Comments

1
$149. up front for the equipment, and $49/mo. will probably solve this, if your Sprint wireless reception is good enough.

https://yourkarma.com/
2
They're in the Central Business Franchise District so it's not that Comcast can't provide them service, it's more likely that they haven't built out the infrastructure to that block/neighborhood and it isn't cost effective to do so with so few potential customers. In other words, it's an issue of policy/cost, not a technical one. Wave Broadband can also provide service in that neighborhood but may not for the same reasons.
3
Bad article, sprint decided not to shut down that network after all. http://voqal.org/news/pressroom/sprint-s…
4
I'm not sure how to apply that knowledge @2. I had Clearwire up until 11/6, and it is definitely gone away now. However it happened, I don't think that injunction had any effect in Seattle.
5
@3: Nope. READ. The nonprofits won the injunction, so the network itself is still up, but Sprint is going ahead and disconnecting customers from it anyway.
6
@3: "Sprint Keeps WiMax Network Up to Comply…

As linked to in the very article you criticized without reading.

(Seattle: As Ignorant As You Wanna Be™)
7
Yes, we have a business down there, and ClearWire users had their service shut off. We have been working with Comcast for 2 years to get service. Originally they wanted 22k to hook up 3 buildings (had to run a line to the building from the closest node, about 200ft). After coming to an agreement (which didn't involve paying 22k), and signing a contract in January, we are still waiting for them to install service. The worst.
ClearWire is off, the hotspots don't work anymore, cause they were piggy backing on Sprint, and Comcast completely sucks, and still acts like they have lockout contracts with the city (which they no longer do).
We need some Community WiFi solution citywide.

@ #1, Karma is a super security risk, you cannot secure guests on your network. I almost got one of those.
8
Has someone actually fact checked the lack of availability ? In this picture, you see two black cylinders on the lower positions of the poles. That's where telecom wires are run and the black cylinders are usually junction boxes.
9
Also, the peterbuilt store across the street seems to have one of those lower-level, not-power wires going to it.
10
I find it interesting that he used Clear(wire) because according to this blog and everyone in Seattle and everyone on the Internet, no one used Wimax and Clear was terrible.

I had Clear for eight years and thought it was just fine. So now because "LTE is the future" they take it away. Oh, but wait. No one is selling LTE wireless broadband for $35/mo, like Clear (bought by Sprint) did.

But then again "no one" uses WImax.

And another thing...

When they built the Stadiums they said that SODO would be transformed into an urban paradise full of nice apartments, hip businesses and trendy entertainment. That Quonset hut says it all.

Really, is there every going to be a point when this whole gigantic ball of bullshit melts down and drowns everyone that spun it. Global warming on frozen FUD?
11
@7, 8/9 is talking about phone lines, and according to broadbandmap.gov Centurylink should service that block. Have you checked if DSL is available to you?
12
Meanwhile in the U.K.: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-34753331
13
Yes. As a centurylink employee, it is definitely wired up. You have to realize that the exchanges exist and have for decades and it's just a matter of sprint doing whatever they're doing. If you have landline service, yes you have the ability to get DSL service. And no I am not writing this on behalf of centurylink. Just that the wire center is there.
14
Oh and just to add, I got free clearwire service for about two years in the sense of "OK, I'll just keep using it". No bills no nuthin. Didn't pay a dime.
15
If you have several businesses in the same building, they can get together and split the cost. Either to bring Comcast to your building (probably too expensive one time I checked and it was $25k....i.e. we don't want to do that) or some kind of older technology like a T-1 or several T-1 lines bundled together. You can definitely bundle phone service into a T1 as well so that when the phone picks up, internet speed drops a little bit since it's an on-demand sort of thing. There are other options.

If you have hard wired phone service you do NOT necessarily have DSL access. DSL is dependent on the distance to the switching office. As the distance increases, the speed drops. So it's not always possible (I've seen this in my work at an IT consultant).
16
#10 WiMAX as a technology is a dead end. Sprint has said this for a long time and they are the last company with a WiMax network. It's completely incompatible with other mobile technologies.. They lost the battle of the standards and LTE won (as both a data and voice transmission technology). This was actually settled a long time ago (2008 according to Wikipedia).
17
Just a note: Atlas has high-speed service through much of SODO.
www.atlasonnet.com
18
I believe that it's "Pork Chop Screen Printing" not "Pork Shop Screen Printing." Just walked by there yesterday afternoon.
19
Yes. Absolutely there is CenturyLink/Qwest/USWest service in the area and it is not a "dead zone". I just looked it up and there are many neighboring businesses who get access out of the STTLWA06 wire center or central office. I didn't look at their bandwidth but there is plenty of equipment installed and in use. That is just the old exchange and what it still goes by. But it is not a "dead zone" at all.
20
@6 They added that after I posted the info
21
thank Mayor Comcast for our joke of internet access in this city.
22
@13, @16

There are definitely places in the city where Centurylink offers local phone service, but DSL speeds top out at 144k due to old wires / or mid-century digital multiplexing / or distance from central office. That's 144k, as in about the equivalent of 3 dial-up modems. The apartment I had in the U-district years ago was stuck on such a Centurylink (then Qwest) line.

Given that 144k isn't really considered a reasonable internet speed in 2016, I wouldn't be surprised if Centurylink has, in the meantime, dropped that service entirely.

Please wait...

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