Sprint Broad Band

[Jim Gunkel]

Run away and don't look back!!! <g>

We started out with SpeedChoice and had their high speed service which
actually wasn't that bad.  When Sprint took over and replaced our antenna
with an "improved" version, all of a sudden we were downgraded to 1/8 the
bandwidth we were getting before.  I don't know why they quoted you 256Kb
upstream, they've told us that the max we should expect is 32Kb up until
they get the faster service working again (which has been a month away for
the last 9 months).  Even that wouldn't be too bad if it worked.  The
latency is so high that when the service was down for a whole day a few
weeks back, we switched over to dialup and everyone was saying that our
connection was a lot faster (even though all they were seeing was faster
response).  Don't believe me, here's some ping results:

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Pinging plug.phoenix.az.us [162.42.235.115] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 162.42.235.115: bytes=32 time=421ms TTL=43
Reply from 162.42.235.115: bytes=32 time=260ms TTL=43
Reply from 162.42.235.115: bytes=32 time=271ms TTL=43
Reply from 162.42.235.115: bytes=32 time=731ms TTL=43

Ping statistics for 162.42.235.115:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 260ms, Maximum =  731ms, Average =  420ms
-------------------------------------------------------------------

(BTW: I went out to do a second set of pings and the service is currently
having one of it's regular hiccups that won't allow me to get out right
now.  Fortunately we have a local mail server so we can send our mail to
that and let it keep trying to send it until things are back up.)

Lastly, the connection is going up and down all day long so if you are
trying to maintain a constant connection, it WILL get broken quite often.
This is really a problem with uploads to our web site.  We recently had to
put a 5MB file up there and tried for three days to get it up via FTP but
the connection kept breaking.  I finally had to take it home and upload it
via my cable modem (took 30 seconds).  Download speeds (except for the
latency) can be ok during the day but starting around 4pm, we pretty much
give up (I guess it's everyone going home and getting on their home systems
that's doing that).

Fortunately we're getting another wireless service here in a month or so
through ART that will give us 3Mb for under $1000/month (upgradable to 50Mb
within 48hrs notice).  Unless your building gets wired through ART, you
won't be able to get this however.

I would recommend staying with dialup until Sprint gets their act together.
 Also for a service like their, a lot depends upon which sector you are in
so maybe they have better service in your area (we are near Fiesta Mall).

Jim Gunkel
Nevrona Designs
www.nevrona.com

At 11:06 10/26/2000 -0700, you wrote:
>Does anyone on the list have any experience with Sprint Broad Band Wireless
>high speed internet access for the home?  I called Sprint to get more info
>and it actually sounds good.  They guarantee at least 1.5Mb/s downstream,
>but it can go as high as 5Mb/s, upstream speed is 256Kps.  An antenna is
>required (mounted on the house), as well as a cable-type modem and a
>ethernet card.  They also give you a static IP.  The cost is $40/month for
>residential, $90/month for Business.  Business is the same speed, but you
>get 5 static IPs.  Since I don't have cable modem or DSL available this
>sounded like a good alternative, unless Hans would let me have a piece of
>that OC-3 ;)
>
>Does anyone on the list have this service and if so, are you happy with it?
>
>Any input would be appreciated.
>Thanks
>Peter