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Clearwire's WiMAX rollout rolls on: NC, WA, TX, IL and HI get lit
Think LTE is the future? How's about the present? Clearwire is expanding its national footprint in a big, big way today by announcing WiMAX services in a slew of regions in a smattering of states. Starting today, 4G access can be found in both Honolulu and Maui, Hawaii, which effectively removes the last sane reason to not visit and / or relocate there. In fact, CLEAR is now available to 800,000 citizens of America's finest state, with service extending 1,759 square miles over Oahu, Maui, and Lanai. Moving on, residents of Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh, North Carolina can also buy in, right along with those folks in Dallas/Ft. Worth, San Antonio and Austin, Texas who mistakenly think their BBQ is superior. Closing things out, we've got new access throughout the Puget Sound area (including Seattle and King County, Pierce County, Kitsap County, and Snohomish County), not to mention a green light to hop on the 4G superhighway in the Chicago region. If you're anxious to ditch 3G, you'll find plans starting at just $30 per month.
Sony Ericsson closing four facilities, laying off 2,000 employees worldwide
Sony Ericsson has yet to make this public, but we've learned that the flagging handset maker has caved once more to the pressures of the modern phone market place. If you'll recall, 450 employees were nixed from the company's payrolls in September of last year, and now the entire Research Triangle Park facility is being shuttered. In an internal announcement made this morning, SE is fixing to close four total sites: RTP in North Carolina, a smaller Miami facility and operations in Kista (Sweden) and Chennai. All told, 2,000 employees will be trimmed, with severance packages being offered to those who qualify. As of now, the departing individuals have yet to be chosen, with employees in RTP given the opportunity to apply for jobs elsewhere (likely in Atlanta or California). We're told that the cuts will happen "in stages," with project teams being assembled as we speak to work out the logistics. Frankly, we aren't as shocked as we are saddened to hear the news -- SE has refused to keep pace with the other handset makers, and its decision to wait until next year to ship an Android device is indicative of the choices that have kept it in the shadows these past few years. Here's hoping this restructuring effort actually gets things headed in the right direction. Update: And it's official. SE will also be shutting down small offices in Seattle and San Diego, with its North American headquarters shifting from RTP to Atlanta and its research and development operation transitioning from RTP to Redwood Shores, California.
Sprint lights up WiMAX in NC, Chicago and Dallas, launches subsidized Mini 10
Don't you just love it when a plan comes together? Or better yet, when a leaked roadmap doesn't get delayed in the slightest? After months upon months of waiting, broadband-lovin' citizens in the North Carolina Triangle and Triad will be celebrating alongside DFW residents and Chicago natives as Sprint's 4G WiMAX service rolls into town. As of right now (that's today, junior), consumers in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point and Charlotte, NC; Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas and Chicago, Illinois can roll into a Sprint store and snag a U300 3G / 4G WWAN modem on a $69.99 monthly data plan. We're told that San Antonio and Austin will get lit up later this month, while Honolulu and Maui, Hawaii; Salem, Oregon and Seattle, Washington will join the fray before 2010. Oh, and did we mention that Palm's favorite carrier finally snagged itself a WWAN-equipped netbook? 'Cause the Dell Mini 10 is available starting today for $199.99 at select Sprint stores in the metropolitan Baltimore area. Update: Looks like Sprint changed "Baltimore" to "Bay Area." Odd. Read - Sprint WiMAX in the Triangle Read - Sprint WiMAX in the Triad Read - Sprint WiMAX in Charlotte, NC Read - Sprint WiMAX in Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX Read - Sprint WiMAX in Chicago, IL Read - Sprint's first netbook is Dell Mini 10
Clearwire and Sprint slinging WiMAX to NC, HI and TX in November / December
We knew Clearwire would be snaking its 4G services to select markets in North Carolina, Hawaii and Texas before the year's end, but it's always reassuring to hear a corporation come right out and affirm that those leaked dates are still solid. What's interesting about the latest announcement is that both Clearwire and Sprint will be offering 4G in these same cities under their own brands, even though the signals and towers used will be the same. Starting next month, WiMAX will officially land in Greensboro and Raleigh, North Carolina (Charlotte is already lit up, despite these companies' claims) and Austin; Dallas/Fort Worth; San Antonio, Texas. In December, the companies will get things fired up in Honolulu and Maui, two areas where we're certain techs from Sprint / Clearwire are more than eager to go "test things out." So, now that this has all panned out, how's about another leak sheet for 2010 rollouts?
AT&T 3G MicroCell unboxing and impressions
We've already seen AT&T's 3G MicroCell picked up by a few desperate Charlotteans, but for those residing in North Carolina's only city to own a professional sports championship (sorry, Panthers), their time has finally come to secure what just might be the most anticipated femtocell debut in the states. You heard right -- Raleigh, NC has become AT&T's second test market for the device you're peering at above, and starting today, those in and around the Triangle can procure one from their local store. Needless to say, we jumped at the chance to give the unit a go, so feel free to hop on past the break if you're on the hunt for a few more impressions.%Gallery-74131%
Clearwire branding true 4G WiMAX rollouts 'CLEAR,' upgrading pre-WiMAX areas nationwide
Clearwire's far too young of a company to be dealing with a mid-life crisis, but just a year or so after it really began rolling out its Clear WiMAX services in select portions of America, it appears that the outfit is changing names. Confusingly enough, the company (currently Clearwire) will be renaming itself as the service (currently Clear), leaving us to wonder what exactly CLEAR (the rebranded company) will call its WiMAX offerings. There's no indication on the company's website as to when it plans to make the rebranding official, but a customer in Charlotte, North Carolina has informed us that the change is already underway in the Queen City. According to him, his equipment was recently swapped out, with the new modem boasting a Motorola logo and a "CLEAR" logo instead of the "Clearwire" emblem as before. Interestingly, he also claims that his download speed received a (gratis) bump from 1.6Mbps to 5Mbps, which resulted in a "huge improvement in speed." So, any other users out there getting their modems swapped out? Call us crazy, but we're guessing it's just a matter of time.[Thanks, Rick]Update: Clearwire pinged us with a few clarifications here. Ready? Good. Clearwire, as a company, is not changing its name. So far as the SEC knows, the corporate entity will remain "Clearwire." The new "CLEAR" branding is a push to market its true 4G WiMAX services (as opposed to "pre-WiMAX service"), which are rolling out to over 40 existing Clearwire markets around the country. Seems that explains the speed boost Mr. Rick experienced, huh?%Gallery-73894%
Leaked Sprint WiMAX roadmap names new cities for 2009 rollout
Well, what do we have here? One of our readers sent us a screenshot from Sprint's Sales Portal that included the above roadmap for its WiMAX rollout this year. A number of the yet-to-be-launched cities we've already heard about -- Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Charlotte -- but to the best of our knowledge, the rest of them are brand new entries. Additionally, Baltimore residents can look forward to some sort of coverage update in the fourth quarter. We'd be lying if we said we weren't jealous that Salem (population 3,000) and Milledgeville (population 19,000) are getting the wireless network before most of us on staff, but the service has to start somewhere, right? No indication here of 2010 plans, but last we heard that included Boston, Houston, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Update: As tipster Carlos points out, Clearwire's website already has some coverage maps for some of the cities listed in the third quarter, as well as some markets not listed here.
Time Warner Cable reselling WiMAX later this year in Charlotte, Dallas, and two mystery markets
It's not really that surprising given its investment in Clearwire, but Time Warner Cable is now ready to join in on the WiMAX fun. The company plans to resell the mobile broadband in four US cities by the end of the year, but so far it's only revealed two of them: Charlotte, North Carolina, and Dallas, Texas. Meanwhile, cable competitor Comcast has already opened up its WiMAX shop in Portland, Oregon, and plans to hit Atlanta, Chicago, and Philadelphia by the end of this year. No word on prices, but we don't expect it to stray far from the current $20 to $50 monthly fees. We're also a bit in the dark as to when we can expect the rollout this year, so if you're in one of those two markets and have a strong itch for 4G wireless, better start filling up that piggy bank now, just to be safe.
Location of Apple's North Carolina facility revealed
We've been following this story for a while. Apple is planning to open a massive data center in North Carolina (NC). Recently, NC offered a nice tax incentive and that sealed the deal. This week, the AP is reporting that Apple's data center will live in Maiden, NC, just 30 miles away from Google's Catawba County data center.This comes at a time when the US economy is poor and Catawba County, NC is experiencing a 15% unemployment rate. The data center should create a large number of jobs (up to 3,000 during construction and around 300 once operational), which is a very good thing.For now we've no idea what the facility will be used for. In the meantime, congratulations to Apple and Maiden. May you have a long and healthy relationship.
Apple's North Carolina facility now moving towards reality
As noted last week, the lovely state of North Carolina has offered a healthy tax incentive to Apple for the construction and operation of a data center there. Now that the bill has become law -- creating $46 million in credits for Apple over the next 10 years -- Apple and the NC governor's office have announced that the project will go forward. Both Cnet and Computerworld are reporting that the location for the data center is yet to be determined, but a wage provision in the incentive package points to either Cleveland or Catawba counties, both in the vicinity of Charlotte.The new facility could create up to 3,000 temporary employment opportunities while under construction, and 250-300 long term jobs in the finished operational site. Apple has not suggested what kind of data & applications would be hosted at the facility, but considering the rapid growth of iTunes and App Store content it's a reasonable bet that some of the capacity would be used for those services.
Time Warner and Embarq can't compete with city-owned ISP, trying to outlaw it
Man, Time Warner Cable -- you are some shady players. Hot on the heels of the ISP's decision to withdraw DOCSIS 3.0 trials from areas that have rejected its tiered billing plan, we're hearing that TWC's teamed up with Embarq to persuade the North Carolina state government into banning community-owned broadband services. Why? Well, turns out the 47,000 residents of Wilson, NC got tired of paying for slow broadband, so the city government launched its own fiber ISP called Greenlight that offers some pretty solid packages ranging from $99 for 81 cable channels, unlimited phone service, and 10Mbps (down and up) internet to $170 for every single channel including premiums and 20Mbps up/down internet. (There's even a "secret" 100Mbps up/down internet plan.) Of course, these prices blow TWC and Embarq out of the water -- the comparable basic Time Warner plan has fewer channels and less bandwidth for an "introductory rate" of $137 -- and rather than compete, the two giants decided to lobby the North Carolina legislature into proposing bills that outlaw community services like Greenlight. The argument is that the big companies can't turn a profit and compete against a community-owned enterprise that essentially sells service for cost, but we're not buying it -- if anything, TWC and Embarq can invest the extra profits they've been earning in other areas into building services that would blow Greenlight out of the water. Yep, it's definitely some dirty pool -- does anyone have any positive feelings left for these behemoths?[Thanks, William; image courtesy of IndyWeek]Read - DailyTech articleRead - IndyWeek articleRead - Greenlight home pageRead - Save NC Broadband blog
TWC moves consumption-based internet billing to more markets
No, folks -- this is no prank. Time Warner Cable really is throwing caution (and public opinion) to the wind and moving forward with its evil consumption-based internet billing. If you'll recall, we heard that the operator was trialing the method -- which imposes premium rates on big broadband users -- back in early 2008, but now it seems it's quietly hoping to roll it out into more major markets. Starting this month, TWC will start gathering information on its customers' internet use in Austin, TX, San Antonio, TX, Rochester, NY and Greensboro, NC; if all goes "well," consumption billing will hit those markets this summer or sooner. We'll point you to the read link if you're interested in just how outrageous these capped plans look (particularly for internet TV viewers), but we'd be remiss of our duties if we didn't share this gem of a quote from TWC CEO Glenn Britt: "We made a mistake early on by not defining our business based on the consumption dimension." Thanks for clarifying, Glenn-o.[Thanks Kevin, image courtesy of Corbis]
DirecTV fires up HD locals in Greenville-New Bern, NC
The Greenville-New Bern, North Carolina market is one of the smaller big markets (if that makes any sense) that DirecTV serves, but apparently it's big enough to warrant the inclusion of HD locals. In fact, the move to light up the local stations in high-def comes just months after DISH Network decided to do so here, giving us the impression that it's simply trying to keep up. Whatever the reason, we're sure DirecTV subscribers in the region are ecstatic with the additions.
Time Warner Cable adding four more HD networks in Raleigh, NC
Raleigh, NC residents were pretty satisfied with 20 or so new HD channels at the tail end of last year, but apparently Time Warner Cable is really feeling the pressure from recent entrant AT&T. Now, Triangle citizens can start preparing for four more to hit the EPG on February 13th: USA HD (258), Bravo HD (259), CNBC HD (266) and SciFi HD (267). Don't take this personally TWC, but we appreciate the favor, AT&T. [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family][Thanks, Paul]
AT&T goes live with U-verse TV in Raleigh, NC area
Be still our hearts! The rumors were indeed true, and U-verse TV has at long last arrived in the Triangle to combat the monopoly that is Time Warner Cable. A breaking report from WRAL has it that the carrier is "offering its U-verse TV service as well as high-speed internet service in the Triangle," but fails to elaborate on specific service areas. We've heard from locals that Cary, NC will be one of the first locations with access, but until AT&T issues its own confirmation, it's hard to say for certain. Obviously, those who sign up will have access to Total Home DVR from day one, and we're told that packages will start at $44 per month. Reportedly, locals can ping local retail stores or head to the carrier's website to apply for access. In related news, TWC is said to be readying more HD channels as well as Start Over functionality and a feature that "allows you to watch shows you missed, up to 48 hours after the program originally aired." Funny -- we suspected that real competition was on the way when 20 some-odd high-def stations showed up on the cable company's lineup in late October. Guess that wasn't too far from the truth.[Via The Wolf Web, thanks Dave]
AT&T's U-verse wheels into Charlotte and Toledo
While residents of the Triangle / Triad patiently await the rumored launch of U-verse in their respective areas, citizens of the Queen City are casually sticking their tongue out and grinning all the while. Out of nowhere, AT&T announced its U-verse TV / high-speed internet / digital phone debut in the great state of North Carolina with delivery in Charlotte, with Bob Sellman, general manager, Home Solutions, for AT&T in the Carolinas, accurately proclaiming that "cable has been the only game in town for too long." In related news, U-verse services have also claimed yet another Ohio city, and this time it's the home of the Rockets. Toledo, Ohio residents can now phone up the provider to see if their domicile is within a serviceable range, though anyone who watched last month's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition should have seen this one coming.[Thanks, Marc]Read - Charlotte expansionRead - Toledo expansion
AT&T eying December launch of U-verse in Cary, NC?
It's impossible to say just how legitimate all of this is right now, but the writing has been on the wall for months. We already knew that AT&T was laying down hundreds of millions of dollars for fiber improvements in the Carolinas, and we've already seen dodgy job ads and U-verse cabinets in the central region of NC. Now, we're really beginning to feel it. A number of locals in the Triangle have spotted AT&T trucks casually passing through, and upon asking, were told that U-verse services were planned for certain areas as early as December. More specifically, we're hearing that Cary, NC could be serviced first, though there's no word on when the Triangle / Triad at large would have the option to switch. And maybe it's completely coincidental, but TWC managed to go a lifetime without adding a substantial amount of high-def stations in these very areas -- now that competition's (possibly) rolling into town, we're finally seeing some effort put forth. [Via The Wolf Web]
Epic wins North Carolina tech award
Mark Rein and company will have another memento to share during the office barbeque as Epic has been recognized as the "Top Industry Driven Technology Company of the Year," at least on the Atlantic Seaboard. The accolade was given by the North Carolina Technology Association, or NCTA, as part of the organization's annual NCTA 21 awards ceremony, which applauds technology go-getters in the Tar Heel State. Other finalists for the award included Parata Systems, PeopleClick and Railinc, companies we imagine lost out due to their flagrant disregard for rag doll physics and courtroom shenanigans.
MGM HD replacing MOJO HD on Time Warner Cable in Raleigh, NC
No word yet on whether this is a national / regional change, but Time Warner Cable has informed Raleigh, NC-based subscribers that it won't just let users lose an HD channel when MOJO HD vanishes on November 20th. Instead, it's slotting in MGM HD on the HD Tier (channel 291), which we feel is a pretty fair trade. And for those wondering, yes, this one is in addition to the 20 high-def newcomers announced for the area late last month.
TWC gets official with HD expansion in the Carolinas
Hot on the heels of TWC's Greensboro expansion announcement comes some official word from the carrier itself on how it'll be handling new HD rollouts in the Carolinas at large. For starters, many Raleigh-area customers received an e-mail proclaiming that 20 new high-def stations would be coming soon, though it mistakenly claims ESPN2 HD as a newcomer. At any rate, the director of digital communication at Time Warner Cable chimed in to clear things up, noting that the company is "rolling out up to 20 HD channels over the next several months, depending on the division." From the looks of things, Raleigh and Charlotte will be getting just about everything TWC has, while Greensboro, NC and Columbia, SC will receive smaller allotments. Curiously enough, the Wilmington area wasn't mentioned at all, but here's hoping they'll be on the same wave as Raleigh. For the full report from Jeff Simmermon, jump on past the break. [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]
