[The article was updated at 10:30am to include promotional and coverage information not available when the article was published late last night]

Clearwire today announced the launch of its 4G mobile broadband service for businesses and consumers in Rochester and Syracuse, New York.  Designed to deliver the Internet at speeds four times faster than 3G, CLEAR is priced comparably to many wireless broadband plans, but has no usage caps.

Pricing from their website offers customers stay-at-home and mobile service plans (or both).  Customers choosing month-to-month service have to buy the equipment up front, starting at $70 and pay a $35 activation fee.  Those who commit to a two-year service contract can lease the equipment for $4-6 a month and skip start-up fees.  Packages start at $40 a month for 6/1Mbps service.  At $55 a month, they take the speed limit off, providing occasional bursts of wireless speed up to 10Mbps.  Another $15 on top of that buys you nationwide 3G roaming.  Sales tax is not included.  Customers get a 14 day trial period to evaluate the service and can cancel within that window with no obligation, although our Jay Ovittore reports they’ll drag you through the cancellation process.

At $40 for unlimited use, CLEAR’s 4G service beats Cricket, which charges the same price for 3G speeds, but limits consumption to 5GB per month before they start throttling your speed to dial-up.  Other mobile broadband services typically charge up to $60 for 5GB of usage at 3G speeds.  Ironically, while 4G service from Clearwire is unlimited, the slower 3G speed service is not — there is a usage limit of 5GB per month on the 3G network, and then overlimit fees of five cents per megabyte kick in.

A statement from the company released early this morning talks up the fact CLEAR does not burden their 4G customers with Internet Overcharging schemes like other wireless broadband providers.

“Our residents now have a fast Internet connection that’s as mobile as they are,” said Jerry Brown, regional general manager for CLEAR. “And we’re thrilled to offer affordable rate plans with no limits on the amount of data customers use. No caps on usage, no penalties – our customers just use the Web as much as they want wherever they go – it’s that simple.”

Clearwire's coverage area in Rochester & Syracuse

In Rochester, CLEAR covers approximately 560 square miles and more than 600,000 people with service extending as far north as Lake Ontario, as far south as Canandaigua and Geneva (Ontario County), as far west as Spencerport, and as far east as Webster.

In Syracuse, CLEAR covers nearly 230 square miles and more than 265,000 people with service extending as far north as Brewerton, as far south as Nedrow, Auburn, and Cortland; as far west as Village Green, and as far east as Fayetteville and Manlius.

However, the company’s 4G coverage area is spotty in many areas in both cities.  Verifying coverage from their website is essential before considering CLEAR.  Anecdotal reports from some of our readers and others suggest 4G service from Clearwire is not nearly as robust as 3G service from some other providers, and dead zones and slow speeds have caused some to cancel service.  Here’s an example of their coverage in my part of the town of Brighton, just southeast of Rochester:

Clearwire's coverage of the 12 Corners/Elmwood Avenue area of Brighton, N.Y.

Some minor gaps in coverage are apparent near Commonwealth Drive, and if you were getting gas at the 12 Corners Mobil station or visiting Citizens Bank behind it, you’d be out of luck, but otherwise coverage looks fairly good to the west of Interstate 590.  However, a very strange gap pops up between Valley Road and South Grosvenor Road, also impacting a few apartment buildings at Elmwood Court Apartments, 3100 Elmwood Avenue.  That’s odd because although that part of Elmwood slopes slightly downwards, it’s still much higher than the homes on Valley Road or the apartments further back in the complex.  A major service gap opens up on Elmwood at Clovercrest Drive and extends into the very tony neighborhoods around Ambassador Drive and Clover Street.  But the country club set will do fine browsing away on the golf course at the Rochester Country Club further east.

In short, service can vary dramatically street by street, block by block, from nothing at all to full speed ahead.  Be sure to check your area before you commit to keeping the service, much less sign a two year contract for it.

For the rest of Rochester, if you live in the city or an inner-ring suburb, coverage is generally available.  Those further out in towns like Henrietta, North Chili, southern Pittsford, Honeoye Falls, Avon, Scottsville, Churchville, Brockport, Penfield and Perinton face significant gaps or no coverage at all.  Things improve dramatically in Ontario County in towns like Farmington and Victor and the cities of Canandaigua and Geneva.

For the greater Syracuse area, coverage pops up in Auburn and then disappears eastward until reaching Camillus.  Generally, coverage in Syracuse is not nearly as dense as in Rochester, with large gaps opening between suburbs and the city itself.  Mattydale is solidly covered, for instance, while Minoa isn’t.

Now that CLEAR has launched 4G service in Rochester and Syracuse, Road Runner Mobile, which is simply CLEAR rebranded as a Time Warner Cable service (they partly own Clearwire) will also soon be on the way.  Pricing in other Time Warner Cable cities wasn’t much different than from Clearwire direct, and some cable plans really push service contracts, which you really do not want on a service this new.  Do not commit to one unless you are satisfied with the service where you plan on using it.

Clearwire’s 4G Network in 2010

CLEAR 4G service is currently available in 44 markets across the United States, including: Syracuse and Rochester, N.Y.; Atlanta and Milledgeville, Ga.; Baltimore, Md.; Boise, Idaho; Chicago, Ill.; Las Vegas, Nev.; St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo.; Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Reading, Lancaster and York, Pa.; Charlotte, Raleigh, and Greensboro, NC; Honolulu and Maui, Hawaii; Seattle, Tri-Cities, Yakima and Bellingham, Wash.; Salem, Portland and Eugene, Ore.; Merced and Visalia; Calif.; Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Abilene, Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Waco and Wichita Falls, Texas; central Washington, D.C.; Richmond, Va.; and Salt Lake City, Utah.

In the summer of 2010, CLEAR 4G will launch in Tampa, Orlando and Daytona, Fla.; Nashville, Tenn.; Modesto and Stockton, Calif.; Wilmington, Del.; and Grand Rapids, Mich. By the end of 2010, CLEAR 4G will also be available in major metropolitan areas such as New York City, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, Denver, Minneapolis, Miami, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

You can read a company-provided tutorial about the service below the jump.

… Continue Reading

Hulu has announced a new premium service that will deliver entire seasons of network TV shows at 720p high definition resolution for $9.99 per month (plus applicable taxes).

The concept of Hulu Plus has been around for months now, as Hulu’s owners (Disney, NBC Universal, News Corp and Providence Equity Partners) contemplate the increasing cost of delivering video to millions of Americans during an advertising industry crisis.  Advertising revenue no longer covers the costs, so Hulu hopes paying subscribers will.

The free version of Hulu isn’t going anywhere — in fact the service has just signed agreements with CBS and Viacom to bring shows that formerly were seen on Joost over to Hulu.  Time Warner (the entertainment company, not the cable operator) is also bringing some of its shows to Hulu.

But free viewers will continue to find access to the latest shows limited, typically to the last four to five episodes.  If you want to catch up on an entire season, you’ll need to pony up ten bucks.

The prospect of watching nearly every network show from ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC over your home computer, television or other devices including the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Blu-Ray players from Samsung, Sony, and Vizio would give you more than 3,000 viewing options to choose from.  But before getting too excited, there are some downsides to Hulu Plus:

1. You’re still going to watch commercials. Just like basic cable, you are going to pay to watch commercials on Hulu Plus.  That will be a deal-breaker for many who believe if you pay a monthly fee for it, you shouldn’t have to watch advertising.  Netflix offers online viewing as part of its $9.99 monthly service and there is no advertising.
2. You still have to wait to watch shows. There is no live streaming of network shows.  You’ll have to wait until the next day like everyone else on Hulu to catch the latest episode.
3. Don’t you dare watch on your smartphone. With Internet Overcharging schemes in place at AT&T and presumably on the way at Verizon, nothing eats your allowance faster than online video.  Paying $10 a month for Hulu Plus will be dirt cheap compared to the overlimit fees you’ll pay if you exceed your usage allowance.

The cable industry still thinks it could have a better product in the end.  TV Everywhere’s variations from Comcast and other cable operators are provided free of charge to existing cable subscribers (although the advertising load may end up being greater).  Many cable network shows are better received than some of the swill served up by the networks, and cable could be free to provide season passes right from the outset.

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An introduction to Hulu Plus. (2 minutes)

A California attorney has filed a nationwide class action lawsuit against AT&T for fraud and misrepresentation over claims the company baited consumers to purchase Apple iPads with unlimited access and then subjected them to Internet Overcharging schemes after AT&T ended its unlimited data plan.

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP claims AT&T knew it was going to break its promise to thousands of customers who were told they could switch between unlimited and limited data plans as their needs changed.  On June 7th, AT&T ended its unlimited data plan but grandfathered existing contract customers, permitting them to retain the plan indefinitely.  But if a customer changed to a limited usage plan or discontinued service, they lose the chance to get the unlimited plan back.

Apple and AT&T announced this policy change with less than one week’s notice to their customers and only about a month after Apple and AT&T began selling 3G-enabled iPads.  Apple and AT&T had promised consumers flexibility with their data plans, allowing them the ability switch back and forth between the limited data plan, the unlimited data plan, and no data plan.

No more.

“The availability of an unlimited data plan was a key reason why consumers paid the extra $130 charge to access the 3-G network, and their ability to switch in and out of the unlimited data plan was also an important consideration in the decision to purchase an iPad,” stated Lieff Cabraser attorney Michael W. Sobol. “The complaint alleges that Apple and AT&T should have known at the time they were promoting the availability of unlimited data plans, they were not going to keep that promise.”

“I originally purchased a standard iPad. Three weeks later, I returned it to the Apple store, paying an additional $130 plus sales tax to upgrade to an iPad with 3G capability. I thought the iPad 3G was worth the additional money because, with the unlimited data plan, I could work outside my office or home and access all the data I needed for a fixed, monthly price,” commented plaintiff Adam Weisblatt of Fulton, New York. “But I also knew that for several months each year, with my schedule, a lesser expensive, limited data plan was sufficient. I would have never purchased a 3G-capable iPad if I knew Apple and AT&T were planning on suddenly taking away from me the freedom to opt in and out of an unlimited data plan at my choice.”

The proposed class plaintiffs seek to represent a nationwide class consisting of all individuals and entities within the United States who purchased or ordered an Apple iPad 3G on or before June 6, 2010.

Consumers wishing to join the suit can contact the law firm for additional details.  There are no details on exactly what the attorneys will be seeking from AT&T.

Class action lawsuits have often delivered far more in benefits and compensation to the law firm that filed the lawsuit, with consumers usually left with discount coupons or less than $10 in compensation.  In this case, demanding AT&T deliver on its marketing promises or permitting customers to return their iPads for full refunds would seem appropriate.  Thanks to Stop the Cap! reader Marcus for the news tip.

More dollar-a-holler advocacy for AT&T in the pages of CNET. AT&T brings the money, lobbyists ride their former credentials to deliver exactly the "facts" AT&T wants to read.

CNET last week shamefully handed over column space to a barely-disclosed AT&T lobbyist trotting out the latest unfounded, anti-consumer nonsense: tiered data plans help bring broadband to the poor.

It’s all part of AT&T’s Re-education campaign to sucker convince Americans that paying more for less service is a good thing:

New analysis shows that as Internet providers ramp up their investments to accommodate the surge in bandwidth demand, the old, one-price-for-everybody model would slow our progress toward universal adoption, especially by lower-income Americans.

The first reaction of many Internet users to this news may well be disbelief. How can it be that a pricing approach that has worked so well for so many years can suddenly become obsolete and even counterproductive? The answer is that technological advances have changed what many of us do online, which, in turn, has changed the economics.

A techno-ecosystem once dominated by e-mail and text now is increasingly characterized by high-definition video that claims up to 1,000 times as much network capacity and bandwidth as simple text. The way we currently pay for the infrastructure required to keep the network humming also will have to change.

The only humming we hear is AT&T’s dollar bill-counting machines.

When at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.  Robert J. Shapiro and his co-author Kevin Hassett’s latest work, “A New Analysis of Broadband Adoption Rates By Minority Households,” is simply a rehash — spoiled leftover bologna — of their last bought-and-paid-for-study we analyzed last fall.  Both reports are tailor-made to appeal to the minority-interest groups that are part of AT&T’s Rainbow Coalition of Cash — groups that engage in dollar-a-holler advocacy of AT&T’s agenda while quietly depositing their substantial contribution checks.

The report assumes quite a lot:

• That broadband service adoption rates in minority communities are too low because heavy users are artificially keeping broadband prices too high;
• That without tiered data plans, AT&T can never afford to expand broadband service;
• That unlimited broadband tiers can never co-exist with tiered plans — it’s one-size-fits-all under today’s bad pricing model;
• That a grand exaflood is coming to swamp broadband users of all kinds, and without tiered pricing to finance upgrades, we could all drown.

For the second time, Shapiro and Hassett try to stick the bill for upgrades on so-called “heavy users,” who they suggest should pay 80 percent of the upgrade costs through higher priced broadband service.  They also want content producers to cough up — the “they can’t use my pipes for free”-argument AT&T loves.

How will customers react to paying huge surcharges on their broadband bills?  According to the report’s authors, heavy users won’t mind because they are “price-insensitive.”

Ask Time Warner Cable customers in New York, Texas, and North Carolina if they minded the prospect of paying $150 a month for broadband service they used to pay $50 a month to receive.  How about Frontier’s customers in Mound, Minnesota asked to pony up $250 a month for up to 3Mbps DSL service because they exceeded Frontier’s 5GB monthly usage allowance?

The report has several other glaring fact-gaps:

• Tiered service plans are already available industry-wide, based on broadband speed, not usage.  Low income customers can obtain cheaper broadband today, if companies decide to advertise it;
• The wounds from high broadband pricing are industry self-inflicted.  They charge $40 or more for a service their financial reports suggest costs less than $10 a month to provide;
• Providers can achieve universal broadband first by extending existing networks to rural America, upgrading them to fiber as the economy of scale from urban and suburban upgrades forces prices down;
• The authors strenuously avoid reviewing providers’ financial reports which show enormous profits even as costs continue their rapid decline;
• Many of the footnotes used to back their arguments turn out to quote self-interested parties like service providers, equipment manufacturers, and trade associations.

None of this is surprising or new in bought-and-paid-for-reports commissioned by companies to cheerlead their corporate agenda.  The last thing AT&T wants to read is a recitation of facts that disprove their arguments.

In essence, Shapiro and Hassett are arguing (with a straight face) that if providers are allowed to charge some consumers dramatically higher prices for broadband service, it will somehow convince them to upgrade their networks -and- trickle down lower prices for economically-challenged consumers.

Maybe if we let BP drill more oil wells in the Gulf, the extra profits they earn will somehow lead to better safety records for drilling and lower gas prices.  After all, with those record-busting profits earned over the past three years, the safety record for the industry is better than ever and gas is sold at fire sale prices, benefiting economically disadvantaged Americans, right?

If you or I argued this theory, we’d be drug tested.  For corporate lobbyists, it’s just another day at the office.

Here’s just how silly this really is:  You just discovered your hard drive is nearly full.  You’ve gone shopping for an upgrade, planning to spend around $100 for a new drive.  Just a few years ago, you spent around that much for a 120GB model.  Today, that same $99 would today buy you a 1.5 terabyte drive, unless you bought it from AT&T.  They want $1,500.

Newegg's price: $99.95 -- AT&T's price: $1,500

You: “Why is this drive so expensive?”

AT&T: “Over 90 percent of our customers never need a drive bigger than 120 gigabytes.  Developing a 1.5 terabyte drive costs plenty, and we feel that because you are a heavy user, you should bear the brunt of the development and manufacturing costs of all hard drives.”

You: “Sure, but this same 1.5TB drive is available in Korea for $99 dollars.  You want $1,500.  Why is there such a price difference and when does your price come down?”

AT&T: “Poor people in Korea and America can’t afford even a 60 gigabyte drive.  We are trying to make smaller drives more affordable  so in turn you should pay a higher price.  This isn’t about when AT&T will lower our price, it’s about when you will see our grand charitable vision and lower your selfish expectation of a lower price.”

You: “Wow, a corporation with socially-conscious pricing to benefit the poor?  So you are telling me that when I spend $1,500 on this hard drive, it is going to subsidize the cost of their 60 gigabyte drive, right?”

AT&T: “No, not exactly.  See, if we didn’t charge you $1,500, we’d have to raise the price on their 60 gigabyte drive and that’s not fair because they don’t need to store as much as you do.”

You: “But wait, your ‘subsidized’ 60GB drive costs three times more than what Koreans spend for a drive at least three times larger.”

AT&T: “That’s because the standard of living is different there.  Besides, why do you want to make the poor pay for your hard drive?”

You: “You aren’t making any sense.”

AT&T: “But we are about to make a whole lot of dollars!”

Dumping unlimited usage pricing only sets the profit expectations-bar higher for the broadband industry on Wall Street, regardless of what the true costs are to provide the service.  Wall Street never argues that excess profits should be spent on network upgrades and price subsidies to the poor — they want those profits paid to shareholders instead.

When the telecom industry is paying for your study, real facts never matter.  If you want them to do future business with your lobbying firm, the only acceptable conclusion is the one AT&T wants you to reach.

Tomorrow: Down the Sonecon rabbit hole

The License Fee pays for the BBC's television, radio, and online operations, but now the British government wants a portion of it to be directed towards broadband as well.

Britain’s new coalition government announced Wednesday it was scrapping a proposed £6 a year phone tax to help expand rural broadband in the country.

“We need investment in our digital infrastructure,” said George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. “But the previous government’s landline duty is an archaic way of achieving this, hitting 30 million households who happen to have a fixed telephone line. I am happy to be able to abolish this new duty before it is even introduced.”

“Instead, we will support private broadband investment, including to rural areas, in part with funding from the digital switchover under-spend within the TV licence fee.”

Osborne is referring to the average £11.63 monthly fee British citizens pay to help fund the operations of the BBC’s radio, television and online operations.  A surplus of up to up to £300 million is anticipated to remain after the UK completes its transition to digital television in the next two years.  That money would be diverted to expanding rural broadband under the government plan.

But campaigners for better rural broadband service complain that will not raise nearly enough to provide broadband across the countryside.  The 50p monthly telephone tax proposed by the former Labour government would have raised nearly £1 billion per year.

Charles Trotman, of the Country Land and Business Association, told The Telegraph it will not be enough money to connect all rural areas. He said remote communities risk being left behind in ‘broadband deserts’ unless more is done to help villages set up connections themselves.

Other critics contend the surplus from the digital TV transition may not exist two years from now.  Thus far, mostly rural regions in England have made the transition to digital, costing the government publicity campaign less than expected.

Rather than the tax, Osborne claims the government can spur investment from the private sector by “making regulatory changes to reduce the cost of roll-out.”  He did not specify what those changes might be.

The government claims it is committed to providing up to 2Mbps broadband service across the entire country, but the lack of action in many areas have forced small towns and villages to launch their own municipal broadband services, sometimes funded by residents themselves.

[flv width=”512″ height=”308″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/BBC Municipal Broadband 4-2010.flv[/flv]

The BBC covers two British communities doing it themselves — providing enhanced broadband because private providers wouldn’t.  One in Highworth offers free Wi-Fi for up to two hours daily, while in Lyddington residents raised £37,000 to obtain enhanced DSL service.  (5 minutes)

[flv width=”480″ height=”292″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Signal – Connectivity on the move 6-10.mp4[/flv]

Highworth (Swindon) relies on Signal, a high speed WISP/Wi-Fi network that offers up to 20/2 Mbps unlimited access with no Internet Overcharging schemes like usage caps or overage fees for £5.99 per month, or up to two hours daily access for free.  (4 minutes)