Sprint Broadband Direct Goes Offline July 31

Before You call any of the other "fixed wireless" or "satellite" internet provides Call Cox business at 520-867-7600. Cox has expanded their network immensely over the past few years and are now able to service more areas of Tucson than before.

Sprint customers have to find new Internet providers

By Jack Gillum Arizona Daily Star Tucson, Arizona | Published: 06.20.2008

After eight years, Kevin Prodromides is getting cut off.

A long-time Sprint subscriber, Prodromides signed up for the company's wireless Internet access because no one else could provide him with connectivity when he first started looking in 2000. Cable Internet wasn't available, and digital subscriber line, or DSL, service wasn't possible because his neighborhood's copper phone wires weren't built for speed. So Sprint Broadband Direct, he said, "was our only option." But last month, Sprint began notifying customers that its wireless service would end by July 31, forcing its customers in Tucson and elsewhere to find replacement connectivity.

In the termination letter to its customers, Sprint said the Federal Communications Commission reallocated the wireless spectrum in which its Internet service had been operating for new, emerging technologies. "As the result of a recent FCC action, Sprint will no longer have access to the spectrum," the letter continued.

Sprint said its Mobile Broadband wireless service, which uses cell-phone towers, was a "comparable replacement," (What NOT for Business….?) although it could be harder to share the connection and usually requires a laptop-specific card. A Sprint spokesman said there were about 12,500 Broadband Direct customers nationwide at the time it sent out its service-termination notices last month. Sprint discontinued selling the service 2001, although it kept serving those customers until now.

Prodromides began looking elsewhere and came across Simply Bits, a Tucson-based wireless Internet provider. On Thursday, the 8-year-old Sprint equipment came down at his Northwest Side home, and the new antenna went up.

Simply Bits, among other local ISPs, is hoping to pick up Sprint's customer base.

After learning that Sprint was dropping its wireless coverage, Simply Bits launched LifeAfterSprint.com, a way to draw customers to its own wireless service — for a rate similar to what they were paying Sprint. So far, Simply Bits has signed up more than 100 ex-Sprint customers, said Bradley Feder, a Simply Bits managing partner. Customers who hand over their service-termination letters to Simply Bits get their service locked in with a three-year contract, usually for about $45 month for Simply Bit's 1-megabit download and 384-kilobit upload speeds.

DakotaCom.Net, another Tucson-based ISP that offers DSL Internet access, is also busy signing up former Sprint clients. About 20 Sprint Broadband customers subscribed to DakotaCom.Net services in the past week alone, said Chris Phillips, vice president of sales for DakotaCom.Net.

"A lot of them are qualifying for DSL," said Phillips. He noted that many people signed on with Sprint initially because they couldn't get Qwest Communications' DSL service because of equipment limitations.DSL offers high-speed Web surfing at prices starting at about $30 a month, plus ISP fees.

DakotaCom.Net also offers a fixed-wireless Internet service starting at about $60 a month, Phillips said.

While Web surfers have more options today for Internet access — cable providers have expanded their high-speed coverage, and DSL technology has improved — there are still some who need a wireless solution because of poor infrastructure or their remote location.

â—Ź Contact Jack Gillum at 573-4178 At the AZ Daily Star

After a about a 5 year run in tucson Sprint is dumping their fixed wireless "broadband direct". The service has been plauged with problems, slow speeds and horrible bandwidth over subscription rates for the past few years.

Sprint Apparently sold their licensed frequency that they operated their Fixed wireless service in.

Personally I am glad to see the service finally die…It was not a very reliable service in most of Tucson AZ

The good news is that a lot of those that thought they could not get service any other way when they first were forced to settle with the Sprint fixed wireless solution now have other options.

Did you know that Cox communications and Cox Business has dramatically extended their network over the past few years?

If you are a Southern Arizona business being dumped by Sprint and you need new service ASAP give me a call

Keith with Cox Business 520-867-7600

I am not sure if Tucson will see any of this Nationwide WiMax project benefits but it definitely seems to be an ambitious project.

Comcast and Time Warner to bankroll WiMax joint venture

Comcast and Time Warner Cable are looking to help bankroll a new joint venture between Sprint Nextel and Clearwire to deliver 4G wireless services, according to a report in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal.

According to unnamed sources, the companies are discussing a plan to provide funding for a new wireless company that would be operated by Sprint Nextel and Clearwire. The new company would use network spectrum and assets from both companies to form a nationwide wireless network using WiMax.

Last summer, Sprint and Clearwire announced they'd be working together to build a nationwide network. In November, they terminated their agreement, but each company has said separately that it is talking to the other about ways to work together. For months, rumors have floated around that Sprint would spin off its WiMax network, known as Xohm, and combine it with Clearwire's network.

The Journal said the companies are now trying to raise $3 billion to create the joint venture. Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator, would put in about $1 billion, while Time Warner, the second largest cable operator in the country, is willing to pony up $500 million, the Journal said.

Bright House Networks, a smaller cable operator, is also supposedly in the talks and could contribute around $100 million to $200 million. Intel might be contributing $1 billion, and Google could throw in a couple of hundred million too, the article said.

For years now, the cable companies have been competing vigorously with traditional phone companies AT&T and Verizon Communications for customers. Cable operators have been eating away at phone companies' traditional phone businesses, and phone companies are starting to make inroads in certain markets with their TV services. The two groups have competed for high-speed broadband customers, too.

Wireless is the one place where cable hasn't been able to compete so far, but the cable industry has been trying to plug that hole. In late 2005, Comcast, Time Warner, Cox Communications, and Advance/Newhouse Communications announced a joint venture with Sprint Nextel to offer wireless service as part of their bundle of services.

The cable companies had hoped that they could integrate mobility into their offering to add more value to existing services like telephony, TV, and broadband. The companies started offering their bundled wireless service, called Pivot, early last year in certain markets, but by the end of the year demand was so low they stopped marketing it. Part of the problem is that nearly 80 percent of U.S. residents already subscribe to a cell phone service. And the cable operators weren't given much freedom in pricing or packaging the Pivot service to make it enticing enough for people to switch carriers.

New networks on the horizon

Meanwhile, the wireless industry is gearing up to build the next generation of networks. These so-called 4G networks will allow people to connect a wide array of consumer electronic devices to the Internet, including cell phones, PDAs, music players, gaming devices, digital cameras, and more.

AT&T and Verizon Wireless, which is owned by Verizon Communications and Vodafone, have already said they plan to use technology known as LTE (Long Term Evolution) for their 4G network. LTE has been positioned as an alternative to WiMax, but so far the technology is at least a couple of years behind WiMax in terms of development.

Sprint has placed its bet on WiMax. And the mobile operator, which is in third place in the U.S. behind AT&T and Verizon Wireless, hopes WiMax will give it a running start for the next generation of networks.

The problem is that Sprint's core cell phone business is in shambles. The 2005 merger with Nextel, which uses a completely different network technology than Sprint, is largely to blame. And the company has been bleeding customers for several quarters.

For months, analysts have criticized Sprint and its management team for focusing too much on WiMax. As a result, Sprint's new CEO, Dan Hesse, has been looking for ways to spin off Xohm, but still retain some benefit to Sprint's shareholders and to the company in general. A deal with Clearwire, a company started by wireless magnate Craig McCaw that is also building a nationwide WiMax network, seems like a perfect marriage.

Of course, the biggest hurdle is finding the money to fund such a joint venture.

This is where the cable companies come in. Cable needs to make a play in 4G wireless. And Sprint and Clearwire need the money. So it makes perfect sense for the two sides to come together.

Comcast and Time Warner signaled their intent to get into the 4G wireless market during the Federal Communications Commission's Advanced Wireless Service auction in the summer of 2006. Bidding under the name SpectrumCo, the Sprint/cable joint venture, which includes Comcast and Time Warner, agreed to pay $2.4 billion for 137 licenses in cities including New York, Boston, Washington, Detroit, and Atlanta.

The cable companies haven't specified what they plan to do with the spectrum, but like the 2.5 GHz spectrum that Sprint and Clearwire are using to build their WiMax networks, the AWS spectrum, which is in the 1.7GHz to 2.1 GHz band, is well suited for wireless broadband services, which will likely include mobile video.

Cox Communications, which is involved in Spectrum Co., has signaled that it might try to build its own wireless network in its region. In the recent FCC 700 MHz auction, the company spent $305 million on 22 spectrum licenses, mainly in its territory in the South and Southwest.

According to the Journal, Comcast and Time Warner would get equity in the new Sprint/Clearwire company in exchange for funding it. They'd also have the option to buy wholesale access to the network so they can offer their own wireless broadband service.

The Journal article said a deal is expected to be finalized by the end of the week–before Sprint and Clearwire head to Las Vegas for the big CTIA tradeshow. So stay tuned.

Cox Business garners MEF 14 certification

By Mike Robuck CedMagazine.com - April 29, 2008

Cox Business said today that it has received certification from the Metro Ethernet Forum for MEF 14.

Service providers that attain MEF 14 certification have the ability to offer quality of service (QoS) for Ethernet services, backed by service level specifications.

Cox Business, a division of Cox Communications, is currently ranked fourth among U.S. Ethernet providers, above several incumbent providers, according to Vertical Systems Group's Year-End 2007 U.S. Retail Business Ethernet share analysis.

Cox Business became the first MSO to enter the top tier of U.S. business Ethernet providers in 2007 (story here). Cox Business attributed its aggressive growth to its history of delivering Ethernet services to customers served by both fiber and hybrid fiber/coax (HFC).

"Ethernet-based services are extremely flexible and efficient, and MEF 14 certification further demonstrates Cox's commitment to this technology," said Kristine Faulkner, VP of product development and management for Cox Business. "Cox's network uniquely aligns with this preferred transport platform to offer compelling data services throughout our service areas that meet a variety of business needs."

More Broadband Direct:

• Cox buys Adify to get into online ad sales

• Comcast boosts business-class broadband speeds to 16 Mbps

• Charter boosts broadband speed in Wis. footprint

• Cox Business garners MEF 14 certification

• Verizon phasing out duplicate analog channels in Mass.

• ICTV, Camiant wrap up interactive testing

• Report: VoIP growth will be pressured by wireless

• Embarq chooses Ciena's CN 4200 to up bandwidth

• Adva products make carrier Ethernet easier

• Broadband Briefs for 4/29/08

When homes get 50-100 Mbps, a slew of high-definition content, better-quality video-sharing sites and even 3-D video will be enabled. Call it Broadband 2.0, says Wired.

Experts say this increased bandwidth — when it becomes widely available — will have a profound effect on everything from our social interactions on the web to the way we consume media.

“The YouTube philosophy is really the primary motivator here,” says Connie Chang-Hasnain, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of California at Berkeley and expert in broadband communications. “Even grandmas post things on YouTube. But, right now, the resolution is terrible and there are some very predefined limits due to bandwidth.”

All of that will change with 50 Mbps download speeds, she said, and by simply improving the sound and video quality of video streaming sites, you can dramatically change how a society learns, teaches and communicates.

“Basically, people are going to do a lot of the things they normally do today, but in a better, more satisfying, way,” says Crick Waters, co-founder of Ribbit, a Silicon Valley company that sells an internet-based telephony platform.

Waters says that first and foremost, we can expect everything to go high-definition: We’ll download HD movies from Netflix, upload HD content to YouTube, and watch more sophisticated HD content on our televisions. The added bandwidth may even spur development of extra goodies, like stereoscopic 3-D video and high-fidelity audio.

“Believe me, the minute someone puts the pipes out there, people will find a way to use them,” Waters says.
 

Comcast and Verizon have both started offering ultra-high-bandwidth services to select customers. Comcast’s new cable modem technology delivers 30-50 Mbps, while Verizon’s FiOS service delivers via optical fibers.

Both services are currently available only in relatively limited geographic areas. Earlier this month, Comcast started offering a service to some Minneapolis/St. Paul residents that features download speeds of 50 Mbps for a hefty $150 a month. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts (video tour of new building) said his company plans to expand this new service in 20 percent of the area it serves by the end of the year, as well as offer speeds in excess of 100 Mbps in two years.

Verizon currently offers FiOS in parts of 17 states. Verizon said it will offer its fiber-to-the-home services to more than 18 million people — half of the geographic area it now serves — by 2010. Meanwhile, seeing no signs that the slowing economy is crimping consumer spending, Verizon plans to raise prices on its TV service.

AT&T on Friday denied using forged reset packets to interfere with file-sharing users, as Comcast has been accused of doing with BitTorrent traffic. Comcast has admitted to delaying “excessive” peer-to-peer file-sharing traffic at “peak hours” of network congestion. Comcast has since pledged to migrate to a “protocol agnostic” network management technique by the end of the year.

Portland officials are considering a $500 million municipal fiber network.

City officials claim Comcast — Portland’s primary broadband provider — is charging too much and offering speeds too slow to compete on a national and global level.

Qwest DSL, which previously topped out at 7 mbps, is now available at 12 mpbs and 20 mbps in Portland, Vancouver, Salem, Eugene and Bend. But the faster speeds aren’t available in all parts of those cities.

Qwest’s Chief Technology Officer Pieter Poll told Telephony that VDSL2 bonding, which couples two twisted pairs, can bring speeds up to 30-40 Mbs, and may be available in 2009.

According to city studies, Portland residents pay the same monthly fees for half the internet speed as the national average. Comcast, not surprisingly, disagrees, and points to a different study (pdf). David Olson, the cable director of Portland, believes that the only way to bring fast, affordable internet access to all residents is to essentially make broadband internet a public utility (Think Out Loud, MP-3).

The SLC Tribune, which has often editorialized against Utopia, says the municipal fiber system still struggles for financial footing. But the munifiber system in The Dallas, Oregon attracted Google.

Here is Portland’s RFI for a Portland FIBER-TO-THE-PREMISES system.