Seattle's Space Needle gets WiMax'd

SpeakEasy's CEO Bruce Chatterley pulled a Richard Branson and walked out onto the halo of Seattle's Space Needle to announce the largest WiMax deployment of its kind in North America, including antennas and radio equipment installed on the Space Needle itself. The system will send wireless signals over a 5-mile square mile area of Seattle — but don't get too excited. The service is intended for commercial use, costing $800 a month for a 6 megabit pipe, but that's compared to the $500 a month most business are paying now for a measly 1.5 megabits.

[Via BoingBoing]

[Redshark @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

6 Megs total bandwith for $800.
So 3 down and 3 up or 4 down 2 up. anyway you want to use it just 6 Megs total.

[Pedro @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

Hooray for SpeakEasy!! Wish I lived in Seattle!!

[BuddyPDX @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

Redshark's right, this is "total" bandwidth, meaning upstream and downstream is added together, so, for $500, you get the equivalent of a T1 (1.5Mbp/s symmetrical access = 3Mbp/s in EasyStreet's terms).

Most Competitive Local Exchange Carriers in Seattle will sell you a T1 for $400 to $450 and if you're really pushy, they'll waive the install charges. With EasyStreet, you have a $1100 install charge.

So, sorry BoingBoing, I feel a land-line T1 is still a better value. And if you need more than 3Mbp/s, you can bond a second T1 to get that 6Mbp/s you need and it's still less than EasyStreet's WiMAX (especially with that $1500 install charge).

But, to their credit, they say they can turn up service in 2 days after a site survey. That's the real value - if you're in a hurry.

[solowCX @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

Some landlord or apartment owner could probably make a killing by getting one these to their building if there weren't any other good ways for his tenets to get broadband. He could then take that signal and turn it into an 802.11g signal for everyone in the building. The pings might be terrible but the speed would probably be good for most people, probably would need multiple APs too. But if 50 people signed up it would only cost him $16 a person, and could probably easily charge $20 for it. Who wants to pay around $45 dollars for Comcast if you could get fast wireless for $20. Of course, Speakeasy probably has it in their contract for you not to do this or something...

[Roy @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

Finally the rollout of WiMax starts and that�s just the beginning. I bet in one or two years you can sign up for a 1Mbp/s line for as low as $30-$40.

[lupinstel @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

Actually Speakeasy's home service allows you to sell your bandwidth to neighbors. They even have special payment programs set up, were the neighbor pays speakeasy, at what ever price to payment you select, and that deducts from what you owe Speakeasy. I don't use them because DSL isn't in my area, but I was going to. Speakeasy.net

[Phenostar @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

I've been using Speakeasy home DSL for over a year now. Its teh shit bomb biggity.

[Cory @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

YAAA i will be able to use this for my buisness. This is great! nice job speakeasy

[Chris @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

It's "teh shit bomb biggity"?

This is......good?

Bad?

[smack @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

I've been a Speakeasy DSL customer for 5 years now. They're fab. Support is A-1 when you need it, and you talk to someone who is logged into a shell account, not some idiot trawling through a "knowlege base." Problems are fixed with a few keystrokes, not an interminable trouble ticket system. Highly recommended.

s.

[ben @ Dec 19th 2005 2:14AM]

that's really expensive! I have a 6mb down and 1mb up connection from cox business services in Phoenix for $134/mo and it only cost $249 to install at my hotel... I use it for free high speed internet access to anyone within range, mostly hotel guests.