Digital Trends
Mobile operator Sprint is rolling out more WiMax-capable gear, announcing two new Sprint 4G Mobile Broadband Routers. The Sprint Personal Hotspot PHD300S enables up to four WiFi-capable devices to connect to the Internet using mobile data networks, while the Cradlepoint MBDR-1000 Broadband Router is aimed at businesses that nee to hook up as many as 32 WiFi devices to the Internet—and both devices support latching onto Sprint’s 3G mobile network as well as 4G WiMax networks where available.
So far, Clearwire has only launched WiMax 4G mobile services in Baltimore, Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Portland Oregon, but the company keeps saying it plans to activate additional markets in the near future. Today, the company announced ten more locations that are in line for WiMax services, with two online today and eight more coming September 1. But they aren’t exactly major metropolitan areas: Bellingham, Washington and Boise Idaho get their WiMax today, while eight Texas markets—including Abilene, Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Killeen/Temple, Waco, and Wichita Falls—are set to be activated September 1.
Clearwire has officially launched its Clear-branded 4G WiMax mobile broadband service in Las Vegas, Nevada, marking the company’s fourth major WiMax service area following Baltimore, Portland Oregon, and Atlanta. Clearwire says the Las Vegas service area covers about 1.7 million people over 638 square miles.
“Wile it’s true that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, now, thanks to Clear, that doesn’t mean it has to stay in one place,” said Jeremy Abler, General Manager of Las Vegas market for Clearwire. “Clear will bring to Las Vegas residents the super-fast mobile internet experience they’re used to having at home or the office, anywhere around town, or on the go.”
Although the rollout isn’t going as quickly as many would have hoped, Clearwire Communications has formally introduced 4G WiMax mobile broadband service to the Atlanta, Georgia area. Clearwire claims the service reaches about 3 million people over an area of about 1,200 square miles, making it the largest WiMAX service area in the United States.
The Atlanta WiMax network has been quietly operating in Atlanta for weeks, but consumers were not able to sign up for the service, which Clearwire offers under the name “Clear.” Clearwire previously rolled out WiMax services in Baltimore, Maryland, and Portland, Oregon.
Clearwire is trying to get a jump on the pending 4G mobile broadband world by rolling out high-speed WiMax technology: so far the service is up and running Baltimore and Portland, Oregon, and the company is promising more major markets will come online during 2009 with as many as 80 markets online by the end of 2010. To that end, Clearwire and Cisco have just announced a deal that will put Cisco gear at the heart of Clearwire’s core infrastructure…and Cisco plans to roll out WiMax gear for consumers, including routers under its Linksys brand.
Clearwire is still in the early stages of lighting up its promised nationwide WiMax network—currently Portland and Baltimore are online, with the company promising eight additional markets will come online during 2009. Computer maker Dell seems to believe WiMax will have some momentum: the company has announced WiMax connectivity options for two of its notebooks—the Studio 17 and Studio XPS 16—as a $60 upgrade. The add-on combines 802.11n and WiMax networking, so buyers don’t have to sacrifice Wi-Fi connectivity for WiMax.
Computer maker Acer has taken the wraps off its new line of Timeline notebook computers that the company claims will revolutionize mobile computing through extended battery life—as much as 8 hours, or 10 hours with an SSD drive—ultra low-power processors, and cooling technology that makes the systems actually comfortable to use (gasp!) on a lap. And the systems will offer a WiMax mobile broadband option for folks who need to have high-speed mobile Internet wherever they go…or, at least, wherever they go in Portland and Baltimore, at the moment.
With Clear’s WiMAX mobile Internet service now blanketing Baltimore, Portland, and many more cities to come, Samsung has decided to roll the dice on the fledging standard’s success and release a mobile Internet device (MID) with WiMAX built in and running Windows Mobile 6.1. We sat down with the long-rumored and now-revealed Mondi at the company’s CTIA booth.
Cable giant Comcast—which, incidentally, now claims to be the third largest provider of residential phone service in the U.S.—is reportedly making plans to bundle and resell WiMax mobile broadband as part of its service offerings, beginning in Portland, Oregon. According to The Oregonian, the cable company is eyeing a mid-year launch for the service, and will likely bundle it in with its existing cable television, Internet, voice, and mobile services—in theory, that could make Comcast’s service offering in the Portland area a “quintuple play,” encompassing up to five consumer services in one package (and on one bill).
Cable operator Comcast has announced that its rollout of DOCSIS 3.0-based wideband services that offers Internet connectivity at up to 12 Mbps—and a whopping 50 Mbps downstream in some places—is now complete across 30 percent of its network footprint, and the company anticipates the rollout will be available across 65 percent of its network by the end of 2009. The company says the wideband capability is now available to more than 15 million home and businesses, including ten major markets like Chicgao, Portland, Seattle, Baltimore, Boston, Atlanta, the Twin Cities, and Philadelphia, among others.
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