Earlier in the month I talked with a Clearwire representative about getting one of there modems to see if the signal reached my home. As you all know I have been plagued with intermittent upload speed issues where I live.
The cable provider here in Hawaii is Time Warner serviced through Oceanic Cable, while I live on Oahu my home is on Historic Ford Island, with my home less then 200 feet from the Utah Memorial.
Having received the demo unit I decided tonight to do a comparison of 3 services. The real kicker is this though the Clearwire representative could not guarantee service in my current location as I was supposedly out of range. I think you will be surprised at how well Clearwire stacked up against my cable provider.
I knew my Spring EVDO would not really have a chance, but because I rely on it so heavily during the day, and considering that the Sprint service is only 3G here in Hawaii I think they did pretty good in this comparison. I think the Sprint folks will be pretty happy with the results.
All three test were done on the same machine with all programs accessing the net turned off. The test site was www.speakeasy.net/speedtest
First up Oceanic Cable Broadband Service by Time Warner Price $44.95
Second Clearwire in an area where service is not guaranteed Price $36.99
Third Sprint EVDO on a 3G Network with Full Bar Signal Strength Price $79.99
In my humble opinion if services like clearwire work on increasing their speed they have a chance of putting a real hurt on the local cable company. I will be signing up for the service just to have some more flexibility.
What would really be awesome is if I could buy push speeds that equaled download speeds.
Verizon Communications has doubled the speed of consumer DSL service is a dozen east coast states. If the market reacts well, the remaining states will receive the same faster DSL alternative. The additional bandwidth is a reaction to Comcast’s doubling the speed of its cable broadband service, earlier this year. The extra bandwidth will be a big hit with online gamers and professionals who work from home.
For about $40 a month, the new DSL bandwidth will be 3 Mbps, downstream, and 768 Kbps, upstream. For cost-conscious customers who only send and receive e-mail and surf occasionally, a half-speed option will be available for $30 a month.
Dave’s Opinion
Just over half of online Americans have broadband service at home: 63 million or 51 percent. There’s always a use for more bandwidth, even by those who don’t consider themselves technically sophisticated or have flexibility in their personal schedules. When it comes to network connectivity, faster is always better.
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References
Verizon
Metropolitan-wide broadband services may soon be coming from overhead. Sanswire Networks, LLC hopes to bring broadband to entire metropolitan areas via tiny airships. Atlanta, Georgia may be the first city to benefit from this interesting digital communication service, starting as early as next week.
Ground-based wireless equipment will coordinate signal dissemination using a Stratellite floating high over the city.The Stratellites are similar to satellites; however, the new devices are stationed in the stratosphere rather than being in space orbit.
According to Sanswire Networks, a Stratellite is a high-altitude airship that when in place in the stratosphere will provide a stationary platform for transmitting various types of wireless communications services currently transmitted from cell towers and satellites. It is not a balloon or a blimp. It is a high-altitude airship made of Spectra and powered by solar powered electrical engines, each Stratellite will reach its final altitude by utilizing a helium and nitrogen filled double envelope. Once in place at 65,000 feet each Stratellite will remain in one Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinate, providing the ideal wireless transmission platform. Each Stratellite has a payload capacity of several thousand pounds and clear line-of-site to approximately 300,000 square miles, an area roughly the size of Texas. However, the Company’s initial plan is to use one Stratellite for each major metropolitan area.
Call for Comments
What do you think? Leave your comments below.
References
Sanswire Networks, LLC
According to Nielsen/NetRatings, as of this summer almost 40 million U.S. Internet users connect via broadband at home. That’s almost 13 percent of all Americans. This number is up 49 percent, compared to only a year ago. Commensurately, dial-up users have declined.
While broadband use has seen a recent surge, there are still twice as many narrowband users, providing a significant near-term market for local and national dial-up service providers, although the handwriting may be on the wall, because last year the ratio was 3:1 in favor of narrowband usage.
Dave’s Opinion
I love my broadband connection. I don’t want to think what life would be like without it. I love going to the beach on vacation, but I sure don’t look forward to the comparatively slower dial-up connection I have while I’m there. Teaching class through a dial-up connection isn’t just time consuming, it’s painful.
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References
Nielsen/NetRatings
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