<div id="subtitle">Comcast to offer wireless Internet service through Clearwire and Sprint</div><div><p>Comcast Corp. will become the first major cable TV operator to roll out wireless broadband outside of Wi-Fi hotspots as it launches the service in Portland, Ore., on Tuesday, with at least three other cities to follow this year.</p><p>Comcast will offer speeds of up to 4 Megabits per second, faster than any other comparable, non-Wi-Fi service currently being marketed. The service is for use with laptops, but not other mobile devices.</p><p>Comcast's wireless broadband, which lets users surf the Web on the go with their computers, pits it squarely against the mobile data offerings of phone companies.</p><p>But the cable operator is coming out first with the market's fastest wireless broadband, using WiMax technology. Phone companies have lined up behind a competing technology called LTE, with Verizon Communications Inc. planning to deploy it next year.</p><p>Comcast, which is the nation's largest cable operator, plans to offer the wireless service in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago and other cities later this year.</p><p>The service will be carried over the 4G network of Clearwire Corp. where it's offered. Clearwire, a joint venture involving Comcast, other cable operators and technology companies, is currently in Portland and Atlanta, with plans to deploy in Las Vegas, Chicago, Charlotte, N.C., Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, Honolulu, Philadelphia and Seattle this year.</p><p>Elsewhere, the service will use Sprint Nextel Corp.'s 3G network.</p><p>Consumers can sign up with either a plan that lets them surf wirelessly within a city using Clearwire's network, or nationally switching between 4G and Sprint's 3G network.</p><p>Comcast, along with Intel Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc., Google Inc. and Bright House Networks, have hitched their wireless Internet aspirations on WiMax. Together, they invested $3.2 billion in Clearwire last year for a one-fourth stake. Sprint owns a 51 percent stake.</p><p>Comcast High-Speed 2go Metro service over Clearwire's network is on promotion for $49.95 a month for a year, including Comcast's wired Internet home service and a Wi-Fi router. The regular price is $72.95 a month. The national version, using Sprint, costs $20 a month more.</p><p>Shares of Comcast were up 14 cents, or 1 percent, to close Monday at $14.36.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=53880724&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

Copyright 2009  <a href="http://www.ap.org">AP News</a></div></div>