Baltimore WiMAX opens to the public

Posted September 29, 2008 at 07:21 PM by Shawn Ingram

Section: Communications, Cellular Providers, Mobile, Computers, Networking, Wireless

Sprint has finally opened its Xohm WiMAX network in the city of Baltimore.  With this, as long as you have a WiMAX adapter and can pay the charge for the service, Internet is available anywhere within the city.  For home service the WiMAX service costs $25 per month for six months, and $35 per month after that.  Laptop access will cost $30 per month for the first six months, with no talk of price after that.  If you’re just visiting the city, single day access will cost $10, which is a bit steep, but not bad compared to the price of Wi-Fi access in some airports.

While the network is expansive, it’s not exactly blazingly fast, at least not for home access.  The network can “provide download speeds of 2 to 4 megabits per second.“  While it is faster than most cellular networks, the service is nothing compared to some home internet connections.  Although, the option to use it on a laptop is useful, and 4 Mbps is good enough for checking email or other smaller, lower bandwidth internet usages.  It’s hard to say if these estimates actually hold up with a lot of people using the network at once, especially if you are far from a broadcast tower.

Sprint plans on releasing the Xohm WiMAX networks in Chicago and Washington D.C. next.  While they are all major cities, it is hard to speak for just how well the WiMAX works when you’re sitting in New York.  Should these networks actually get some decent use, perhaps the service will be released in more markets.

Read [Yahoo News]