Sprint Teaming with Walmart for WiMAX Coverage?
It was with amusement I ran across the rumor that Sprint is looking at putting WiMAX towers in Walmart stores to get the coverage that is so desperately needed for the roll-out. This makes so much sense that it would be one of the smartest business deals in recent memory. How smart would it be? Take a look at this statement I made way back in 2005 given news that Walmart was opening 300 stores:
I think the easiest way to roll out WiMax in the US is to put the transmitters in every WalMart store. I have seen it published somewhere (I can’t remember where) that over 90% of the population of the US lives within 20 miles of a WalMart store. Add these nearly 300 new stores and that number can only go up so think about it. No matter where you move in the US you’d know you had broadband available and you wouldn’t even have to switch carriers. Sign me up.
Now the rumor only deals with Sprint putting towers in Walmarts, but I believe they should carry it all the way and partner to become a 4G ISP. In one fell swoop Walmart / Sprint could become the #1 Internet Service Provider in the U.S.
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This would be a smart idea, assuming they don’t have to feed the folks at Wally World too much cabbage each month for the lease.
I know that many CHURCH STEEPLES are now being outfitted with those cellular transmitters and some of them are making some nice coin ($10K+ per month !) but they sure don’t look pretty.
Impressive. You should apply for a job at Sprint. Or Wal-Mart :)
But are there enough Wal-Marts? I think you’d need a density of towers pretty much the same as that of the current 3G masts to get the high data rates promised. You could go for a lower density of towers, but then the performance would be quite disappointing, except for those people close to the towers.
A huge percentage of the US population lives within 20 miles of a Walmart already. That’s pretty good coverage.
Yes, but you need to be much closer to a tower than 20 miles for a good service. More like 1 or 2, in urban areas maybe less.
You’ll need a lot more towers to get good coverage. I think people would be VERY surprised if they ever saw how many towers actually are needed to provide robust coverage in any given market. You would probably need to talk the number of walmart’s times 4 to provide proper coverage – no I’m not joking.
And sure it might be nice to use walmart’s for towers but a market by market assessment will need to be done because why use a walmart for a tower when you already have a tower just down the street?
It’s a dumb rumor if you ask me especially considering the fact that the towers are already in the markets. It’s just a matter of loading the equipment on the towers and adding additional backhaul.
What would make sense is using Wal-mart superstores to help augment coverage WHERE needed and also sell 4G products in their stores to increase distribution.
I say, use McDonalds. Lots more than Mallwarts. And they already have WiFi, so pipe that 4G traffic over their puny DSL line ;)