Sprint and Walmart to team up on WiMAX?

Rumor

Walmart-store

An interesting rumor making the rounds suggests that Sprint may be leveraging the distribution of Walmart’s 4,200 retail stores to expand its WiMAX footprint. According to the unconfirmed rumor, Sprint would place a WiMAX tower at Walmart locations across the U.S. as a means of easily and inexpensively deploying new towers. No word on whether Walmart is merely giving permission for the towers of is actively investing in the venture. Interestingly enough, the Walmart idea is not new and harkens back to a similar proposal put forth by Bob Cringely six years ago. Is this just an old idea resurfacing as a new rumor or will you really be able to get some WiMAX at Wally World later this year?

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35 Comments
  • StevenGlansburg

    I find it ironic/funny that Sprint who is heavily invested in the Nascar world is partnering up with Walmart. It seems fitting really

    • iFloss

      ROFLMFAO!!!! Nice one.

      And maybe I’m mistaken but isn’t walmart one of the investors on clearwire/sprint’s 4G network.

      I just think this will be the start of a great new friendship and Walmart might buy some Sprint stock to start up their own wireless network or just build off of Sprint’s

      Now imagine Walmart as one of the major wireless carriers, competition and propaganda for years.

      I wonder what this’ll unfold to

  • Harry Dick

    Its kind of a waste of money and resources because once LTE comes to fruition, Sprint will have to upgrade their again to LTE unless of course it wants to be the only one in the world with a useless standard. Canada has Telus/Bell with EVDO/HSPA network getting ready for LTE.

    Rogers/Fido has HSPA network getting ready for LTE. Verizon has EVDO but is setting up LTE soon for deployment. AT&Tand T-Mobile also has LTE in its future roadmap.

    Where does that leave Sprint and its useless decision to go with Wifi?

    • Jerry Marcus

      FUCK LTE……FUCK LTE…

    • VDubb

      Sprint and Clear have acknowledged that they have plans to go LTE if necessary, with minimal costs since Clear uses equipment that can be transitioned into LTE.

      • Tony

        Everyone seems to ignore that fact eh VDubb?

  • Harry Dick

    Bad typos today! I meant WiMax!

  • Maulik

    When will it be launched??

  • Cool Beans

    Clear already stated if the market generally turns to LTE, they would convert. So please spare us with the LTE superiority talk. Especially since its not even a finished product. Gosh.

  • 3 Phones Jugglin

    There Sprint haters go with the Technology that isnt ready yet.

    And i recall Hesse saying that Converting Wimax to LTE if truly necessary would be an easy switch. So calm down…its a good idea and they dont need to tear stuff down or go in peoples yards just to put up a tower.

    But where theres a Walmart….A Target isnt far away

  • cnote221

    If Im catching this right it doesn’t seem bad idea to place towers on existing buildings versus trying to plot land for places. In Arizona in parts of Scottsdale and some other places tower placement is a NO GO AT ALL. Good idea for a work around. Is there any other chain of locations with more than 4200 nationwide, why walmart? Gas Stations or convenience stores maybe?

    • T

      Cricket is signing a deal with Stop N Go… I know, it was only in Clerks movies that it existed… but Cricket has insisted this is their path to greatness.

      • T

        I’m sorry… Quick Stop. Note to self: When you edit things, finish the edit in full.

  • Lamar

    Sounds like a damn good plan to me!!!!

  • Chase

    Sprint will partner up with Walmart and then Verizon will put towers in McDonalds….haha

    Seems like whatever sprint does to be the first, Verizon always one ups them: hero –> Droid for example……and I dont even like Verizon!!

  • http://www.louisvillecolorado-realestate.com Andrea

    Wow. Getting Wal*Mart involved is exactly what needs to happen. I am ready for personal cell phone towers at my house. Who wants to take on that?

    • ~phel

      andrea better sign up for monthly cat scans ahead of time

      • http://www.fruitjuicenow.com Bryan

        AT&T already has personal towers. There called MicroCell’s. They plug into your high speed internet connection and broadcast a 300′ 4 channel 3G tower. Never have a dead spot at your house ever again.

      • iowa

        Yet another thing copied from sprint. Sprint was the first with femtocells.

  • Gears

    this sounds great for sprint. Hopefully this will speed up the rollout of 4G.

  • Mrwirez

    Walmart=Evil Union busters

    • I HATE UNIONS

  • Mike Hawksafloppin

    Pronounced… “Tar-Jey”

  • summerkand

    I think that this will save them a hello of alot of money.
    http://webizland.blogspot.com/

  • robert

    Sprint must be getting desperate. They will call it walmax. Dealing with Walmart is beginning of the end for a company.

    • COCOViper

      Haha- so all the companies that deal with Walmart and make millions to billions are on the way to the end?

      As I recall signing with Walmart is typically the key to major presence in the marketplace. I guess Att, Tmobile, and Verizon are on the way to the end since they all sell their phones with Walmart.

  • miguel alvarez is worthless

    BUT IT ISN’T LTE THUS I MUST MAKE A NEGATIVE COMMENT!

  • Scuebydue

    This isn’t a surprise. Walmart corporate recently changed all their smartphones from AT&T to Sprint. Sprint gave them a better deal for tethering abilities. So since their employees will be using Sprint, why not put up a tower.

    On another note, McDonalds is to be putting up free Wifi in all locations.

  • jojo

    LTE…..ya guys hold your breath on that one. all just plans havent brought anything into production yet. sprint and clear are way ahead of ya

  • http://www.shearersbookshop.com.au/booksearchresults.asp?searchbycriteria=Ken%20Sutcliffe%20&%20Ian%20Heads thoa

    that is interesting

  • There’s more to life

    Sorry – but there is a world beyond the US borders and LTE is up and running there right now – take a look at TeliaSonera in Norway and Sweden :-)

  • Jerry Marcus

    A very smart move on the part of Sprint. I think that this will save them a hello of alot of money. I also think that all will benefit from these high speeds./ Who doesnt have a Waltmart planted in thier neighborhood.

  • Super miguel

    How many people here are suprised that miguel was the first negative post on a Sprint topic? Then again he is defending us from……what were you defending us a from again miguel?

  • Super miguel

    Since you have issues reading, i never said you said anything negative about Sprint. I merely stated that it was another negative post on a Sprint topic.

    You never post anything objective.
    Posting “Regardless of the wireless service involved … do we –REALLY– want MaoMart involved?” is not objective. I would rather hear from you a” heres why i feel this may not work for any wireless service because…” post that doesnt explain why you feel what you feel.

    I am actually not a Sprint customer but i think this is a great plan. This allows Sprint to build out their 4G network at a smaller expense and it would become an easier task. If this rumor is true i think it is a good move.

  • Super miguel

    Wow, you know alot about Walmart. Do you troll their boards as well?

    Last time i checked those towers do not put themselves up. Jobs will be created to install the towers as well as maintain them. As Sprints 4G network continues to grow, Sprint will be able to hire more employees to sell and maintain customer accounts (Retail and Business customers). These are the things that will help our economy grow.

    I never knew that China owned Walmart (Or Mao-mart,whoever the fuck that is). Last i checked they were founded in Arkansas and employed more than 2.1 million associated throughout the world. If all this happens, i definetely say it is a smart move by Sprint.

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