My cell phone rang just as I pulled my car into a park along the Puget Sound. I needed to add something to a news story I had written a few hours earlier, but I really didn’t want to give up my evening stroll.
Instead of driving back to the office or hunting for a Wi-Fi hotspot, I booted up my laptop, plugged in a PC card, connected to the Internet and updated my story — all from a bench near the water, with a dreamy view of snowcapped mountains.
Such a feat is no surprise to anyone with a wireless card from a cellular carrier, but I wasn’t connected to the networks of Verizon Wireless, Sprint or AT&T. Instead, I used an early version of the relatively new technology WiMax, which is being offered in Seattle by Clearwire Corp.
What’s exciting here is the availability of yet another pipe for accessing the Internet at home, in the office and on the go. It raises the possibility that it not only will be faster but also — in theory — cheaper than the competition.
The Clearwire card saved me in a pinch when I needed to file a story from across town. But in the end, it didn’t quite live up to my hopes for an “everywhere” broadband wireless connection. Coverage is far from complete, and it’s still too expensive.
The company says its “pre-WiMax” network I tested is four to five times faster than cell phone providers’ 3G, or third-generation, networks, and cheaper to deploy. It’s also testing true WiMax, which can deliver connections that promise to be even faster over wider areas, and plans to launch its first network in the middle of 2008.
Kirkland, Wash.-based Clearwire sells high-speed Internet access and Internet-based calling for homes and businesses in 46 U.S. markets, including Seattle,…