Sprint to build WiMax towers on Walmart stores?

[Matthew DeCarlo]

The rumor mill suggests that Sprint might be collaborating with Walmart to expand its WiMax network. The carrier plans to launch WiMax-ready handsets later this year, but coverage is still lacking. This could be remedied of course, if Sprint follows through on its reported interest of placing WiMax cells on top of every Walmart store.

An anonymous source cited by AndroidGuys claims they have been asked to determine how many stores overlap each other in a 30 to 50 mile radius. It was concluded that the plan would provide sufficient coverage for a large portion of the US, and it would cost less than erecting towers and dealing with hassles and zoning permissions.

Despite its colossal count of retail locations, I imagine affixing WiMax towers on every Walmart store would still leave plenty of gaps in coverage.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/37577-sprint-to-build-wimax-towers-on-walmart-stores.html

 

[Docnoq]

Brilliant move on Sprint's part. Sure there are a lot of areas in the mid-west that will not get coverage, but this should save them a ton of money and allow them to get coverage to the entire eastern U.S. In addition, Sprint could easily erect towers in the mid-west if they have enough customers there to warrant the construction and still save a ton of money by not having to erect any in the east.

 

[windmill007]

If Sprint pulls this off I might actually have a better image of them

 

[Vrmithrax]

This would definitely give a good solid blanket of coverage to virtually every metropolitan area, and throw some spotty coverage into rural zones near the towns large enough to have a Wal-Mart. But, that will let them do it cheap, then concentrate on actual towers to fill in the gaps - huge savings on infrastructure, for sure.

 

[tengeta]

If the maps accurate, the east half of The U.S. would have pretty good coverage.

 

[Guest]

If this is true... very smart move on Sprint.

I wonder if Verizon will try and end Walmarts "Strait Talk" services aka 45 unlimited / no contract phone service using Verizon's network.

 

[vangrat]

I wonder if we could get one of the big internet telcos like internode or iinet down here in the AU to do something similar with Woolies or Big W?

 

[Guest]

I am from the midwest and I can say there are walmart's everywhere so the coverage should be pretty good.

 

[TorturedChaos]

Guest said:
I am from the midwest and I can say there are walmart's everywhere so the coverage should be pretty good.

Yah but take a look at Montana (where I am) Wyoming, and North & South Dakot. None of those states have a hole lot of Wal*Marts. And I know Montana is rather spotty on Wal*Marts. They 120+ miles apart. Idk what the range on those towers are, especial when you get into uneven country, but I willing to bet you are not getting 120 mile radius of coverage around here.

At the same time, how much is Sprint willing to invest in low populations area's like this. Sure they stick a tower onto the Wal*Marts and the 7 or 8 larger towns that have a Wal*Mart will have coverage, and more or less the surrounding area, but that's it.

Over all the idea is very nice tho. I'm not bashing it, i'm just saying that midwest will still have spotty coverage. After taking a look at Sprint's Coverage map it would still be a nice improvement, as just about all of the the states i name are roaming or no coverage. now only 1/2 of that would be roaming.

 

[compdata]

Smart move by Walmart as well, as they get their name out there, and people would want to live close to them to get good coverage ;-)

 

[Guest]

I really hope this is true. I live in a rural community of 20k people in the Midwest. We have 3G service from Sprint and Verizon but T-Mobile won't sell here and AT&T has only 2G.

I am looking at Sprint right now and I can say without a doubt 4G + Android on a snapdragon and I am completely sold.