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Comcast Bringing Metropolitan WiMAX To Subscribers

Posted by timothy on from the let-a-thousand-flowers-bloom dept.

RickRussellTX writes "Comcast plans to offer 4 megabits/sec WiMAX services to customers in Portland, Oregon starting tomorrow. Branded as 'Comcast High-Speed 2go' and '4G,' the service will require a $44.99 per month subscription in addition to existing Comcast home service. For $69.99 they will offer a dual-mode card with access to both Comcast WiMAX and Sprint's national 3G wireless network. Future rollouts are planned for Chicago, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. Say what you will about Comcast (and I know many Slashdot readers have plenty to say about Comcast), this is a daring attempt to bypass entrenched cell phone companies with a direct-to-consumer wireless service."

12 of 71 comments (clear)

  1. This is just reselling of Clearwire by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    "Bypass entrenched cell phone companies" LOL

    This is the Clearwire network ( A spinoff of Sprint) which Comcast and several other cable providers are joint partners with Sprint on.

    1. Re:This is just reselling of Clearwire by Miros · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Comcast reminds me a lot of a traditional utility company in some ways. They provide, in many areas, a virtually essential service for which they are nearly the only provider. They simply realized the truth that in most cases, for them, treating the customer well is more expensive than treating them like crap, and they're going to pay the same monthly subscriber fee no matter how you treat them in most cases. It's sort of like the incentives of landlords; in the vast majority of cases, the more poorly maintained the building is, the more money the landlord makes.

    2. Re:This is just reselling of Clearwire by GrumblyStuff · · Score: 2, Informative

      As a current user of Clearwire in Seattle and a former user of Comcast in Springfield, OR, I'd pick Comcast.

      The reception of the Clearwire signal is horribly spotty and inconsistent. Rain, clouds, wind, SUN... it doesn't matter. It can show 4-5 bars out of 5 and be great for half an hour then be 1-2 and requires being moved 6 inches or rotated 20 degrees.

      Comcast in Springtucky? Never had an issue.

      Now a Comcast wireless connection..? Well, fuck wireless in the first place. Cable, please.

  2. 4G? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Informative

    As I recall, a 4G system is defined by, among other things, 10ms latency, 100Mb/s nominal throughput and an all-IP network. Mobile WiMAX is all-IP, but 4Mb/s is a long way away from 100Mb/s. HSPA, which is 3.5G or 3.75G depending on the implementation goes from 7.2Mb/s to 42Mb/s.

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  3. Clear aleady has service... by Zeelan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When I read this and see the location I just have to think that they are trying to do something as an answer to clear. Portland, OR, has had WiMAX service in the form of Clear now for a few months, without the need to tie it to a home account.

  4. Re:Comcast is great! by ZirbMonkey · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You need to lay it on a bit thicker. Someone might think you're serious.

  5. I'll stick with Quest, thanks. by leftie · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Cheaper, better service, no threats of filters, uploading caps, and they're the only major US telecom to say no to Bush wiretaps.

  6. Interesting by Miros · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This kind of makes sense. For Sprint, it's probably a great way to sell nationwide data services plans through bundling which are usually highly profitable. For Comcast, it's a competitive advantage (wireless metro internet service) that's hard for the other traditional more "hard-wired" ISPs to match. It will be interesting to see how they market it on TV, and what types of non-techie people buy it and why

  7. Not Bypassing the Wireless Carriers by saterdaies · · Score: 5, Informative

    Most likely this service isn't bypassing the wireless carriers. Comcast (along with TimeWarner and others) are partial owners of a company called Clearwire which Sprint owns roughly half of. Clearwire has been rolling out WiMAX as part of Sprint's 4G strategy.

    So, while it might be being sold under the Comcast name, you're essentially buying service from Clear (http://www.clear.com/) run by Clearwire (http://clearwire.com) which is (half) owned by Sprint.

  8. WiMAX is pretty awesome. by Omegamogo · · Score: 3, Informative

    I've been using it for the better part of the past two weeks. And I'm pretty satisfied with the service. Although I live in Saudi Arabia, which is...a bit far from Oregon.

    I pay about $190 for a six-month subscription at 2 megabit. ~$30 a month. 2 megabit is the maximum speed they offer, but it's not bad at all- only slightly more expensive than ADSL (which goes all the way up to 20mbit, but costs an arm and a leg at that tier), and I get a ~150ms ping on US servers. More than adaquate for gaming.

    Thing is, the service has been trumpeted out for eons now. Well, since 2004 or so at least. I had long given up on practical residential WiMAX as vaporware, until earlier this year when the service was rolled out in earnest.

  9. I'll go with Clear if I want WiMAX thanks by sircastor · · Score: 2, Informative

    And I'll only pay $55, rather than the absurd markup you're asking...

  10. Here's a *really* innovative idea for them: by The+Cisco+Kid · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Ditch the requirement to be a wired comcast subscriber. Seriously, there are probably tons of people who arent serviced by comcast (or any cable company) that would love the opportunity to pay $45/mo for high speed wireless. But they are too shortsighted to recognize the potential, and instead want to use this as leverage to sell their cable.