By Gus G. Sentementes , gus.sentementes@baltsun.com|September 29, 2008
Baltimore residents will be the first in the country today to have access to a next-generation broadband network built by a major wireless company - a step that turns much of the city into a "hot spot" for Web surfing on the move.
Called XOHM, Sprint Nextel Corp.'s network represents the next big step in the telecommunication industry's race to build more robust broadband services, as consumers increasingly navigate the Web with laptops and mobile devices.
Using a technology standard known as WiMAX, Sprint's network is akin to the so-called Wi-Fi "hot spot" you might find at a coffee shop. With Wi-Fi, you can cruise online wirelessly, but only within a limited area of no more than a few hundred feet. Sprint's WiMAX network, however, can cover a far larger geographic area, with connection speeds that will rival - and even surpass, depending on location - the wired cable or DSL modems used in homes, the company boasts.
Some tech-industry watchers expect the network, which will blanket the city with wireless coverage, to spur a revolution in new gadgets, such as digital cameras that can automatically upload photos to the Internet, cars that can quickly present their drivers with real-time traffic data and phones that can feed users information based on their location.
"It's certainly something a lot of people are going to be watching very closely," said Christopher C. King, a Baltimore-based senior telecommunications analyst with Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. "This is really the new frontier for wireless right now."
Starting today, Sprint officials said, customers will be able to buy devices that plug into their computers and visit a Web site to pay for the service. Consumers can start to access the network as soon as they install the plug-in devices, which initially will be sold online and by telephone, according to Sprint.
The roll-out of the XOHM network in Baltimore is an important venture for Sprint, which has struggled in recent years with defecting cellular customers and a reputation for poor customer service. The success of the network will depend on how well it's developed across the country over the next few years, and whether consumers are willing to pay to connect more of their gadgets to the Internet, analysts said. Sprint expects to spend more than $5 billion to build out the XOHM network in the U.S.
