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Review by Shit Pickle 
Posted: 6 days ago
Fair warning: reviewer joined this week
 Harker Heights,Bell,TX
 $35 per month (24 month contract)
 about 360 days
 "Great for web navigation, cheap cost"
 "Bad customer service, weird contract, slow connection speed,"
 "It sucks!"
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This service sucks. The connection speed is even slower than DSL. The contract is set up in a strange way. The contract is a SCAM. I do not recommend for watching videos or playing games online. I can only get 3 lights,I'm lucky if I get 4.Road Runner & Embarq are better services.
Don't get Clearwire unless you need it.
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 Review by OldschoolDSL
Posted: 12 days ago
member for 2.4 years, 663 visits, last login: 7 days ago
Chicopee,Hampden,MA
Contract price not specified.
"Internet Everywhere!"
"Its not here yet"
"Something to look forward too"
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I was able to try Clearwire when taking a trip and have to say, I loved it. I expected a complete wireless internet service provider to act much like a Cell Phone provider (slow and unstable). The speed was quick and I never lost signal. It was like having DSL (not cable speeds).
I was able to link up no matter where we took the laptop in town. 
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 Review by boogi man
UPDATED: 18 days ago
member for 6.7 years, 1074 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Jacksonville,Duval,FL
$45 per month (12 month contract)
"not telco or cable"
"slower than cable"
"decent enough"
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will not go with dsl. had comcast the service was stable and FAST but their service sucks so i went with clearwire which has god service sort hold times and nice people. standard dsl speeds 1.5 down 256 upbut cheaper price and better service for now i'll live with it prolly wont renew because i want faster service.
okay so as of now 07/08/2008 i am still being billed for service i ave clled three times to have shut off they flat out refuse to do it. i've gone to the bank to have it resolved at this point. their phone support is less than helpful and the speeds well it's wimax i guess i expected to much,
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Review by WarmCoke
UPDATED: 39 days ago
member for 1.4 years, 118 visits, last login: 32 days ago
Boise,Ada,ID
$35 per month (12 month contract)
about 1 days
"Completely Easy Installation; Consistent Speeds"
"Re-Positioning Modem Sometimes Needed"
"Good Value for the Money, Great Alternative to DSL, Cable, Satellite"
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My wife and I have a strong desire to lose Qwest (our local phone line provider) for good in the future due to past bad experiences with them and simply due to what we view as a very over-priced phone line. With that being the case, DSL was not really a long-term option for us as they require that land line to be in place. Satellite options seem a bit 'hokey' in our area and the cheapest one we could find was $50 a month for pretty slow download rates. Cable is an option but we have our issues with the local cable provider as well and do not have TV service through them - so no bundling discounts to make it affordable.
With all this being said, wireless seemed to be the best route for us and Clearwire has been available in the Boise market for quite some time. The local staff was pretty knowledgeable to be honest and were very patient answering all of my questions. They let me "demo" a modem at home for a few nights before I signed any contracts and I thought that was a very good thing. I was able to test signal strength and download speeds without them having my credit card number yet!
Installation was a breeze and I was up and running with service in a matter of minutes - this has to be a huge advantage that Clearwire has over most other broadband providers. Using the Speakeasy test - I showed that I was getting the download and upload speeds that were advertised. (And this was with at times only two of the 5 signal strength lights lit up....) I ran the tests at all different times of the day as well and did not see any major differences. I subscribed to the 768 Kps service and am consistently getting speeds that are faster than that.
I have only had the service now for a few days, but I cannot find anything wrong with it at this point. I will post updates if the "bottom falls out" but at this point I would highly recommend this service.
2/13/2007 - Review Update -
I had a basic question for Clearwire regarding using their service as part of a wireless network at my home and a particular router setting. I opened a ticket on my Clearwire member page and received an e-mail response within just a day or two. I then received a phone call from them a day later wanting to make sure that my question had been answered. Not blazing fast response times - but I was impressed with the follow through on their part.
4/17/2007 - Review Update
Third full month with consistent service from Clearwire. My "trial" is now over with this service and so my account has been reverted back to a 768K max download, but I consistently get better speeds than that. Still very happy with this service to this point.
8/2/2007 - Review Update
Going on eight months now with Clearwire service here in the Boise, ID area and am still a VERY satisfied customer. Moved the modem to a window in my den and now consistently have 4-5 lights on the modem at all times with very consistent download speeds and low overall latency. Service has also been working well with a wireless router I installed a few months back and now I have nice wireless service all over my house through Clearwire as well. I have had so much success with the service to this point I am considering adding their VOIP service as well.
1/12/2008 - Review Update
Coming up on my one year anniversary with Clearwire and there is nothing that would make me want to cancel this contract. I am not bound by wires as you guys are with cable and DSL and my download and upload speeds are still VERY consistent and more than really what I am paying for. If there was anything negative to report about this service, I would, but there is absolutely nothing. I almost forget who my provider is (I think that is a high compliment to a service like this) at times because it is always up and always works perfectly. More updates to come.....but still very smooth sailing from this Clearwire customer one year into his service.
1/21/2008 - Review Update
Here is an example of the consistent speeds that I am talking about.....keep in mind I am paying for a 768K downlink and a 256K uplink....
»www.speedtest.net/result/225059377.png
5/20/08 - Review Update
I thought that I would update my review. Still just consistent and top notch connection to Clearwire at this point, speeds a lot of the time are still above what I am paying for and strong signal all of the time. The last 6 months may have been the best of my contract actually - the service and signal strength reliability seem to be improving if anything. I am a big believer in modem positioning, I found a great position for my Clearwire modem in my den and I know I am connecting to the best/closest tower to my house. That is key.
Keep up the good work Clearwire!
Followup comments:  ernliz
join:2001-11-25
Abilene, TX | Clearwire -- Response I'm curious: how many lights are you getting on your modem now that you've had it for a while? You wrote about 2 lights. Surely you have more than that, considering the good speed you're getting. Lemme know......
EW | |
| | WarmCoke
join:2007-01-31
Boise, ID
 ·Clearwire Wireless
| Re: Clearwire -- Response I still am only getting two bars on my modem, I really just have not taken the time to try and seriously move it around to get the best signal. It's in a convenient spot where I have it and so I have pretty much just left it alone. I can put it in the window of my den and get 3 or 4 bars - but then I cannot close the blinds.
I don't think that the number of lights on the modem are an indication of the speed of data transfer that you will get to be honest, they are simply signal strength. So with one bar or five bars I would get the same general download speeds, just with one bar I would be in more jeopardy of losing my signal all together. That's not an official stance, but it seems to make sense to me. I have had one bar before and had blazing fast download speeds. | |
| | | ernliz
join:2001-11-25
Abilene, TX
·Clearwire Wireless
| Re: Clearwire -- Response Thanks for the info on the lights. I normally get 5 lights and start panicking when it drops to 4, and start chopping trees and demolishing homes when it drops to 3. However, you're correct about the signal strength and download speed -- little or no correlation. But if I adjust my modem for 2 lights, it takes an extra bit of time in establishing a solid transfer (it pings the tower several times) but locks on and works. But my tower is over 4.5 miles away -- maybe that makes a difference.
See you.
EW | |
| | | | WarmCoke
join:2007-01-31
Boise, ID
·Clearwire Wireless
| Re: Clearwire -- Response LOL - funny post - thanks for the chuckle! You bring up a good point regarding signal strength that I had not considered, if I had 5 lights (or even 4) on all the time I might have lower ping times or latency when accessing site. I will give this a shot, put the modem in my window and see what happens. Thanks for the tip. | |
| | | | | WarmCoke
join:2007-01-31
Boise, ID | Re: Clearwire -- Response Moved my modem to a window seal in my den and now have 4 lights on the modem consistently. Speeds are still good and I consistently get high download speeds than what I am paying for. | |
| 
phoneguy
@clearwire-dns.net
| Service really isn't that bad.... A couple weeks ago I decided to give ClearWire a try. We are in Richmond VA and the service was just launched here. So far, so good! The speed is acceptable, even with just 1 or 2 bars. One call to customer service for a question about the service got me a friendly, knoledgeable person. Give it a try! Just make sure you are in the service area. | |
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Review by lemouton
UPDATED: 40 days ago
member for 40 days, 0 visits, last login: 40 days ago
Snohomish,Snohomish,WA
$50 per month (24 month contract)
"Works where I live, even though I'm technically out of the service area"
"Connection is flaky and varies randomly. Upload speed not fantastic."
"It works fine if you don't have an alternative service like myself. I'm satisfied with it."
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I chose Clearwire almost as soon as I heard about it because it was the ONLY service that was available in my area, and I believe it still is. Where I live is sort of an anomaly as far as broadband internet goes. Verizon provides ADSL just up the road from us and Comcast provides cable down the road the other way. I have just contacted Comcast and they say that they actually do provide service, but our cable company is Broadstripe (formerly Millennium Digital Media which bought out Lk. Roesiger Cable) and I just got an e-mail from Broadstripe saying cable is available, but I am taking their work with a grain of salt.
We are technically out of the service area for Clearwire so we had to sign a contract that said we know that we are out of the service area. The service works just fine with one or two bars, but sometimes the signal is flaky and does not come through very well, and therefore we don't get a good connection. This doesn't happen too often though and as long as we put the modem in the right part of the house (in front of an open window) we get a decent connection and a signal of 3 of 5 bars.
We initially purchased the Clear Premium package (1.5 Mbps / 256 Kbps) and then when they came out with Clear Premium Plus (2.0 Mbps / 256 Kbps) we upgraded to that. We noticed some increase in the speed, but not all the time. So, I would recommend just getting the Clear Premium plan especially if you're out of the technical service area. The Clear Premium plan costs $39.95/month with a modem rental fee of $4.99/month and tax. Clear Premium Plus costs $44.99/month with the same rental fee.
The install process was relatively painless. We already had a home network set up with a wireless router and with a house wired for networking with CAT5 cable; we were just lacking the broadband internet service. We placed the modem where it would get the best signal and ran a cable to the nearest wall jack (Clearwire provides devices call ClearPlugs which can transfer the signal to a wall power outlet and then out at another outlet closer to the router if they are not near each other and the house is not wired like ours is. The plugs are a bit spendy though). After fiddling with the wires, the modem was plug and play and we were instantly online. The process was relatively painless, as I said. The sales rep that came out to our house with the modem to test the service had us fill out the paperwork and handed us the modem and we were set to go. Not a big hassle at all.
The modem is about 6" x 10" and only one side of the modem is used as the antenna, so orientation of the modem matters significantly. So if you get Clearwire, it's best to make sure when you find the best signal that you make sure it doesn't get moved because that could affect your signal and potentially your speed and connectivity.
Clearwire is rarely "down" as in the service doesn't work properly on their end. We have had issues because of our location and in the past there were overloading issues on the tower that we were connecting to, so there were terrible speed issues. These were resolved relatively quickly though. As long as you get a good signal though, your connection is decent and very comparable to ADSL. I don't have too many gripes about them. I know that my location is hard to reach, so I'm pleased with what I have. It's a LOT faster than 56k, that's for sure.
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 Review by KIDPUTER
Posted: 42 days ago
member for 3.9 years, 343 visits, last login: 2 days ago
Porterville,Tulare,CA
$44 per month (24 month contract)
about 1 days
"Practically the only thing I can get"
"It Sucks , limited coverage, limited portability"
"WTFE it is OK for what it is , It does have a 14 day trial"
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I have the Premium Package that promises 2 meg download and I get it.
So I cannot complain , latency is bad and they do block Peer to peer downloads
It seems that they have an auto blocker or a "cap" for sites like Limewire etc, they do not block other FTP sites that are less popular, but music is harder to obtain for me now , minor deal , I just work around it.
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Review by Cider7869
UPDATED: 59 days ago
member for 119 days, 3 visits, last login: 57 days ago
Sedro Woolley,Skagit,WA
$43 per month (2 month contract)
"worst customer service I've ever experienced."
"would not recommend this service to anyone."
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signed up with clearwire because there was nothing else available except dialup. Took the modem home and got 1 led to light up constant with 2 to 3 at most other times. went back to the outfit peddling their service and they recommended the (osu) outside antenna. Opted for the 2 year contract at 1.5m / 250 speed. Placed osu at highest point on house and for first month or 2 things were good. Never got speeds as advertised except in bursts. service has diminished now to the point that i'll be lucky to post this. In the last month, I've called tech at least 5 to 6 times. I'll give the short rundown of what happened. At first I got all the reboot modem ect ect. which helped for an hour or 2. I finally got a guy by the name of Terry (10154831) out of L.V. NV. control ctr. that finally agreed to get a truck roll to my address to find issues. the 2 days pass after talking to Terry and nothing, no call, nothing. I call, start all over with my story and they order another truck roll... again 3 days, nothing. I call and it seems the local area cancelled my truck roll 2 times with no explanation to anyone. Finally someone calls me 2 days after all this (not the local provider mind you) and says that the local provider knows the area and says its the leaves on the trees................................. well, thats just dandy. thanks for the call. Now I've had this service for just about 2 years... the service has never give me the advertised speeds... it gets close in bursts. but sustained d/l speed is about half, and as of late, the last 3 weeks have been an average connection for about 15 min. and then drops out completely. Leaves?? what happen to the leaves last summer?? and not to mention the same issues during winter with no leaves..... give me a break. So as of 5/24/08, the latest call tech support has decided that I'm outside their "range of service".....??? Now I'm left with wondering if this is their stance, if they are going to renew my service automatically and stick me with the early contract cancellation fee... at this point, dial up is looking good. Good riddance Clearwire.
Attached images and files NewRichTextD···.rtf.zip 381 bytes
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Review by poodleman78
Posted: 65 days ago
member for 66 days, 0 visits, last login: 66 days ago
Duluth,Saint Louis,MN
$43 per month (24 month contract)
about 1 days
"Smooth at times"
"Where i'm at it would jump towers...."
"If you live west of the Zoo it's a pain!!!!"
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I signed up for C.W. in Oct. 07 an at the time it was great..no leaves on the trees..other than the signal jumping from tower to tower....so I got pissed one night an turned it (an unknown direction at the time) an unplugged everything an let it be for 4 hours (a month after I got it hooked up). Came back home an everything was honky dorky. But there were numerous times I had to call tech support to reset the towers....my computer....ect....clear the cache an stuff. It would work fine for about 3 weeks then it would get all boggy again....so again I called tech support an went through the same QUAP!!! This was a constant thing (at least 1-2ce a month) until I was recently kicked outta the garage...all my stuff had to be taken out...but the back bed-room to the house was ok. So what the hell....an it was worse...the trees leaves were in the way of the signal (from superior, wi)....an the towers in duluth would fight for my signal....when one towere would get full....my connection would jump to the next tower....an back an forth. And where I could place the modem was very limited in the room (storage Bedroom). Anewayz, the local guys were very understanding of what was happenein' an stuff....an were a lot more help than the GD tech 1800#. It is true that most of the 1800# tech people acted like drones...same damn ???'s .....always blamed my router an computer before their service....that ticked me off so many times.
The moral is....if you live east of the Zoo an such the service is really damn good....but just past the Zoo....it blows!!!!! An the contract is pretty damn tight....only 1 or 2 loop holes that could actually help a customer. I won't state what those are at this point.
An plus the tech support hours are now from 9:00a.m. to 10:00p.m. they used to be 24 hours when i first signed up an a little after........an that worked out great for me....workin' the late afternoon shift.
Please let me know what your experiences are around this area w/ C.W. .
Thank you
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Review by Gandolf
UPDATED: 136 days ago
member for 138 days, 1 visits, last login: 136 days ago
Medford,Jackson,OR
$29 per month (24 month contract)
about 1 days
"Mobility, Low Cost. Easy setup."
"Less reliable then wired access, limited uploading, connection shaping."
"Best suited to low bandwidth users with a strong signal at multiple access sites."
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I am trying to reconcile my good experience with Clearwire and the bad reviews on this site. Including myself, we now have four family members on Clearwire, including two in Hawaii and two in Oregon. I was initially hesitant to try Clearwire until family members in Hawaii, both Maui and Oahu reported satisfaction with this "transportable" service. I was impressed by their ability to move their internet service between islands! So I signed up my in-laws who are low bandwidth users previously using dial up in Oregon with good results. Faced with rising cable pricing I elected to give up my cable internet for Clearwire since it works both in OR and HI and I travel between the mainland and Oahu. I was fortunate in that I could test my Clearwire signal in OR and HI before purchasing another modem. To achieve a strong signal, 3-4 bars, in OR, I placed my wireless modem by an attic window and I route the signal over AC plug-ins to a Mac Airport Extreme Base Station. I have the low speed Clearwire service and I am getting consistent 500-800 Kbps downloads. My speed is faster if I connect directly to the Clearwire modem.
It seems that a lot of the complaints are about the automatic contract rollovers. These complaints seem quite valid. However, Clearwire accounts now roll over to month to month accounts as of November 2007. After visiting this site, I got this in writing during my trial period.
Another frequent complaint is about variable service. I can only recommend this service if the user has a strong signal and can tolerate variable service. That means 3 bars or more during good periods so that the signal will be "good enough" during bad periods such as during rainstorms or in Spring as opposed to Winter. It would be very wise to test the signal and download speed at the users site by borrowing a Clearwire modem from an existing user before considering this service. After reading the reviews on this site, I would avoid this service if the user cannot get a strong signal at home. Unlike wired access, Clearwater uses cell towers and the connection is going to be variable, much as cell phone service is variable. However, I suspect users are not going to be nearly as tolerant about variable internet service as they are tolerant of variable cell phone service while on the run. I was able to use this service while on vacation in Bend, OR while outside of the Bend service area. I placed the antenna outside wrapped in a plastic bag and was able to check my e_mail on a one bar connection. I thought that was pretty cool.
Another complaint is about lag time and Internet gaming, which seems valid for some Internet games, but it seems to me, WOW? does work over Clearwire, at least in HI.
I cannot comment about slowdowns due to the "sharing" of cell tower bandwidth, but I do know that cable internet also has this "feature". I once had to re download all of my iTune purchases including video that took hours and hours (Thanks Apple for letting me do that after I, an idiot, loss my iTunes library). After reading the reviews on this site, I am not sure if Clearwire would have allowed me to do this without shaping my service.
Finally, a lot of complaints are about site hosting, peer to peer networks and Voice over IP. I think Clearwire should be upfront that _uploading_ may be limited and that would appear to cover site hosting, peer to peer networking, Skype, and VOIP.
After visiting this site, I am going to say that Clearwire is a good fit for my family, but it may _not_ be a good fit for others. If absolute reliability, high speed gaming, p2p, Skype, VOIP, or web hosting is a concern a wired solution may be better. For low bandwidth users looking for transportable internet access, Clearwire may be a good fit provided that the user has a strong signal at all important access locations. In attempt to lower my fixed expenses, I am trying Clearwire as it replaces both a DSL account in HI _and_ a CABLE account in OR. The entry level Clearwire service is less expensive than either my pre-existing DSL account in HI or my pre-existing CABLE account in OR. The combine savings of replacing both services with Clearwire are significant.
Followup comments: ernliz
join:2001-11-25
Abilene, TX | Me Too! I think there a LOTS of satisfied Clearwire customers, me being another one. The dissatisfied ones get the press here and I feel if they really worked with Clearwire, most of their problems would be solved.
See you.... | |
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 Review by SnowyOne
UPDATED: 136 days ago
member for 5.3 years, 2876 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Kailua,Honolulu,HI
$29 per month (24 month contract)
about 1 days
"Installation was as fast & easy as plugging in a modem"
"Very odd signup procedure"
"$10 bucks cheaper per month than hawaiitelcom's DSLR service"
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Total bullshit re the signup process.
Signed up for 'basic service" at $29 month
Been getting billed for 'enhanced service" for $39 month.
It was no accident, the sales rep BS'ed me & now the CSR's are BS'ing me.
Their service is not worth $39 month. I can get hawaiiantelcom dslr for $39 month.
The idea was they would be $10 cheaper. The $29 service is throttled down but that would be fine, RoadRunner handles my heavy traffic so I didn't need a fast service.
Clearwire will be deceptive so approach with care or go somewhere that doesn't lie so much in your face as they do.
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