To mark the event, Clearwire is hosting a laser light show from the top of the Needle around 7:15 p.m. today.

The Kirkland company, with more than 1,000 employees worldwide, is the brainchild of McCaw, the founder of McCaw Cellular Communications, which built one of the first nationwide cellphone networks. AT&T bought the company for $11.5 billion in 1994 to form AT&T Wireless, now part of Cingular Wireless.

This time, McCaw and some of his same cohorts are back cutting another cord in people's lives — the one connecting them to the Internet.

To date, the service has been launched in 31 other markets, but the rollout in the Seattle region represents the biggest geographic area the company has moved into, marking one of the most critical steps in Clearwire's three-year existence.

"It's a pretty big deal," said Gerry Purdy, the vice president and chief analyst at Frost and Sullivan, a consulting firm. "It's a test case for them to see what it is that works and what doesn't work, and to get them ready for playing in the big leagues."

Among other things, the Seattle experience should show how the technology works in a densely populated area and whether consumers, who may already have Internet access, will or will not adopt a new wireless service.

Clearwire's technology offers an alternative to DSL and cable broadband Internet access. The difference is that the service is sent through the air, which eliminates the need to install anything in the home or lay any wires. Additionally, it isn't assigned to a specific house or a business, so people can take the service with them.

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