Ah, yes, Nextel. I had a Nextel phone at one time. I remember Nextel having 3 big things that customers liked:
- 900 MHz worked everywhere - lots of dealers in small towns catering to small businesses - push to talk In that order of importance. Sprint bought them, looked at that list, and all they saw was “push to talk”. Figured they could move everyone to the Sprint network and Sprint phones if they added a PTT feature (which we never used). Coverage sucked, so I switched to AT&T. Coverage still lacking. Switched to Verizon. I’m amazed that T-Mobile is giving Verizon a run for their money or even exceeding them with rural coverage. Amazing what you can do by building towers and pricing aggressively. I keep wondering where DISH 5G is supposed to fit in all this. Who is saying gee, I wish DISH would offer mobile phone service, I’d jump right on that. From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com> On Behalf Of Cameron Crum Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2024 11:30 AM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <af@af.afmug.com> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] defunct WISPs There was also Metricom (Ricochet) in the early 2000s. They used those General Dynamics Radios with the little helical omnis that stuck off the bottom and deployed on mostly light poles. I had their service when I lived in an apartment briefly and needed more than my dialup connection that operated at 26k at best. I got 128k and thought I was in heaven, then they shut it down. I also had a Clear Modem I used to take to the trade shows and typically had faster service than the crowded crappy wifi they had back 10 years ago. Then they shut that down. I also switched from Sprint to Nextel after they refused to sell me a new phone at new customer pricing. At the time my cell phone bills were over $600/month and they let me walk out of their store in order to stick to their pricing plans on a phone. Then Sprint bought Nextel about 6 months later. I guess the take away here is that I'm a curse to these companies. On Tue, Sep 24, 2024 at 8:59 AM Bill Prince <part15...@gmail.com <mailto:part15...@gmail.com> > wrote: McCaw took home 70% of the venture capital. bp <part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com> On 9/23/2024 2:21 PM, Robert wrote: Clearwire, from the same roots as the original cell network in the NW. Craig McCaw. Clearwire was bumping along until they "teamed up" with Intel to do the next gen wimax miracle that was going to be revolutionary. Dropped an IPO with Intel as the lead investor and hyped the stock for a year and piled on another few billion in debt and then when all the common investors lost their ass fire sale the spectrum to spring. Even Intel got screwed. But not McCaw... 70 percent penetration through trees? On 9/23/24 1:47 PM, Forrest Christian (List Account) wrote: Works 70% of the time? On Mon, Sep 23, 2024, 11:12 AM <ch...@go-mtc.com <mailto:ch...@go-mtc.com> > wrote: Ahhh, yes, that is is. I remembered sprint being involved somehow. Wimax 70 miles, 70 mbps and there was a third 70 but I don’t remember the promise. Best Regards, Chuck McCown McCown Technology Corporation 8401 N Commerce Drive <https://www.google.com/maps/search/8401+N+Commerce+%0D%0ADrive+Lake+Point,+Utah+84074?entry=gmail&source=g> Lake Point, Utah 84074 <https://www.google.com/maps/search/8401+N+Commerce+%0D%0ADrive+Lake+Point,+Utah+84074?entry=gmail&source=g> 801-250-9503 Office 435-830-4306 Cell www mccowntech.com <http://mccowntech.com> www.microtrench.pro <http://www.microtrench.pro> www.terabitnetworks.com <http://www.terabitnetworks.com> From: Mike Hammett Sent: Monday, September 23, 2024 11:05 AM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group Subject: Re: [AFMUG] defunct WISPs Clearwire didn't disappear. Sprint bought them in 2012. The WiMax network was shut down in 2015 in favor of Sprint's LTE network. ----- Mike Hammett <http://www.ics-il.com/> Intelligent Computing Solutions <https://www.facebook.com/ICSIL> <https://plus.google.com/+IntelligentComputingSolutionsDeKalb> <https://www.linkedin.com/company/intelligent-computing-solutions> <https://twitter.com/ICSIL> <http://www.midwest-ix.com/> Midwest Internet Exchange <https://www.facebook.com/mdwestix> <https://www.linkedin.com/company/midwest-internet-exchange> <https://twitter.com/mdwestix> <http://www.thebrotherswisp.com/> The Brothers WISP <https://www.facebook.com/thebrotherswisp> <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXSdfxQv7SpoRQYNyLwntZg> _____ From: dmmoff...@gmail.com <mailto:dmmoff...@gmail.com> To: "AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group" <af@af.afmug.com <mailto:af@af.afmug.com> > Sent: Monday, September 23, 2024 11:53:04 AM Subject: Re: [AFMUG] defunct WISPs I recall Clearwire installing Wimax nationwide. At some point they switched it all to LTE, and then later they disappeared. We got a couple of their undeployed cabinets from a surplus dealer. I didn’t like their switch or their PDU, but the rectifier and batteries were ok. -Adam From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com <mailto:af-boun...@af.afmug.com> > On Behalf Of Ken Hohhof Sent: Monday, September 23, 2024 11:27 AM To: 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group' <af@af.afmug.com <mailto:af@af.afmug.com> > Subject: [AFMUG] defunct WISPs I remember around the time JAB/Rise was taking off there was a flurry of other WISPs that took off and then crashed and burned rather suddenly. I think at least one of them used WiMAX equipment that was somewhat popular with apartment dwellers because they had indoor modems. I also seem to remember equipment vendors left holding the bag, and surplus equipment showing up on eBay. I think one of them approached us about M&A but they were offering stock claiming that was better than cash because it would go up in value (yeah, right). Anyone remember the names of these companies, I’m drawing a blank. Also any recollection of what went wrong and lessons learned that might apply to the current rush to deploy broadand. -- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com <mailto:AF@af.afmug.com> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com _____ -- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com <mailto:AF@af.afmug.com> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com <mailto:AF@af.afmug.com> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com -- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com <mailto:AF@af.afmug.com> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
-- AF mailing list AF@af.afmug.com http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
