience platform (versus a standards-based technology); it doesn’t support an open network of devices and applications; and the speeds are comparable to DSL (versus 4G) I’ll include your contact info in my files and get in touch with you when we launch mobile WiMAX in Reno. Thanks again for your interest!

I’m disappointed, but I can’t say that I blame her. It’s got to be frustrating when non-technical press representatives do a review and unfairly ‘ding’ you for ridiculous ’shortcomings’ that the service was never promoted as being capable of in the first place, and when the flawed testing ‘conclusions’ subsequently get picked up by other non-technical ‘media’ outlets.

Stay tuned for my review of Clearwire’s upgrade of Reno’s WiMAX service, hopefully within the year.