WiMax is going to be crazy crazy super fast. No doubt about it. It’s going to be the future of wireless internet services in this country. It makes sense that a carrier like Sprint is carrying the torch for WiMax (branded Xohm) as the future.
Let’s ponder the problem of WiMax, though, and what’s delaying things for Sprint.
Although the No. 3 carrier has soft launched its Xohm service and is reporting progress on the development of the larger WiMAX ecosystem, this latest delay has caught the attention of analysts, who are increasingly dubious about Sprint Nextel’s future overall.
“When Sprint comes out and says we’re having problems with backhaul … you have to step back and say ‘wow, why didn’t you think of this ahead of time?’” said Peter Jarich, a principal analyst at Current Analysis, who’s been critical of Sprint Nextel and its technology choice in the past.
“They’re sort of the face of WiMAX. If things don’t go well, what does it say about the technology?’” he added. However, Jarich did give Sprint Nextel points for being straight forward on the issues, rather than keeping everything close to its chest. A wise move for a company that’s been blamed for the poor financial performance of many companies in the past couple weeks, he said.
“Sprint’s got other problems and I think people recognize that,” Jarich said.
Fiber, microwave options
Doug Smith, chief technical operations officer for Xohm, said complexities surrounding zoning and leasing are affecting how quickly Sprint can secure sufficient backhaul since T1 lines, which have traditionally been used by the wireless industry for backhaul, won’t meet the need.
“Imagine throttling a fire hose down to a garden hose,” Smith wrote in response to questions.
Translation:
The speed from your device to the receiver of the network should be great. Insanely fast.
But that receiver is hooked up to a few T-1 lines at 1.5 megabits.
Each individual WiMax device maxes out at…
Are you ready for this one?
70 megabits.
PER DEVICE.
That would require 47 T-1 lines to run ONE user’s full-speed internet connection.
Obviously you see the problem.
The question is, why didn’t Sprint see this before the rollout started?