Michael Licata on June 1, 2010
Clearwire launched WiMAX services in Kansas City and Washington D.C. and expanded current WiMAX services in Baltimore. As with all CLEAR launches, Sprint will also offer 4G services in these latest markets. It’s the beginning of an important few months for Clearwire. They’re now established in 33 markets and are looking to add many markets this summer.
John O’Donnell will run the Kansas City operation as general manager. The network covers 670 square miles in and around the Kansas City area. The network goes from Kansas City International Airport in the north, south to Belton, west to Kansas Speedway, and as far east as Blue Springs. It covers 1.1 million people. There are also CLEAR retail stores established throughout the network. For customers in Kansas City there’s a promotion online only with CLEAR plans that start as low as $15 per month for the first two months after a $50 service credit.
“CLEAR is thrilled to bring to Kansas City residents, businesses and visitors a super fast Internet experience similar to what they’re used to having at home or the office, anywhere around town or on the go,” O’Donnell, said, “We’re pleased to bring a valuable new category of Internet service designed to make people’s lives more enjoyable and more productive with our service launch in Kansas City.”
The CLEAR network in our nation’s capital covers almost 1 million people. The network covers north to Silver Springs, MD, south to Alexandria, VA, as far west as Falls Church, VA and east towards College Park, MD. Clearwire plans on expanding coverage in the Washington, D.C. area in the coming months. CLEAR is also offering the same starting $15 per month for two months after a $50 service credit. Jeff Fugate was named general manager of the Washington D.C. market.
“We’re proud to bring the nation’s leading 4G network to the nation’s capital, and we believe that D.C. area residents, businesses and visitors can all benefit from an Internet experience similar to what they’re used to having at home or the office, anywhere around town or on the go,” Fugate said, “Whether downloading the newest files before a meeting on Capitol Hill, hosting a video chat with friends from the National Mall, or researching an assignments while moving around an area university or museum campus, CLEAR provides an unmatched combination of Internet speed and mobility within the District and many of
… Read the rest
Michael Licata on May 24, 2010
CLEAR is holding a meet and greet in Baltimore in anticipation of WiMAX’s return to the city. The event will take place at the Mex restaurant located at 26 Market Place in Baltimore from 5-7 p.m. on May 25. Get a glimpse into CLEAR’s bright future and meet CLEAR Baltimore’s General Manager Dean Young.
It’s a great way for techies from Twitter and Facebook to get a first hand look at CLEAR devices. There will even be a drawing with a chance to win a device and CLEAR service for up to a year free. Click Here to sign up for the event.
Sprint initially launched Xohm, one of the first WiMAX deployments in the U.S. It was an unsuccessful launch. Sprint eventually sold the network to Clearwire and stopped offering the service a few years ago. This is an opportunity to see the difference and changes Clearwire made to its WiMAX network.
When Baltimore officially gets CLEAR, it will be more widely adopted than Xohm. If you are in the Baltimore area and want to find out more about CLEAR, click the link above. CLEAR offers an assortment of USB modems, home modems and unique ways to connect to the fastest wireless internet available.
Clearwire currently offers WiMAX in 32 markets and will add 29 more over the course of the summer. By the end of 2010, 120 million people will be able to connect a WiMAX network.… Read the rest
admin on January 28, 2009
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WiMax is making some serious headway in the United States. 3 months after its Baltimore launch of the first WiMax network in the country , Sprint Nextel along with Clearwire initiated the first west coast WiMax network in Portland, Ore.
As oppose to the WiMax deployment in Baltimore which covers only the downtown area, the network in Portland consists of 300 cell phone towers equipped with Wimax base stations, and covers 90% the Portland metropolitan area . According to Tech News World the new network initially covers 700 square Miles and can service 1.7 Million subscribers.
“WiMax is a new wireless technology that raises the bar on a truly mobile and affordable Internet experience for consumers,” said Sean Maloney, Intel executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer. “Intel, along with Clearwire and its partners, are proud to bring U.S. customers a next-generation world-leading broadband solution that redefines how, when and where consumers interact with the Internet.”
According to Eweek the new collaboration between Sprint Nextel and Clearwire , referred to as the new Clearwire will be backed financially by Intel ,Comcast [ who are both contributing more than a billion dollars] , Google and Time Warner leaving Sprint Nextel as the largest stake owner at 51% of the new company.
Clearwire is planning to provide WiMax to the top 100 markets.
Ari Zoldan on October 24, 2008
Now that Sprint’s long-awaited Xohm service has launched in Baltimore to mostly positive reviews, researchers, bloggers, and journalists are beginning to place their bets on the upcoming battle between WiMAX and long term evolution (LTE), its toughest challenger. Researchers at In-Stat have struck the first blow for WiMAX, concluding in a new report that WiMAX is likely to “outpace” LTE over the next few years, though both technologies are still years away from full implementation. In-Stat argues that because LTE will not be ready for at least another year or two, the timing of network roll-outs favors WiMAX technology. But CNET’s Marguerite Reardon is skeptical, as she draws a comparison between Sprint’s Xohm roll-out and the recent failed efforts by EarthLink to develop municipal Wi-Fi networks. She argues that Sprint’s business model may be doomed to fail because it pits WiMAX against existing 3G data services and cheaper, more consistent broadband options such as Verizon DSL. In the absence of financial incentives and a greater variety of WiMAX-ready devices, Reardon predicts that Xohm will face a tough battle for consumers – not necessarily against LTE, but against HSPA products offered by competitors.
However, while Sprint’s WiMAX network in Baltimore may not be as consistent as existing broadband services — for now, at least — it still offers stronger, faster, and more consistent connections than EarthLink’s Wi-Fi project, which depended on countless access points, each with a limited reach. WiMAX offers the freedom of municipal Wi-Fi, but with far less hassle — so the real goal for Sprint is to convince consumers that its service will make their lives easier, liberate them from coffee shops, and save them the trouble of dealing with routers and modems. Their inability to pull this off is by no means a foregone conclusion. Municipal Wi-Fi, after all, is still an attractive concept in theory, if not in practice. And while it’s true that WiMAX-ready mobile devices and laptops are currently few in number, we can doubtlessly expect to see more of these devices entering the market if the launch of Xohm proves to be successful in the long run.
Reardon doesn’t mention LTE directly, but she does inject a bit of unpleasant reality into the WiMAX vs. LTE debate by pointing out the gloomy state of the economy, and in doing so, she raises an important question: what if delays … Read the rest
Ari Zoldan on October 3, 2008
September 29, 2008: That Monday was the fateful day of Sprint-Nextel’s long-awaited WiMAX rollout. Xohm launched commercially in Baltimore to great anticipation in four forms: a $35/month modem plan, a $45/month mobile service for use with a PC ExpressCard, a $65/month “pick 2″ plan, and a $10/day tryout, but it’s really the second option that brings something new to the table. Internet anywhere in a city? No wires? And not even that, but faster than your usual cabled setup too! So needless to say, many have already taken Xohm out for a (literal) test drive, so much so that the ExpressCards are selling out in stores.
The bottom line? PC Magazine and Information Week both seem to agree–the new service is undoubtedly fast. PC Magazine’s Sascha Segan: “With a strong signal, I saw download speeds averaging 3.6Mbps, with my fastest test at a blazing 7.1Mbps. That’s faster than my home cable connection!” But “strong signal” are the operative words; the new network still has a lot of gaps to fill. J. Nicholas Hoover of Information Week confesses to having run across a few “dead zones” in areas that were stated as covered, and signal fluctuations were common, as Segan elaborates: “At a shopping mall…I had a significantly stronger signal on the south side of the mall than on the north side.“ But, he continues, “[T]hat’s to be expected from a new wireless network in its first week…Networks start out patchy and then fill in.”
So Sprint’s WiMAX network is far from perfect. But for now, Baltimore residents should be glad to have 35 mph streaming video. Next up is Chicago and D.C.; the former is already getting hyped up with an exhibit in the Museum of Science of Industry featuring a three-story WiMAX-enabled Smart Home. And if you aren’t in Baltimore but are in the seven announced near-future sites (Chicago, D.C., Dallas-Fort Worth, Boston, Providence, Philadelphia), you may still be able to take advantage of fixed WiMAX speeds!… Read the rest
Ari Zoldan on June 25, 2008
WiMax news has been dominated by a London research firm’s recent announcement that mobile WiMax might be dead on arrival.
“Recent events have been unfavourable toward Mobile WiMAX,” says Frost & Sullivan’s Programme Manager Luke Thomas, referring to Sprint’s delayed deployment of its commercial WiMax network. The firm then focuses on the two aspects of mobile WiMax:
“In terms of indoor wireless broadband, Wi-Fi fits well in this space and with the emergence of 802.11n, which includes MIMO, throughputs would be far better than what MobileWiMAX can deliver…With respect to outdoor mobile broadband environments, users would expect Mobile WiMAX to seamlessly hand off to cellular networks in the absence of WiMAX reception. In reality this is not possible as mobile WiMAX is not backward compatible with existing cellular technologies.” (Centre Daily)
By their diagnosis, the future of mobile WiMax seems bleak indeed. However, the image they portray may be oversimplified to WiMax’s disfavor. For instance, most next-generation broadband technologies will radically change modes of operation, making them incompatible with prior hardware. And before you ask, yes, in this club is the much-championed LTE. So in any discussion of new mobile technology, upgrading existing equipment is almost a given. It’s certainly much more of an industry-wide hurdle than, as Frost & Sullivan make it seem, an obstacle of WiMax exclusively. And already the industry is moving towards a solution, with talks of multimode.
As for the talk of the 802.11n standard of WiFi: last I heard, parts of the standard were still under patent in Australia, and requests for Letters of Assurance were ignored. That’s not a good portent for the standard’s likelihood of approval, as fast as it may be. I’d much rather look to WiMax, which is set to launch in its first large U.S. metropolitan area, Baltimore, in September.… Read the rest
Ari Zoldan on February 15, 2008
Though there were echoes suggesting that Xohm would soft launch in Baltimore, Chicago and Washington, DC early this winter, these plans clearly did not materialize, leaving many wondering when this first big step for Xohm would come to fruition in the United States. As stated on a post on DailyTech, Sprint’s Vice President for Technology Development, Ali Tabassi, says that the time could be this spring.
This piece of information comes as a response to this past Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where products were enthusiastically displayed with some praises for the WiMAX and murmurs against LTE and competing technologies. Potential users in the United States, however, have yet to see WiMAX developments, making timing ever more crucial for Xohm. Tabassi already acknowledges that delays with Sprint mean that it will mostly likely not reach the hoped-for 100 million subscriber mark this year.
At the same time, though, there is plenty of behind the scenes development that could very well push Xohm ahead. Talks between Sprint and Clearwire are still reported to be near a close, with word of an additional $2 million investment from Intel and probably others. As the deal officially comes to a close the path ahead for Xohm should become clearer to investors and those interested in the progress of WiMAX.… Read the rest
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