Comcast today announced that the carrier has launched their "High-Speed 2 Go" wireless broadband service in the Boston market -- sort of. The service, which traditionally operates over the Clearwire and Sprint Mobile WiMax network, is bundled with existing Comcast services creating the very "quadruple play" option the company
used to downplay. All of it is of course being bundled under the new "Xfinity" brand, a name Comcast hopes to use to better battle Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-Verse for consumer mind share.
Except in Boston, Clearwire has yet to officially launch their Mobile WiMax network (and won't until late this year), so Comcast is offering only 3G (EVDO) service running over Sprint's network for now. That will obviously expand to include Comcast's normal array of 3G/4G services later this year. Comcast says the service should also launch in Houston soon. It appears that Comcast has tinkered with pricing a bit, but this is what Comcast offers in markets when Clear has launched:
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Comcast High-Speed 2go Metro service costs $54.99 for twelve months and comes with 12Mbps Comcast home broadband service and a Wi-Fi router. The service uses a Mobile WiMax data card that will obviously only work in areas where there's Comcast/Clearwire Mobile WiMax.
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Comcast High-Speed 2go Nationwide service costs $69.99 ($92.95 thereafter) and also comes with Comcast 12Mbps home broadband service and a home Wi-Fi router. The service uses a dual-mode data card that allows users to float between Clearwire's Mobile WiMax network and Sprint's 3G EVDO network.
According to the Comcast High-Speed 2 Go
pricing website,
Metro users can instead bundle the wireless broadband service with 16 Mbps "Blast!," 22 Mbps "Ultra," or 50 Mbps "Extreme 50" broadband services for $65, $75, or $112 a month, respectively.
Nationwide users can bundle those same tiers with wireless broadband for $80, $90, or $127 a month, respectively. Those prices all jump substantially (in some cases almost double) after the 12 month introductory period. Of course you'll likely be able to renegotiate a new deal with Comcast when your contract expires.
