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Comcast Unveils Mobile WiMax Service
Rebranded Clearwire service: Comcast High Speed 2Go

Comcast today gave their rebranded version of Clearwire Mobile WiMax service a new name: "Comcast High-Speed 2Go." According to a Comcast press release, the new service launches tomorrow in Portland. The "up to 4Mbps" service will launch everywhere Clearwire deploys Mobile WiMax -- a plan that should see nine cities live by the end fo this year. According to Comcast, the company is offering two different wireless data plans:

Comcast High-Speed 2go Metro service costs $49.99 for twelve months ($72.95 thereafter) 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.

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.

You can of course compare this to standalone Clearwire pricing. Comcast tells us existing double and triple play customers will be able to add Mobile WiMax service on to their current bundles for $30 more a month. Comcast invested roughly a billion dollars into the Sprint and Clearwire joint venture -- and is buying bandwidth wholesale from the new operator.

Comcast’s wireless service won't involve voice product initially, though the carrier suggests that may change. As for caps, Comcast spokesman Charlie Douglas tells us that Comcast is "deferring to Clearwire's TOS on usage" while customers are connected to the Clearwire network. Clearwire's service comes with 200MB, 2GB and unlimited flavors, so we'll have to wait and see which "deferment" Comcast chooses. When connected to the Sprint EVDO network, customers are restricted to just 5 gigabytes of usage per month.

Of course Comcast's service will naturally suffer from the same problem that plagues Clearwire: a limited footprint and future viability in the face of AT&T and Verizon's LTE plans. In addition to the live markets of Atlanta, Baltimore and Portland, Clearwire's expected to launch eight additional markets in 2009, including Las Vegas (also already unofficially live), Dallas and Fort Worth, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, Honolulu and Charlotte. Rural Comcast customers, or Comcast customers in second or third-tier cities probably shouldn't hold their breath.
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sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH

sonicmerlin

Member

4G?

Can we please force the carriers to stop throwing around the 4G term when the service provides nothing close to actual 4G speeds?
ihatedslr
join:2000-12-11
US

ihatedslr

Member

Re: 4G?

4G is more than just speed.

DarkLogix
Texan and Proud
Premium Member
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX

DarkLogix to sonicmerlin

Premium Member

to sonicmerlin
sorry they can and will trough 4G around until they start it all over again with 5G
me1212
join:2008-11-20
Lees Summit, MO

me1212 to sonicmerlin

Member

to sonicmerlin
I think they are using 4g as meaning 'more than what 3g can do'. That said wimax is NOT 4g, 4g is(in sweden anyway) 100/50 some wimax cannot do(I thinik wimax is about 70/I forget the UL) LTE can do 100/50(its what sweden is using).
fiberguy2
My views are my own.
Premium Member
join:2005-05-20

fiberguy2 to sonicmerlin

Premium Member

to sonicmerlin
said by sonicmerlin:

Can we please force the carriers to stop throwing around the 4G term when the service provides nothing close to actual 4G speeds?
This is spewed over and over and over here... why is there a need to clog up BBR when it's not going to change anything? So are we destined to hear the "4G term" anytime a BBR article is posted on it?

DaveDude
No Fear
join:1999-09-01
New Jersey

DaveDude

Member

Price advantage

According to this there is no price advantage. Its easier to tether, and pay the same amount, and have existing nationwide coverage. Plus Wimax isnt considered 4g in some groups.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: Price advantage

said by DaveDude:

According to this there is no price advantage. Its easier to tether, and pay the same amount, and have existing nationwide coverage. Plus Wimax isnt considered 4g in some groups.
The plans they announced INCLUDE home wired HSI internet access as well as the mobile portion. The metro plan would only add about $7/mo to your bill. That sounds like a price advantage to me.

Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02

Karl Bode

News Guy

Re: Price advantage

Pricing is nice. The added $30 for existing double/triple play is nice as well.

Only problem is of course network footprint, and whether Clearwire goes belly up due to LTE pressures from AT&T and Verizon, which I get the feeling is probably inevitable.

DaveDude
No Fear
join:1999-09-01
New Jersey

DaveDude

Member

Re: Price advantage

said by Karl Bode:

Pricing is nice. The added $30 for existing double/triple play is nice as well.

Only problem is of course network footprint, and whether Clearwire goes belly up due to LTE pressures from AT&T and Verizon, which I get the feeling is probably inevitable.
They really need to add phone service, and then they really have a great product. Althought most smart phones can do voip,but none are wimax.
dmelling
join:2009-02-26
New Paris, OH

dmelling

Member

What Markets?

What are they going to do......just rebrand in every city that Clearwire launches.....Atanta...Las Vegas? This is not helping those of us that are looking for a provider to have more coverage.........

baineschile
2600 ways to live
Premium Member
join:2008-05-10
Sterling Heights, MI

baineschile

Premium Member

Re: What Markets?

It sounds like areas that have gotten the D3 Launch
OwlSaver
OwlSaver
Premium Member
join:2005-01-30
Berwyn, PA

1 recommendation

OwlSaver

Premium Member

I think this is great news

It sounds like you get mobile broadband and home Internet for a cost of $70. Since Verizon currently charges $60 just for mobile broadband, this could be a serious challenge. I hope Verizon competes with this.

It will be interesting to see how you can use the WiMax service. Are you locked into only using a Comcast device? Can you buy a device and use a VOIP application to make the device your cell phone. I think that would be a real game changer. For $70 a month, you would be getting home internet, mobile broadband, and cell phone.

I am interested to see how this plays out.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: I think this is great news

said by OwlSaver:

It will be interesting to see how you can use the WiMax service. Are you locked into only using a Comcast device? Can you buy a device and use a VOIP application to make the device your cell phone. I think that would be a real game changer. For $70 a month, you would be getting home internet, mobile broadband, and cell phone.

I am interested to see how this plays out.

Me too. There are a lot of possibilities here. Comcast becoming a mobile cell phone provider by them selves or with Sprint? Selling smartphones with VOIP NOT disabled? Becoming a true Quadruple Play seller of internet, TV, landline voice, mobile voice & data?
me1212
join:2008-11-20
Lees Summit, MO

me1212

Member

Re: I think this is great news

I want to see what happens too, I will admit I am rooting for verizon because I prefer LTE to wimax.
anderboy
join:2007-07-23
Leander, TX

anderboy

Member

Re: I think this is great news

Why do you prefer LTE?
me1212
join:2008-11-20
Lees Summit, MO
·Google Fiber

me1212

Member

Re: I think this is great news

It can do 100/50 with 10ms ping, an ISP in Sweden is doing so with LTE, wimax can only do like 70/I forget. Wimax may cost less than LTE, but LTE is IMO better. I would subscribe to ether right now if it has no cap as right now there all I can get is a 512/128 from the local WISP.
flyingjoey
join:2005-11-07
Jersey City, NJ

flyingjoey

Member

Re: I think this is great news

If you really think you're going to see a 100/50 in this country I want some of whatever you're smoking.

People talk about LTE like you can go to the store and pick it up. LTE AIN'T here yet. WiMax although limited... But it is already here, you can buy the freaken modems. But anyway...

phoneboy3
@shawcable.net

phoneboy3 to me1212

Anon

to me1212
LTE and WiMAX are very similar standards capable of very similar speeds. You should educate yourself more.
Samsonian
join:2007-06-15

Samsonian to me1212

Member

to me1212
said by me1212:

It can do 100/50 with 10ms ping, an ISP in Sweden is doing so with LTE, wimax can only do like 70/I forget. Wimax may cost less than LTE, but LTE is IMO better. I would subscribe to ether right now if it has no cap as right now there all I can get is a 512/128 from the local WISP.
That's not quite right.

Mobile WiMAX and LTE are probably 80-90% the same from a technical standpoint, their main differences are in business models.

Regarding the definition of "4G", you're correct in that it doesn't meet the true definition of 4G. But no standard currently does, both Mobile WiMAX version 1 (based on IEEE 802.16e) and LTE version 1 (3GPP release 8) are considered 3.9G or more ideally "Proto 4G", as they are both on the 4G track.

Mobile WiMAX version 2 (based on IEEE 802.16m) and LTE version 2, called LTE Advanced (3GPP Release 10), are under development right now and will be backwards compatible with their respective standards. Both expected to be submitted to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) for inclusion in IMT Advanced, which is considered true 4G (100 Mb/s mobile, 1000 Mb/s stationary).

Also theoretical speeds or lab speeds don't really mean much in practice, especially if they're using a massive amount of spectrum and backhaul to get their big numbers. It doesn't happen in practice like that. We've seen this before from telcos, with their previous and current marketing for 3G.

All else being equal, both standards will offer similar performance. In practice though, WiMAX providers generally have more spectrum, which make a big difference (case in point: AT&T's network problems). Clearwire has a lot of spectrum, over 100 MHz in major markets, and a lot of experience with wireless Ethernet backhaul. Clearwire should be able to offer more speed and actually deliver on it.

Clearwire has commercially deployed Mobile WiMAX. It's here now, you can buy a device for around $50 and hop on their network, and it's rapidly expanding over the next few years. Intel is working hard to get WiMAX in every laptop, just like they did with WiFi and other standards like USB. I don't see that happening with LTE as it exists now, as it's a telco controlled standard.

The whole standard war might be end up being moot in the long run. The standards are so similar, there will likely be devices that support both. There were also attempts to unify WiMAX and LTE a year or 2 ago, but obviously they didn't bear fruit. I suspect it has to do with the telcos not wanting to give up control. That doesn't mean they still can't be combined in the future. Hopefully by the third or fourth version of WiMAX and LTE, we can have a single wireless WAN standard.
me1212
join:2008-11-20
Lees Summit, MO
·Google Fiber

1 edit

me1212

Member

Re: I think this is great news

"Hopefully by the third or fourth version of WiMAX and LTE, we can have a single wireless WAN standard."

That would be cool.

"which is considered true 4G (100 Mb/s mobile, 1000 Mb/s stationary)."

1000m(1g) fixed? Wow, that would be so cool to actually use.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Plans data only; wonder if smartphones planned in future

After reading the news and the Comcast press release, it looks to me like these are data only plans for laptops, netbooks, etc and bundled with home internet access as well. The prices look very good for that. Pay $42.95/month for home HSI only and for $49.99 you get mobile data access at home and on the go in your metropolitan area.

I wonder if they plan on having some smartphone option as well as just the data card option for laptops in the future? Of course, that would get Comcast in to the mobile cellphone business in league with Sprint. Is that a step they want to take?

anjorusso
@speakeasy.net

anjorusso

Anon

wimax is pretty cheap..doesn't matter if it's not too fast

you can get 2 mobile unlimited accounts for $50...so it's $25 per unlimited account....which you could also by the way use as home internet....who cares if it's cold 3g, 4g, 5G or 60000G? it's unlimited internet on the go for a price comparable to the cheapest dsl connection out there....stop being greedy people....wimax is not that cheap but it's cheap enough...but wimax, lte, 3G will go belly up once white space devices come to the market in a couple of years from now...
me1212
join:2008-11-20
Lees Summit, MO

me1212

Member

Re: wimax is pretty cheap..doesn't matter if it's not too fast

Clear wire has no cap? I wonder if that will change when comcast starts selling it. and I mean I wonder if CW will get a cap, I expect CC to keep their cap.
patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

patcat88

Member

caps

And what are the caps and P2P throttling and DPI?

DarkLogix
Texan and Proud
Premium Member
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX

DarkLogix

Premium Member

Re: caps

I would bet the same 250GB soft cap
and no DPI (they wouldn't dare)

fonzbear2000
Premium Member
join:2005-08-09
Saint Paul, MN

fonzbear2000 to patcat88

Premium Member

to patcat88
said by patcat88:

And what are the caps and P2P throttling and DPI?
What's DPI?

DarkLogix
Texan and Proud
Premium Member
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX

DarkLogix

Premium Member

Re: caps

said by fonzbear2000:

said by patcat88:

And what are the caps and P2P throttling and DPI?
What's DPI?
Deep Packet Inspection = Evil

Ben
Premium Member
join:2007-06-17
Fort Worth, TX

Ben

Premium Member

Re: caps

said by DarkLogix:

Deep Packet Inspection = Evil
I don't think that DPI is inherently evil.

But I will agree that some of the possibilities that become available with DPI are evil.

Metatron2008
You're it
Premium Member
join:2008-09-02
united state

Metatron2008

Premium Member

Re: caps

So are guns, and sex is of the devil.

You can't call anything inheritely evil.

jester121
Premium Member
join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL

jester121 to patcat88

Premium Member

to patcat88
said by patcat88:

And what are the caps and P2P throttling and DPI?
Took you long enough.

Epikos
Surpass the Usual or Ordinary
Premium Member
join:2003-07-27
Vancouver, WA

Epikos

Premium Member

HSI, wimax, and the data card for $50?

So they're bundling 12mbps home HSI and 4mbps WiMax for $49.99/mo for 12 months? And this includes the WiMax data card for a laptop? That sounds like a hell of a deal...

DarkLogix
Texan and Proud
Premium Member
join:2008-10-23
Baytown, TX

DarkLogix

Premium Member

Re: HSI, wimax, and the data card for $50?

so then what do you get if you pay for a busi account at your home?
neufuse
join:2006-12-06
James Creek, PA

neufuse

Member

I'll bring it up...

is this rolled into one big cap or are there two seperate caps?and if there is a 5GB cap just as an example on the wimax part, does that 5GB cap also count against your 250GB wired connection and vise versa?... also whats the non-promotional cost? and how can you have national access when there isnt even a national wimax network yet?
Corydon
Cultivant son jardin
Premium Member
join:2008-02-18
Denver, CO

Corydon

Premium Member

Re: I'll bring it up...

It would appear that there are two, possibly three separate caps.

There's the 250 GB on your home service, the 5 GB when using Sprint's 3G service (if you sign up for that), and whatever cap Clearwire has on their 4G service (I don't see any mention of one on their site, but it may be buried in the fine print of the contract somewhere).

ert
@comcast.net

ert

Anon

Re: I'll bring it up...

it might be label under the acceptable usage policy

hayabusa3303
Over 200 mph
Premium Member
join:2005-06-29
Florence, SC

hayabusa3303

Premium Member

Priceless

Bummer. Our network doesn't cover your area yet but we'll let you know when it's available. Please enter your contact information below to become a CLEAR Insider and sign up for Email updates on the latest CLEAR developments:

MinnComcastCust
@brimark.com

MinnComcastCust

Anon

To Bad you can't order the "Nationwide" service Nationwide

The service that they are promoting for $69.99 - Home 12 Mbps Internet + 4G/3G Internet is a great price if you are currently paying Comcast $42.95 + Sprint $59.99 - saves $32.95/mo - but they won't take my order.

Even though I travel to their existing WiMax and future WiMax areas the main benefit for me would be the lower cost access to the Spring 3G EVDO national network for half the price.

Karl Bode
News Guy
join:2000-03-02

Karl Bode

News Guy

Re: To Bad you can't order the "Nationwide" service Nationwide

Yes, Ironic that "nationwide" means one city, nine cities tops by year's end.

phoneboy3
@shawcable.net

phoneboy3

Anon

Re: To Bad you can't order the "Nationwide" service Nationwide

A bunch of other cities like LV and Atlanta and Chicago are online but the services has not 'officially' launched there yet. They are probably still adding points of presence to fill in some holes.

If you sign up for the service and hook up the device it will work in several cities now. Just no guarantees until it 'officially' launches in the city.

pokesph
It Is Almost Fast
Premium Member
join:2001-06-25
Sacramento, CA

pokesph

Premium Member

Comcast WiMax

We think this should come with the already over-priced HSI service.. with a one-time free hardware gimme.

Thanks, but no thanks. Not at these prices.

••••
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Nice deal

$92.95/month is $60 + $33. So the cable portion of the bill is just $33 if you price it out as 3G + internet. That's actually quite competitive. Considering internet in my area is $55 or $65 I'd actually think about getting this deal.

Put another way, it effectively (for Comcast cable customers) makes EvDO + WiMAX $40...on Sprint's network!

Then again the price might be a you-must-get-this-with-cable option. Which would be highly lame but expected. Anyone know?

••••

tmh
@verizon.net

tmh

Anon

No caps is good

I'd try this if there were truly no caps

SteveLV702
Premium Member
join:2004-04-22
Las Vegas, NV

SteveLV702

Premium Member

Mobile Internet no worky with Mac

To bad their Mobile Internet doesn't work with Macs :'(
floydb1982
join:2004-08-25
Kent, WA

floydb1982

Member

Will it come with a monthly 250 gigabyte bandwidth cap?

Will this Comcast service come with a monthly 250 gigabyte bandwidth cap?
slckusr
Premium Member
join:2003-03-17
Greenville, SC

slckusr

Premium Member

comcast + sprint ?

Sprint is hooking up with Clearwire, Comcast is hooking up with Clearwire, with roaming agreements on the sprint evdo network.

Is comcast eyeing sprint as a prize?
Samsonian
join:2007-06-15

Samsonian

Member

Re: comcast + sprint ?

said by slckusr:

Sprint is hooking up with Clearwire, Comcast is hooking up with Clearwire, with roaming agreements on the sprint evdo network.

Is comcast eyeing sprint as a prize?
That's my take as well, although it may take years for it to happen, and it's been a regular rumor for years now. Sprint clearly has problems, there are some clear advantages to a tie up that allows both to better compete against AT&T and Verizon.

For Sprint/Clearwire:
A return to fixed lines
Residential / Small-Medium Business
Financial resources

For Comcast:
National Wireless Network (~50 million customers)
Big Enterprise / Government customers (a who's who list of high value customers)
SprintLink Tier 1 backbone (at cost bandwidth, although bandwidth is cheap)
Global Presence