Clear (formerly known as Clearwire)

[Eric]

I have been using Clearwire for about a year and a half. This month they sent me a new modem because they are upgrading their network to WiMAX. (They're also changing their name from Clearwire to just plain Clear.)

The new modem looks almost exactly like the old one, but my download speeds do seem faster. My new plan is "WiMAX Upgrade Home 5.0/500 $36.99 5.0M, 500K , 5 email", which I think means that I can get up to 5.0Mbps download and 500Kbps upload speeds.

Does anybody else use Clearwire? How has your experience been?

[Albert]

Re: Clear (formerly known as Clearwire)

I'm with Mobi Hele now but for quite some time I borrowed my housemates' ClearWire modem while they were in school and found it quite satisfactory. The results with Mobi Hele are about the same, but it will be interesting what the "Clear" upgrade is like.

[Frankie's Market]

Re: Clear (formerly known as Clearwire)

The new Clear/WiMAX home service offers faster service, with a much more consistent speed than the old Clearwire, which used to fluctuate quite a bit. This makes watching streaming video on Windows Media Center or Hulu.com a much more pleasant and trouble-free experience.

The signal also appears to be stronger, at least in my neighborhood. I no longer have to place my modem right up at the window to get my modem fully lit. I just leave it at my desk, with all the indicator lights constantly staying on. This was true, even in the heaviest of rainfall this past weekend.

If Clear's 4G service is anywhere near as consistent and reliable as their home service, then they've got me as a mobile customer.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Clear (formerly known as Clearwire)

I don't get Clear here...but I get a lot of Crap. There's so much of it that they dish it out in heaps and it's free!

Yes Crap formerly known as Bull Crap, it won't make your computer faster, it'll just make it run more SH*TTY! Crap...it's everywhere! Crap...do you smell something? Not available in all areas, consult your doctor before using Crap.

[pzarquon]

Re: Clear (formerly known as Clearwire)

After attending the pre-launch in September, I've got the opportunity this month to test the Clear.com service via its USB modem on my MacBook Pro.

If I lived in town, or right smack dab in its coverage area, I'd probably switch to Clear for my primary ISP. I've seen speeds as high as 6Mbps, averaging around 4Mbps, at my desk in my office, no window positioning needed. Basically, a home-grade connection that I can take with me anywhere... in range.

Unfortunately, at least for now, it doesn't reach my house in Mililani. The modem senses a network out there, faintly, but can't connect. So for me specifically, this might not be the solution... yet.

But compared to the old ClearWire service? It's like night and day.

[LikaNui]

Re: Clear (formerly known as Clearwire)

If I lived in town, or right smack dab in its coverage area, I'd probably switch to Clear for my primary ISP. I've seen speeds as high as 6Mbps, averaging around 4Mbps, at my desk in my office, no window positioning needed. Basically, a home-grade connection that I can take with me anywhere... in range.

I just now ran a speed test on my Oceanic RoadRunner, and the results were:
Download Speed: 16,088 kbps (2011 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 945 kbps (118.1 KB/sec transfer rate)

I'm not techie enough to know how that compares to yours, Ryan.

[pzarquon]

Re: Clear (formerly known as Clearwire)

16Mbps is extremely fast service. In most markets today, it's still a "premium" offering, and usually available in only select areas. Are you on an upgraded Oceanic plan? They have a "Turbo" plan for $10 on top of the base RoadRunner service offering, which is "up to" 8Mbps. If anything, 16Mbps sounds like a business level plan.

I get around 4Mbps on my DSL service here in Mililani. When I had Oceanic, speeds were sometimes much faster, but sometimes much slower, and I basically prefer the stability of the speed of DSL than hit-or-miss RoadRunner service based on regional traffic. Compared to that, Clear sound good to me, because I get decent speed, and I can take it with me.

[LikaNui]

Re: Clear (formerly known as Clearwire)

I just now ran a speed test on my Oceanic RoadRunner, and the results were:
Download Speed: 16,088 kbps (2011 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 945 kbps (118.1 KB/sec transfer rate)

16Mbps is extremely fast service. In most markets today, it's still a "premium" offering, and usually available in only select areas. Are you on an upgraded Oceanic plan?

Nope, I'm not on any special plan. But maybe yesterday's speed was a fluke, cuz I just now ran the test again and got this result:
Last Result:
Download Speed: 4741 kbps (592.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 926 kbps (115.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Maybe it's just busy time for them right now. I'll try to check it a few more times today and see what happens.

[Konaguy]

Re: Clear (formerly known as Clearwire)

Road Runner's speed tests are going to be skewed because Time Warner implemented Comcast's powerboost technology . This temporarily boosts your line speed for faster downloads.

[LikaNui]

Re: Clear (formerly known as Clearwire)

I just checked again:

Last Result:
Download Speed: 10520 kbps (1315 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 679 kbps (84.9 KB/sec transfer rate)

[LocalMotion]

Re: Clear (formerly known as Clearwire)

After attending the pre-launch in September, I've got the opportunity this month to test the Clear.com service via its USB modem on my MacBook Pro.

If I lived in town, or right smack dab in its coverage area, I'd probably switch to Clear for my primary ISP. I've seen speeds as high as 6Mbps, averaging around 4Mbps, at my desk in my office, no window positioning needed. Basically, a home-grade connection that I can take with me anywhere... in range.

Unfortunately, at least for now, it doesn't reach my house in Mililani. The modem senses a network out there, faintly, but can't connect. So for me specifically, this might not be the solution... yet.

But compared to the old ClearWire service? It's like night and day.

I notice they have a Home and Mobile version. Why would I need the Home version? The mobile version is a USB stick connection. I can plug that into either my desktop or laptop. I could also "share my internet connection" from either my desktop or laptop while at home and have both up and running.

Am I missing something? Thinking about pulling the trigger on this one. For $30/month (first 6-months) and no contract...

[Mattias]

Re: Clear (formerly known as Clearwire)

We just replaced a couple of Clearwire->Clear modems in our satellite locations and I didn't notice much of a difference. As far as I know, Clearwire didn't get around to upgrade their Hawaii network yet....I was told the modem switch was just "preparations". And why do they say that Clear is now WiMax? Wasn't Clearwire also WiMax?

[pzarquon]

Re: Clear (formerly known as Clearwire)

No idea why you wouldn't get mobile instead of "home." Not sure what the "home" configuration is. I saw the kiosk at Kahala saying you could get both for $55/mo., but I agree, LocalMotion. Mobile alone is the most interesting offering.

I tried Clear again in Mililani, and got a strong signal. Then again, I was outside this time. So maybe it's just my townhouse walls. If not, though, they're definitely "lighting up" around town. A much more compelling option for this central-to-town commuter.

Mattias, the old ClearWire network was not WiMax, IIRC, or at least not what WiMax promised in terms of range, stability, and speed. My limited experience with the old ClearWire setup was that it was often darn near unusable. The 4G they're unrolling now is like night-and-day by comparison, at least to those I know who've used both.

Most recent complaints from customers seem to focus on billing problems and contract terms than the network, which I guess is a good sign on the tech side!

[Mattias]

Re: Clear (formerly known as Clearwire)

Ok, so technically their old network was considered "pre-WiMax". They increased the speeds. However, it's looney of them to call it 4G because their speeds are still slower than most 3G technologies. In other countries, 3G has speeds of 12-20mbps while 4G has speeds around 50mbps.

[LocalMotion]

Re: Clear (formerly known as Clearwire)

Ok, so technically their old network was considered "pre-WiMax". They increased the speeds. However, it's looney of them to call it 4G because their speeds are still slower than most 3G technologies. In other countries, 3G has speeds of 12-20mbps while 4G has speeds around 50mbps.

You're speaking lab/theoretical numbers.

Let's talk apples to apples here. 3G is a wireless tech generally used by mobile providers for data usage. 3G fastest tech is HSPA+ which is hardly even deployed yet and offers theoretical speeds of up to 40Mbps which you'll really never see in real world usage. For current 3G speeds real world usage you'll see anywhere from 1Mbps-7Mbps

4G consist of WiMAX and LTE. LTE is not even in use yet. There's only 1 company in the world offering it and it just started it Dec of this year (2009) in Scandanavia. LTE speeds will only be real world use of 5-20Mbps. WiMAX is somewhat like DSL in that speed is dependent on distance. so typical real world use can be anywhere from 2Mbps-40Mbps. It's also VERY directional, so pointing your antenna 1 way vs another could gain you 1-2Mbps easily.

Clear is a 4G WiMAX installation. There are already areas in Honolulu pushing 10-11Mbps with it, and the majority of other areas in Honolulu are doing 2-6Mbps. I've seen the speedtest.

I've been using my iPhone to tether, but seriously considering going with Clear now. It's getting 3Mbps in my area of Kailua right now and upgrades are being done as we speak to tons of areas on Oahu.