Speakeasy Launches Pre-WiMax In Seattle

One thing I love about Seattle is that it seems that it is at the technology forefront of the USA, at least as far as Internet geekery goes.case in point: Utilizing the Space Needle as it’s delivery method, Speakeasy has launch a Pre-WiMax service in the Emerald City. While it will run you $800 per month for a subscription, you will get 3.0 megabits up and down (or 6.0 megabits total). Or you could drop the price down by $300 by opting for a 3.0 megabits total connection. The hardware is supplied by Alvarion, and the signal covers a radius of 5 square miles in any direction. Full press release after the jump.

Read More | Speakeasy WiMax via Seattle PI

Alvarion and Intel Join to Support Deployment of High Density,
            Point-to-Multi-Point, WiMAX-class Service

SEATTLE, May 4 /PRNewswire/—Beaming from the Space Needle and other
buildings in downtown Seattle, Speakeasy (http://www.speakeasy.net), a national
broadband services company, today announced the largest of its kind
WiMAX-class service, marking the first time that a true, high-density,
point-to-multipoint broadband wireless service will be deployed in a large
metropolitan U.S. city. Seattle is the first among several major cities in
which Speakeasy will roll out their fixed wireless broadband service for
businesses. Today, businesses are constrained by the limitations of legacy
telecom companies’ “last mile” choices from telco switching stations to
businesses.  Speakeasy’s wireless broadband service provides a much-needed
alternative, enabling businesses to receive secure, cost-effective, high-speed
fixed wireless connectivity at any location in their wireless zone, installed
in days versus weeks.

Speakeasy, an active member of the WiMAX Forum, has formed strategic
relationships with Intel Corporation and Alvarion to create a state-of-the-art
deployment to validate and define the future of WiMAX service for technology,
coverage, scalability, application compatibility, and customer demand.  The
service uses Alvarion’s base station and end user hardware, which is very
compact and easy to install. Alvarion’s state-of-the art wireless antenna and
radio are small and can be affixed outside windows or indoors. Intel and
Speakeasy are working together to promote cost-effective technology that
supports IEEE 802.16-2004.  By joining together with Alvarion and Intel,
Speakeasy has combined the most advanced technology available to create a
WiMAX-class deployment that lays the foundation for a true WiMAX future.

“Speakeasy is providing what the industry now needs—a real-world, WiMAX
equivalent service deployment that validates outstanding questions about
density, reach, network efficiency, and economics,” said Bruce Chatterley,
Speakeasy president and CEO.  “We are bringing world class companies together
in a market that experts agree is the toughest testbed for wireless
communications.”

“Alvarion shares Speakeasy’s vision for using wireless broadband in large
cities—especially in cities with difficult terrain such as Seattle. This
deployment is a precursor to true WiMAX services,” said Amir Rosenzweig,
president of Alvarion, Inc. “Combining our state-of-the-art hardware with
Speakeasy’s industry-leading network creates a template for major U.S. cities
as we together lead the market to WiMAX.”

Speakeasy chose Seattle as the first site for its WiMAX-class service
deployment since its challenging combination of weather, terrain, bodies of
water, and dense building skyline make it one of the most difficult
deployments of wireless communications in the country.  Success in Seattle
will not only mean easy adoption in other, less challenging geographies, but
will also demonstrate to the industry that WiMAX service can be deployed in
the most treacherous of wireless environments. The Space Needle, along with
other selected sites including the Westin Building, will beam secure and
scalable broadband to thousands of business locations in Seattle’s urban core.

“WiMAX has the potential to bring broadband, wirelessly, to many more
users,” said Scott Richardson, general manager of Intel’s Broadband Wireless
Division.  “With this unique deployment, Speakeasy is demonstrating how
effectively WiMAX can be used in challenging environments to reach previously
underserved customers.”

Speakeasy Wireless Broadband Service Advantages:

  —Highest Density Network—With a multi-cell overlapping coverage
    environment, Speakeasy is providing a high density WiMAX-class
    deployment by providing a larger addressable market, higher reliability
    and Quality of Service for business customers.  The close proximity of
    each base station provides higher through-put per subscriber and
    greater dependability.
  —Near-Line of Site & Non-Line of Site—For the first time near-line of
    site and non-line of site installations are possible with Orthogonal
    Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technology.  In addition,
    Speakeasy’s WiMAX-class service network is completely independent of
    the incumbent phone company network and provides a resilient alternate
    connection for businesses.
  —Longer Distance Data Transmission Range—Unlike WiFi (the technology
    used in homes, offices, airports and cafes that allows users to connect
    wirelessly from their laptop computers within 150 feet of an antenna),
    WiMAX-class base stations deliver broadband Internet connections
    through fixed antennas that send and receive signals across entire
    cities at distances of approximately two miles per base station.
  —Bandwidth Flexibility—The service’s bandwidth levels can be flexibly
    assigned to upload and download, so that businesses can tailor their
    service to fit their usage patterns. This can translate to savings for
    businesses that upload high content volumes, as compared to wire line
    broadband technologies like T1 or fractional DS3.
  —WiMAX Economics—In addition to the technical and operational
    learning Speakeasy will gain, the Seattle deployment will serve as a
    proof-center for wireless broadband industry on issues such as pricing,
    service levels, installation time, customer demand and acceptance for
    equipment, and overall customer experience.
  —Outdoor or Indoor Installations—Using Alvarion’s single, small
    wireless antenna and radio, business customers will receive pure IP
    broadband data transmission.

  With the addition of the Space Needle site, the network is entering final
deployment.  Speakeasy is taking customer orders beginning today and will
bring customers online in early June.  Speakeasy’s service will allow an
unprecedented percentage of customers in the downtown core, including the
Belltown, Lower Queen Anne, Central Business District, Pioneer Square and Lake
Union neighborhoods, to have reliable access to wireless broadband at total
connection speeds as fast as 6MB. Installation is quick and affordable and,
with an annual contract, rates begin as low as $500 per month for the 3MB
total connection and $800 per month for the 6MB total connection. For more
information please visit http://www.speakeasy.net/business/wimax or call
800-556-5829.