Sprint will begin selling two LTE hotspots and an LTE USB modem on Friday. All three are the first tri-band LTE devices the carrier has offered.
They will all operate in the 800MHz, 1.9GHz and 2.5GHz bands of the wireless spectrum, allowing users to access LTE from 110 Sprint-enabled markets. Sprint designed its LTE under its Network Vision initiative with access to all three bands in hopes of offering more reliable and consistent connections from inside buildings and in crowded cities.
The 800MHz spectrum -- from the repurposed Nextel network that Sprint turned off on June 30 -- will be added later this year. Sprint's primary LTE band is the 1.9GHz network, which Sprint says averages 6Mbps to 8Mbps on downloads and 2Mbps to 3Mbps for uploads.
Netgear makes two of the devices -- a Zing Mobile Hotspot for $49.99 after rebate and a 341 USB Modem for $19.99 after rebate. Both require a two-year agreement with Sprint.
Novatel Wireless makes the third device -- the MiFi 500 LTE, which sells for $49.99 after rebate. It also requires a two-year commitment.
This article, Sprint kicks off tri-band device sales, was originally published at Computerworld.com.
Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed. His email address is mhamblen@computerworld.com.
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