Nextel Communications Inc. on Wednesday said it had begun selling an advanced wireless broadband service in North Carolina, offering download speeds comparable to home broadband lines.

The surprise move by the sixth-largest U.S. wireless company to open an internal test to consumers comes as several wireless companies probe the market for high-speed data, looking for a profitable niche to offset growing competition for voice services.

Nextel said its test service was available around the North Carolina cities of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, covering about 1,300 square miles. The network, based on proprietary Flarion Technologies equipment, can provide download speeds of about 1.5 megabits per second, with bursts up to 3 megabits -- comparable to home cable Internet connections.

The company set four levels of prices for consumers, from an introductory offer of $35 per month for 150 megabytes of downloads at slower speeds to $75 per month for unlimited downloads at top network speed.

Nextel will also offer cards and modems to connect laptop and desktop computers to the network. The service is available to customers who don't use Nextel cellular service.

Continued at Reuters