Cable operator Cox to launch cellphone service

I see in my area Cox has 700 mhz will be interesting to see how fast and where they roll out their service...

 

FYI,

If you want to see if Cox owns a license in your area, enter your ZIP code in the search box on the home pages here: http://www.wirelessadvisor.com/
(look near the bottom of the list)

As an example, Cox has spectrum in the Macon, GA area:
http://www.wirelessadvisor.com/zipcode-search/fcatfaabft

Dan, thanks for posting this story.

 

Just an FYI, Cox was originally an affiliate of Sprint here in the West back in 1996-1999 when they built Sprint's original network in San Diego, Orange County, and Phoenix. Once in a while I will still see an old Cox PCS site ID label on one of Sprint's older cell sites here in Orange County. There are also still some Sprint towers that are FCC registered under the COX PCS name.

 

It's interesting that they will work with Sprint to develop their network. Will they work with Sprint when Cox moves to LTE? Will they extend their month to month business model to wireless? What about subsidized handsets? Will they offer fancy hadsets that they will then have to subsidize? Or will they go with reliable, bug-free handsets that might be a generation behind that they can get for cheap?

 

Ugh...I despise Cox Communications. My cable internet was so horrible that I had to unplug my modem 8-10 times a day. They're also the only cable company in my town and they charge quite a bit.

I am displeased to see they have 700 mhz here. Oh well, whatever.

Thanks for posting this, Dan.

 

I really don't know why more companies want to make this considerable investment to build networks from scratch. Scanning the article, I can already program my DirecTV DVR from my phone. It is a cool concept, but doesn't depend on my wireless carrier.

 

Here is an excerpt from a more informative article found at the following URL:

Cable Digital News - Services Software - Cox Wireless: Soup to Nuts - Telecom News Analysis

.....................................................................

3G and the road to LTE

A big question on everyone's mind is how Cox plans to knit together the Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum it obtained in 2006 as part of the SpectrumCo joint venture, and the 700 MHz spectrum licenses it won more recently at auction... and how the MSO expects to apply them to its initial 3G and future 4G offerings. (See SpectrumCo Gets Licenses and Cox Waxes Wireless .)

Bye says Cox will use its AWS spectrum to support a 3G network based on EV-DO Revision A. "We're on the CDMA track," he says, noting that also wants to see how it can use both the AWS spectrum and the 700 MHz spectrum for LTE field trials, which will get underway sometime in 2009.

"LTE is an emerging technology. We'll be looking at the feasibility and how quickly we can move to commercialize it," Bye explains.

At the same time, Bye believes 3G technology has plenty of legs left. "Interestingly enough, one third of handsets in the market today are 3G-capable, it's still sort of an emerging technology in terms of consumer adoption. But clearly we see a future in 4G."

Cox isn't going into great technical detail yet about its 3G-to-4G migration plans, but Bye says the network is being built to enable as smooth a migration to LTE as possible.

"We're trying to build a network as future-proof as you can with as much foresight that we have today," Bye says. Some upgrade paths, including the move from CDMA to WiMax "are not necessarily smooth transitions and require a significant amount of investment. We're trying to minimize that incremental step."

New Sprint deal 'fundamentally different'

Bye is quick to point out that the new agreement with Sprint looks nothing like the deal that Cox and other MSOs cobbled together to create the now-defunct Pivot experiment. (See MSOs Pivoting Away From Sprint JV.)

Rather than a co-branded, shared service, Cox will have relative autonomy on the Sprint network, controlling the backoffice, customer service, product integration, branding, supported devices, packaging, and product plans.

...........................................................

 

I think Cox would be better served focusing on their cable services. Isn't that their bread and butter? With the economy being what it is right now, what makes them think they have a chance?

Cox now has a minute presence in the L.A. area (Palos Verdes peninsula in L.A. County and Central and South Orange County). I believe it totals about 200,000 customers, versus 500,000 for Charter and over 2 million for Time Warner. In other words, their presence here will be negligible at best.

Doesn't sound like a smart move to me.

 

I've been happy with Cox as a cable company and can understand the move. Their internet and tv here have been quite reliable. As far as the price, I got rid of Verizon FiOS because Cox worked out to be cheaper, and it's also less expensive than other family members served by Comcast. Verizon and AT&T with FiOS and U-Verse now offer wireless service, landline service, hi-speed internet, and television service. As time goes one, Verizon and AT&T are going to continue pushing bundles with wireless service on their wireless customers in populated areas and the cable companies are going to suffer more and more unless they're somehow able to bundle wireless with their own network or some sort of MVNO agreement with Sprint or T-Mobile.

It really sounds like Cox is just trying to become the one-stop communications provider for their regional areas, similar to what Verizon and AT&T are doing nationwide as they roll out fiber to more areas and get into the tv/hi-speed internet business. The economy will soon turn around and Cox is a private business, so they must have the cash on hand or be in a profitable position to take on the needed debt. Now that they own the needed licenses, they only need to rent space on towers and place their equipment. Cox already provides data services to many cell towers (at least according to their data network advertising in my area), so their expenses may be a lot less moving forward than what the experts anticipate. I'd give their service a try providing that the regional Cox network is backed up by the other CDMA networks, Sprint and Verizon/Alltel.

 

What? They are building a CDMA network from scratch, changing tracks to LTE in a few years and then, merging with another operator who is evolving to WiMAX?

Who's their CTO? I can't quite see his face in the press release photo...

 

Where did you isee info about a merger? The onlything that I saw in that article is that they will use EVDO in the beginning probably on their 1700MHz spectrum (since there EVDO is already running on AWS but not on 700MHz yet). Then when LTE is stable and off the bleeding edge, they will implement it on 700MHz. Almost exactly the same migration path as Verizon.

Sprint has not said what protocol they will be using on their voice network. My guess will be LTE, since they are very dependent on roaming and everybody else is going to LTE. The only way they're not going to LTE is if they implement WiMax on their SMR (IDEN) spectrum and expand their footprint.

 

...not sure what is meant by "agreement", but I interpret that as some type of merger...

Sprint is going the WiMAX path alone for 4G. I can't see them rolling out a second 4G network with LTE. If COX says they are going LTE, then they have to either build a LTE network from scratch, or then make another agreement/merger/whatever with someone else who is using LTE (ie: anyone but Sprint) That's why I see it as strange from a technical point of view. It would have made alot more sense to just start with a UMTS network if they want to go the LTE route eventually. To say "we're on the CDMA track" and "we see our future in LTE" in the same sentence is bizzare.

 

Sprint is going WiMax on their 2.5GHz TDD spectrum. WiMax does not have an FDD profile yet, so they cannot use WiMax for their voice spectrum holdings (800SMR, 1900MHz). LTE does not have an TDD profile yet. What I would like to happen is for the LTE camp to adopt WiMax for the TDD profile and for WiMax to abandon their effort to come up with a FDD profile. Did you know that WiMax only specifies the bottom two layers (physical and MAC) of the 7-layer OSI stack? LTE is a lot more thorough. LTE is a natural for the current carrier oriented landscape. WiMax is great for what is basically wireless internet.

 

It's only a matter of time until WiMAX will open up in FDD and 700/1700 Mhz. I'm sure Sprint can push for 800/1900 if/when the time comes.

http://www.wimaxforum.org/news/wimaxforum_fdd_may21_final.pdf

The LTE camp is aiming to stomp out WiMAX altogether, so any "merging" of the technologies seems far-fetched. Sprint jumped in the WiMAX pool with both feet, with no mention of ever going the LTE path. Either they have to succeed with WiMAX or admit a failure and switch to LTE. Running any kind of mix of both of the systems would be really strange...but then these are the guys running iDen/CDMA/WiMAX so who knows :dunno:

 

First of all, it's going to be Clearwire that is going to be running WiMax. While Sprint will own 51% of the JV, it will be it's own company. Sprint and the other participants can and will offer services as well under their own brands.

Sprint itself will eventally move to LTE on both its 800 and 1900MHz holdings, but will take its sweet time. It has several other problems to take care first. First and foremost it has to stabilize its finances, finish rebanding both the 800MHz and band G of 1900MHz, finish building out Rev. A and QChat, buy out iPCS. Then it can worry about LTE. It does not have to make the decision right now. Maybe 3-4 years down the line but not right now.

 

At least in SoCal, the few areas where Cox offers cable service (San Diego, Palos Verdes, Santa Barbara) are very tough areas for the cellular carriers to provide reliable indoor coverage. By utilizing their existing HFC infrastructure Cox will be able to provide superior coverage for both voice and data services to those markets. Also, by overlaying a wireless network on their plant, they can provide their core services, including TV and HSD to fixed customers wirelessly instead of having to install cables from the pole to the customer.