How fast did you want your LTE network to be? Clearwire, is betting that 100Mbps will be fast enough and today the company announced plans to launch the new network in addition to WiMax network already in place. Clearwire, a Kirkland wireless broadband company, has the capacity to offer up another option to the WiMax. Clearwire, along with AT&T and Verizon, are rolling out LTE networks and that is becoming the new standard and some networks are claiming to be as fast as a wired broadband connection. Clearwire’s testing of LTE networks in 2010 showed speeds up to 120Mbps, but experts say that is on a dedicated line with little to no other traffic, so actual speeds are going to be much lower.
4G services are popping up each month as the demand grows, but for the most part you are going to see the best 4G networks in urban areas with high populations. The planned LTE network isn’t exactly written in stone though, the company made a note along with the announcement that the deployment “is subject to additional funding”. Well, we know how that goes and all throttled smartphone users can do is cross their fingers at this point.
Other tests on LTE networks by Verizon showed some promising results, but the speeds were much lower than first thought. Verizon makes a point to explain to their customers they can expect download speeds of 5 to 12 Mbps. That isn’t exactly slow, but it is when you are comparing it to 100 to 120 Mbps. T-Mobile and AT&T have gotten 4G networks online with some good speeds. T-Mobile claims to have hit 42Mbps in Seattle, which is extreme when compared to any other place.
Clearwire announced their plans for the LTE network along with the quarterly earnings. It was not a good quarter for the company as they posted a total $911 million operating loss. $160 million of that loss came in the sales department which brought in about $322 million for the quarter. On the plus side of the report, the company posted a 31 percent gain in wholesale subscribers, which brought that total up to 7.65 million subscribers. The 7.65 million subscribers is a huge 365 percent gain from the same quarter last year. Clearwire said their plan to get LTE deployed is going to create a “change in the competitive mobile data landscape.”
