Speakeasy received an investment from Intel to help it build a WiMax network: The ISP, based in Seattle, hopes to have a network in place during the second half of next year but it's not clear where.
Speakeasy's CEO says here that the company turns away 30 percent of potential customers because they can't be served by its DSL partners. Owning and operating a WiMax network would be a big change for Speakeasy, which today resells DSL from Covad.
But WiMax was made for a company like Speakeasy that has always been on the cutting edge of offering new services. The company currently encourages customers to share their connections via Wi-Fi and will even handle billing so that multiple customers can share a single connection. Speakeasy is technically savvy enough to build and use a WiMax network and the company understands how much it can grow its customer base by extending its service area.