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UPDATED: Time Warner Cable rolls out mobile Road Runner in Austin/San Marcos
Update, 5 p.m.: A few more details from Time Warner Cable, following up on the earlier blog info.
The $29.95 price is for a package that includes free USB hardware for Road Runner Mobile, but is limited to 2 Gigabytes a month (or about two high-def movie downloads). This is only available to Road Runner users and is considered “complementary” to the home broadband service, said Time Warner Cable’s general manager of wireless, Alex Heien.
“That’s for customers who customers who may not be doing a lot of surfing or watching video,” Heien said.
Also available will be a “Road Runner Mobile Elite” plan for $44.99 a month with unlimited data on the Clear 4G network. That plan also includes free hardware and the activation fee is waived.
Rounding out the packages is a $64.99 “National” plan that includes dual-mode 4G and 3G service (which has a wider coverage area). With that plan, the USB hardware costs $49. A $10 discount brings the price to $54.99 for six months.
Now the bad news for those seeking stand-alone unlimited mobile Internet service: both the Elite and National plans require bundling with another Time Warner Cable service, like cable TV service or a digital phone. A basic cable plan costs about $20, so you’re looking at about $65 a month for the cheapest unlimited option with Road Runner Mobile.
“We don’t have (stand-alone service),” Heien said, “we may in the future.”
The service does work with Macs and there’ll be a separate accessory available to create a wireless hotspot for up to five devices at a time by plugging in the USB modem. Coming soon is also a modem/Wi-Fi router built into one device, Heien said.
The coverage area will also continue to expand as more towers are put up and the network is tweaked.
Thoughts? Questions? Let us know in the comments.
Earlier information is below:
This morning, Time Warner Cable announced the official rollout of its 4G wireless data service, “Road Runner Mobile” in areas that include Austin, San Marcos, Waco and Killeen.
TWC says the service will start at $29.99 for existing Time Warner Cable customers and will offer speeds of up to 6 Mbps, similar to what Sprint 4G mobile customers can get (they share the same Clear 4G network).
TWC said the service includes data storage, Web mail and “Internet security.” The Austin coverage joins rollouts in Dallas, San Antonio, Wichita Falls, Corpus Christi and Charlotte, N.C.
We’ll be talking to Time Warner this afternoon to get more details and taking the hardware for a test drive soon (we’re told it’s Mac-compatible) and will post more details soon, including whether that $29.99 has a data limit and what it will cost for non-TWC subscribers. Stay tuned!
Click on the image below for a bigger view of the 3G/4G coverage areas:
Edited to add, Wednesday a.m.: Here are some photos of the Road Runner Mobile hardware:
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet
Comments
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By J
March 19, 2010 3:08 AM | Link to this
How many users (eg, family members) can use the service simultaneously?
Do they each have to buy a 4G / USB dongle for their notebook?
Is any Wi-Fi service, e.g. for smartphones, included by Clear or TWC or partners?
By Matthew
March 14, 2010 9:36 AM | Link to this
I tried out the clear usb service, It is really bad.
I hooked up my laptop, got online, got in my car drove a couple blocks and the service dropped. I reconnected and tried again. Same thing happen over and over on major highways in town.
I called clear, and they claimed that the service was not in complete service all over yet.
I returned the usb card to clear, I'll stick with my sprint service till they can prove that I can go around town without dropping service.
By MichaelM
February 25, 2010 4:20 PM | Link to this
Yes, they are just re-selling Clear service. When Nate from TWC called me to herald this service, I asked him about coverage. He asked for my address, and I gave it to him. He watched an hourglass on his screen for five minutes and then said his computer was down and he'd have to call me back.
And that was a week ago.
I assume once he saw my address and realized that I don't live in a 4G area, he just blew me off. I thought it was pretty typical of TWC, so I really wasn't all that surprised.
I'm very interested in the promise of 4G. However, since TWC didn't seem interested in giving me details on future coverage, I won't be calling them when coverage reaches my area.
By Earl Cooley III
February 24, 2010 5:03 AM | Link to this
I wonder what the usage cap penalty on the "unlimited data" plans is going to be after they hook enough customers in long-term contracts then change the rules.
By Chip
February 23, 2010 3:45 PM | Link to this
Technically, it should have the same capabilities as the Sprint and Clear 4G products -- because all are reselling the Clearwire Wi-Max network. It would be interesting to see if there are any differentiations in the offerings.