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Sprint, Clearwire, and Comcast to expand 4G coverage

4G is slowly gaining traction--that is if Sprint, Clearwire, and Comcast have their way. The companies have announced that all three will expand their 4G coverage to several more markets this summer. They include Jacksonville and Daytona, Fla; Kansas City, Kan.; Nashville; St. Louis; Salt Lake City; Merced, Modesto, Stockton, and Visalia, Calif.; Wilmington, Del.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Eugene, Ore.; and Yakima and Tri-Cities, Wash. All three will market their 4G services under their own brands, of course.

If you don't see your city on the list, don't fret--the companies have promised to further their expand 4G coverage … Read more

Clearwire expands 4G but major cities still left out

People living in some of the nation's biggest cities in the U.S. will have to wait a little longer to get 4G wireless broadband service from providers using the new Clearwire network.

Clearwire, which is building a nationwide 4G wireless network using a technology called WiMax, announced Wednesday that it will be adding 18 additional cities to the list of markets getting the speedy wireless service this summer. But major cities, such as New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. will still have to wait.

Previously, the company said it would offer 4G service starting this summer … Read more

Clearwire 4G launches in Houston

Houston is the latest city to get Clearwire's 4G WiMax service, the company announced Monday.

Both Clearwire and its partner, Sprint Nextel, will be offering 4G wireless service in Houston. Clearwire, which is backed by Sprint, cable giants Comcast and Time Warner Cable, as well as Intel and Google, has been building its nationwide 4G wireless network for over a year. Houston marks the 28th city to get the service. Most of the markets that already have 4G WiMax are in Texas along with some major cities, such as Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Baltimore.

Previously, Clearwire had announced it … Read more

Sprint, Clearwire CEOs ponder LTE for future

LAS VEGAS--Sprint Nextel and Clearwire executives admitted Wednesday that they could follow the rest of the worldwide wireless network and adopt LTE for future network upgrades.

Spring Nextel CEO Dan Hesse and Clearwire CEO Bill Morrow sat down separately and talked to CTIA CEO Steve Largent during the keynote session on the second day of the CTIA trade show here.

In 2008, Sprint and Clearwire combined spectrum and formed a partnership to build a nationwide network using a technology called WiMax. During the keynote conversations, Largent asked each executive about his company's decision to use WiMax over other technologies, … Read more

Can 4G wireless take on traditional broadband?

The 4G revolution in wireless won't just make Web surfing on your mobile phone faster; it could help you say good-bye to traditional cable and DSL broadband.

Clearwire's 4G WiMax service, currently the only 4G wireless service on the market, offers average download speeds between 3Mbps and 6Mbps, which are comparable with many DSL and cable modem services on the market.

As a result, consumers in the 27 markets where Clearwire currently offers service now have another choice for their broadband service. And many are deciding to ditch cable and DSL for 4G wireless.

Tim Elliott, who lives in Atlanta, is one of those customers. Ten months ago when Clearwire came to town, Elliott, who had subscribed to an AT&T DSL package, canceled his service and signed up.

Elliott said he was convinced to subscribe to the service because he got a free Netbook as part of a promotion. He added that he plans to stick with Clearwire even after his contract expires because he likes the convenience of having broadband anywhere. Even though he could have gotten free Wi-Fi access to any AT&T hot spot as part of his old AT&T DSL subscription, Elliott said the ubiquity of WiMax makes the service more valuable to him.

"I love being able to go anywhere in town with my laptop and not worry about finding a hot spot," he said.

Elliott isn't the only subscriber who has decided to cancel his existing broadband service for Clearwire's 4G wireless service. In fact, Clearwire's chief commercial officer, Mike Sievert, said during the company's fourth-quarter 2009 earnings call last month that roughly half of the company's subscribers are using its new Clear brand 4G wireless broadband service as a replacement for DSL and cable modem services.

Sievert's comments are the first indication that 4G wireless could actually compete in the duopolistic broadband market. Wireless executives at this week's CTIA trade show in Las Vegas may downplay this fact as they tout new mobile devices for 4G. But as 4G wireless speeds continue to match speeds for traditional broadband, 4G wireless will serve as a viable replacement for some consumers who are not interested in subscribing to a costly triple-play package of TV, phone, and Internet services.

Indeed, other 4G wireless services will offer similar speeds to those offered today from Clearwire. Verizon Wireless is building its own 4G network using a technology called LTE and is expected to launch the service in 25 to 30 markets by the end of the year. It claims that the average download speeds it has seen in its test networks are between 6Mbps and 12Mbps.

But Verizon and AT&T, which will test 4G LTE technology later this year, have been careful not to talk much about 4G wireless as a broadband replacement service. After all, these companies sell DSL services and they have each invested billions of dollars upgrading their wired networks to provide faster fiber-based services. Verizon has taken fiber all the way to the home with its Fios service. And AT&T has extended fiber to neighborhoods to boost high-speed Internet speeds.

Neither AT&T nor Verizon Wireless have talked about how they will price their 4G wireless services. There are some indications that the companies plan to implement usage-based pricing, which would likely discourage many people from using their 4G wireless services as a replacement for DSL.

But it's clear from the recently released National Broadband Plan that the Federal Communications Commission expects 4G wireless to be a broadband competitor. Today, about 95 percent of the U.S. population has access to at least one broadband provider, according to the FCC's report. About 13 percent have access to only one provider, while the vast majority, roughly 78 percent, have access to two providers, cable and DSL. Only 4 percent have access to three or more providers.

The FCC recognizes that broadband needs to be delivered not only to the 4 percent who don't have it, but also that more competition is needed in markets with only one provider. Even though two competitors are better than one or none at all, three could be even better, which is why many consumer groups have advocated for more competition even in markets with two suppliers.

The problem is that putting broadband infrastructure in the ground is expensive. And earlier attempts to force competition in the telecommunications market through regulation have not been successful.

Now it looks like the FCC has acknowledged that getting a "third wire" into the home is unlikely, and it has instead turned its attention to 4G wireless. … Read more

Report: T-Mobile in talks with Clearwire, cable

T-Mobile USA's CEO said the company is in talks with Clearwire and cable companies about a possible joint venture, Reuters reported Thursday.

Speaking at an investor conference in Germany, Robert Dotson, T-Mobile USA's CEO said that the wireless carrier was looking into creating a joint venture with Clearwire, which is building a nationwide 4G network and cable companies, to improve its wireless spectrum opportunities.

"We continue to look at JV opportunities for additional spectrum...there are a number of different options we look at, (we) have been talking with cable companies, with Clearwire," the news service … Read more

Friday Poll: How do you connect to the Net?

I've been working for hours with Clearwire--the fancy WiMax ISP we mentioned this week--to get my newer, faster Clear modem up and running.

So far, so good. It's faster than my original Clearwire service. And at $30 a month--down from the $55 I was paying with Comcast--it's a pretty good deal; I really don't need 15Mbps from a cable modem, and I don't have a landline for DSL. (Sorry, Quest!)

But that doesn't mean I don't shop around. I'm a fickle consumer when it comes to certain things and broadband is … Read more

Clearwire adds more subscribers, cuts losses

Clearwire saw a huge uptick in 4G wireless subscribers in the fourth quarter, which helped the company narrow its losses.

The company, which is building a nationwide 4G wireless network, added 87,000 new subscribers in the fourth quarter, it reported Wednesday. This is up from the 5,000 it signed up in the fourth quarter of 2008. Clearwire ended the year with a total of 688,000 customers.

These subscribers also included wholesale customers, which use the Clearwire service through one of its partners, such as Sprint, Comcast, or Time Warner Cable. Clearwire said that its wholesale subscribers jumped … Read more

Buzz Out Loud Podcast 1146: Fighting firewalls with firewall

The Google China drama continues with some startling revelations about an Internet Explorer 6 vulnerability. And Tim from Kansas has an intriguing suggestion for how Google could reverse the Chinese firewall to get back at them. We also witness the dominance of the Nintendo Wii and the cheapening of some of Verizon's plans.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video) EPISODE 1146

New IE hole exploited in attacks on U.S. firms http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-10435232-245.html http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/01/operation-aurora/ http://siblog.mcafee.com/cto/operation-%E2%80%9Caurora%E2%80%9D-hit-google-others/Read more

Clearwire may consider 4G alternatives to WiMax

WiMax may be Clearwire's technology of choice today as it builds out its nationwide 4G wireless network, but the upstart carrier may eventually migrate to a competing technology that's expected to be used by most of the world's major wireless operators.

Clearwire's willingness to add additional 4G technologies to its network in the future will likely help it compete more aggressively in the future with other 4G wireless providers, such as Verizon Wireless. And ultimately this could mean more choices, better services, and more competitive pricing for wireless broadband services for consumers.

In an interview with … Read more