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!

Unstrung has provided a hopeful article on Clearwire and Sprint’s possible reunion on the WiMAX front–apparently with help from Google and others. Analyst Eric Kainer provides a synopsis on some of the possibilities:

- When could the deal be announced? The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is one possibility. It takes place next week.
- Clearwire is “close to the finish line” in the deal with Sprint
- Google’s interest in Xohm may be because they feel they can reach more people sooner than via 700 MHz broadband.
- With Sprint’s financial troubles in the news and Clearwire in need of more funding, this may be the optimal time for a reunion

With last week’s announcement of 4,000 job cuts, reductions in its retail footprint and the loss of three top executives, many wonder what all these changes with Sprint will mean for Xohm. To provide more background on the latest news, key executives Paul Saleh (chief financial officer), Tim Kelly (chief marketing officer), and Mark Angelino (president of sales and distribution) are all leaving Sprint in the wake up plummeting profits and subscriber losses for the company. These realities have defied Sprint’s hopeful financial estimates and lead to some criticism–criticism that has been somewhat on the rise since the company’s acquisition of Nextel a few years ago.

Though Xohm has not been specifically mentioned in conjunction with some of the changes that have been happening with Sprint, one can’t help but wonder if it will be affected. While there were hopes that Sprint would open the new year with a big bang on its promise to roll-out nationwide, buzz on their initial three-city soft launch has been on the low end. This has resulted in some doubts, as John Oram of Geek.com expressed, “Often Sprint makes good technology decisions, however their implementations are sorely lacking; e.g., Sprint’s promised WiMAX ’savior solution’ that is going to be, at best, a tough row to hoe.” At the same time, however, there are no indications that Xohm will be coming to a halt being that Sprint has positioned the division alongside several services and agencies that will help make it happen.

Though these key movements among Sprint’s executives and other changes may suggest instability or reason for doubt, developments with Xohm still seem to be in order for 2008. Any announcements from the company suggesting otherwise remain to be seen.