It used to be that Honolulu residents had two main choices when shopping for high-speed Internet service: Oceanic Time Warner's Road Runner or Hawaiian Telcom's digital subscriber line, or DSL, service.

Not any more. Tomorrow, Kirkland, Wash.-based Clearwire Corp. will officially launch a new high-speed, wireless Internet service covering most of O'ahu.

"We're telling people there's a third option now," said Kevin Inn, general manager for Clearwire's Hawai'i operations.

For consumers, Clearwire, which has been operating on Maui since last fall, brings a competitively priced, portable Internet service that's mainly designed for use in a stationary setting such as a home. And because the service is similar to cellular technology it is available across a broader area than wireless Internet connections using Wi-Fi technology.

Clearwire's service ranges from a regular rate of $29.99 to $36.99 depending on download speeds. That excludes a $4.99 a month modem rental fee and a one-time $50 installation charge, which is waived if users sign a two-year contract. That compares with Hawaiian Telcom's $29.99 a month service and Oceanic Cable's regular rate of $44.95 a month for Road Runner. When bundled with other services, Road Runner's lowest price is $34.95 a month.

Hawaiian Telcom customers also must spend about $20 a month, excluding taxes, for residential telephone service to subscribe to DSL service.

As a third entrant into Honolulu's broadband market, Clearwire is poised to draw customers from existing high-speed Internet service providers. However, the company also is targeting dial-up Internet users and people such as Waipi'o resident Doug Behrens, who doesn't have access to either DSL or cable Internet.

"In my unique situation I don't have a lot of choices," said Behrens, a graphic artist who has been using the Clearwire service for about two weeks without problem.

For other potential customers Clearwire's distinguishing point could be portability rather than price. Lisa Mathieu, a Realtor for Coldwell Banker, chose the service so she could access the Internet while showing homes. Clearwire customers access the Internet using a modem, which must be plugged into an electrical outlet. The modem can be used anywhere the service is available.

"I've been waiting a long time for something like this to come," she said. When away from the office, "it's very, very important for me to have up to date information."

For Clearwire, Honolulu is an attractive market because of its abundance of high-speed Internet users. Sixty-three percent of Ho-nolulu Internet users had broadband connections, which was tied with the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Calif., area for third nationwide, according to a survey released this year by Scarborough Research. San Diego and Las Vegas lead the list.

"I think being an island community the propensity for needing high-speed Internet access is greater than perhaps in other markets," said Clearwire's Inn.

The dominant type of broadband connection in Honolulu remains cable, with 37 percent of respondents or an estimated 220,000 adults accessing the Internet via a cable connection over a 30-day period. While cable remains the more popular service, DSL use has increased at a faster rate. Twenty-six percent of those surveyed, or an estimated 154,000 people, access the Internet via DSL, according to Scarborough.

Clearwire's entry into Hawai'i illustrates just how competitive the local telecommunications industry is, said Hawaiian Telcom spokeswoman Ann Nishida.

"Our main focus now is making substantial investments in our network that will allow us to further expand access to broadband services and to offer higher speeds in the near future," she said.

In addition to Clearwire, other local companies that provide residential wireless Internet services, but on a smaller scale, include Pacific LightNet, Hurricane Internet and ShakaNet. Cell-phone companies also offer wireless Internet, but at significantly higher prices than Clearwire's service.

Clearwire has launched wireless high-speed Internet service in 28 markets, including Alaska, California and Florida.

Although Clearwire's service works well for typical applications such as e-mail and Internet browsing, it doesn't yet make sense as a phone service connection. That's because Clearwire has no immediate plans to offer its own voice over Internet protocol based phone services in Honolulu. Also, the company cannot guarantee that access to third-party Internet calling services such as Vonage and Skype won't be inadvertently interrupted or blocked.

"The way we manage our network is such that we do require voice over IP providers to get certified," Inn said.

So far, no voice over Internet protocol services have been certified for use on the Clearwire network, he said.

Unlike Clearwire, Hawaiian Telcom and Oceanic Cable said access to third-party Internet calling services is not blocked on their respective broadband networks.

Still, Clearwire's new service makes sense for many users, particularly those needing on-the-fly access to the Internet, said Daryl Schoolar, a senior networking analyst at industry research firm In-Stat.

"You have to come up with a clear and definable reason why your service is better," he said. "That's why I think what (Clearwire) can really push is portability."

Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com.