I am excited that CLEAR high-speed wireless internet service is available in the Washington, DC area as of June 1. I’ve been anxiously awaiting its arrival since attending the Baltimore launch event more than a year and a half ago.

CLEAR is a wireless internet service that boasts speeds up to four times as fast as 3G. It is completely mobile and works anywhere within the service area. It does, however, require a new type of wireless card to get access to the network.

If CLEAR catches on it could change internet service as we know it. Right now people pay for an internet connection at home, one on their mobile devices and many times wifi at locations such as cafes, hotels, airports and the like. The beauty of CLEAR is that one would be able to pay for one internet service plan and use the same service all over the metropolitan area. The user’s connected devices could also be used in other CLEAR service areas.

The service area is larger than I would expect for the initial launch (I thought it would just be in the District alone) but still does not include where I live. When the service is expanded to my area, my internet service provider should expect an “it’s not me, it’s you” letter from me.

clear coverage map

In the meantime, CLEAR will be broken in this week as it will provide internet access for the core events of Digital Capital Week, a 10 day festival in Washington DC focused on technology, innovation and all things digital in our nation’s capital.

CLEAR uses a technology called WiMAX. WiMAX (worldwide interoperability for microwave access) refers to a standard designed to provide high-bandwidth wireless services on a metropolitan scale – think public WiFi on steriods. Reportedly, WiMAX download speeds rival that of a traditional DSL connection. WiMAX differs from WiFi in that while WiFi tends to work in a radius of about 30 meters, WiMAX’s footprint is 3 kilometers. What does that mean to you? Essentially WiMAX can easily blanket an entire city to provide wireless access. Not only that, the network speeds are not greatly compromised as with WiFi at the outer limits of coverage.

More than a year ago Xohm launched it’s WiMAX service in Baltimore. There have been numerous launches all over the country since then. During that time Xohm changed it’s name to Clearwire and rebranded the WiMAX service as CLEAR.

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