Clearwire WiMAX PC Card now available
Well this gets me back to our WWAN form factor poll, so I’ll have to close it out and post the results. Clearwire has released their PC Card WiMAX modem; you can buy it today, but of course, you’ll be extremely limited in terms of coverage. At last check, there were only a very small handful of metro areas for service. The card can be yours for $80 and a two year commitment. Download speeds are expected to be comparable to EV-DO Rev. A and HSDPA at around 1.5 Mbps. Sounds like the plan prices are comparable too, if not identical: $60 a month for the service. Note: the photo shown isn’t the actual modem, but is a representation.
(via atmospheric endeavors)
Now this is the part I don’t get. I have their non-PC Card modem and I can take it anywhere I want, in fact they even sell a 20 hour battery pack for it.
Monthly rate: $37.
But if you buy the PC Card, they expect you to pay $60 a month.
I’ve been scratching my head since I noticed this earlier this week, but I still can’t figure out why the $23 premium on the monthly service plan.
Maybe the PC Card is provided by Apple and they have to pay Apple part of the subscription fee?
On a related note, it caught my eye today that they now offer a 2Mbps plan! I just upgraded and the extra .5Mbps kicked in immediately!
I’m measuring a consistent 250KBps now.