Joint Sprint, Clearwire network could boost consumer power

And speaking of buying access, you may not even be buying it from Sprint, or from the joint venture called Clearwire that will be operating the network. As made clear by the announcement Wednesday, the cable companies that are putting up much of the money for the buildout will be buying wholesale access to the network and will be reselling that under their own brands, bundling it with cable service.

Google Inc., another investor, will also have thumb in the pie: Clearwire will support phones that run Google's Android operating system, which aims to extend the company's dominance in Internet search and advertising to mobile devices.

Clearwire won't be completely revolutionary: Some open network features are available in some form or other today.

For instance, Amazon.com Inc.'s e-book reader, the Kindle, uses Sprint's current cellular network to download books, but the user doesn't need to know that. Amazon pays Sprint for access to the network, and no Sprint subscription is necessary. The cost of using the network is baked into the price of a book download.

But Amazon had to work with Sprint to create its device, and a company with lesser resources might not be able to follow in its footsteps. For now, there's no competing wireless e-book reader.

In another example of partial openness on existing wireless networks, you can buy a "SIM" chip from AT&T or T-Mobile USA and plug it into any compatible device, like a cell phone you bought overseas, to get onto their networks. But the carriers want the customer relationship, so you have to deal with them to get service.

When it comes to the Kindle, Amazon, not Sprint, owns the customer relationship and handles customer care. That's a model we can also expect on the WiMax network. The device manufacturer or the retail service provider, like the cable company, will be the point of contact for the consumer, rather than the network operator.

While giving up customer service means a loss of control for Sprint, it could also work to its advantage, since it is struggling to provide customer service that measures up to the other providers.

"Not to quote 'Me and Bobby McGee,' but there is a remarkable freedom in having not much to lose," Williams said. "There's no question that Sprint is having its problems."

Naturally, Sprint won't leave all its problems behind with the WiMax network. There are questions about how well its signal will penetrate indoors, for instance. Those are important questions, particularly because some of the first products to be available for the network will be large modems intended to provide home computers with an alternative to wired broadband.