4G hasn't been standardized yet (according to current draft ITU specs, neither WiMAX nor LTE are technically 4G), it'd be fairer to say they were required to roll out broadband on those frequencies.
WiMAX is one of several technologies Sprint investigated, another being UMTS-TDD. The latter would have fit neatly into a transition to LTE. They picked WiMAX despite the overwhelming evidence that it was always going to be an also-ran technology for everything other than point-to-point FLoS ISPs.
I'm saying Sprint should break itself up. You seem to be missing the point of my comment, believing my suggestion is that Sprint should continue to exist in some way. I don't think it has any viability at this point. It has a history of myopic management which has always been more interested in marketing than putting together a solid network, and has infrastructure that can only be made to work as part of different environment. The iDEN network would sing if given to a GSM operator prepared to integrate it into their networks. Verizon has proven they can make CDMA2000 work, in part because they have the dual band capabilities that makes it easier to provide indoor coverage without "breathing" causing indoor users to get a second class experience during periods of peak usage.
What you end up with by divesting those two networks are happy customers of the CDMA2000 and iDEN networks, money to put into Clearwire to give it the resources to transition to LTE when the time is right, and a way to avoid certain bankruptcy.
Oh, and I never said iDEN and GSM are compatible (indeed, I implied the exact opposite several times), and I most certainly did not make any claim based on their air interfaces - which while TDMA are nonetheless entirely different and designed with different philosophies. I said SPECIFICALLY that their backends are compatible. Which is true. Motorola didn't re-invent the wheel. From Wikipedia:
> The interconnect-side of the iDEN network uses GSM signalling for call set-up and mobility management, with the Abis protocol stack modified to support iDEN's additional features. Motorola has named this modified stack 'Mobis'.
iDEN fits extremely well into GSM networks. In theory at least an iDEN user can switch from GSM to iDEN and vice versa (if using a compatible dual-stack phone) mid-call without interruption. It never made sense to me for a company like Sprint to buy them, except as part of an eventual move to GSM, but Sprint management's blind hatred of the latter (or perhaps recognition that choosing a GSM technology would mean admitting that their previous choices might have been less than sane) meant that was never on the table, and almost certainly explains the rejection of UMTS-TDD.
“The other one is a biggie, and it's something very noticeable in the videos: touch sensitivity is pretty bad. Using the virtual keyboard proved to be far too painful, and we're pretty sure it wasn't multitouch-friendly.”
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
4G hasn't been standardized yet (according to current draft ITU specs, neither WiMAX nor LTE are technically 4G), it'd be fairer to say they were required to roll out broadband on those frequencies.
WiMAX is one of several technologies Sprint investigated, another being UMTS-TDD. The latter would have fit neatly into a transition to LTE. They picked WiMAX despite the overwhelming evidence that it was always going to be an also-ran technology for everything other than point-to-point FLoS ISPs.
I'm saying Sprint should break itself up. You seem to be missing the point of my comment, believing my suggestion is that Sprint should continue to exist in some way. I don't think it has any viability at this point. It has a history of myopic management which has always been more interested in marketing than putting together a solid network, and has infrastructure that can only be made to work as part of different environment. The iDEN network would sing if given to a GSM operator prepared to integrate it into their networks. Verizon has proven they can make CDMA2000 work, in part because they have the dual band capabilities that makes it easier to provide indoor coverage without "breathing" causing indoor users to get a second class experience during periods of peak usage.
What you end up with by divesting those two networks are happy customers of the CDMA2000 and iDEN networks, money to put into Clearwire to give it the resources to transition to LTE when the time is right, and a way to avoid certain bankruptcy.
Oh, and I never said iDEN and GSM are compatible (indeed, I implied the exact opposite several times), and I most certainly did not make any claim based on their air interfaces - which while TDMA are nonetheless entirely different and designed with different philosophies. I said SPECIFICALLY that their backends are compatible. Which is true. Motorola didn't re-invent the wheel. From Wikipedia:
> The interconnect-side of the iDEN network uses GSM signalling for call set-up and mobility management, with the Abis protocol stack modified to support iDEN's additional features. Motorola has named this modified stack 'Mobis'.
iDEN fits extremely well into GSM networks. In theory at least an iDEN user can switch from GSM to iDEN and vice versa (if using a compatible dual-stack phone) mid-call without interruption. It never made sense to me for a company like Sprint to buy them, except as part of an eventual move to GSM, but Sprint management's blind hatred of the latter (or perhaps recognition that choosing a GSM technology would mean admitting that their previous choices might have been less than sane) meant that was never on the table, and almost certainly explains the rejection of UMTS-TDD.