The new Clearwire has relaunched its newly merged service thanks to the XOHM transaction as Clear™ in select areas of Portland, Oregon.
The service consists of a USB modem for $50 or a desktop modem for $5 a month with service tiers delineated by dedicated Home, Mobile, or Combo access tiers with access starting from $20 a month all the way up to $60 depending on speed and term agreement with a forthcoming daily mobile access tier.Â
The service will also compatible with a growing lineup of Centrino 2 based laptops with built-in WiMax radios, but as the service is currently rebranded Clearwire at the moment, the current XOHM hardware is not yet compatible with the network as the XOHM infrastructure has yet to be integrated on the backend in terms of billing and provisioning systems.
The service will also be launched in Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, but no information was provided on the pending launch of former XOHM markets in Washington DC, Dallas/Ft. Worth, and Chicago.
Update: Clear has confirmed to PhoneNews.com that no foreign device can be activated on Clear service at this time. That includes the Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition and all WiMAX-enabled notebooks. Clear has confirmed that Centrino 2 WiMAX-enabled notebooks will be certified as mobile laptops, for use with the existing pricing plan.
Part of the delay on foreign devices, appears to be due to Clear’s billing system. Until Clear integrates XOHM’s more-robust billing system, Clearwire’s older billing system is being used. That system was not designed to support a broad range of devices, and Clear appears to intend on charging more to home and laptop users, and less to lower-tier mobile devices.
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I liked the XOHM name better.
Wait, someone actually liked XOHM as a name!?
Imho, XOHM ain’t so bad – or, wasn’t so bad .That makes it “some-two,” not just someone.
The reason is that the name XOHM was a creation that would have been “frictionless” in the mind of the prospective user/beholder. There is no particular resistance to it in one’s mind because it has no limiting connotation. It’s a techie-enough sounding name to to be associated with a vague sort of elevated frequency/wave-length, long distance image that is consistent with a mission of imparting the perception of the highest level of performance in its competitive space. (A meaningless word can become synonymous with a new category for a product or service: excellent, or otherwise. Examples abound. One example is Skype.)
“Clear” wisely drops ‘wire’ which permits it to distance itself from the impression in the mind that is inherent in that word. [One of the most popular magazines of the early automotive era, circa 1910s, was "Horseless Age." How long will it be before the word 'wireless' drops out of the current vernacular? Okay, probably awhile...] On the downside, is “farthest[range,]” “fastest[download]” or “speed[of display]” imparted in the new name? Hmmm… Still, in a world of increasing difficulty in availabilty of words for company names, a big-fish company gets itself a big-fish adjective. That’s an accomplishment.