Before it launched its LTE network, Sprint placed its 4G bet on WiMax. The decision made Sprint the first major US carrier out of the gate with 4G, but it ended up being the wrong decision, as the rest of the industry went with LTE for its 4G standard. Sprint’s WiMax network has been functional since 2010, but it looks like that network finally has a concrete shut-down date.

According to an internal Sprint document that’s been leaked, Sprint is planning to shut down its WiMax network on November 6, 2015. The doc goes on to say that Sprint will begin notifying its customers on Monday, October 6, telling them that their 4G WiMax service will no longer be available after November 5, 2015. Sprint devices with 4G and 3G support will continue to work on the 3G network. Sprint also says that it will have 4G LTE or Sprint Spark devices available at little or no cost to customers.

We’ve known that WiMax’s final days were near for a while now. However, Sprint previously said that it would be shutting down WiMax by the end of 2015, but now it looks like WiMax will live on through most of next year. And while many Sprint customers that owned a WiMax device have likely moved on to another phone by this point, the shut down of Sprint’s WiMax network is still a notable event because of the big impact that Sprint’s decision to deploy WiMax has had.

Have you ever owned a Sprint WiMax device, like the HTC EVO 4G? If so, what did you have?

Via Android Central