Clear (formerly Xohm) back in Baltimore with 4G wireless?
For those gadget geeks who care, Clear is the inheritor of Sprint's XOHM network based on the 4th generation WiMax protocol for mobile broadband Internet.
Sprint started up XOHM (pronounced Zome) in the city a couple years ago, but the service went offline several months ago as Sprint transitioned the network to another company called Clear.
About a month ago, I spoke with a Clear representative who said the network -- which offers fast high-speed internet over the air and without a landline -- will eventually reboot in Baltimore.
But there was no definite timeframe for its return. Seeing the marketing vans in the street, however, is a good sign.
Having Clear open up shop in Baltimore would definitely give people another option to the usual Verizon/Comcast/AT&T mobile broadband choices.
This is an archived version of the technology blog. For updated coverage, see the current baltTech location: baltimoresun.com/balttech
Comments
You say reboot ... you mean for new subscriptions? I was a Xohm subscriber and was seamlessly transferred to being a Clear customer.
It seems there are some Xohm customers who have retained service in Baltimore, even though Xohm/Clear is no longer allowing new users to sign up currently. I haven't heard that you'll have to do anything differently, so sit tight and enjoy your 4G. -gs
Posted by: JD | April 8, 2010 3:39 PM
This could just be Clear doing maintenance on the existing Xohm network that they run. (Or worse, they might have sent someone to town to pull the plug.)
Does anyone know why they aren't selling the service that is already operational?
Posted by: pete | April 8, 2010 4:32 PM
From what I've been told by customer service reps, they were waiting to open up to new subscribers until they had all the rollover from XOHM to Clear taken care of. I'm assuming they meant "nationally" and not just in Maryland.
Posted by: Nine | April 13, 2010 2:22 PM
Baltimore does not even appear on Clear's coverage maps. Additionally, there used to be "unofficial" coverage all throughout DC and I understand that much of that is gone. I don't get it, it seems like we're moving backwards here.
When the EVO 4G comes out on Sprint, are us Baltimore folks going to have 4G coverage? Because according to the current maps on Clear's sites, the answer is no.
Posted by: Tom | April 14, 2010 4:55 PM
All I know is I'm still getting coverage from Clear, and the signal's been a lot stronger lately.
Posted by: Nine | April 15, 2010 8:47 AM
Still got mine, but I did notice that my signal has gotten noticeably weaker.
Posted by: Lee | April 17, 2010 11:54 AM
Clear is on its way to launching in Baltimore within the next 3-6 months...keep an eye out. To be "clear", Sprint is using Clearwire's 4G Wimax network and is not building it but leasing the network as Clear is the official brand of Clearwire. Look for great prices on wireless broadband and we are seeing speeds on our Sprint cards of 8-10 Mbps downlink and 2-3 uplink, from what we have seen in other markets, Clear looks to be 20% less expensive than Sprint and offers some great business pooling plans as well as Hosted VOIP for home and business...guess we will all wait to see what happens soon. You can view the 4G coverage on Sprint's coverage map under 4G devices...
Posted by: Jamey | April 28, 2010 12:40 AM
Sorry to bump such an old post but wanted to give a heads up that CLEAR is on it's way into town in the very near future. CLEAR is holding a blogger meetup next Tuesday for any Baltimore bloggers interested in hearing what the timeline is.
http://theclearblog.com/baltimore-meetup/
Cheers,
Jeff
Posted by: Jeff | May 19, 2010 4:20 PM