Sprint/Nextel Raises Speed Limit To 3.1Mbps

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 12/4/2006

Overland Park, Kansas — Sprint/Nextel raised its data speed limit in eight markets as part of its plan to roll out Revision A of CDMA 1x EV-DO technology to more than 40 million people in 21 markets by the end of this year.

The latest four markets to turn on Rev. A are Buffalo/Rochester, Hartford, Conn.; Boston and Pittsburgh. They follow the recent launch in Seattle, San Diego, Las Vegas and Milwaukee.

By the third quarter of 2007, Sprint will extend the Rev. A footprint to match its EV-DO Rev. 0 footprint, which currently reaches more than 170 million people but will be expanded to more than 200 million people by the end of this year.

EV-DO Rev. A 's faster datarates will enable video telephony, multiuser videoconferencing, voice-over-IP, music on demand, video messaging versus picture messaging, high-performance push-to-talk, and faster file transfers, Sprint said. The first Rev. A products are wireless laptop-PC modems in the PCMCIA Type II, USB, and ExpressCard form factors. Phones with embedded Rev. A will be available in the first quarter.

Rev. A accelerates data download speeds to a theoretical 3.1Mbps from 2.4Mbps and accelerates upload speeds from 135kbps to 1.8Mbps. On average, however, real-world download speeds for individual subscribers will accelerate to 450-800kbps from 400-700kbps, Sprint said. Real-world upload speeds will accelerate to 300-400kbps from a current 50-70kbps.

Rev. A and Rev. 0 subscription prices are the same.

Although Rev. A has launched in eight markets, it isn't available everywhere in those markets, but coverage will gradually expand, the company said.