Clearwire Activates 10 More Markets

As Clearwire activates 10 additional markets, it also is elaborating on service plans that offer casual use in addition to the more-standard monthly subscriptions.

The new markets include Boise, Idaho; Bellingham, Wash.; and eight Texas markets, including Abilene, Amarillo,Corpus Christi, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Waco andWichita Falls.

Clearwire mobile and residential plans can be purchased by the day or by the month. Home Internet service plans start at $25 per month; while mobile Internet plans start at $35 per month, or customers can purchase a convenient mobile day pass for $10.

For a limited time, customers can also choose the "Pick 1 Unlimited" plan; offering an unlimited home or mobile Internet for $22.50 for the first three months and $45 per month thereafter.

Equipment options include USB modems for PCs, including WiMAX-only or dual-mode modems that allow roaming on Sprint’s nationwide 3G network service whenever the Clear 4G service is not available.

Pricing for modems start at $49.99, after instant rebate, or may be leased for prices as low as $4.99 monthly.

For residential service, modems can be purchased for $69.99 or leased for just $4.99 monthly. Residential customers can also add in-home voice service with purchase of the "Clear Voice Adapter" for $15, and receive unlimited local and long distance service for just $25 per month.

With the "Clear Spot," any existing, off-the-shelf Wi-Fi device (802.11b/g) can connect to Clearwire’s 4G WiMAX network. The Clear Spot creates a personal Wi-Fi hotspot that travels with consumers anywhere they happen to be within CLEAR’s mobile WiMAX service area.

This $139.99 device is a portable, battery-powered router that seamlessly connects up to eight standard Wi-Fi-enabled devices (computers, mobile phones, portable gaming, consoles, cameras). The Clear Spot is compatible with both the Clear 4G and Clear 4G+ mobile USB dual-mode service options.

Clearwire also sells Intel Embedded WiMAX laptops, including the Dell Studio 17, Studio XPS 16, Latitude E4300, Latitude E6400, Latitude E6400 ATG, Latitude E6500, Precision M2400, Precision M4400 and Vostro 1220.

The company also offers the Fujitsu LifeBook P8020. WiMAX-ready laptops from Lenovo include the ThinkPad line: SL400, SL500, X200, X200s, X200 Tablet, X301, T400, T500, W500 and W700.

Samsung offers the X460 notebook as well as the NC10. The Samsung Mondi is a mobile WiMAX-enabled handheld device.

Leap Wireless Seeks $8.6 Million in Broadband Stimulus Funds

Cricket Communications, which owns Leap Wireless, has applied for a $8.6 million broadband stimulus grant in partnership with One Economy Corporation, to provide 23,000 low-income families primarily in Baltimore, Houston, Memphis, San Diego and Washington, D.C. with sustainable, innovative broadband access and digital literacy training.

Project Change Access would furnish subsidized, low-cost wireless broadband using Cricket’s 3G wireless network.

One Economy would provide targeted and localized content for education, employment, and health care through its multiple online portals, in addition to training.

Clearwire Seeks "Modest" Broadband Stimulus Funding for 2 Markets

Clearwire says it has applied for a "modest" amount of broadband stimulus funds to bring new service to underserved areas within Detroit and Puerto Rico, two areas that were not otherwise part of Clearwire’s current business plan.

Clearwire also announced its plans to affiliate with a limited number of other grants submitted, as a spectrum and technology partner, covering additional territories in five states.

These stimulus-related projects would have no significant impact on Clearwire’s funding or build-out plans, the company says.

As it appears fewer telcos applied for funds than might otherwise have been expected, it is possible that fixed wireless providers will have a relatively high profile amongst service provider applicants in rural areas.

8x8 Adds Web Conferencing

8x8, has introduced new Web-based conferencing service to its existing portfolio of business communication offerings for small to medium sized businesses.

The first in a series of new unified communications services to be introduced over the coming months, the "8x8 Virtual Meeting" Web conferencing service is an online collaboration tool accessible instantly (no software download required) from any web browser and any computing platform.

Available as an add-on service for existing 8x8 customers or as a stand-alone offering for new subscribers, 8x8 Virtual Meeting lets users conduct centralized online meetings, complete with integrated voice conferencing (to and from any telephone or web browser platform), presentation slide sharing, desktop and application sharing, instant messaging, chair control, conference control and call recording, with up to 50 participants per conference.

Free Press Asks for Future-Proof National Broadband Speed Definitions

The Free Press has filed comments wtih the Federal Communications Commission asking for a "future-proof" definition of "broadband" that takes into account the services and applications consumers can use, especially high-quality video communications.

Derek Turner, research director of Free Press, says the definition has to be flexible, evolving over time and not unduly restricting speeds or capabilities.

In all likelihood, though service providers will likely always have some differences with Free Press, broad agreement on standards that relate more to capabilities than specific immutable numeric targets makes good sense.

Everybody believes speeds will continue to increase over time, but carriers obviously do not want rigid standards set that distort investment priorities or have negative implications as far as raising investment capital to build those capabilities into networks.

Free Press, on the other hand, does not want targets set so low that carriers do not have incentive to keep upgrading.

The good news here is that a greater degree of understanding about broadband standards seems to have developed over the past couple of years, between policy advocates and industry suppliers.

Verizon to Introduce New Feature Phone Data Plans

“Enhanced Multimedia Phones” using an HTML Web browser, EV-DO Rev. A and a QWERTY keypad, and sold by Verizon Wireless starting in September 2009, apparently will be sold with a new data plan, according to the Boy Genius Report.

Apparently the Samsung Rogue is the first new Verizon handset to meet the criteria. The idea, clearly, is to monetize expected bandwidth use--expected to be light--by customers buying those phones.

One of the new data plans costs $9.99 for 25 MBytes while the other costs $19.99 for 75 MBytes of monthly usage.

The assumption is that users of such devices will mostly want access to email and light Web access on an occasional basis. The data caps might appear at first glance to be paltry, but Verizon Wireless undoubtedly has done enough data mining of its current customer base to set the caps in an appropriate way.

Heavier users of course have the option of buying the other standard data plans.

Not all users will be happy about the new charges, but they will be even less happy about charges for casual use, set at $2 a Mbyte.

Sprint Sells HTC Touch Pro2

Sprint Nextel will begin selling the Windows Mobile-based HTC Touch Pro2 on Sept. 8, 2009, for $349.99 with a two-year service agreement and after $100 mail-in rebate. The touch-screen device features the more-popular slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a 3.6-inch tilting screen.

Additional business features available on HTC Touch Pro2 include International Quad-Band capability (CDMA, GSM), full HTML browser from Opera, stereo Bluetooth wireless technology, WorldCard Mobile Business Card Scanner, Facebook integration and Linked inboxes, which link personal and work contacts. A 3.5 mm headphone jack, a microSD card slot and an auto-focus 3.2 megapixel camera/camcorder also are standard.

As does the Palm Pre, the Touch Pro2 organizes messages across message formats, so that voice, text or email messages from a single person can be searched "under a single contact card," HTC says.

Sprint appears to be bundling the device, or suggesting it be bundled with, Sprint TV and Sprint’s sports applications NFL Mobile Live and NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile.

Without knocking either the device or the way Sprint Nextel envisions the user scenario, the launch illustrates the complex problems marketers now are having in positioning specific devices and network features.

"Smart phone" doesn't cut it, in many ways. HTC seems to have developed the Touch Pro2 as a business device, aimed at users who want to do things like participate in conference calls. But it seems to me a confusing positioning to emphasize entertainment applications for such a device.

That isn't to say people aren't increasingly interested in devices that bridge the work and personal spaces, but simply that the positioning of the Touch Pro2 would more logically have been as an enterprise tool for users who think conferencing on a mobile is a more compelling feature than simple email handling, which RIM seems to have staked out, or the simple Web surfing niche, which Apple now "owns."

"Conference in your pocket" would seem a better fit between end user niche and the device's native capabiltiies. To be sure, Sprint is emphasizing "stay productive" in its messaging. And perhaps that is where Sprint should be developing messaging around this specific device, as tough as that is. The references to Sprint TV--to me, at least--conflice with the "collaboration tool" features of the device.

HTC’s Straight Talk technology enables the Pro2—with carrier cooperation—to transition from an e-mail to a single- or multi-party conference call, as well as having the ability to offer itself as a conference room–like speakerphone system.

Straight Talk technology, according to HTC, includes a mechanical and acoustic design that allows it to offer a speakerphone experience similar to those in boardrooms; asymmetric speakers and noise suppression technology with full-duplex acoustics deliver a “high-fidelity voice and sound experience.”

That's the end user niche it seems to me Sprint Nextel should not stray from with this particular device.