What Happened to WiMAX? - Free Internet for All?? What FreedomPop Does.

So, Clearwire partnered with Sprint and built a WiMAX network. There was a time, a bright beautiful time a few years ago, when it looked like Sprint might build a grand alliance around WiMAX including Comcast, DirecTV, and Clearwire. But it all fell apart, and today Sprint and Clearwire are no longer on speaking terms. Best laid plans of mice and men and all.

So, what happens to all that 4G? Well - one option is NetZero, who is also buying from Clearwire. 

But now there is a new startup - FreedomPop. They have a new business plan: give away (some) data, and sell a bunch of extra stuff. They are also going after the iPhone specifically, which is interesting because it doesn't have a WiMAX radio. Instead, they give you a case (kind of like the Peel which was available on Sprint for a while) which has the radio built in. 

But... here's the downside. Or two downsides. 

First - there is no voice plan, so you can probably make calls over VOIP, but having a regular number etc is going to be a lot trickier (i.e. you are going to have to buy a SIM card & plan from T-Mobile or AT&T). 

Second - I have a WiMAX phone. Probably one of the few people in the US who has used one. Well, maybe not few because 4G has been a big hit for Sprint what with their cheap unlimited plans and all (and it really is an unlimited plan - I ran it as my home network for a month including Netflix, and Sprint don't care). And the reality is this: Clearwire's WiMAX network sucks.

1) It doesn't go into buildings. The WiMAX tower is right next to my house. I go to school 1.5 miles away. I have 4G on campus... until I go into a building. Then it's back to 3G. Seriously, as soon as I go inside. Everyone knew this was a problem with WiMAX and the bandwidth used, but I didn't realize just how easy it was to lose the signal.

2) Coverage is sparse. There are a few places I care about which are covered which is great.. but most places are not. Again - I think this is related to the range/indoors issue (when do you need 4G outside? You only really need 4G when you are heavily using the internet, not just texting, looking at an app, or emailing.)

3) There is no 3G backup. What I love about Sprint is that I get access to Verizon's 3G network - which covers just about everything. If I just had clearwire's 4G... yeah... that's not even an option. 

Basically - AT&T sucks and that is the only reason you would screw around with a crappy 3rd party network provider which requires you to have a totally separate account just to have 1GB of free data. 

Just get Sprint for gawds sake.