It’s about to get real interesting on the east coast. Although cable companies have outpaced telcos in their ability to sell triple play service packages, traditionally telcos have had one thing the cable companies don’t—a wireless service offering. That’s changing fast though, with Comcast announcing this week it has launched its High-Speed 2go wireless offering in 10 more markets—all in the eastern U.S.
Comcast will leapfrog most of its telco competitors, namely Verizon in these new markets, with the 4G WiMAX offering, at least for the time being. High-Speed 2go is powered by Clearwire, in which Comcast is a part owner, as well as a 3G back-up service from Sprint, where the WiMAX service is not available.
The wireless service will be available bundled with one of Comcast’s landline offerings—either Internet, phone or video. The company says its Fast Pack offering, which starts at $54.99 a month, provides “the fastest wired and wireless Internet in the nation” by combining 4G and 12 Mb/s landline data service.
“This launch gives customers the best of worlds—the fastest fast at home and on the go as a natural extension of our super fast wired high-speed Internet,” said Rick Lang, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Comcast’s Eastern Division, in the announcement.
Comcast is currently selling two different data cards and wireless service plans in the new wireless markets, which include Baltimore, Richmond, Washington D.C. and the Pennsylvania markets of Harrisburg, York, Scranton, Reading, Lancaster, State College and Lebanon. These include High-Speed 2go Nationwide, which is a 3G-only offering and High-Speed 2go Nationwide Preferred which includes metro 4G service as well as nationwide 3G service.
Comcast first launched its High-Speed 2go offering in Portland, Oregon last year. Since then, the company has rolled out several additional markets, including Philadelphia, Seattle, Houston and Boston.
