Quote:
Originally Posted by WisdomWolfX
I hate the advertised speeds that they use for comparison. AT&T sees no where near 7.2mbps in real world use and I'm sure that same can be said for HSPA+'s 21mbps. If you want to talk theoretical MAX speeds, Sprint's Wimax is capable of over 70mbps down and Verizon's LTE is capable of 300mbps. 21mpbs? 
Also, I may be wrong, but I believe HSPA+ still requires new devices, so they are on the same level as Sprint. Difference is that Sprint's Wimax network is ALREADY HERE with continued rollouts going on all the time. Also, Sprint is expected to announce the first wimax handset next week so we can only speculate at what it is or it's release date until then.
I am not saying that T-mobile is making big, important, and much needed strides. I'm just saying that they will have some stiff competition with true next gen technology from the "inferior" CDMA carriers.  |
No, incorrect. Any T-Mobile 3G device will work on the new network. It's fully backwards compatible with regular HSPA. So no, you don't need special devices to take advantage of it. If you want a good example of this, AT&T recently upgraded from 3.6 to 7.3 meg HSPA, and all the same devices work. Similar to when Sprint upgraded from EVDO rev 0 to EVDO rev A. Yes, the device has to support the higher speed, but it will still work at the older speed. And it is far easier to get devioce support within the same, existing technology (faster HSPA) than an entirely different technology (WiMax).
And we're talking about a nationwide rollout within the next few months.
As for 4G, T-Mobile has already made it clear they will have a 4G rollout nationwide no later than the other big carriers. The only question is are they rolling out LTE or are they buying Clearwire (which is where the rumors that they were buying Sprint started).
But make no mistake about it- in a fe wmonths T-Mobile will have a nationwide network pulling real world speeds that rival Sprint's 4G, with all kinds of devices that support it. And they will also be in the midst of rolling out a nationwide 4G network at that time (or maybe even buying an existing 4G network).