Review – Sprint Broadband Wireless

John Nemerovski Features Leave a comment

In early July, the following three intriguing messages appeared
on our local Tucson Mac Users Group online bulletin board:

Subject: The new Sprint connection

In case some of you haven’t heard, Sprint Broadband high speed wireless Internet service is now available in Tucson with many broadband deals and packages. The service covers most of the Tucson area, limited only by line-of-sight to the transmitter in the Tucson Mountains.

Connections are advertised at 1 MB/s max. download, 256 MB/s upload. Monthly price is $39/mo. You can keep your present ISP if you wish. Installation is free for a limited time. Equipment costs are from $99 to $199 depending on which plan you chose. Sprint web page is http://www.sprintbroadband.com if you want to check it out for more details or you can contact any of the following Tucson locations:

(A list of retail computer dealers followed, including Simutek, our local Macintosh reseller.)

…and…

Subject: Sprint Broadband Wireless access now in Tucson

I have had good luck with this so far.

The installers place a small rectangular (1 sq .foot) antenna on your roof and point it at the Tucson Mountains. They install a Broadband Wireless Modem next to your computer and plug it into your Ethernet port and you’re up an running. If you have an ethernet card and open transport, networking is installed as well as the usual Internet apps such as a browser and an email client; there is no additional disk space or software required. You get a single fixed IP address. Access speeds are 256K (uploads) and T-1 or better (downloads) – altho it varies – I have seen it as low as 400K. The access is always on – so no more dialing.

In my opinion (seat of the pants feel) it’s faster than both DSL and Cable access. I used DSL while teaching classes and Cable at my son’s house. This morning it took 30 seconds to download a 6 Meg file from Apple’s FTP site.

They waive the installation fee and charge $199 for equipment with a 1 year contract. The wireless access and attendant ISP service costs are $39 per month.

If you have an extra phone line and drop your current Internet service the additional costs are minimal.

Time will tell about performance and reliability.
Here is an actual speed calculation taken at about 4PM yesterday.

…and…

Subject: Re: The new Sprint connection

I have had Sprint Broadband since the 22nd of June & love it! You can also call Sprint Broadband directly to order the service (1-888-996-0001). Also, I’m sure you could continue using your current ISP, but why? Your Sprint Broadband monthly fee includes Earthlink/Sprint as the ISP, complete with 6 email addresses & more! Call Sprint Broadband at the above number to have your questions about this new service answered…then order it!

My experience so far has been that I am getting an average of almost 3MB download speed & slightly above 256K upload! At $39.95 a month for both the service and the ISP, you can’t go wrong! It’s cheaper than US West’s always on DSL (256K up/256K down) at $29.95 plus the cost of your ISP (around $20.00) and its about 5 to 15 times faster! As with everything, your mileage may vary… Sprint says that the minimum download is 1MB & the maximum upload is 256K… most folks are getting better than this!

Those of you that wanted DSL but couldn’t qualify, Sprint Broadband might be the answer!

I didn’t have time to investigate, because I was getting ready to leave town for my summer vacation in California. While on the trip, I became familiar with using residential DSL and cable Internet connections at the homes of friends and family.

Finally, in September, I made contact with the national and local offices for Sprint Broadband Direct. Russ Robinson and George Plew arranged for equipment to be installed in my home office. Now, readers of My Mac Online can learn about this new wireless high-speed technology and service.

Because of the geography and demographics of Tucson, Arizona, neither DSL nor cable Internet service will be available in my neighborhood (and many others) for months, if not years. Barbara and I finally decided we’re ready to have our Internet connection be independent of our phone service. The solution: wireless Sprint Broadband Direct (we hoped).

Bill and Dennis, the installers, arrived at my home before 9:00 a. m. on Tuesday, September 26. They surveyed the sight lines from the peak of the roof of my office (a separate building from the house) to the transmitter, miles away. The signal was strong, but was “multipathing,” bouncing off tall yucca and paloverde trees on my property.

While Dennis ran connection and grounding cables from the roof down the side of the building, Bill went to pick up a taller mounting tripod so my wireless broadband transceiver could clear some of the offending foliage. Hours later the installation was complete, and very well done!

Dennis hooked his Sprint laptop to the Ethernet modem cable, testing my connection for strength and clarity. Everything worked, so he plugged the Ethernet RJ-45 into my new Ruby iMac DV. I set the TCP/IP Control Panel to “Ethernet” and “Using DHCP Server,” launched Internet Explorer 5, and soon was staring at handsome face of the guy on JohnNemo.com.

My new permanent IP settings magically appeared in the bottom section of the TCP/IP Control Panel. How easy; how elegant.

What is this technology, and how does it work?! You will find more than enough explanation at http://www.sprintbroadband.com, but here are the main points:

  • The descriptions by my fellow TMUGgers are accurate.
  • Service is reliable, fast, and consistent.
  • Pricing is comparable, if not better than the competition, in parts of town where cable and DSL are available.
  • Tech support and customer service are 24/7, well-informed, patient, and helpful.
  • EarthLink.net is a Mac-friendly ISP; six email accounts and “personal start pages” add tremendous value to the monthly fee.
  • It is an amazing experience to be working over the phone and on the Internet simultaneously at high speed with another person.
  • The best deal is a two-year contract, for the minimum $99 hardware installation expense.
  • Sprint installers are professionals, and the free installation policy is a real steal.Whoa. Hold everything! Did you see the November, 2000 issue of Macworld magazine, http://www.macworld.com? In a feature entitled “Kill Your Modem,” cable, DSL, and satellite Internet services are compared. Is something obvious missing here? My Mac Online scoops Macworld this time, by explaining and evaluating Sprint Broadband Direct wireless connectivity.When you visit http://www.sprintbroadband.com with a normal dialup modem connection, allow plenty of time for the pages to load. Information is plentiful, but the experience can be tedious. Using their toll-free number is often more straightforward.

    Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona were the pilot metro areas, and the response continues to be huge. Colorado Springs, Colorado and Detroit, Michigan now offer Sprint Broadband, with Houston, Texas and San Jose, California coming soon.

    How fast is fast, you ask? Depending on the web site, web pages can fly onto the screen or simply load quickly, impatient user notwithstanding. Overall, using the web is so much faster and more immediate than any dialup modem connection that the comparison is ridiculous.

    Downloads are speedy, usually measured in seconds. Let’s try one, a “top download” from VersionTracker: the Virus definition files for Norton AntiVirus 5, a 3 MB file.

    Internet Explorer’s Download Manager took a few seconds to begin the transfer, and the entire procedure took under 10 seconds, topping over 600k per second on a Saturday night. Your speed may differ, but you get the point.

    QuickTime movies look and sound okay, but can have some starts and stops. RealAudio sound streaming works well. Using AOL via TCP/IP is somewhat faster than via dialup, but not a tremendous improvement.

    Is it worth $39.95 per month? Yes, definitely. If you want to have a “trial period,” you pay much more for installation ($299) than if you have one-year ($199) or two-year ($99) contracts, but at least you have a choice. Value-for-money favors the two-year agreement, but think it through carefully before taking the plunge. When you consider:

  • no need for an extra dedicated phone line for your modem
  • EarthLink.net ISP is included, with six different email accounts available
  • around-the-clock customer service and support,it makes this review seem more like a commercial than an objective appraisal. If you’re already paying for an ISP over a dedicated phone line, you’ll come out far ahead. If you can shake loose under a dollar a day to enhance your Internet experience by a speed factor of between ten and a hundred, it will make your cable TV subscription, cellular phone fees, and other recurring monthly charges seem vastly inflated by comparison.It is a joy to have the high speed connection here in my home office. I expect you will have a comparable experience. With obvious pleasure, My Mac Online rates Sprint Broadband:

    MacMice Rating: 5

    John Nemerovski

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