Sprint and LightSquared Join Forces
Sprint Nextel Corp and LightSquared Inc. are joining forces to provided Sprint users with a better high-speed wireless experience. Philip Falcone (owner of LightSquared Inc.) announced to his investors that the companies were discussing a $20 billion deal. For Falcone, this deal is very important. He is basically gambling 60% of his trust fund on this project. But if this pays off like Falcone is expecting, it will have been worth the risk. Investors are excited about the deal with sprint. They were quoted, "It's a step in the right direction given all the uncertainty around this investment."
Investors are referring to the challenge that Falcone laid out regarding Verizon Wireless and ATT about networks and rivaling their wireless networks.
The plan is that Sprint and LightSquared will jointly develop the 4G LTE network. Obviously since Sprint is helping to develop the network they are going to be the main customer of the 4G LTE network.
For Sprint this is a BIG deal. If they are able to build up this 4G LTE network, then Sprint, who is currently the third largest US wireless company, will be even better suited to keep up/surpass ATT. The hope with this merger with LightSquared is that it will lessen the load on Sprints current data servers. Many sprint customers may be finding their data running a bit slower than they like (something most of us can relate too) this is due to the high volume of data usage on the Sprint Network. Which is most likely due to Sprints Unlimited Data plans (which in the humble opinion of this writer is freaking sweet and is something that carriers like ATT should really look in to)
There is still some work to be done both by Sprint and by LightSquared Inc. For instance, there is a study due to release around July 1 about whether or not this new system would interfere with global-positioning systems. But if they can iron out the issues, this could mean much better network speeds for Sprint users.
Source: Fiercewireless
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So, who is going to buy a Evo3D now that you know sprint is going LTE? What does this mean for WiMax and ClearWire?
Man, that phone looks sick but if its going to be worthless for 4g LTE. What’s the point in getting it. It’s not like they can just do a software update for it. Great thinking Sprint.
i would imagine that by the time this rolls out 3vo will be replaced by a different phone or the 3vo updaters will be up for renewal
@hidaya,
My thoughts exactly. I dont think this is a “RIGHT NOW” type of thing. They are going to “BUILD IT TOGETHER” so I think nothing is fully “there” yet…
Anyways, in wishful thinking… wouldnt it be nice if SPRINT at least gave a discount to those that have the current WiMax phones for an UPGRADE? Heck, im down for that.. Have 2 “4G” phones with SPRINT. Would suck to loose that service and be FORCED to buy a different device due to the network. But I know SPRINT tries to keep customers happy.. so, here is to wishful thinking… jejeje
umm..whats there to build again? its a satellite in space..
Perhaps they’ll keep WiMax deal with Clearwire, thus anywhere that Clearwire has 4g, Sprint customers with WiMax phones can use it. Otherwise, why are we paying an extra $10 for current 4g phones where there is no 4g?
oh people its not 4g lte its evdo rev b or do advance for 3g upgrade then 4g lte that there doing with lightsquare multimode and the wierd part its for only 4 devices that will work evo 4g evo3d nexus s 4g epic 4g photon and overdrive pro u600 and evo shift and maybe the other hotspot but forgot the name of it 3g/4g devices mostly and the part im worried about if the cap the evo rev b to 4.9mps down i hope not hope they get 9mps down version if it do advance then evo 3d and photon only works with that network
I’m just going out on a limb here, but what if they had CDMA/WiMAX/LTE combo devices? If one turns out to be obsolete or a bad choice, they’ve got a fallback.
- 2 Bunny
So…………basically……………I wont be getting a new phone until Sprint ACTUALLY does something with LTE/4G!
until this deal goes through and that my 3G starts going faster than 250k on a consistent basis again then they will have to keep crediting my account. im paying for 3G data not for EDGE or dialup.
Dude, how long do you guys hang onto your phones for anyways? By the time they decide and implement this we will be 2-3 generations in the future. Ya really gonna hold off that long to replace that POS smartphone you are rocking now? Seriously…