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Clearwire launches WiMAX service in Portland
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Clearwire launched its mobile WiMAX service under the brand name "Clear" in Portland, Ore., yesterday, making it the second city--after Baltimore, Md.--in the United States to support the 4G technology.
The new service in Portland is cheaper than the service launched under Sprint Nextel's WiMAX Xohm brand this past fall. Home Internet service starts at $20 per month, and mobile WiMAX service starts at $30 per month. Users can also buy a $10 day pass. The $30 rate offers users 200MB of monthly data usage; for $40 users can get 2GB and for $50 there is unlimited data access. In addition, users have to buy a $50 modem (or lease it for $5 per month).
The service and equipment costs are cheaper than Sprint's were. Xohm's services cost $35 per month at home at $45 for mobile Internet. Xohm's original home modem also cost $80 and Sprint 4G--the brand that Sprint will use to carry Clearwire's WiMAX service as an MVNO--offers a dual-mode 3G/4G modem for about $150.
Clearwire has indicated it will launch mobile WiMAX in more markets in 2009, including Atlanta, Chicago and Boston, but has yet to give firm dates for more launches. Some analysts have cautioned that Clearwire, despite receiving $3.2 billion in capital investments from Intel, Google, Comcast and others, may not have enough capital to proceed with an overly ambitious rollout plan and may have to scale back its plans.
For more:
- see this article
- see this post
Related Articles:
Clearwire to launch in Portland in January
Clearwire faces financial hurdles ahead of buildout
Comments
Posted by Alex Keylikhes | January 7, 2009 - 2:08pm
What brand of wimax AP and CPE are using in this projects? Are they FDD? TDD?
Posted by John Polivka | January 7, 2009 - 4:10pm
The Sprint modem referenced has a compelling value proposition for the money.
Sprint's USB modem offers unprescedented versatility as a 'dual mode' device offering the ubiquity of 3G service on the nation's most dependable mobile broadband network and the speed of 4G in network coverage areas. Sprint customers can enjoy new Internet access flexibility and convenience in and beyond WiMAX service territory.
Posted by Anonymous | January 7, 2009 - 9:49pm
Too little, too late for Wimax.
After Sprints embarassing failure with Xohm, Wimax no longer has the time to market advantage.
LTE will be the future, assuming Sprint stays out of the picture.
Posted by Mike Dolan | January 8, 2009 - 9:03am
But Xohm became Clear, and Clear has launched in Baltimore and Portland. LTE hasn't been rolled out anywhere yet, while WiMAX is now actually available to consumers.
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