Home › News ›

Nonprofits Convince Judge to Delay Sprint's WiMAX Shutdown

Nov 5, 2015, 3:25 PM by Eric M. Zeman

Mobile Citizens, a not-for-profit organization that provides free and low-cost internet service to schools, has won an injunction preventing Sprint from shutting down its WiMax network. Sprint had planned to cease operating WiMax on Nov. 6. Mobile Citizens and other groups, however, had existing wholesale contracts with Clearwire, which Sprint acquired in 2013. Sprint says it tried to work the organizations to switch them to LTE, but the organizations allege Sprint is seeking unreasonable new terms. A Massachusetts-based judge believes some at-need consumers may be harmed if the shutdown is allowed to proceed and issued a 90-day stay. "The injunction compels Sprint to honor its professed commitment to closing the digital divide," said Mobile Citizen founder John Schwartz in a statement. "It's unfortunate it took a court order to stop Sprint from shutting off 300,000 children, families, teachers and community members from access to the American dream. But we look forward to moving ahead positively with Sprint and ensuring that everyone in our community can keep the service they rely on to connect to the larger world around them." The injunction gives the organizations more time to move customers from WiMax to LTE. Sprint did not immediately offer comment.

Re/code »

Related

iPhone 14 Plus Offers a Big Screen For Less

Sep 7, 2022
Apple has revealed the iPhone 14 series, with new features, improved specs, and new size options. In place of a Mini option, the iPhone 14 will come in the same 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch screen size options as the Pro models.

Samsung Galaxy A53 Coming to US in Two Weeks

Mar 17, 2022
Samsung today fleshed out more of its 2022 lineup of affordable Galaxy A-series phones. The new Galaxy A73, A53, and A33 are nearly identical in design and features, differing only in a few display and camera specs.

Cox Launches Cox Mobile

Jan 5, 2023
Cable company Cox has formally launched its mobile service, Cox Mobile. Like Comcast's Xfinity Mobile, Cox Mobile is only available to customers of Cox home internet service.

Verizon, AT&T Moving Forward with C-Band 5G Launch This Week Over FAA Objection

Jan 2, 2022
Verizon and AT&T this morning refused a request by federal transportation officials to delay this week's planned launch of 5G service in the critical new C Band. [Update: By evening, the two companies agreed to a two-week delay.] The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) insists that the service could potentially interfere with radio altimeters that planes use to measure distance to the ground in poor weather.

AT&T, Verizon Postpone C-Band 5G Launch by Another Two Weeks

Jan 3, 2022
After initially rejecting the FAA's last-minute request to delay the launch of 5G in the C Band, the two carriers have now agreed to another two-week delay, following an earlier one-month delay. The services will now launch in mid-January.

more news about:

Comments

This forum is closed.

This forum is closed.

Versed

Nov 5, 2015, 6:47 PM

Think of the Children!

These guys have a sense of self entitlement, while not a big fan of Sprint, they do have the right to run their own spectrum, there has been warning for well over a year. And I have a knee jerk reaction against groups who play the "think of the children" card.

1. These are public schools, they should be providing internet access. Most have agreements with cable companies that went along with the franchise for the town or city.

2. Wimax is slow, OK its better then EVDO, but in its current form, is way behind LTE, even Sprints LTE in its not Spark Zones.

phonefreak87

Totally agree with you on all this. Why would you want to run on a network that is slower than the current network that Sprint has been releasing.i hate when i do drop down to 3g even though i get very good lte signal there are a few spots on my way h...
(continues)

Page 1 of 1