Sidecut Reports

Is it true that the inventor of Linux actually is happy with his cable Internet service provider? Reading Linus Torvalds’ blog today, that’s the take the open-source OS guru delivers, a generally pleased-consumer experience with the Comcast folks in the Portland, Ore. area.

We are guessing after this report Comcast PR types will send Linus a bunch of free on-demand movie coupons and a WiMax USB device to test out… after all, nothing beats a good online reviewer! Especially one who isn’t a company shill.

(HT to Mike Rogoway at the Oregonian for the story)

Editor’s Note: The following post is an excerpt from our new report, Goin’ Mobile: How WiMax Could Change the Consumer Broadband Experience. In this excerpt we talk about how flexible, innovative pricing schemes from main provider Clearwire may help drive the adoption of WiMax services by consumers. The report, which updates our previous consumer guide with the latest in market launch information from Clearwire’s Atlanta, Las Vegas and Portland markets, is available for purchase from our website for $4.95.

WIMAX PRICING, MARKETS AND ROAMING

If there is any other hallmark that differentiates WiMax pricing, it is Clearwire’s long list of flexible options, which include choices of different levels of service speed as well as “bundling” options that offer lower prices when consumers combine two services, such as a home service and a mobile service.

While writing about Clearwire service pricing is an inexact science (since the company has rapidly repriced and reduced prices on options in the first six months of 2009 alone) its entry-level price for basic home WiMax service has remained steady at $20 a month. Its fastest home-service option, which offers 6 Mbps download speeds, was priced at $40 per month as of the writing of this report. An unlimited-usage mobile service option was priced at $50 per month, with promised download speeds of 4 Mbps. And a combination of unlimited home and mobile services — say a home modem and a USB card tied to the same bill — was priced at $65 per month.

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Even though services have been sold there for a bit of time now (and the network’s been working somewhat since April), Clearwire’s “Official” Las Vegas launch of its WiMax services will be July 21, with press events as well as a consumer party/launch/etc event. No white tigers or flaming volcanoes, just some demos at a south-of-the-Strip shopping mall.

Sidecut Reports, of course, will be on hand to give you live coverage. Or at least at less of a delay than NBC’s Olympics coverage. You know what we mean.

As a bit of a corollary to the post I wrote this week for my pals at GigaOM, there is the question about why aren’t MagicJack and Clearwire working together, as disruptors of the telecom status quo? MagicJack, as inventor Dan Borislaw will tell you, is making hay selling a $40 device that lets you make cheap calls over your broadband connection. And Clearwire is using WiMax to make that broadband connection cheaper.

Doesn’t the combo sound right for some of that peanut-butter/chocolate kind of hookup? It sure seems so to MagicJack’s Borislow. But so far, he says that the Clearwire folks haven’t rung his bell, despite the potential leads he might be able to provide from his customer list.

“It blows me away, the fact that they don’t call me up,” said Borislaw about Clearwire.

In their defense, the Clearwire folks are busy trialing their own version of Voice over IP, which they probably plan to charge more for than MagicJack’s $20-per-year service. Right now, Clearwire is only offering voice as a $25-per-month option in its Portland market; while Clearwire has said that its customers can use any VoIP application they choose, in previous interviews company execs like co-chairman Ben Wolff have said that they plan to offer voice services robust enough to justify the planned charges.

Sounds good — but in these economic times, MagicJack’s $20 per year might sound even better. But instead of competing, it’s gotta be at least worth a call to Borislaw to see if there’s a potential partnership, no?

There’s no official company link between the two ideas, but it’s hard to miss the obvious “customer retention plan” Comcast is crafting with its experiments in WiMax wireless services and its TV Everywhere content-on-the-Internet test. By allowing paying customers to view cable content anywhere on the web — and by giving them a low-cost, fast and mobile way to do so — Comcast is building the blocks of an entertainment-option package that will be tough to beat.

At the very least, Comcast should be able to keep a big part of its existing customer base happy simply by helping them view the content they already pay for in more places at more times. And if those customers decide sticking with Comcast for mobile broadband is better than spending more dough on an AT&T 3G card, that’s another feather in the competitive cap.

I’d be willing to wager a pint that most people who remain cable customers do so because they are generally happy (or simply resigned) to paying a certain amount each month for a wide assortment of couch-potato entertainment that’s easy to find. They may be aware of new technology and Internet TV, but when push comes to shove they just pay the cable bill, kick back and grab the clicker.

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