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Laptop data plans: comparing LTE, WiMAX, and HSPA+ by speed, price, and value
Now that Verizon's gone official with its LTE pricing for an initial launch in some 38 markets this Sunday, we wanted to take a quick look at how it compares to the other players in the laptop data market -- after all, how much you're paying month to month can be just as big of a determining factor (if not a bigger one) in choosing a carrier than the speeds you're seeing. So how do Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T, Clear, and Rover stack up? Let's break it down.
Sprint and Clearwire deliver WiMAX to Los Angeles, Ohio, Miami and Washington DC, promise SF on December 28th
Seems like Sprint wants to get every last lick of 4G coverage in before Verizon flips the switch on LTE -- today, its joint venture with Clearwire is launching WiMAX in the City of Angels a day ahead of schedule. Lest you think Los Angeles is getting special treatment, five other cellular markets can now also get a taste of 5Mbps to 7Mbps download speeds, including Miami, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and our nation's capitol, Washington D.C. That brings the total number of regions where you'll get some mileage out of that $10 surcharge up to 68, in case you're keeping track. What's next? If the press release after the break is correct, San Francisco will finally satisfy its need for speed on December 28th. Not that any of these locales haven't been secretly enjoying 4G already, of course.
Clear security lanes reopen in Orlando, coming soon to Denver
There's just nothing quite like a promised kept, you know? Back in May, we heard that the financially troubled Clear would be making a comeback this fall, and lo and behold, the first Clear security lanes in quite some time have opened up in Orlando International Airport (MCO). Just as before, customers angels who fork out $179 per year and pass a litany of personality tests (we kid, we kid... sort of) will be able to breeze right through a dedicated security lane, enabling them to show up just moments prior to takeoff, claim their seat and simultaneously draw the ire of every other nearby passenger. In the next few months, Clear will roll out a family plan that enables the $179er to add members at $50 a pop, and during the introduction period, all members will receive a free month. Best of all, those who used Clear before can have their cards reactivated once it returns to their home airport. The company intends to open lanes in Denver later this month, but expansion plans beyond that remain a mystery. Feel free to get amped by watching the video just past the break.
Clearwire reports Q4 earnings: staff, marketing, stores, and handset plans all scaled back
Though it reported record growth in both revenue and subscriber count, Clearwire's bad news outweighed the good as it announced its fourth quarter earnings today. Here's the meat of it: "The Company is actively pursuing a number of options to resolve its need for additional capital. The Company is in discussions with a number of its major shareholders and other third parties about a number of options, including potential strategic transactions, additional debt or equity financings and/or asset sales. While the Company is cautiously optimistic it will resolve its short-term funding needs in the near future, there can be no assurances. Thus, it is implementing a series of significant cash conservation measures to reduce costs, including: a substantial reduction in sales and marketing spending, a suspension of additional retail channel market launches of the CLEAR-branded operations in select markets including Denver and Miami, delays in the introduction of CLEAR-branded smartphones, a substantial reduction in the contractor workforce, a 15% reduction in the number of employees, and the discontinuation of development activities for sites not required for its current build plan. The Company currently has thousands of sites in various stages of planning and construction beyond its current build plan, and it intends to suspend zoning and permitting in a portion of those sites until such time as additional funding becomes available." Translation: they're running low on cash, they're looking for ways to raise more of it, and until they do, they aren't launching those promised Clear-branded phones or opening any more retail locations. They're also cutting staff by 15 percent, scaling back Clear marketing, and suspending network planning beyond stuff that's already in the works -- a pretty drastic step considering how much build-out Clearwire's network still needs. Though Sprint depends heavily on Clearwire for its current WiMAX setup, it's unclear whether Sprint would be willing to continue to dump cash into the partnership -- particularly considering the recent rumors that they're looking to reach out to other carriers -- and Comcast has already gone on record saying they don't see themselves turning into a Clearwire ATM. Obviously, both Clearwire's spectrum holdings and its infrastructure are extraordinarily valuable and we wouldn't sound any alarms that Sprint's WiMAX network is in any danger of disappearing, but we're sure this is sounding some alarms at Sprint headquarters that it's time to make some strategic moves. Should be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Sprint and Clearwire light up first 4G network in New York City, among other locales
We gave a fortunate sect of consumers a taste of WiMAX during our recent reader meetup in the Big Apple, but now it's available to all: as promised, Sprint has just gone live with New York City's first 4G network. With the holiday sales season just around the bend, this honestly couldn't have come at a better time, and considering the bandwidth strain that hamstrings the city, it could very well make things easier on everyone if the adoption rate is high. Moreover, Sprint has blessed Hartford, New Haven, New Brunswick, Trenton and Tampa with WiMAX as of today, bringing the grand total of lit cities to 61. So, LTE -- whatcha waitin' for? Update: Naturally, Clearwire has launched 4G in NYC as well. Of course, we're splitting hairs with branding by now, but there it is.
Sprint CEO claims WiMAX is here to stay, says Clear's LTE trials were for potential multi-mode phones
Sprint and Clearwire have characterized LTE as complimentary to WiMAX time and again, but if that doesn't allay your suspicions of turncoat tactics in the wireless data space, take it from Sprint CEO Dan Hesse's lips. "Our 4G strategy is WiMAX, full stop!" he told GigaOM, adding that LTE isn't necessarily on Sprint's roadmap. Quizzed about WiMAX partner Clearwire's LTE trials, however, he dropped a very intriguing hint about the possible shape of phones to come: "We have so much spectrum that we decided to do tests so in case we have multi-modal phones with other air interfaces, we can add LTE on top of WiMAX and run both networks," he told the publication. Dual-mode WiMAX / LTE smartphone, anyone?
Clearwire's first LTE trial results are in: 90Mbps down, 30Mbps up
Yes, that's right: we said LTE, not WiMAX. The patron saint of WiMAX in the US has long toyed with the idea of switching over to the LTE technology path in the long term, and the results of its first live LTE trial -- based in Phoenix -- are looking pretty promising. Two configurations were tested, spanning both LTE's frequency- and time-division flavors; the TD trial ran with a total of 20MHz of spectrum and clocked peak downlink speeds of 50Mbps, while FDD pushed as high as 90Mbps down and 30Mbps up using 40MHz of spectrum in paired 20MHz chunks. That's a lot faster than the max 10Mbps down you can get with Clearwire's WiMAX network today, but then again, these trials are using a lot more spectrum -- twice as much in the TD configuration. Though these trial numbers never end up holding up in real-world use, it's notable that the company achieved these speeds while driving around, not sitting in a lab wearing white coats with the base station a few yards away. Question is, is this enough spectrum to run Engadget's servers on yet?* *No, it's not. [Thanks, Oussama]
Sprint promises WiMAX in NYC on November 1, LA on December 1, and San Francisco a few weeks later
The fact that Sprint and Clearwire have teamed up to deliver WiMAX to New York, LA, and San Francisco isn't news. In fact, we've already seen the networks light up in operational readiness modes on the way to full consumer availability. But now we've got dates, the first specifics that we can recall for these cities. Now, according to both Clearwire and Sprint, New York's WiMAX service will go live on November 1st, LA's on December 1st, and San Francisco sometime around the end of December. We'll see if those early 5Mbps to 7Mbps download / 1.2Mbps upload speeds we've experienced can be maintained once the service meets the crush of the big city horde. Of course, this is nothing but good news for wireless consumers who'll also see Verizon light up its competing LTE network in these cities (38 in total) at about the same time.
Sprint execs leave Clearwire board out of an 'abundance of caution'
Well, it looks like Sprint and Clearwire aren't taking any chances when it comes to some of the new antitrust rules now in place. Clearwire has just announced that the three Sprint executives now on its board will be resigning out of an "abundance of caution" -- that includes Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, along with division presidents Keith O. Cowan and Steven L. Elfman. Not many more details than that at the moment, but Sprint does still hang onto the right to appoint members to the Clearwire board, and the four Sprint appointees currently on the board will remain in place. As The Wall Street Journal notes, however, the move would seem to clear the way for Clearwire to potentially make another deal, although no one involved is saying anything publicly at the moment beyond what's in the brief press release after the break.
Clearwire throttling at-home WiMAX users?
Ah, throttling. Can't ever seem to fully shake it, can we? Just weeks after hearing about a similar issue with the Epic 4G, scores of Clear at-home WiMAX users are now up in arms over apparent throttling on certain accounts. As the story goes, it seems as if the company is pulling back on upload and download speeds (from 10Mbps to around 0.25Mbps) for users who have consumed between 7GB and 10GB in a month, which is comically low even compared to Comcast's hated 250GB / month usage cap. Forum users are finding customer service lines to be no help whatsoever, and some digging has found that this may all be a part of a network traffic administration program that's ongoing within Clearwire. Have any of you seen similar issues? How much data are you sucking down per month? Does your usage clock still show up in your account profile? Let us know in comments below. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Clear WiMAX router passes the FCC without a scratch
The world is not suffering from a dearth of WiMAX routers, but Clear has just a bit of room in their stable: while they offer 4G modems that plug into your computer over USB or Ethernet, along with battery-powered WiFi hotspots, they don't offer any home routers that do the WiFi thing, router thing, and WiMAX thing all-in-one. If this sounds like soft spot in their lineup to you, you'll be happy to know that an honest to goodness plug-it-into-a-wall 802.11n router with WiMAX, Clear branding, and possibly even a VoIP plug has just passed through the FCC. Will it change everything? Maybe.
Comcast says additional Clearwire investment is unlikely
Clearwire isn't in the black yet, having bled about $126 million in the second quarter of 2010 -- but should the need arise for additional investment before it can turn a profit, the company shouldn't plan to knock on Comcast's door. Though it doesn't have as much visibility in the 4G marketplace as Clear and Sprint do, Comcast does actually offer WiMAX service using Clearwire's network and owns about 9 percent of it, but the cable provider's CFO says that the prospects for upping that share aren't good and that its up to Clearwire to "figure this out" -- "this" being its financial pickle. Not exactly a vote of confidence, is it? Obviously, adding (or converting to) LTE is a possible game plan for Clearwire that's going to require some serious cash to pull off, so staying tight with Sprint seems like a stellar idea right about now.
Clear WiMAX is live in New York City (updated: semi-live)
Sprint and Clearwire's WiMAX service has been making occasional cameos throughout the five boroughs since at least June, but now it's official: the service has been launched, closing up one of the most conspicuous holes in coverage so far. This matches up nicely with the San Francisco go-live we reported on earlier today, so you'll now be able to take your red eye from the Big Apple to the City by the Bay without fear that your EVO's going to get slow when you go wheels-down. Plans run from $25 a month (for the iSpot) all the way up to $55 for a mixed-mode WiMAX and EV-DO data stick, which works out to somewhere between 0.00001 and 0.0003 percent of your housing costs in Manhattan. Glass is half full, y'know. [Thanks, Marcus] Update: We've just been contacted by Clear and told that New York's still in the "operational readiness" phase of the go-live, which means hardware's only being offered to customers in limited areas and not all hardware is available (notably, the iSpot isn't yet being offered). Same goes for Los Angeles. San Francisco, meanwhile, isn't yet there -- we're told there might be some limited pockets where service is showing up, but Clear hasn't commercially launched there, even on a limited scale. For what it's worth, all of these areas are still expected to go fully live in 2010, they're just not quite there yet.
Clearwire's San Francisco WiMAX launch was a bureaucratic nightmare
It seems awfully odd that San Francisco -- you know, San Francisco, part of America's technology nexus -- had been left out in the 4G cold for so long while over 70 other networks have been brought live in Clearwire's WiMAX footprint. Well, turns out there's a good reason... or maybe not a "good" reason, but a reason nonetheless: the city's notoriously brutal cell antenna approval process had ensnared Clearwire's efforts, leaving both Clear and Sprint customers out in the cold. The company apparently successfully navigated eight months' worth of approvals in and around SF's Planning Commission before getting slapped with an appeal over concerns that an earthquake could dislodge the antennas and blast residents with excessive levels of radiation; of course, it seems like it'd be a simple matter for technicians to go out and fix anything knocked loose after a tremblor, but what do we know? Regardless, looks like this is all behind us -- but it certainly serves as a sobering warning to all future networks that dare launch in and around the bay. [Thanks, Serge]
Sprint lights up WiMAX in San Francisco
Well girls and boys, if you're in San Francisco, today's your lucky day! It looks like Sprint has finally switched on its WiMAX 4G network in the city by the bay, so whip out your Sprint Overdrive, EVO 4G, or Epic 4G and join the party. We've tested connection speeds using the Epic 4G in Potrero Hill and are seeing between 5 and 7 (!) Mbps down and 1.2 Mbps up with 6 full bars of signal indoors. Even after moving 4 blocks away, download speeds stayed between 2 and 4 Mbps, with the signal dropping to 4 bars, so it appears we've finally reached the realm of "ludicrous speed" on mobile devices. Hit us up in the comments and let us know what kind of performance you are seeing, and in what neighborhood you're located.
Clearwire's Rover service goes live, offers $5/day 4G service
Looks like the prepaid wireless data market is starting to heat up: Clearwire just launched its Rover service, which offers 4G wireless data for as little as $5 a day -- with two free days included when you first sign up. That's not bad if you just need a quick hit here or there, although you need to pony up $150 for that Rover Puck WiFi hotspot we saw at the FCC last month or $100 for a USB stick, and anything more than a day quickly becomes less of a deal at $20/week and $50/month. Oh, and it's 4G-only, so if you're not living or working in a WiMAX city you're out of luck. Still, those prices aren't terribly out of line with the competition, although we might be more inclined to choose Virgin's $40/mo prepaid MiFi and settle for 3G speeds while getting more coverage. Decisions, decisions -- what a wonderful problem to have. PR after the break.
Clear iSpot's device filtering falls to the hackers in near record time
We have absolutely no idea what this means for iSpot owners' service plans if they go through with this -- for all we know, they'll detect un-iPad-like amounts of usage and threaten to up your monthly fee -- but if you're the risky type and you've got an iSpot lying around, its pesky MAC filtering can be a thing of the past with just a tiny bit of effort. There's a blog out there that now has concise instructions posted for gaining root access on the hotspot and tweaking config files to obliterate the MAC filter and enable USB tethering (by default it'll only do WiFi), but if that's too much effort for you, another site -- cheekily named "iSpot instant jailbreak" -- just hooks you up with a binary that you can upload to the iSpot to take care of the filtering in one fell swoop. Again, proceed with caution, because it's anyone's guess how Clear is going to take all this. [Thanks, Travis] Update: We've pulled the iSpot instant jailbreak link after hearing reports that it might be doing more harm than good -- and there might even be some malicious intent involved because it apparently opens a backdoor that allows remote access to the admin console. Welcome to the seedy underbelly of device hacking, folks. Update 2: The creator of the iSpot instant jailbreak just reached out to us know that the remote admin issue was "an error on [his] part" and that the latest version of the config file has it removed; we've re-added the link to it, but as always with these sorts of things, use caution here and be ready for potential flakiness.
Clear iSpot review
Lately, the notion of getting Apple's ever-growing line of mobile devices connected to 3G and 4G networks is attracting a lot of attention from carriers that aren't AT&T -- take Sprint's Overdrive case for the iPad, for instance -- but not in a million years did we think Clear would go so far as to create a mobile hotspot designed exclusively for them. In some ways, that's taking respect for the Apple ecosystem to a whole new level. Of course, even the most die-hard Apple fanatics probably own a WiFi-capable device or three that doesn't hail from Cupertino, so the usefulness of Clear's iSpot is definitely limited -- by design, of course. In exchange for the gimping, you pay just $25 a month for unlimited, blazingly fast WiMAX data with no contract, which is insanely cheap by modern standards -- especially in an era when many carriers are moving to data caps. So just how useful is the iSpot? Does it work as advertised? And perhaps more importantly, can it be used to... ahem, do things it's not intended to do, if you catch our drift? Read on. %Gallery-99108%
Clearwire puts its money where its mouth is, announces LTE trials for later this year
In spite of its pretty healthy (and growing) WiMAX footprint, Clearwire's been saying for at least a year now that it's seriously technology-agnostic -- undoubtedly a bid to assuage investors' fears that WiMAX could end up losing the 4G race in light of LTE's global momentum. Well, it's finally more than mindless fluff for an earnings call, because the company's getting real with both FDD and TD-LTE trials in Phoenix starting this Fall running through early 2011 that will allegedly push downlink speeds as high as 20Mbps and "showcase unique advantages" of Clearwire's "vast" reserve of spectrum. They'll also be testing LTE's ability to coexist with WiMAX in the same band, presumably in a bid to show that it can migrate down the road without leaving its existing customers high and dry. These guys are still a long way off from committing to LTE for the long haul, but it's a sign that they definitely mean business -- and a sign that Sprint could end up falling in line with Verizon and AT&T after all. Follow the break for the press release.
Clearwire's 4G iSpot brings wireless broadband to Apple mobile devices (updated)
Check it out, Clearwire has decided to do up an Apple-centric version of its Spot 4G hotspot, so it's quite naturally fashioned it in the shape of a Magic Mouse and stuck an i prefix to the front of the device. Really, there's nothing new or Apple-exclusive that we can see here -- up to eight devices can hook up to this portable 4G emitter via WiFi and the only (see update) authentication required is a password. So yes, like a lot of products before it, the iSpot has done the ignoble thing of associating itself with iPhones, iPads and iPod touches just because those devices are considered the cool kids of the digital playground today. Then again, Clearwire might decide to be difficult and refuse to sell you one of those excellent-sounding $25 (pre-tax) a month 4G broadband packages that go with the iSpot if you don't have an i-something else in tow. If you're fancying this curvy little accessory for your mobile gear, it costs $99, but can be had for $29 on sale from Clear today, ahead of an August 10 launch at major retailers. Update: We followed up with Clearwire regarding authenticating with the iSpot. We're told that "the device is configured to filter based on MAC address which allows it to ID the Apple mobile devices," which explicitly means iPhones, iPads and iPod touches only.
