A battle between two rival technologies offering high-speed wireless Internet service has taken a step forward with an announcement by Sprint Nextel. The firm is beginning a nationwide rollout using the WiMax system, meaning the opposing Long Term Evolution (LTE) system will significantly lag behind.

Sprint is the majority owner of Clearwire, a firm aiming to bring WiMax to most cities. After apparently successful trials in Baltimore last year, it plans to cover 80 markets by the end of next year. Las Vegas, Chicago and Philadelphia are scheduled for 2009 coverage, though some major markets such as Washington DC, New York and San Francisco won’t be ready until 2010.

The firm is also planning to widen its range of devices which can access the technology, including laptops which come with connectivity built-in. It already offers a dual-system modem which avoid the need to get separate equipment for WiMax and existing 3G networks.

The schedule will give WiMax a much better chance of establishing a lead over the LTE system. That’s important as LTE seemingly has some advantages in head-to-head comparisons. It’s backed by more companies, including Verizon, and the theory is that users would get between 5MBps and 10MBps connection speed. Existing WiMax customers have generally got between 2MBps and 4MBps.

At the moment, it seems the best LTE backers can hope is that the system will be ready for testing in a couple of markets this year. It will be next year at least before it’s ready for commercial use and it could be 2012 before it hits major cities.

The main hope for the LTE camp is that potential customers will be deterred by the cost of WiMax equipment: Sprint’s dual-system modem costs $79.99. Once LTE is up and running, its wider range of partners means equipment should be much cheaper.

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Entry was posted on Thursday, March 26th, 2009 at 2:34 pm under Internet, Technology, Wi-Fi.

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