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Wireless Broadband Provider Clearwire Steps into Anchorage Arena

Posted on: Friday, 21 October 2005, 21:00 CDT

By Sarana Schell, Anchorage Daily News, Alaska

Oct. 20--Anchorage and Eagle River Internet users now have another wireless broadband option: Kirkland, Wash.-based provider Clearwire.

More and more wireless technologies are showing up in Alaska, from longtime providers as well as newcomer Clearwire. Customers can pick their top priorities, from portability to price to security.

Clearwire needs a book-sized modem, connected to a computer by an Ethernet cord, and a power source. Power can come from an outlet, battery or car's cigarette-lighter. Then, wireless broadband is accessed via a licensed radio-type frequency.

The licensed frequency provides security from hackers, said Bill Snoeberger, vice president of small markets for Clearwire, in Anchorage for the service's official launch Wednesday.

Internet surfers can go online via that modem anywhere in the service range, which is Anchorage and Eagle River in Alaska, or more than 20 markets Outside.

Downlink speed ranges from 768 kilobits per second to 1.5 megabits, while the uplink speed is 256 kilobits per second.

Clearwire service costs $40 to $70 per month after the startup special of $90 for three months expires, depending on speed, number of e-mail accounts and Web space needed. Add on five bucks a month to lease the equipment; a $50 activation fee for a year's contract is waived for a two-year contract, said Radio Shack owner Stephanie Anderson.

Anderson said she's delighted with Clearwire.

"It seemed like a fantastic solution for so many of our customers," Anderson said.

If someone is a cable-TV watcher, and doesn't want to access the Internet except at home, perhaps cable Internet is their best bet.

But Anderson said many of her customers have Dish satellite or just plain television.

Plus, she likes the portability. Clearwire is in many small to midsize markets in California, Washington, Oregon and the Midwest.

An Anchorage resident in Duluth, Minn., can plug in and play, Snoeberger said. Most customers so far are individuals, he said, but another big customer group is small businesses, with fewer than eight computers.

Anchorage-based Alaska Communications Services offers portable broadband wireless service over its cell phone frequency -- using Code Division Multiple Access technology, for you techies -- via a card that plugs into computers or, coming soon, a Microsoft-based pocket PC, said spokeswoman Meg Stapleton. CDMA is secure, and the service doesn't come cheap. The card service is $80 a month for a two-year contract, plus $400 to buy the card, she said, or $100 a month for two years without buying the card.

The range for the CDMA service is growing and includes the state's larger population areas -- think Juneau, the Kenai, the North Slope and bigger, said Stapleton. Elsewhere in ACS's coverage area, connection speed is slower.

General Communications Inc., via Dobson Communications' Cellular One, also offers cell-phone-frequency wireless Internet service, using a different technology, mostly via cell phone.

Alaska DigiTel also offers Internet access over its cell phones; and like ACS, it uses CDMA.

TelAlaska offers Wi-Fi, short for Wireless Fidelity, in Anchorage. Users can buy wireless access to the Internet for $10 an hour at Wi-Fi hot-spots around town, say a coffee shop or hotel. People with TelAlaska Wi-Fi at home, for $40 a month, get about-town access free.

There's no modem to carry, no power-source needed, but the signal travels on an unlicensed frequency, so users might want to pay attention to security if they're going to do any online purchasing or bill paying.

TelAlaska spokeswoman Celine Kaplan said the company also offers secure services for businesses.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Anchorage Daily News, Alaska

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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GNCMA,

Source: Anchorage Daily News

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