Comcast to launch WiMax service

Comcast is now the first major cable company to offer WiMax, having launched the service today in Portland, Oregon.

WiMax differs from Wi-Fi in that it’s faster and works over a much longer range. Instead of relying on hotspots, the service is accessible citywide to any computer with a WiMax adapter. The offering from Comcast reaches speeds of 4 Mbps.

When combined with in-home wired and Wi-Fi Internet, the service costs $72.95 per month, but an introductory monthly rate of $49.95 per month is available now. For an extra $20, subscribers can access nationwide broadband using Sprint’s 3G network in most other locales.

Comcast’s WiMax runs on a 4G network built by Clearwire, a company that intends to roll out the technology in 80 cities by 2010. Las Vegas, Chicago, Charlotte, N.C., Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, Honolulu, Philadelphia and Seattle are on tap for this year, and Clearwire has already made WiMax available in Atlanta as well as Portland.

Along with Comcast, other companies including Time Warner Cable, Intel and Google own a combined 25 percent stake in Clearwire. Sprint owns 51 percent. Meanwhile, phone companies are betting on LTE, a competing technology that could surface through Verizon next year.

With all of this corporate backing, it seems that fast, widely-available wireless Internet is pretty close to reality. There’s just one drawback: Comcast’s service is only intended for laptops and not mobile phones, so smartphone junkies will have to hang onto their data plans. Call me naive, but aren’t cable companies and telecoms supposed to be competing?