Feel The 4Gs: Comcast's WiMax Service To Debut Tuesday

Comcast plans to offer WiMax through Clearwire's 4G network, and will make it available through a wireless data card for computers. Comcast will sell the service through two different cards and plans: Comcast High-Speed 2go Metro, which uses a 4G-only data card, and Comcast High-Speed 2go Nationwide, a dual-mode card offering 4G service plus nationwide access to Sprint's 3G network.

According to Comcast, the Nationwide plan automatically moves between 4G and 3G networks depending on network availability.

"With Comcast's wideband Internet, we already offer one of the fastest wired connections available today. Now with the launch of High-Speed 2go, we also deliver the nation's fastest wireless Internet," said Cathy Avgiris, senior vice president and general manager for wireless and voice services at Comcast, in a statement. "Comcast High-Speed 2go now gives consumers the best of both worlds, the fastest fast at home and on the go. In today's world, consumers don't want to be disconnected for even a minute and now Comcast provides wired and wireless access -- a combination consumers won't want to live without."

Comcast will bundle WiMax with home Internet on a plan called "Fast Pack" that will cost users $49.99 a month for the first year on the Metro version. The Fast Pack Nationwide Plan costs $20 more, and includes the same services -- Comcast's 12 Mbps home Internet, a WiFi router, and 4 Mbps download speed on the 4G network -- plus access to the 3G network. Current customers on Comcast's Triple Play package can upgrade to 4G access for an additional $30 a month.

Comcast will also be offering High-Speed 2go to small and midsized businesses through its Comcast Business Service teams, the company confirmed.

Comcast's WiMax service will begin in Portland but is expected to be up and running in other cities by the end of 2009.

Sprint-Nextel and Clearwire closed a $14.5 billion merger on Dec. 1, 2008 to combine their 4G wireless businesses -- an agreement that included $3.2 billion from Comcast and other investors such as Intel, Google, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.

Baltimore last fall was the first U.S. city to receive a WiMax rollout, and Portland in January became the second.

The coming battle over 4G network supremacy in the U.S. will pit WiMax -- of which Intel, Sprint and others were early backers -- against Long Term Evolution (LTE), the 4G technology supported by Verizon and AT&T. Both 4G technologies offer unprecedented download speeds over current cellular networks. While WiMax is based on an IEEE standard (802.16), LTE is proprietary.