I find it interesting that Comcast says they’ll be offering the service, when really they’re doing no such thing. They’re offering Clearwire’s service and splitting the bill. At any rate, if you have Clearwire in your area, chances are you’ll soon be able to get it through Comcast and bundle it with your TV and stuff for a better price. Portland will be the first to see the service, so you Oregonians can do your little victory dance. I’ll wait.

The service, called “Comcast High-Speed 2go Metro” because someone thought that was a good idea, will run you $73 a month, but call now and you can get it for $50, a savings of $23(RIP Billy Mays)! You can also throw down an extra $20 to get access to Sprint’s 3G network. Not my style, though. For a blogger, the internet is his leash, and if you’re carrying it around with you, you’re never off. That’s assuming we’re ever really even on.

The boards of all companies have signed off on this deal and should be sealed in Q4. Clearwire’s current CEO Benjamin Wolff will continue to lead the pack while Sprint’s CTO Barry West will serve as president.

Speaking of Xohm, Sprint’s WiMAX initiative, rumors are swirling around Wall Street that Sprint will announce a partnership with Clearwire tomorrow, unifying their two disparate networks as one nationwide WiMAX network.

This is fantastic news for WiMAX fans and a step in the right direction if the technology is going to take on competitor LTE, or Long Term Evolution, a wireless standard backed by AT&T and Verizon, among others.

The partnership would also include Google, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Intel and would likely take the form of a joint venture. It could be announced as early as tomorrow morning.

Sprint needs to trim some fat, but at the same time it needs to get its WiMAX network, which it’s already spent billions of dollars on, on its feet. Clearwire’s already in operation in many markets across the country, and by joining together both the networks and billing, it can do both.

According to the Wall Street Journal, “Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, would put up as much as $1 billion, while No. 2 Time Warner Cable would add $500 million” along with smaller cable operator Bright House Networks chipping in another $100 million to $200 million. Google’s another possible funding source as well.

It’s not surprising that Comcast and Time Warner want in on the action, as WiMax service would otherwise be competitive to their current broadband offerings. An area of concern, should this partnership materialize, might be whether or not Sprint’s relatively aggressive pricing for data services will mesh with Comcast and Time Warner’s penchant for making money hand over fist. Consumers could ultimately lose out should monthly WiMax service cost more thanks to too many cooks in the kitchen.

That concern might get diluted somewhat, though, as sources familiar with the deal told the Journal that the cable companies would be able to purchase wholesale access and resell it on their own. They’d also get equity stake in the entire project, though, so there’d be an incentive for the WiMax service to make money on the whole, which could result in higher service prices across the board versus if the venture was backed solely by Spint and Clearwire.

Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel’s new CEO and the man in charge of turning the troubled company around, said in a conference call yesterday that Sprint’s still exploring the possibility of a WiMAX partnership with Clearwire.

“Sprint has an enormous asset—nearly 100 megahertz of un-utilized spectrum—and we have the opportunity to have a three-year head start with our Xohm service, true wireless broadband with multi-megabit speed,” he said, according to a mocoNews.net article. “We have had wide ranging discussions with Clearwire on potential relationships but no final agreements have been reached.”

The main focus for Sprint, according to Hesse, is to get its main wireless business back into the black. That’s important, sure, but I’d submit that Sprint should get this Xohm thing up and running as soon as possible because it could probably help turn things around relatively quickly. If the service is fast enough and affordable enough, you’d see a puff of smoke where I’d just been standing in the doorway of my nearest Comcast office after turning in my cable modem.

In preparation for a more widespread Xohm launch (current test cities include Chicago, Baltimore, and Washington DC), Hesse said that later this year, Sprint will be pushing out dual-mode devices capable of working on both CDMA and WiMAX networks.

Sprint: WiMax Partnership With Clearwire Still Possible; Dual-Mode Handsets Out This Year [mocoNews.net]

It appears a new Nokia tablet is making the rounds in the rumor mill and this one comes WiMax-enabled. We’ll see what happens at CTIA in April.

WiMax N810 Leaked, To Be Announced At CTIA? [via Into Mobile]

Sprint, Clearwire Near WiMax Deal [The Street]

Sprint’s Limited WiMAX Launch Imminent [PC World]

Sprint Nextel in New WiMax Bid [WSJ]

Sprint is supposed to roll out its WiMax network in Chicago and Washington, DC by the end of the year and it says it’ll still do that despite news today that it met for dinner with Clearwire, said “it’s not you, it’s me,” and split.

Back in July, Sprint and Clearwire signed a letter of intent to “share costs on a network that would reach 100 million people by the end of next year, with each side providing roaming rights to the other’s customers.” Looks like Sprint’s planning to go it alone now.

Assuming Clearwire will keep forging ahead with its own WiMax network, consumers will have the distinct privilege of benefiting from competition while at the same time picking up the tab for potential roaming charges and smaller network coverage from their provider or choice.

Sprint Nextel, Clearwire Drop Plans for Joint WiMax Network [Wall Street Journal]

Now this is what I’m talking about. I keep hearing about Clearwire and their “wireless” broadband. While it technically is wireless, meaning that you don’t need to run any cable to your house, it’s not “wireless” in the way that we generally use the word “wireless”, meaning truly mobile. Clearwire till now has had you rely on a base station for access, which acted as a DSL or Cable modem. It plugged into your wall for power, and you’d need a switch or hub to share that connection to your home PCs, not really wireless in the modern sense.

But now Clearwire’s offering a PC card that gives your laptop a connection straight through to its WiMAX network. This is truly mobile, you can take your portable anywhere you have WiMAX coverage and have real broadband access. In our opinion this is what Clearwire should have been doing all along.

It’s not cheap: at $59.99 a month it rivals similar offerings from AT&T and Sprint. The speeds are roughly the same as well, with Clearwire claiming downloads up to 1.5Mbps. But if you’re a single-laptop user, it’s very tempting.

Clearwire is only available in select cities now, but as their network rolls out, look for more cities to light up in the next few months.

Press release [Business Wire]

Today Sprint and Clearwire announced that the two companies will be partnering to create a nationwide mobile broadband network. Using the 2.5GHz spectrum as the foundation, this network looks to be one of the first of its kind. With super-fast speeds and availability from New York to San Francisco, this could very well be the boost Sprint needs for its image in light of recent consumer-related events.

But Sprint and Clearwire are helping more than just a dude with $60 a month to burn. Government facilities, schools, universities, and public works will all be able to use the WiMax network to benefit employees. Of course, this is all provided that everything clears with the FCC and Department of Justice within the next 60 days. Hit the jump to see what both companies have to say about the announcement:

“This arrangement will result in stronger competition in the rapidly growing market for broadband services, and will provide consumers, national enterprises and other businesses, educators and public safety agencies greater choice and faster access to a revolutionary mobile broadband technology,” said Sprint Nextel Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gary Forsee. “It will further our objective of delivering mobile WiMAX service across the country and help fulfill our vision of delivering mobility products and services across all our networks.”

“Our joint efforts will result in customers benefiting from a more extensive network, operating sooner and using our respective spectrum more efficiently than either company could have on its own,” said Clearwire Chief Executive Officer Ben Wolff. “Our companies share a vision of doing for the Internet what cellular and PCS networks did for voice communications starting more than twenty years ago. Based on this shared vision and the expected benefits to each company and our respective shareholders and customers, it is natural that we would work together,” Wolff said.

Really long title about WiMax [Yahoo!]

If draft-N wireless still isn’t good enough for ya, then keep your eye out later this year for a Motorola manufactured card for Clearwire’s WiMax service. Clearwire Mobile just got the OK from the FCC to sell their new WiMax laptop card. You’ll get high speeds with Peyton Manning-esque ranges (as in long, long long distances) all on the 801.16e spectrum.

No word yet on pricing, but according to The Giz, it’ll only be Vista and XP compatible, which means OS X users yet again get the wireless shaft.

Clearwire Cleared for First WiMax Laptop Card; Is It Moto’s Baby? [The Giz]