Mobile broadband hits the air

BALTIMORE -- The Italian Job, a Hollywood action flick starring Charlize Theron, is streaming live to a laptop computer. Speed: about 3 megabits a second.

What makes this demonstration so unusual is that the movie is streaming in triplicate to a laptop in a Sprint minivan that's tearing around downtown Baltimore.

"That's better than most people can get at home," says Sprint technician Lee Mellon, pointing to the trio of Hollywood-perfect video streams. "WiMax rocks."

The question is: Will anybody care?

The mobile data network is designed to cater to the needs of mobile laptop users, not cellphone users, for a fee. Because the speeds are so fast — 10 megabits or better, potentially — it could easily be used as a replacement for DSL or cable modem service in the home and office.

Sprint has been deploying WiMax here for months on the theory that once people get a taste for its speed, they won't want to go back to conventional mobile networks.

Ben Wolff, CEO of Clearwire — he'll also head the combined company — says WiMax is good for consumers. "We're on the cusp of giving people a brand new Internet experience" by offering true mobile broadband, he says. "WiMax is the next generation of the Internet."

If he's right, WiMax could wind up ushering in a new era in mobile broadband, one that is defined by seamless performance and super-fast Internet cruising speeds. That could have a dramatic impact on the expectations of wireless consumers, putting pressure on big rivals to improve their game.