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Blog 'wireless' » Goodbye Wi-Fi:
wireless signals get maximized

By Erick Schonfeld and Jeanette Borzo

September 20 2006: 2:19 PM EDT

It's almost a given these days that Clearwire, the Wi-Max wireless network founded by cellular pioneer Craig McCaw, will shake up the wireless broadband sector. "If anyone is going to do it, it's going to be Clearwire," says Joe Laszlo, a senior broadband analyst at JupiterResearch in New York. "They've got the best technology, great financing, and a lock on nationwide spectrum."

Clearwire's initial goal is to create a nationwide broadband wireless network based on Wi-Max, a more powerful relative of Wi-Fi technology. Because Wi-Max infrastructure is much cheaper to build and maintain than traditional networks, some analysts think Clearwire will be able to seriously undercut the broadband prices of Comcast, Verizon, and their ilk.

But the threat posed by McCaw's strategy could be much greater than just price pressure. Clearwire's approach could put in jeopardy the billions of dollars that telecoms and cable operators are pouring into upgrading their existing broadband networks. And in theory at least, Clearwire could eventually offer the cutting-edge services that telecoms and cable companies are angling for -- Web-based TV, movies on phones, VOIP calls, and the like.

More here: »money.cnn.com/2006/09/15 ··· y_latest
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