4G could become a bigger part of wireless customers’ consciousness with Sprint Nextel rolling out its WiMAX 4G network in the nation’s media capital — New York City. On Monday, Sprint, in conjunction with Clearwire, announced that its next generation of wireless service is now available in the city and the nearby areas of Hartford, New Haven, New Brunswick, and Trenton.
The carrier said the new service, the first 4G offering from a national carrier, can provide wireless speeds up to 10 times faster than current 3G service.
4G in 61 Cities
To obtain those speeds, customers of course need 4G-capable handsets, of which there are currently only a few. Sprint is offering the Samsung Epic 4G and the HTC EVO 4G, as well as the Overdrive 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot for sharing the high-speed transmission with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices such as an iPad, a laptop, a camera, or a game console.
“Sprint is the first national wireless carrier to make 4G a reality for our customers,” said company President Matt Carter. He noted that, with the addition of the New York City market plus the recent addition of Tampa, Fla., the carrier now offers 4G in 61 cities, including Chicago, Baltimore and Houston. Additional markets are expected to become part of Sprint’s 4G coverage before the end of this year, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Denver and Washington, D.C.
Bill Ho, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, noted that, in raw coverage numbers, Sprint’s 4G network will be roughly equal by year’s end to the 4G LTE-based network from Verizon Wireless.
“By the end of this year,” he said, “Sprint/Clearwire intends to cover 120 million customers, while Verizon is expecting 110 million.” Ho noted that Verizon recently upped its 2010 coverage estimate by 10 million.
Different Approaches
But the big…