Forget about Seattle's grand plans for a city-sponsored, superfast broadband network.

Seattle has quietly given up, ending nearly a decade of blue-ribbon commissions, reams of studies and public outreach.

Since 2004, residents were tantalized by the prospect of affordable, fiber-optic service that would offset the near monopoly of Comcast and boost creativity, collaboration and innovation.

The closest Seattle came was a meager test of public Wi-Fi service along a few blocks in Columbia City, University Way and downtown parks that began in 2005.

Last week the city literally pulled the plug, ending its "community wireless service" April 29.

It was time to update the network, and the city opted to spend the $100,000 elsewhere.

"With the general-fund budget situation being the way it is, I recommended to the mayor -- and he agreed -- we should shut it down," said Bill Schrier, chief technology officer.

Providing more and better access to the Internet is a national priority. It's seen by local governments as key to improving quality of life, attracting entrepreneurs and nourishing business.

Yet few cities have found the gumption to get it done and challenge the powerful telecommunications industry.

Municipal Wi-Fi is easier to build than fiber broadband, but it's still been a mixed bag. Over the past decade, cities across the country tried offering free Wi-Fi through public-private partnerships that largely failed.

Now phone and cable companies are trying to seal the coffin. To protect their lock on broadband, they've pushed state laws blocking or preventing municipalities from offering Wi-Fi or broadband services. The laws have passed in at least 19 states, according to Muninetworks.org.

In years past, Seattle stood up to this kind of bullying and built its own public utilities.

Schrier hasn't heard of such laws surfacing in Washington, yet. Phone companies needn't bother.

Now the hero may be San Jose, Calif., in the heart of Silicon Valley. It's building one of the nation's fastest Wi-Fi networks to serve city agencies and provide free public access in 1.5 square miles of its downtown.

Networking gear must be cheaper closer to the source. San Jose expects to spend $94,000 building the new network and $22,000 a year to operate it, which is about the same cost as its current system.

Schrier wasn't familiar with the details of San Jose's plan.

He was an early proponent of Seattle's broadband plan, but no longer.

He's retiring after 29 1/2 years and spent Friday packing up his office. Among the artifacts he uncovered was a 2003 plan to provide free Wi-Fi downtown, another forward-looking project that never came to pass.

A series of mayors talked about the importance of citywide broadband, but none saw it through.

The new plan is to hawk portions of the city's internal fiber network to the highest bidder. Schrier said Mayor Mike McGinn will propose an ordinance within two weeks to offer up "excess capacity."

Apartment developers, private schools or even a hospital could end up using parts of the network Seattle spent more than $50 million building for city use.

The city is putting energy into a project with the University of Washington to use city assets for a small pocket of fast broadband, perhaps in South Lake Union.

That won't do much for people like Gordon Curvey, a Columbia City resident who used the city Wi-Fi to learn the HTML language for building Web pages and to run a music website.

For Curvey, it's appalling the hometown of Amazon.com and Microsoft's founders can't keep providing the service.

"I could see it happening in Olympia or Wenatchee or something like that, but Seattle?" he said. "Come on, I don't get it."

Neither do I.

Garet Martin is ahead of the curve.

The Portland resident experienced the future of 4G wireless service last week, and it wasn't pretty.

Martin gets wireless home broadband and phone service from Bellevue-based Clearwire.

She's generally pleased with the $63-a-month package, even though she has to move her modem when a particular tree gets leafy in the summer and interferes with the signal coming across the Willamette River.

It was all fine until earlier this month, when she lost access to her voice-mail box. She called me after she had been stuck for nearly two weeks, only getting a recorded message saying her voice mail "is temporarily unavailable."

A series of calls to Clearwire's customer-service numbers went nowhere. Visits to a Clearwire outlet in Portland led to more dead-ends, but she did learn others were having the same problem with their voice mail.

Martin's situation was a little unusual, but I'll bet customer service will be a growing challenge over the next year or two for wireless companies.

A storm is brewing: Phone companies are rushing to build-out fourth-generation wireless networks better able to handle the crush of data from smartphones, tablets and other mobile-computing devices.

Consumers have become dependent on wireless devices, and most are upgrading to smartphones that are more complex.

To cover the cost of their network upgrades, phone companies are making some changes. They're moving toward more complicated pricing plans that meter data service.

At the same time, phone companies are diverting resources away from customer service and toward network upgrades. As we've seen over the past month, this has led to huge layoffs at call centers.

T-Mobile USA last week said it's closing seven centers, cutting 1,900 jobs so it can afford a $4 billion upgrade to 4G LTE technology. Verizon earlier said it's closing three centers, including one with 850 employees in Bellevue.

These follow a string of layoffs at other companies, including Clearwire.

In some ways Clearwire is a bellwether. It was the first company to offer true 4G wireless broadband, but the expensive network project led to sweeping layoffs and restructuring in 2010.

Clearwire's shifting strategy led to the problems Martin encountered this month. But she didn't learn that from the company she's been supporting for several years.

Customer-service reps were stumped with her problem, and her extended waits on the phone ended in frustration.

"Frankly, all the people I reach in the Philippines and India ... they all say how sorry they are, but they can't really do anything -- they can't or won't give me a supervisor or tell me where I can call in the United States," she said.

The reps told Martin "they know there's a problem and they told me there are a lot of people who are calling, but they just can't help me."

Martin isn't your ordinary frustrated customer. She said she used to head the Better Business Bureau's complaint department in San Francisco. After moving to Portland, she became a community activist.

"I love handling disputes," she said.

It makes you wonder what a less-motivated customer would have done. I'd have thrown my Clearwire modem out the window after those calls.

Instead, Martin drove to a Clearwire retailer in Portland. A person there gave her a number for a corporate office, which was always busy when she called, and for a regional office in Portland that turned out to have been vacated.

The sales outlet had a Clearwire sign but stopped selling Clearwire service and now sells other plans. Still, an employee told her other Clearwire customers had come to complain about the voice-mail problem.

Finally Martin began calling reporters.

I contacted Clearwire last Tuesday and asked if there were any service problems in Portland or Seattle. The initial response was that there were no network problems, outages or service disruptions.

Martin was still stuck, so I tried again with Clearwire, explaining that some customers were apparently unable to access voice mail.

A spokesman then replied that Clearwire is shifting the operation of its home-phone service to a third-party vendor. Customers who try their voice-mail password repeatedly during this process could get locked out.

Clearwire no longer sells this phone service to new customers. It's now mostly focused on providing wholesale service that larger companies use to supplement their networks.

Still, it continues to support 1.3 million retail customers, including perhaps 100,000 using the home-phone service.

"The service didn't really make sense as a long-term product for us," spokesman Mike DiGioia said.

Most customers didn't notice the back-end provider changed, he said. But some were caught in the migration and had their mailbox PIN codes locked up.

I guess that's understandable, but Clearwire dropped the ball by not informing its call centers of the issue. After our exchange, it set up a process for call centers to resolve it, DiGioia said.

But after I passed this on to Martin and she tried again with customer service Thursday, it still didn't work. DiGioia noted the fix could take 24 to 36 hours to take effect, but offered to intervene.

"We're sorry it happened, but we're working to make it right for them," he said.

Martin opted to have me share her name with the company, rather than wait another day. That afternoon she was on the phone with Geoff Levy, Clearwire head of customer care, and a product manager, who immediately fixed the problem.

"I'm getting two months of free service, but I still gave him hell," Martin said. "I told him I can't believe you treat your customers this way and you weren't more proactive."

Even so, Martin will keep using the wireless service she's grown to depend upon.

"I'll probably stick with them for quite a while, unless I have more problems," she said. "There really isn't anything competitive now."

Cable giant Comcast is getting offensive, and I'm not just talking about rates.

As Americans surround themselves with video screens that stream movies and TV shows from different websites, Comcast is going after the challengers.

Comcast had to do something. It can no longer rely on the near monopoly provided by government franchises and content-licensing deals to hold on to its cable TV customers.

So the Philadelphia-based company is giving itself a makeover, in the style of Hulu, Netflix, iTunes and other popular digital-video portals.

Over the past year, Comcast has rolled out new hardware, Web services and mobile applications that extend its video content well beyond the TV and set-top box.

It looks like the company is trying to stem the tide of "cord cutters" who are turning to broadcast and Web video, but managers behind the new initiatives denied that's the case.

"I would say the reason we're doing a lot of this stuff is because our audience is moving to different devices," Tom Blaxland, senior director of product management, said during a recent media tour highlighting the new services.

Blaxland (below) manages a Comcast team in Philadelphia that's building new Web interfaces and mobile apps.

"We just keep following that thread of where our customers are going, so we can give them tools they appreciate," he said.

It may be working. Earlier this month, Comcast announced it's losing fewer cable TV subscribers this year -- 443,000 through the nine months ending Sept. 30, compared with 622,000 lost during the same period last year.

Comcast's big growth area remains broadband Internet service. Content and video services add value to the broadband business, and prevent the company from becoming a simple utility.

Customers benefit because the rise of Web alternatives is pressuring Comcast to provide new and improved services to subscribers, but it hasn't gone so far as to lower rates. Instead it's offering more ways to consume content you're paying for already.

With nearly 4 million users, Comcast's video-streaming apps are hits. But that's still only a small portion of the 20 million digital TV subscribers who could get their content on mobile devices through the free apps.

About 8 million people are using Comcast's video site, XfinityTV.com. That includes 5.5 million subscribers and 2.5 million others who use the site to stream free broadcast content.

One goal of the site is to provide a unified console for TV shows and movies available via Comcast. Listings show what can be recorded to a DVR, streamed over the Internet or played from Comcast's "On Demand" collection.

Blaxland said this content may be available from various other websites, but it can get complicated for avid viewers to bookmark and track dozens of sites to get their shows online.

For a while, Microsoft was heading in this direction with its Windows Media Center video guide, which can blend cable, broadcast and online video sources. But the company now emphasizes the Xbox for video consumption.

Comcast also is developing a new app that will stream live TV shows to Web tablets in subscribers' homes, matching a capability offered by other cable companies. Comcast announced the live TV streaming in January and disclosed last summer that it will use a Motorola device that connects to home routers and handles the streaming. Reports last week said the service will enter testing in a few weeks and initially work only with iPads and Motorola Xoom tablets.

Comcast also is preparing to release a new cable box that plays cable TV, Web video content and some Web apps. Dubbed "Xcalibur," the set-top box is being tested in Georgia, with plans to roll it out across the country starting next year.

Tying these apps and products together is a new interface design dominated by thumbnail "cover shots" of movies and TV shows. It looks more like iTunes or Netflix than the traditional Comcast menu. The interface was added to the XfinityTV.com site in October and is used on the new Xcalibur box.

Elements of the interface will also appear on the new Comcast app coming this month to the Xbox 360, Blaxland said. Comcast subscribers will be able to stream stored -- but not live -- video content to the consoles, after Microsoft rolls out a new software dashboard for the consoles Dec. 6.

Some of these changes reflect what's happening behind the scenes. Comcast is now streaming content over the Internet from a central hub in Denver, which could eventually replace the local "hubs" that Comcast uses to store and distribute video over its traditional cable.

Meanwhile, the company is using both cable and Web systems. That's why subscribers will see some shows available "On Demand" -- from Comcast's regional hubs -- and others available for Web streaming. Different licensing deals affect what's available from the two systems.

You'd think Comcast would be able to abandon regional hubs and just stream everything via the Internet, as Netflix or Hulu does. That would eliminate the need for set-top boxes, and let customers stream live and on-demand content straight to connected TVs, tablets and game consoles.

Blaxland said "you could foresee that being the case" but for now the cable system still works well for distributing high-quality video.

"Eventually the IP (Internet protocol) stuff will catch up so that we can do some pretty cool stuff," he said.

Having one central hub could also lower Comcast's operating costs dramatically.

So does that mean subscriber rates will come down? Not likely.

"There's no way you can speculate on that," spokesman Steve Kipp said, explaining that content costs will keep going up even if distribution costs fall: "Those rates keep going up year after year, especially sports."

Seven years after it began pursuing a city broadband network, Seattle's trying again. Sort of.

Mayor Mike McGinn and other dignitaries will announce a new, smaller effort Monday morning in South Lake Union. The plan is to offer city infrastructure to lure phone or cable companies willing to build ultrafast broadband in one or two neighborhoods.

More and faster broadband is better, but I'm not sure this is going to result in much change. It's unlikely to help many homes or businesses truly suffering from a lack of fast service, especially since the targeted neighborhoods already have pretty good broadband.

Helping a small pocket of the city may be more realistic than pursuing top-notch broadband across the city, but it pushes the true goal farther back.

As it did in 2006 and 2007, the city's offering access to 500 miles of fiber-optic lines the public spent at least $50 million to install.

This time around, the city's hooked up with the University of Washington and an alliance of universities across the country that's trying to get companies to provide faster service to research schools and their surrounding communities.

The alliance, called Gig U, wants to foster new research and development of applications using ultrafast connections. Success in these areas could prod telecommunications companies to provide more ultrafast broadband. Project proposals from companies are due early next month.

Broadband companies negotiate for city right of way to deliver service in Seattle. But McGinn said the city doesn't have enough leverage over the companies to extract better pricing or service from them.

"This is why it's so important for the city to start looking at different models... to start driving some competition or create the competition ourselves, ultimately."

But the city has started off on this road before and never went anywhere.

A high-profile broadband task force formed in 2004 said the city should pursue a network that would provide affordable, fiber-optic connections to everyone in the city by 2015, with minimum speeds of 20 to 25 megabits per second.

That led to a request for proposals from telecommunications companies willing to partner with the city, and talks with 11 providers. In 2007, Mayor Greg Nickels wanted to pursue a fiber network but the effort fizzled before there were any firm proposals to build anything.

One possibility that was never pursued was to have City Light become a broadband provider, similar to the approach taken by the city of Tacoma and other public utilities.

McGinn said that could be an option someday. But first the city will try to encourage a pilot project, in neighborhoods adjacent to the UW or UW facilities -- meaning South Lake Union or the University District.

I asked McGinn and Bill Schrier, the city's chief technology officer, why this will fare better than the city's earlier, more ambitious broadband plans.

Schrier said there's higher interest, driven by the federal broadband plan issued in 2010 and Google's 2010 offer to wire a few cities with ultrafast, experimental networks.

"There's a much wider awareness for broadband and its value than there was in 2007," Schrier said.

I hate to be critical about this because the need for better and more affordable broadband in America is real. There's not enough competition to bring prices down and there's little incentive for companies to provide faster service outside of dense, prosperous areas. But the project being floated today doesn't address those problems.

Also, Gig U's concerns about universities having ultrafast broadband do not apply to the UW proper. The UW has one of the world's fastest Internet connections. It's part of the Internet2 research consortium that's operating a new 100 gigabit per second network. Seattle is one of 10 cities connected by this network, enabling the UW to do cutting-edge research in computing and sciences.

South Lake Union is also an odd location for Monday's news conference. It may be the last place you'd talk about a broadband crisis.

A mass of fiber runs through the neighborhood, alongside the new Terry Avenue headquarters of Amazon.com.

"There's fiber all over South Lake Union from like eight carriers -- the biggest fiber route in the Northwest goes right down Terry," said John Van Oppen, chief executive of Spectrum Networks.

Spectrum provides 100 megabit-per-second Internet service to dozens of office and apartment buildings in the region, charging people $60 per month for unlimited usage.

Next spring, Spectrum services will be upgraded to 1 gigabit per second, at the same price. That speed is already available at Van Oppen's condo -- in South Lake Union.

Van Oppen said the city's making a good effort to improve broadband offerings, but he doesn't expect there will be a lot of private-sector interest in using its fiber to serve a neighborhood or two.

One reason is that fiber isn't as scarce a resource anymore. The biggest cost to provide ultrafast broadband is in the "last mile" connection, hooking up the individual homes and buildings.

"The cost isn't in anything but that last little bit," Van Oppen said. "The reason it's so expensive isn't because you need to get fiber from one of the data centers, it's because you need to get fiber into the building."

It's nice to support the Gig U effort, which may have better luck advancing broadband nationally than the FCC's federal plan.

But Seattle needs to be sure that in its eagerness to join the movement it doesn't give up fiber-optic capacity that city agencies and schools may need in the future.

The city also needs to be sure the public gets a good return on its infrastructure investment -- and not just intangible benefits.

Still hanging out there is the question of whether we'll ever see a citywide, municipal broadband service. If that's at all possible, the city has to take care it's not giving up fiber capacity the whole city may need someday, just to enhance neighborhoods that are already doing well.

T-Mobile USA is dropping its unlimited 3G/4G data service, replacing it with a tiered pricing system.

The company simultaneously announced new plans that it's saying are unlimited with no overage fees. That sounds compelling, but it's a little misleading.

Customers will pay for a finite, limited amount of data transferred at regular speed on its 3G/4G network. After that monthly allocation is used up, the data transfers are throttled down to a slow speed -- 2G -- for the rest of the month.

A spokeswoman said it's not really a change: "The previous $30 unlimited plan reduced speeds if the customer reached 5 GB of data in a billing month so the plan is technically the same, just a new name."

T-Mobile is offering these "unlimited" plans with monthly allocations of 200 megabytes, 2 gigabytes, 5 GB or 10 GB at 4G speeds.

The new rate plans "put us in an excellent position to capitalize on the 80 percent of wireless customers in America who want smartphones," Cole Brodman, chief marketing officer, said in a release. "We're providing customers with the 4G coverage they need, an exciting portfolio of 4G smartphones, and the value and flexibility to meet the diverse desires of their entire family."

Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless today announced that it's launching 4G LTE service in Spokane on June 16.

Since it began offering LTE service in December, Verizon has extended it to 55 areas -- including Seattle -- and plans to have LTE available throughout its current, 3G service area by the end of 2013.

Verizon charges $20 to $80 per month for LTE data plans that range from 1 to 10 gigabytes per month. After the limit is exceeded, it charges $10 to $20 per gigabyte, depending on the plan.

A few updates from your neighborhood broadband providers:

Comcast today announced a new tier of service, the "Extreme 105 Mbps," which is now available in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Denver and other large markets. The top speed was previously 50 Mbps, which became available in late 2008.

If ordered with a "triple play" bundle, the service is available with 12-month introductory rate of $105 per month. After the intro rate expires, the service will cost $129.95 per month.

At that speed, you can download a 4 gigabyte high-def movie in five minutes, a standard-def TV show in 20 seconds and an album in three seconds, according to Comcast's release.

You could also hit Comcast's 250 gigabyte per month download limit in about five hours.

Simultaneously, Frontier Communications announced that it has spent $5.2 million to expand its broadband service in 11 counties in Washington state.

The effort brings Frontier's broadband to an additional 14,100 homes in 21 communities in Chelan, Clark, Douglas, Grant, Grays Harbor, Skagit, Snohomish, Spokane, Whatcom, Whitman and Yakima counties.

Frontier pledged to spend $40 million upgrading and expanding broadband in Washington after it took over Verizon's phone business in the region last year. A spokeswoman said the remaining $35 million or so will be spent extending broadband to rural areas by the end of 2013.

Every time you turn around nowadays there's another huge tech trade show, at which a bunch of new phones and tablets are announced.

Here's a sample of the cool new gadgets surfacing at the CTIA wireless conference this week in Orlando. Some of the devices were already announced, and some still don't have prices and specific ship dates yet.

Sprint was the first to offer a 4G phone in the U.S., and now it's offering a 4G phones with glasses-free 3D displays, available 2U this summer for a price to be announced later. It's an Android-based device built by HTC, with the "Sense" interface designed in Pioneer Square.

The HTC Evo 3D has a 4.3-inch, 960 by 540 pixel 3D display. Inside it has dual-core 1.2 gigahertz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 4 gigabytes of internal memory and 1 gig of RAM. It functions as a 3G/4G hotspot supporting up to eight devices at once over WiFi and outputs 720p video via HDMI. On the back it has dual 5 megapixel cameras for taking 3D images and videos.

Sprint's also going to sell a tablet-sized version of the device, called the HTC Evo View 4G. It has a 7-inch diagonal, 1024 by 600 pixel touchscreen (without 3D). The tablet runs on a 1.5 GHz Snapdragon dual-core processor with 32 gigs of internal memor and 1 gig of RAM. It also uses HTC's "Scribe" system for input with a digital pen and works as a hotspot.

Yesterday, Sprint announced that it's also going to sell Google's new flagship Android device, the Nexus S 4G. The Samsung phone has a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen, 1 GHz processor, a dedicated graphics processing unit and Android version 2.3 ("Gingerbread"). Sprint and Google also said they're connecting Google Voice, so Sprint customers can use their phone number with Google's calling service. The phone's coming this spring.

AT&T yesterday announced that it's also selling a glasses-free 3D phone, the LG Thrill 4G, with a 4.3-inch screen, dual-core 1 GHz processor and Android version 2.2. The Thrill comes with 16 gigs of memory - 8 onboard plus an 8 gig memory card - and records 3D video at 720p and 2D video at 1080p. It also plays back high-def video thorugh an HDMI port or streams it to DLNA devices.

AT&T's also going to sell a version of the Windows-based HTC HD7, which it's calling the HD7S. It's going to use the HSPA+ network and have the updated software with cut-and-paste when it's released in a few weeks.

T-Mobile also introduced several new phones, including the "G2x with Google by LG," or the G2x for short. It's based on a dual-core 1 GHz Tegra 2 processor and Android 2.2. There's also an 8 megapixel camera that takes 1080p video and front-facing 1.3 megapixel chatcam.

T-Mobile announced that it's boosting the maximum speed of its HSPA+ network in a handful of markets - Las Vegas, Orlando and New York - to 42 megabits per second. To get those speeds, you'll need a new device, though - namely the "Rocket" stick modems announced at the show:

The Bellevue-based company also introduced a "value" smartphone, the Nokia Astound, that will cost $80 (after a $50 rebate) when it goes on sale April 6. It has a 3.5-inch AMOLED touchscreen, free turn-by-turn navigation and an 8 megapixel camera that takes 720p video. The Astound is based on Nokia's Symbian operating system that's going to be displaced starting next year by Windows.

Frontier Communications today dramatically raised the cost of hooking up to its FiOS TV service for new customers -- from $79 to $500.

The company also notified regulators in four Oregon cities that it's opting out of franchise agreements there, clearing the way to stop offering Frontier TV services in those cities.

Combined with plans for a big FiOS TV rate hike that surfaced in January -- but which hasn't taken effect yet -- Frontier seems to be on a path to phasing out its FiOS TV service altogether.

But spokesman Steve Crosby denied that's happening, and said the company's still evaluating its options.

"I wouldn't jump to that conclusion yet," he said, adding that "we are stil analyzing the business and figuring out what our cost structure is and the best way to treat our customers."

Frontier is using the "opt out" period of the Oregon franchises "because we have to continue to analyze the business" before committing to another 12 years of service under those agreements. The company has "no current plans" to opt-out of franchise agreements in cities other than Dundee, McMinnville, Newberg and Wilsonville, Ore.

The Connecticut-based company took over Verizon's wired phone, broadband and TV service in the West last year. Locally its service area includes parts of the Eastside of King County and parts of Snohomish County.

New hookup fees and the franchise changes affect only the TV service provided directly by Frontier. The hookup fees are for new customers, and are spread out over the first three months of service.

In January, when it disclosed plans to raise FiOS TV monthly rates by about 50 percent, the company suggested customers could switch to DirecTV and offered them free DirecTV service through 2011.

Crosby said the rates were disclosed prematurely but are still in the works.

"I imagine these rate increses will take effect at some point," he said.

State residents are apparently nonplussed about how the Qwest-CenturyLink merger is going down.

Of the 73 public comments submitted so far to the state Utilities and Transportation Commission, 34 are opposed, 33 undecided and six are in favor of the deal.

Last week, the companies, the UTC staff and the state Attorney General's Office reached an agreement on conditions needed for the deal to receive state approval. Among other things, the deal caps residential phone rates for three years after the deal closes and requires CenturyLink to spend at least $80 million upgrading broadband infrastructure in Washington. (Here's an earlier post
with more details of the agreement.)
That agreement must now receive final approval from the commission, which is holding its first hearing on the topic at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 5 at its headquarters at 1300 S. Evergreen Park Drive S.W. in Olympia.

Here is a Web page for electronically filing public comments and a link to the proposed agreement with the phone companies. The settlement agreement and related documents are available here.

A few questions have come up about the chart showing broadband costs in Washington that was included in the broadband report released yesterday.

The chart was based on data from Ookla's Net Index service, which compiles connection speed data from Ookla's Speedtest.net and pricing and quality information provided by Speedtest users.

The numbers shown are the median monthly cost per megabit per second, for downloads.

It's a little confusing because the state's chart - which we ran in the paper - doesn't specify that it's a monthly cost.

The state report also mixed up the Net Index data a bit, presenting the numbers as the "relative cost of broadband," which is a different category of data. The "relative cost of broadband" is the mean broadband subscription cost divided by the gross domestic product per capita.

Further confusing things are the averages. The chart makes it look like you can get 1 Mbps broadband for $3 or $4 per month. That's not the case. Most people pay for many more megabits per second, with monthly plans generally around $48 per month in cities, according to Net Index results.

Here are latest cost per megabit per second per month results from Net Index - based on surveys between June 8 and Dec. 28:

For comparison, here is the latest "relative cost of broadband" data from Net Index, showing the mean broadband subscription cost divided by GDP per capita. Of all these numbers, I think the mean broadband subscription cost is the most interesting since it shows what households on average are actually forking over for broadband.

This data is unfortunately based on pretty small surveys. The cost per megabit in Bellevue is based on just 250 surveys voluntarily completed by Speedtest users over the last six months. In Bellingham, the data is based on just 174 responses out of 21,899 IP addresses that used Ookla services.

The bigger question about the chart may be whether the state broadband office can use its $7.2 million to come up with better data on how much residents are paying for their Internet service.

Net Index is offering a nice public service but it's most useful for gauging available speeds. These cost surveys are not complete or rigorous enough to be used as the basis for public policy decisions.

Washington residents generally have good access to fast broadband services - as long as they're not living in rural areas.

That's the gist of the first comprehensive report from the Washington State Broadband Office. A federal program to assess and improve the nation's broadband funded the office, which is part of the state Department of Information Services.

Broadband speed isn't an issue, generally, in Washington. The state's average download speed is 6 megabits per second, versus the national average of 3.9 Mbps.

Access isn't a huge problem to most residents. The state "ranks about average" for service with downloads up to 10 Mbps.

Fast broadband is available to nearly 90 percent of the state's households. In highly populated areas, affordable broadband at all commercially available speeds is available. Businesses and major institutions generally have access to ultrafast speeds, up to 10 gigabits per second, the report said.

The cost of service also tends to be lower than the national average of $8 per megabit per second (which in turn is much higher than in Korea, England and Japan, which pay around $2 per meg). A chart included in the report (UPDATE: I've further explained the chart in this entry on broadband costs):

As in the rest of the country, rural areas are the least served. About 1.8 percent of households in the state can't get service faster than 3 to 6 Mbps. The report estimates that 8.3 percent of the state's households can't get access at the state's average speed of 6 Mbps.

Despite the relatively fast broadband available to most residents, the report has an urgent tone and recommends the state do more to propagate broadband and assist telecommunications companies.

It suggests speeding permits for broadband projects, making public property available, deploying more fiber-optic cables during road projects and offering up underutilized portions of government fiber networks.

The report recommends putting more state services online. It also says the broadband office is working on a public-private partnership that will launch a campaign "to educate the public about the benefits of broadband."

As directed by the Legislature, the broadband office is forming a "broadband advisory council" that will create another report on ways to leverage broadband to boost businesses, government services and economic development.

The state office was funded with $7.2 million in grants from the American Reinvestment
and Recovery Act Broadband Stimulus Funds. It's part of a national effort that began in 2008 to assess and map broadband service.

I wonder if anything can be done to bring additional broadband providers to rural areas, giving phone and cable companies more competition. The report says 19 percent of property parcels in the state have only one broadband provider available and 9 percent have no broadband providers available.

Federal help may come to some rural residents in the meantime.

The report notes that $244 million in stimulus money was awarded to extend broadband in Washington. Additionally, Frontier Communications - the company acquiring Verizon's phone business in the state - has pledged to invest $40 million over the next few years in its system.

Here are the areas that still have no broadband available:

The second phone to take advantage of Clearwire's 4G network will be the Samsung Epic 4G, a special version of the Samsung Galaxy S going on sale Aug. 31 for $250.

It follows the Evo 4G that debuted in June. Both use 4G where available and 3G everywhere else, and work as mobile hotspots for an additional fee.

Sprint's release billed its new Android slider phone as "A Movie Theater in Your Hand." Samsung's preparing a "media hub" service with a video store to buy or rent movies and TV shows via the device, which has a 4-inch Super AMOLED display.

The phone's also going to work with Samsung's "AllShare" service that wirelessly shares music, photos and HD video with TVs, cameras, printers and other devices with DLNA certification.

Inside it's running Android 2.1 on Samsung's 1 GHz processor; Apple uses related processors from Samsung in the iPad and iPhone 4. The Epic 4G has a 5 megapixel camera that takes 720p HD video and a front-facing camera for video chat.

The price is after a $100 rebate and with a two-year commitment to plans starting at $70 per month. Pre-orders begin Friday.

Sprint's announcement coincides with a new report from Gartner saying that Android has overtaken Apple's iOS to become the world's third-most popular mobile operating system, behind Symbian and RIM, during the second quarter. In the U.S., Android's now ahead of RIM, the report said.

Samsung, meanwhile, is the world's second-largest phone maker behind Nokia and ahead of LG.

Kirkland 4G broadband provider Clearwire today announced a special version of its mobile hotspot for people using Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

The iSpot is a puck modem similar to 4G Sprint Overdrive, but it's white and "made exclusively for Apple mobile products," Clearwire said in its release.

The iSpot also supports more simultaneous users - up to eight devices can connect at once via WiFi, versus the five with the Overdrive.

Clearwire's selling the iSpot for $100. An introductory data plan costs $25 per month and provides unlimited data at speeds of 3 to 6 megabits per second, with bursts up to 10.

Strangely, the iSpot will only support Apple devices with a $25 per month plan. Higher priced plans are available to open the hotspot to all WiFi devices, similar to the Overdrive. A spokesman said the device limits access to Apple devices by filtering MAC addresses, allowing only devices in the range used by the Apple products.

Ookla - the company behind the popular Speedtest.net and Pingtest.net broadband testing services - is now using its massive trove of data to rank Internet service providers.

Ookla's been providing data through its Net Index site but now it's offering more information to help consumers analyze their broadband options, co-founder Mike Apgar said in the announcement.

"The new ISP ranking data takes a giant step in that direction, further
empowering consumers for the first time with rich data that helps evaluate ISP
performance close to home or throughout the world," he said in the release.

Apgar led Seattle broadband provider Speakeasy before launching Ookla in 2006. Ookla - which has offices in Seattle and his hometown of Kalispell, Mont. - is now handling more than a million tests a day at Speedtest.net.

In the company's initial ISP ranking, Comcast has the fastest download speeds among U.S. residential providers, followed by Charter, Optimum Online, MidContinent Communications and Road Runner, according to Ookla's announcement.

When ranked by upload speeds, the top providers are Surewest Broadband, Verizon Internet Service, AT&T Worldnet, Comcast and Cox.

Ookla's also building an index of broadband costs that so far suggests that residential broadband in the U.S. costs an average of $47.32 per month, and $5.06 per megabits per second of downlaod speed.

Based on download speeds, broadband in California costs $4.24 per Mbps compared to $8.80 per Mbps in Idaho and $3.89 per Mbps in Washington, according to the release.

UPDATE: Reader Alexander noted that Comcast's "PowerBoost" feature gives it an advantage in the speed tests. The feature boosts the download speed of the first 10 megabits of a file, after which the download continues at a slower speed. The speed test captures activity affected by this boost.

It's not all bad, though, since PowerBoost makes the connection "feel" faster, Alexander said.

Smaller cities in the Northwest are starting to get fourth-generation wireless technology.

Clearwire today announced that it's extending its 4G service to Yakima, Tri-Cities and Eugene. Today's batch of Clearwire market announcements also includes Merced and Visalia, Calif., and Rochester and Syracuse, N.Y.

The service promises mobile download speeds of 3 to 6 megabits per second with bursts up to 10 Mbps. It works with special modems, PC adapters and, so far, one phone, the HTC Evo sold by Sprint. Sprint is set to have the technology available in its Central Washington stores on July 11.

Coverage maps (below) at Clearwire's Web site indicate the Central Washington service actually extends to the Lower Yakima Valley cities between Yakima and Tri-Cities including Toppenish, Prosser and Sunnyside. Ellensburg is also shown as having 4G.

But the company still hasn't made it to Spokane, Walla Walla or Wenatchee, or Olympia on the west side. Not to mention rural areas.

This picture may show the last HTC Evo 4G phone being sold at a Sprint store in Washington during today's launch sale. I took this about an hour ago at the store at Westlake Center, where the guy in the vest is getting the last one ready for a customer.

A worker told me that all the stores in Washington are sold out after the morning rush but they're hoping to get more soon. Westlake ran out during lunch and the store a few blocks away on Union ran out at around 11 a.m. I've asked Sprint for an official update. (I also heard that Radio Shack may still have a few ...)

Meanwhile, there were still a few cookies left from this morning's launch event at the Westlake store, where I briefly talked to one customer who said he'd buy an Evo if the store had any more in stock.

Here's my review of the Evo 4G, the first phone to use Clearwire's 4G network. I said that it has "network capabilities that may change the way people think about buying wireless and broadband service."

One update: After the review was filed, Qik, the video chat application provider, clarified that the basic video chat features will be free. Premium features, including video archiving and the ability to upload videos to the service, will cost $4.99 a month starting July 15.

A chart that Qik posted, explaining the pricing tiers:

Here's a picture of a speed test of the 4G service at my desk -- it was faster when I held it higher and closer to the window:

If you're curious about what sort of broadband is available in your neighborhood, check out the new interactive map released today by the state of Washington's Department of Information Services.

After you enter an address, the map lists broadband providers in that area, the technology they use and their advertised upload and download speeds.

Additional map layers that can be displayed include population, age, median income, education level, land use and small business locations.

The state also is offering a link to an Internet connection speed test to see how fast your service really is, plus an optional survey for reporting your situation.

It's part of an effort to improve broadband infrastructure by first establishing what services are offered. The state worked with Sanborn Map Co. and Applied Geographics on the map, which was funded by the state and a National Telecommunications and Information Administration grant.

An opening day rush overwhelmed the site today, making it slow to load, but the state was adding another server to handle the demand.

The NTIA's also building a national broadband map using up to $350 million that it was allocated from last year's stimulus bill.

Washington's map is kind of interesting, and lawmakers will no doubt refer to it as they debate ways to improve broadband service.

But it would help the debate if it provided details about which services people are actually using in a particular area. It would also be more useful to consumers if it displayed the offered or average prices for the various services available to them.

Results for several residential locations I checked also blended consumer and business services, which may confuse consumers. For instance, I compared my neighborhood with that of Bill Gates, and we both had the same options: DSL from Qwest, cable from Comcast and business DSL from Covad. Wireless broadband offered by Clearwire and under testing by Verizon wasn't mentioned.

Also cool are the accompanying gallery of maps showing broadband and wireless availability across the state. A sample, showing maximum speeds across the state:

T-Mobile USA is apparently taking the Clearwire approach to rolling out its fast mobile broadband network, offering most everywhere in the country before launching in its hometown.

Is it the challenging topography that's keeping Seattle from getting T-Mobile's HSPA plus service until later in the year?

Philadelphia has had it since last fall, and today the company said "plus" is now in New York City, New Jersey, Long Island and suburban Washington, D.C., and "coming very soon" to Los Angeles.

It turns out the timing has to do with connecting T-Mobile's cell sites to the Internet with fiber optic cable so they can handle the faster speeds. It's taking a little longer to get fiber backhaul to the Seattle-area sites.

"We've already got the software essentially in the network," Cole Brodman, T-Mobile's chief technology and innovation officer, said by phone from the CTIA show in Las Vegas.
"It's not so much the software capabilty but to truly unlock the performance you've got to have the backbone. That's where we have some regional differences."

HSPA plus will be a nice bonus for current T-Mobile subscribers with 3G devices. The early run in Philadelphia is seeing average speeds between 5 and 8 megabits per second with peaks over 10 Mbps. The system can support peaks up to 21 Mbps, and it's backward compatible with current 3G devices.

Customers may not need that kind of speed on their current phone, but new models with bigger screens, better cameras and video services are on the way. For instance, next week T-Mobile releases the HTC HD2, which has a 4.3-inch screen and comes loaded with Blockbuster video service.

T-Mobile has found that the average user with a 3G Android device is consuming 20 times the data capacity of 2G smartphone users, Brodman said.

The HSPA plus speed will be especially noticeable for people using the network to connect netbooks and laptops, which won't see buffering of online video, Brodman said. (T-Mobile also announced today that it's selling its first netbook, the Dell Mini 10, with mobile broadband service.)

Will all these devices bog down T-Mobile's network, the way AT&T's network was slammed by the iPhone?

Brodman said they won't, because the company bought plenty of spectrum and it's using only one channel for its 3G network. "That channel is nowhere near being fully utilized," he said.

Usage also becomes more efficient as speeds increase, he said, explaining that it takes people less time to download files. As people move to 3G smartphones, they also free up spectrum used by the older network.

Still, Brodman couldn't be more specific about the Seattle rollout. The city "is one of our top metropolitan markets we'll be rolling out in 2010. It will be there this year," he said.

Move the story about Clearwire and T-Mobile USA hooking from "rumor" to "maybe."

Speaking to investors in Frankfurt today, T-Mobile Chief Executive Robert Dotson confirmed the company's been talking to Clearwire and other companies about joint ventures that would give T-Mobile additional spectrum, Reuters reported.

"We continue to look at JV opportunities for additional spectrum... there are a number of different options we look at, (we) have been talking with cable companies, with Clearwire," Dotson said.

Bloomberg reported in September that T-Mobile's parent, Deutsche Telekom, was in talks with Clearwire and others, but it was using unnamed sources and the companies would not comment at the time.

In clarifying the status today, Dotson also downplayed the chances of a merger with Sprint, saying, "What you never want to do is take one company that is going through challenges and take another company going through challenges."

At a Mobile Breakfast event at the Seattle Marriott today, former FCC chairman, Kevin Martin, is giving a preview of what to expect from the federal broadband plan the FCC will release Tuesday. Martin's now at law and lobbying firm Patton Boggs.

Commenting on yesterday's disclosure that the FCC may offer free wireless broadband access, Martin said it's probably similar to a proposal he put forward to add a free broadband provision to spectrum sales, requiring wireless companies to provide free baseline service in return for paying slightly less for the spectrum.

"I imagine some form of that is what they're talking about," he said.

Additional spectrum sales will be a component of the broadband plan, he said. Martin said the spectrum available for mobile data is being overwhelmed by dramatic increases in usage. During his term spectrum for mobile data usage was nearly tripled but "exponential increases in data will outstrip that soon," he said.

Martin said the goal is to find 500 Mhz of additional broadband spectrum. For comparison current carriers are using about 450 Mhz "so you're talking about almost doubling the current allocation again."

One approach may be to use spectrum now held by broadcasters, perhaps with an auction where broadcasters can return their spectrum to the government and get a share of proceeds from the auction.

The FCC is considering whether to use publicly owned spectrum to provide free or low-cost wireless broadband service, according to a Reuters report today:

One way of making broadband more affordable is to "consider use of spectrum for a free or a very low cost wireless broadband service," the FCC said in a statement.

A recommendation will come in the National Broadband Plan due next week, with details to be sorted out later, the report said.

Free federal wireless broadband was mentioned in a statement released at the "Digital Inclusion Summit" in Washington, D.C. Most of its proposals focused on educating people to increase "digital literacy."

The upcoming broadband plan should increase home broadband use from 65 percent of homes to 90 percent by 2020, the FCC statement said.

"In order to ensure long term American competitiveness and prosperity, we must not leave one-third of the nation behind," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in the release. "The National Broadband Plan provides a vision for federal, state and local leadership and partnerships with the private and non-profit communities that will bridge the digital divide and transform America into a nation where broadband expands opportunities for all."

Mayor Mike McGinn just announced that Seattle will indeed ask Google to pursue one of its fiber-optic broadband experiments in the city.

From the release:

Seattle will actively seek to partner with Google in creation of a fiber network here. The city itself has many assets to bring to the partnership, including an extensive existing fiber network of over 500 miles connecting every school, college and major government building in the city.

Seattle has been hashing over ways to entice companies to extend fiber broadband service to homes in the city for years and McGinn pledged to pursue citywide broadband.

Google on Wednesday announced that it wanted to partner with municipalities to develop and experiment with an ultrafast fiber network. Its experiment would reach a total of 5,000 to 500,000 people across the country.

If Seattle were to beat out cities across the country vying to partner with Google, the experiment would only provide service to fraction of the city. It's also unclear how long Google would continue the experiment and what it would cost, however the service would not be free to users.

Bill Schrier, the city's chief technology officer, called it a "longshot" but said it's worth trying.

"It seems logical to respond to that anyway because Seattle is an innovative place, we've got a lot of asets we could bring to a partnership with Google," he said.

Cities have until March 26 to submit a "request for information" to Google, which will respond later this year.

Schrier said pursuing the Google experiment won't delay Seattle's effort to build a city-wide fiber network that provides everyone with fast service because the city's in the process of developing a plan for that project.

"It won't delay us because we're building a business plan anyway," he said.

A statement issued by McGinn's office this afternoon reads like a preview of Seattle's application. After a few paragraphs saying Seattle's interested in the Google project, the statement lists city assets including its municipal fiber network and its "high tech industry and population":

Comcast is introducing a "data meter" to broadband customers in Washington state on Tuesday to help customers keep track of broadband consumption -- and avoid hitting the company's controversial data usage cap.

In October 2008, the company began limiting residential broadband customers to 250 gigabytes of data usage per month. Before that, the company had periodically cut off service to people using too much broadband, but hadn't specified an amount, drawing complaints that it was throttling users.

After the limit was specified, customers asked Comcast for some kind of meter so they could keep track of their usage, spokesman Steve Kipp said in announcing the meter.

"Our hope is that this meter will help give our customers a better picture of their overall bandwidth consumption. We believe many will be surprised by how little data they actually consume,'' he said in the release.

Comcast will send broadband customers an e-mail Tuesday about the meter, shown here:

UPDATE: Kipp said about 40 percent of customers received the meter on Tuesday and the rest should have it Thursday.

Kipp said most customers don't consume enough data to be concerned; customer consume at the median from 2 to 4 gigabytes per month and 99 percent use less than 250 gigs per month.

"For the fraction of less than 1 percent of our customers who are concerned about exceeding our excessive use threshold, we believe this meter will help them monitor and calibrate their usage," Kipp said. "It may also help them identify potential problems such as the presence of a bot or virus or excessive use of their bandwidth via an unsecured wireless router."

Comcast imposed the "excessive use program in order to provide a high-quality online service for all of our customers because extremely high-data users can negatively impact the experience for other customers,'' he said.

Washington is the company's second market to receive the meter, which was introduced earlier in Portland.

A few details Kipp called out:

-- The meter will measure all data usage over a cable modem, including data used by all computers, consoles and devices in a home that go online via that modem.

-- The meter will display usage on a calendar month, not the monthly billing cycle, which may be different. it will udpate about every three hours.

-- The meter will "display usage conservatively in favor of customers" by rounding usage down to the nearest gigabyte, rather than up, the release said.

-- Comcast hired a consultant, NetForecast, to analyze the accuracy of the meter during a test period last summer.

Here's how to find the meter on your Comcast account, according to the release:

"Customers can access the meter by logging into Comcast Central at http://customer.comcast.com and clicking on the 'Users and Settings' tab. There, they will see a link to 'View details' in the 'My devices' section (located toward the upper right hand of the screen) that will take them to their data usage details page. The meter will first show usage in the current month. Over time, it will show the most recent three months of usage (including the current month)."

So what happens if you go over the 250 GB limit?

You may get a call from Comcast, and put on a sort of probation. If you cross the limit again within six months, Comcast will cut off your service for a year.

Kipp said the callers from the "Customer Security Assurance team" will say how much data was used and "try to help you identify the source of excessive use and ask you to moderate your usage, which the vast majority of our customers do voluntarily ... We know from experience that most customers curb their usage after our first call."

"Our practice for the past several years has been to call only our heaviest data users, and this practice remains the same now that the 250GB data usage threshold is in effect," Kipp wrote. "We may change our practice but will, of course, provide notice to the customer of any change."

LAS VEGAS -- Sprint hasn't announced a 4G handset yet, but it unveiled a pretty nifty new gadget at a press event tonight at CES.

The company announced the Overdrive, a 4G modem and hotspot device about the size of a pack of cards. Up to five computers and devices can connect to the modem via Wi-Fi, and a sixth can be connected through a USB cable.

Sprint's selling the Overdrive for $99, with a two-year, $60 per month unlimited data plan.

It's an intriguing alternative to DSL service at home, but the Overdrive is also portable - -it works most anywhere, pulling 4G service where it's offered by Sprint partner Clearwire or Sprint 3G if there's no 4G.

Overdrive has an LCD status display and an SD card that creates shared storage for devices connecting to the device. During a demo I was given, one of the devices was powering a laptop, an iPhone running Skype and a Samsung Blu-ray player.

Sprint launched the device at an event in the Venetian packed with current and former Seattlelites, including Sprint CEO Dan Hesse and celebrity chef Mario Batali, who provided a live cooking demonstration beamed from his new Overdrive kitchen hotspot (behind the curtains in the room).

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer stopped by to talk up the company's support for Sprint's 4G service, but he didn't mention any new Microsoft products that will tap into the network, being run by Kirkland-based Clearwire.

Google's Nexus One phone isn't as revolutionary as the buzz would suggest. It's basically a really nice touchscreen device running a new processor that supports slick 3-D graphics and services.

But its debut today still ups the ante for Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, who is delivering the opening keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show on Wednesday night.

Microsoft is close to releasing Windows Mobile 7, the latest version of its beleagured phone platform. It's supposed to be unveiled at a March developer conference.

Windows Mobile 7 may seem like a Hail Mary given the success of the iPhone and Android devices, but it could put upcoming Microsoft-powered phones on par with the Nexus at least.

Especially if wireless companies use Microsoft's software in conjunction with the new generation of processors that are giving the latest phones the computing power of Windows XP era laptops.

So what can Ballmer do to upstage Google's mobile news at this point?

His best chance may be to announce a 4G Windows Mobile 7 phone that will run on Clearwire and Sprint networks.

It could use the mobile broadband service to stream video (consumer content from Comcast and videoconferencing to justify enterprise sales) and play games across the Xbox Live network.

A nexus of 4G-ready Microsoft partners will be in Vegas this week -- including Sprint, Comcast, Samsung and Toshiba -- so it's not that farfetched.

Google's new online phone store will also have retailers like Best Buy prowling CES in search of devices that keep drawing people into their stores.

So why wait until March?

Grant County's smoking fiber broadband network is once again kicking sand in Seattle's face. Actually in the face of most every ISP in the world.

The public utility district has been tweaking its network to the point average download speeds in Ephrata are now 114.49 megabits per second, giving the town the fastest Internet service in North America and perhaps the world.

Across the service area in Grant, Douglas and Chelan counties, download speeds are 85 Mbps, according to measurement firm Speedtest.net.

All for $44.95 per month.

"Everybody cries" when they hear that, said Carl Highland, chairman of Ephrata-based iFiber Communications, a privately owned ISP formed in 2005 to provide service using the PUD's fiber network.

Triple-play bundles -- with phone, broadband and TV service -- start at about $114.

Still, only about 20 percent of the residents in the mostly agricultural region subscribe to iFiber service, Highland said. Among those with the service available to their home, 43 percent subscribe.

Word of the latest rankings comes as the PUD is among the crowd of utilities and companies seeking federal broadband stimulus money. The utility gradually built the fiber network using proceeds from the sale of surplus hydropower; Highland said it will pay for itself as it's built out.

Washington actually has three of the 10 fastest ISPs, according to Speedtest.net rankings.

In sixth place, with 36 Mbps, is a state government network, and Mercer Island-based Van Oppen, a provider to businesses and condominiums, is 10th with 33 Mbps service.

If you're curious about the future of wireless networks and devices, the regional chapter of the IEEE has organized a pretty useful sounding workshop in Bellevue on Oct. 30 and 31.

Wireless sensor networks, 4G mobile broadband, personal area networks and wireless medical applications are among the topics that will be covered by speakers from AT&T, Intel, Impinj, Intermec, the University of Washington and other organizations.

But you have to be $275 curious to attend, or $200 if you're an IEEE member. More details about the IEEE Pacific Northwest Wireless Workshop 2009 are at IEEE-Seattle.org.

Qwest today announced that it's boosting its network to provide up to 40 Mbps download speeds and 20 Mbps uploads, but don't hold your breath waiting for the installation.

Three months after launching its $799 Moxi set-top box, Kirkland-based Digeo is announcing a big upgrade of the system.

Whether this persuades people to buy Moxi devices remains to be seen. Digeo Chief Executive Greg Gudorf declined to comment on sales, but it's got to be tough launching premium hardware in a downturn.

Not to mention the fact that his bosses' biggest investment and Digeo's biggest customer, Charter Communications, is going through bankruptcy proceedings.

"We're satisfied with our start and we're looking forward to ever expanding our distribution and seeing our sales rise with it,'' he said.

Seattle CTO Bill Schrier was one of four municipal tech managers who submitted remarks to this morning's FCC hearing that's intended to start the conversation about a national broadband policy.

The hearing is intended to start the conversation about a national broadband policy. Schrier talked up Seattle's fiber-optic broadband plans and suggested the FCC put a priority on similar super-high-bandwidth services.

That gets to one of the key tasks the FCC is facing, which is to clarify the definition of broadband. It's currently 768 kilobits per second, this Washington Post story notes, which isn't enough to deliver online video without pauses and buffering.

Here are Schrier's prepared comments and background on his blog.

Bellevue-based T-Mobile's introducing a new device taking advantage of its new 3G network: A nifty little USB stick modem for laptops with capacity for up to 8 gigabytes of storage.

It includes a slot for a micro SD memory card, plus a SIM card in a finger-sized black dongle.

The "webConnect USB Laptop Stick," made by Huawei Technologies, is handsome but not cheap. It costs $49.99 with a two-year contract, $99.99 with a one-year contract or $249.99 by itself. The micro SD card isn't included.

Service costs $59.99 for up to 5 gigabytees of data over 3G, plus unlimited data through WiFi hotspots (any hotspots, not just those operated by T-Mobile). Additional 3G time is billed at 20 cents per megabyte.

To warn customers before they start facing overage charges, T-Mobile added some nice software features, including a usage meter and a notification system that sends a message when you've used 80 percent of your 5 gigs.

Jeremy Korst, director of broadband products and services, said the device provides download speeds of 600 kbps with peaks over 1 megabit per second.

"For the majority of customer use cases around web browsing, social media, MySpace, checking email - all those typical things we see our customers doing more and more while on the go, the speeds we're providing now are more than sufficient to provide that customer experience,'' he said.

T-Mobile's hoping the software and overall polish of the product will help it compete against similar USB modems offered by Sprint, Verizon and Clearwire.

Software comes in the stick and unpacks and installs when you plug it into a laptop. It took me about 15 minutes, including a restart, to get going with a test unit T-Mobile provided - I used it to write this blog.

The "connection manager" software gives you three big buttons - WiFi, Broadband and VPN, so you can choose which way to connect.

I haven't tried this yet, but Korst said the system will alert you when WiFi becomes available so you can switch over and save your 3G time.

In an unscientific, quickie test with the modem showing four out of five bars of 3G reception, I played a YouTube clip at regular resolution with no buffering interruption. In high def, the clip buffered about five or six times.

Korst said there are no bundle offers or discounts for customers with other T-Mobile plans. Maybe that will change after Clearwire's new service is widely available.

As for T-Mobile's 3G network, Korst said it should reach an additional 100 cities - in addition to the 130 served at the end of 2008.

T-Mobile previously offered a USB modem that used its slower EDGE network but that device has been phased out.