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Time Warner Cable Announces Wireless Broadband
Mobile WiMax goes live in North Carolina December 1

As expected given their investment into Clearwire and Sprint's Mobile WiMax joint venture, Time Warner Cable today announced plans to offer wireless broadband service. The service is going to be launched December first in the so-called North Carolina Triangle -- Raleigh, Durham, Cary and Chapel Hill -- as well as in Charlotte and Greensboro. Time Warner Cable is offering a variety of service tiers for the up to 6 Mbps wireless broadband service:

Road Runner Mobile 4G National Elite: gives customers unlimited access to both Time Warner Cable`s 4G Mobile Network and Sprint's 3G EVDO network for $79.95 if you're a Roadrunner Standard or Turbo customers.

Road Runner Mobile 4G Elite: gives customers unlimited access to the Time

Warner Cable 4G Mobile Network for $49.95 if you're already a Roadrunner Standard or Turbo customer.

Road Runner Mobile 4G Choice: gives customers access to the Time Warner Cable 4G Mobile Network for $39.95 if you're already bundling at least two Time Warner Cable services. The tier also caps usage at 2GB per month.

Users can get further discounts for all three tiers if they become triple play customers. The pricing isn't awful, but as with Clearwire and Comcast's launches -- the real problem will be a limited deployment footprint and early performance issues. According to the company, the next launch markets will be in Dallas, Honolulu and Maui, with the Dallas launch occurring before the end of the year. Your thoughts?
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Belinrahs
I have an ego the size of a small planet
Premium Member
join:2007-09-07
Nashville, MI

Belinrahs

Premium Member

No..

I don't see this going anywhere far. TW should be working on improving their crappy cable network first, anyhow.

Honolulu and Maui? I'm surprised they're going outside of the mainland to offer 4G. That much, I applaud them for. I'm interested to see where this takes Time Warner -- I'm guessing it'll be a flop in the end. Sprint and Clear's offerings are going to be the winners. Purely speculation, however.

vzw emp
@qwest.net

vzw emp

Anon

Re: No..

said by Belinrahs:

I don't see this going anywhere far. TW should be working on improving their crappy cable network first, anyhow.
Exactly. This is what's wrong with companies nowadays. Instead of spending the extra capital improving their core business (and there's plenty of room for improvement) they instead choose to get into a business that has at best a peripheral connection to their real profit maker. They wonder why there is so much uproar about the supposed "need" for consumption based billing and competition from muni-broadband efforts when they squander their profits entering a market in which they have no experience all while facing stiff competition from other sources (you think Verizon and AT&T are going to stand by and watch TW sap their profits?).

This sounds like another AOL fiasco in the making.
vlad1000
join:2005-05-19
Brooklyn, NY

vlad1000

Member

nyc?

i know that clear is not going to launch in nyc for a while...but does anyone know if its possible to get access to their internet in nyc regardless? because i know thats how it used to be with philly, portland etc

S_engineer
Premium Member
join:2007-05-16
Chicago, IL

2 edits

S_engineer

Premium Member

Time Warner

still leave a bad taste in the mouth. They're trying to offset the horrific PR year with something they consider positive...we'll see

And they still cap lower than everyone else on the lowest tier! The seem bound and determined to be the lowest usage cap.
Heated Man
join:2009-06-18
Cleveland, OH

Heated Man

Member

Kudos

Awesome job! Cannot wait until it is nationwide. Maybe this will make for the rest of the wireless on the go companies more honest and stop ripping people off on their outrageous pricing.

thender
Screen tycoon
Premium Member
join:2009-01-01
Brooklyn, NY

thender

Premium Member

Re: Kudos

said by Heated Man:

Awesome job! Cannot wait until it is nationwide. Maybe this will make for the rest of the wireless on the go companies more honest and stop ripping people off on their outrageous pricing.
I hope competition helps lower them nonsense $90/mo/5 gb plans.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Kudos

$90? More like $40-$60. Also, T-Mobile and Sprint unlimited can be had for $70.

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList

Premium Member

Re: Kudos

tmobile unlimited data thru my rooted g1 for a measley $25

Noah Vail
Oh God please no.
Premium Member
join:2004-12-10
SouthAmerica

Noah Vail

Premium Member

Re: Kudos

said by ArrayList:

tmobile unlimited data thru my rooted g1 for a measley $25
I'm not too far off.
Sprint Data via Aircard - No Caps - $30.
Sprint Data via Smartphone - No Caps - $30.

I could tether and save the Aircard charges, but the aircard gives a lot of flexability.

NV

ArrayList
DevOps
Premium Member
join:2005-03-19
Mullica Hill, NJ

ArrayList

Premium Member

Re: Kudos

yea I wish I had it that easy. i could probably stick my sim card into an aircard if i had one and use that but i'm too lazy.

Noah Vail
Oh God please no.
Premium Member
join:2004-12-10
SouthAmerica

Noah Vail

Premium Member

Re: Kudos

said by ArrayList:

yea I wish I had it that easy. i could probably stick my sim card into an aircard if i had one and use that but i'm too lazy.
Sprint is CDMA, so no SIM card.

My last GSM based aircards used EDGE. That was a while ago, but I seem to remember that they did use SIM.

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

iansltx

Member

Re: Kudos

T-Mobile/AT&T are GSM/HSPA and thus use SIM cards. So you can swap a SIM into an AWS-capable 3G card and off you go.
iansltx

iansltx

Member

Pricing sucks

You can get $80 4G + 3G from Sprint, or $50 4G from Clear...WITHOUT having to bundle additional services from TWC. Unless TWC adds special sauce to the network on their end like Sprint does (no caps on upload speeds vs. caps on upload speeds) there's no compelling reason to choose the cable company over the provider who actually services the areas.

This is in contrast to Comcast, which actually provides discounted service vs. Clear's own plans.

FWIW I'm thinking the big cableco bucks going into this deal were primarily to get the cablecos to give Clear cheap backhaul capacity; when you've got an HFC network the buildout costs for fiber to the tower are going to be lowish. Especially vs. paying an arm, a leg and a firstborn for a telco circuit.
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina

Member

Re: Pricing sucks

Your title echoes my thoughts. If these were stand-alone prices that did not require you to have other services with TWC and then they discounted if you also bundled, maybe they wouldn't be so bad. As it is now, both "elite" packages require you to be an existing Road Runner subscriber. That means you'll also likely have to be TV subscribers since it's common for folks to bundle cable HSI and TV packages. So this service isn't replacing anything. It's an add-on...and a pretty steep one at that!
Samsonian
join:2007-06-15

Samsonian to iansltx

Member

to iansltx
I completely agree.

At least Comcast's wireless bundle offers significant savings compared to purchasing each service separately, this offers none. Comcast has said they'll have 40% on wireless after their promo pricing ends. I feel bad for you guys in TWC territory, they must hate their customers.

I thought the same thing about cableco provided backhaul to Clear, and still hope to see that. But, we haven't seen that yet on any meaningful scale at all. More than 90% of Clear's towers are on their internal wireless backhaul network.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Pricing sucks

But that internal wireless backhaul network has to have a wireline backhaul somewhere.
Samsonian
join:2007-06-15

Samsonian

Member

Re: Pricing sucks

True enough.

But those are "fiber aggregation points." And they only represent 5-10% of their sites. That's just not a meaningfully large number.

And while that fiber could be coming from a cableco, it could also come from metro fiber provider, like Level 3, XO, TW Telecom, Zayo, etc.

Clearwire has said they'd like to have more fiber backhaul (who wouldn't), but it's either just not available or not affordable. So I guess they're primarily using this wireless backhaul strategy, as it's the only way to go.

One would think cablecos would make their plant available to Clearwire at reasonable cost. Given that Clearwire is their wireless meal ticket, and their traditional telco enemies are entrenched in wireless, and make lots of money there. But for whatever reason, that level of cooperation isn't there yet.

Eagles1221
join:2009-04-29
Vincentown, NJ

Eagles1221

Member

not bad

Unlimited access to Sprint EVDO is nice since I pay 69.95 for 5 GB on Verizon right now.
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina

Member

Re: not bad

You have to also be at least a RR "standard" subscriber.

Eagles1221
join:2009-04-29
Vincentown, NJ

Eagles1221

Member

Re: not bad

I have 1200 users on my network. I have 25 VZ air cards. I can find enough users with RR STD or RR Turbo to match up and replace my Air Cards

RiseAbove
Premium Member
join:2004-01-30

RiseAbove

Premium Member

Prices seem way way way to high

Sorry but the prices here for their wireless/sprint package at $79.95 seem exceptionally overpriced. Not surprised the US has always had data prices way over the rest of the world and really no reason to justify it. Plus what happened to giving a discount when it comes to bundling services, I wouldn't call charging $39.95 really a discount.

So overall this whole package is a big "meh."
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Prices seem way way way to high

ke4pym
Premium Member
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC

ke4pym

Premium Member

I'll wait

For VZW to roll out LTE here next year.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: I'll wait

what is LTE going to get you when only a handfull of markets will have it? Especially with no equipment really available. LTE is still in the lab, it hasn't proven itself.

WiMAXX has proven itself, it does work and it does have equipment to run on the network.

As far as VZ prepare to have a 5gig cap.
33358088 (banned)
join:2008-09-23

33358088 (banned)

Member

caps anyone

haha useless company for useless internet for useless people

Koil
Premium Member
join:2002-09-10
Irmo, SC

Koil

Premium Member

Re: caps anyone

Exactly...2Gb cap....use..less
Heated Man
join:2009-06-18
Cleveland, OH

1 edit

Heated Man to 33358088

Member

to 33358088
Whatever

Noah Vail
Oh God please no.
Premium Member
join:2004-12-10
SouthAmerica

Noah Vail

Premium Member

If Brighthouse offered it, I'd bite.

I'm paying $65/mo for my RoadRunner 20+/2 tier, via Brighthouse.

It'd be another $15+svcfees to add an air card to that.

I just took on a business partner and could use another air card. This deal was made for me.

NV

Matt3
All noise, no signal.
Premium Member
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC

Matt3

Premium Member

Interesting

As far as I know, Clear has only deployed pre-WiMax in Greensboro, not mobile WiMax.
hottboiinnc4
ME
join:2003-10-15
Cleveland, OH

1 edit

1 recommendation

hottboiinnc4

Member

Re: Interesting

you're confusing the 2 companies. There is "Clear" and Clearwire. Clearwire is the OLD network and Clear is the new WiMAXX 4G network.

Service is also on its way to GSO: »www.clear.com/index/coverage
jjeffeory
jjeffeory
join:2002-12-04
Bloomington, IN

jjeffeory

Member

2GB is HORRIBLE!

Yikes, that sucks!
Deezee3
join:2009-09-11
Lake Elsinore, CA

Deezee3

Member

Re: 2GB is HORRIBLE!

yead TWC needs to up their online to fios levels, hey all their facny commercials talk about the millions they spent to make it fiber optic, well then why does fios blow the crap out of twc in bandwidth speeds?

ReVeLaTeD
Premium Member
join:2001-11-10
San Diego, CA

ReVeLaTeD

Premium Member

Price isn't awful?

quote:
The pricing isn't awful, but...

How do you figure?

If I'm a current customer of TWC, my bill is not any lower than $50/month. They now want me to pay at least $40-$50 MORE just to have mobile access to slower data. I think that's a terrible deal, quite frankly. There is no financial incentive to go for this.

A better deal would be something like this (Theoretical pricing used):

1: A La Carte Mobile Data @ $39.95 with a 400MB cap, or $59.95 with a 10GB cap (competes directly with Verizon, beating them by virtue of not requiring a contract for the data AND having higher caps. And yes, I know Verizon is providing said data, but that does not preclude TWC from competing with their offering.)

2: TWC Basic Data @ $29.95, Mobile Data @ $29.95 with a 400MB cap (Designed for the user on the go who plans to only use the mobile data for email or the occasional lookup of something. Users who have greater requirements can pay the full $59.95 for the higher cap)

3: TWC Turbo Data $49.95, Mobile Data @ $9.95 with a 400MB cap

4: TWC Premium/Elite Data @ $59.95, Mobile Data free up to the first 400MB of usage, then $29.95 for each 5GB thereafter

5: Any bundle of $99.99 or greater gets Mobile Data free up to 400MB of usage, then $19.95 for each 5GB thereafter

THAT is how you get people to buy your stuff. Make the bundle appealing instead of robbing Peter to Pay Paul. Your regular products can be priced just the same, but the additional products should not then be full price unless it's in excess of expected usage.

BTW, no arguments about "There shouldn't be caps!!!" You're preaching to the choir...but caps are a reality in the US and that won't change any time soon.

simlesa
Premium Member
join:2006-04-14
Astoria, NY

simlesa

Premium Member

Elite = No Cap

Well, only the "Choice" package has the 2GB cap. The "Elite" package has none. I think $49.99 for no-caps is a pretty good deal.

See more details at:
»www.timewarnercable.com/ ··· ide.html

--Luko

netwire
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Dallas, NC

netwire

Premium Member

lololol

Prices are too high for a service meant to be used while you are away from your desk. And the 2GB cap is a joke for that price. Hell, even the 5GB cap most providers have is a joke when you consider the number of people on the network who pay the same price and use far less than that.

quatra
Premium Member
join:2003-06-22
Matthews, NC

quatra

Premium Member

Re: lololol

I'm not sure why they even offer the $40 tier nobody in their right mind would pass up unlimited usage for $10/month more. From what I've heard this service can go 6mbit down/3mbit up 2gigs would be used up on day one by even an average user.