Broadband for All via Mobile!

Remember NetZero? Now They Want To Sell You Mobile Broadband | TechCrunch

I like Clear Wireless. For those who don’t know what Clear Wireless is, it’s an ISP that uses 4G to connect you to the Internet. It’s just the data plan portion of your cell phone plan. When you order Clear you get a ‘modem’ that you just plug in for power, and that modem is now the hotspot to which you can connect several devices for fast internet all through the 4G wireless network! We have one as a backup at the office and I generally will surf on 7mps down. Not bad for $40 a month.

I think giving consumers a choice on who they use for an ISP in their home or office is awesome. It’s a grim scenario when I hear that only X or only Y serves my area and I have to use them – still not sure how that still works. Must be an old Ma’ Bell trick!

The question still remains in my mind on why Cox didn’t go down the Clear (no pun intended) route of just selling internet connectivity via wireless networks when it was part of the conglomerate that won the spectrum auction for $2b+ back in 2006? (To jog your memory: http://leep.me/xx)  - Instead Cox decided to become a mobile wireless carrier. . .we’ve seen how this plays out (see many MVNOs from the last decade).

(After I wrote this an interesting article was published by PC Magazine about ISPs offering $10 a month internet services to those who have at least one child in the Free School Lunch Program.)