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 Review by Snowy 
member for 10 years, 5637 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 4 days ago
 Kailua,Honolulu,HI
 $35 per month- (24 month contract)
 about 1 days "They got caught ripping me off" "Adding worthless premium features without my consent" "They cheat customers using phantom charges"
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DO NOT USE Clear's Autopay option!
They think 'autopay' pay means they can auto add premium service charges without bothering to ask the customer how they feel about it.
A $9 mo overcharge that ran 4 months before the crooks got caught.
The CS believed that since they credited the $36 back to the account I should be grateful.
I am not grateful for crooks paying restitution.
Despite Clear's unclear terms & costs it does have a place as backup connection.
With RR as my goto provider a recent rash of power outages has either knocked me offline or RR offline, Clear to go has kept me online.
Clear to go has been dependable.
Not fast but dependable.
Clear to go has saved the day twice in the past year when TWC went offline.
As a backup, it's not a bad thing to have.
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 Review by PamelaTS
member for 8.9 years, 984 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 5 days ago
- Dallas,Dallas,TX
- $52 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 3 days
- "When Moving the home modem is all you have to move and the service moves with you"
- "Much higher latency than I expected, FAR short of the UPTO claimed max speed"
- "I will likely take advantage of the $15 p/m intro for two months and switch to Cable ugh"
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See my newer CLEAR review; post moving.
I admit I was skeptical going into this. Had been an SBC DSL customer for near on 10 years. The recent rate increase they were putting forward were the last straw.
Information on installation is EXTREMELY spartan. Had to call tech support just to initialize the account. I understand green means saving paper there comes a point when taking it to such extreme is just ridiculous. No where was there any indication what to do setting up my third party router? is this a DHCP setup, or what?
I was supposed to see 6m down and 1m up. I see anywhere from 1.2 - 4.5mb down very inconsistent and the best up I've seen is low 600kb (very briefly). Based on wireless I anticipated higher latency SBC/AT&T I saw 16-19, latency on Clear is 64-97. Pingtest.net scored it a D, before it got blocked!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Called to cancel, gawd I wanted this to work well. It does work the latency is really high though. The initial sales rep was attempting to use high pressure which I did resist. The second rep I talked to was better, yet it would seem still dishonest. This morning the best rates I could get where under 2.75M down and barely over 500K up.
Customer service wanted to con me into waiting and trying other things with tech support so that my 7 day trial would evaporate. I'm hip to their high pressure BS.
I'm sure that if they would invest in rural towers where DSL is not and cable maybe then this could potentially be a viable option. In the city though where ROCK solid performance by DSL VDSL and even cable exist this is NOT a credible, economical option.
Want a laugh they actually expect you to believe they are gonna run a reliable VOIP service on this shaky connection, and sales was Oh yeah you can send/receive the occasional fax over VOIP. Sales said affirming oh yeah no problem, LOL! No, I didn't try the VOIP add on wanted to see a solid ISP first. There is no way a reliable VOIP is gonna run on the wild roller coaster connection, much less FAX over it.
Not happening, don't believe it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 8-17-2011 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ok, I moved a slight distance (3 blocks) had issues with AT&T no longer could get the elite tier. TWC had a wiring issue in the building which I wasn't going to pay for.
Giving Clear a second chance a friend informed me since I first tried them they had improved. I did not want a 2 year contract but that what the jerk gave me, Tha'ts ok, that Ccard expires soon I'll use that and the issues I been having since to renegotiate. Oh second tier tech support determined the modem was bad (flaky) expecting a new one today.
Still no way in hell they gonna run stable voice/phone on this and I'm only 5 minutes from downtown Dallas, Parkland Hospital and Love Field airport This is not a REMOTE area just blocks from I-35 the Dallas North Tollway and a mile from North Central expressway
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Review by cmarslett
member for 6.3 years, 69 visits, last login: 2 days ago
updated 75 days ago
- Pflugerville,Travis,TX
- $52 per month
- "FAST, EASY setup. No contract, cheap install ($50)."
- "Storms do take it out (wireless, y'know)"
- "After several months, I am even more satisifed than when I started"
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The standard Clear package for my location is 3-6 Mbit (estimated, not guaranteed) using a wireless modem/router (refurb, $49). Initially, corporate VPN got about 480 Kbps, most FTP transfers get about 1.5 Mbps, Netflix worked, and the flash speed test typically reported 3.3 Mbps up, 1 Mbps down. I am paying $52/mo, a bit more than AT&T DSL, but it works all the time!
Bought the modem at Fry's, brought it home and plugged it in. Can't get much simpler. Modem is a Motorola 25725 black monolith.
After several months, the connection has settled down (maybe they had a lot of sales last summer?). Early on connections varied a lot. Sometimes no connection (say 20 hours the first 3 months), sometimes 8-9 Mbit down and 1-2 Mbit up. I have had about 2 hours down in the last three months and haven't seen a connection above 5 Mbit down. Uploads are still 1-2 Mbit. Which suits me fine.
Mostly I notice how easy everything is, I did do some moving of the modem around the house to find the best spot, but that runs rings around the hassles of getting a cable or DSL connection to work in this house. Since one early speed test (where I got 13.2/0.9 Mbps) I consistently do not get download speeds as fast as my DSL, or upload speeds as slow as my DSL connection gave me.
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Review by wfidler42580
member for 119 days, 0 visits, last login: 119 days ago
updated 119 days ago
- undisclosed location
- $50 per month
- "Slower than watching paint dry"
- "never again"
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Got Clear for my home me and my son play games on pc and console and we also watch netflix as far as multi-tasking goes this isp blows we couldn't play a game on the pc and watch netflix on the ps3 at the same time and i starting getting dial up d/l speeds. When we cancelled our service they cut off our service a day before our billing cycle had ended even though it was paid for till the next day. Would never do buisness with them again. Switched to centurylink and never been happier 30 bucks cheaper a month and have not had any issues with it. we are loving the 12mbs with centurylink and would never go back to clear.
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 | | 4 years of making payments on time and Piss Poor Service Clear just cut my internet today after 4 years of dedicated and religiously making payments on time, and sometimes 2 or 3 days before due date, and them delivering piss poor service. I only stayed with them because I thought one day they would try to improve their service, and I could watch streaming video without interruptions. They have got to be the slowest internet provider in the world, one step above dial-up maybe. I would not recommend anyone getting service with them. Stay as far away from them as you can. You have been warned! | |
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Review by ALLENIRON
member for 132 days, 0 visits, last login: 132 days ago
lodged 132 days ago
- Odessa,Ector,TX
- $60 per month
- "If its all you can get may god be with you."
- "Everything you can imagine and then some."
- "Stay away don't get ripped off by these crooks!"
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I have used clear since they first rolled out as Clearwire. for 6 years now i have suffered there worst and
there best. from grade a customer support to a support team i wouldn't pay pennies. from people who were
courteous to the rudest people on earth that make people like Hitler look like a saint.
I have always expected some bad service hear and there. After all no one is perfect and nothing infallible.
However the last 7 days have been unbearable. I have dealt with over 10 reps and while only 4 of them were
trying to help the rest could give a shit and care less. Speeds have been below Dial-up Speeds and sometimes
non existent . We get no credit on our bills when we cant use the service. We get no information about why its
going on they wont own up to anything just tell us its us and not them then it magically works for a few hours
at blazing speeds then back to nothing for hours. Tech reps tell you to reboot your modem never do this this
kicks you from there networks for hours. Also they throttle everyone the same. You say no big deal almost
everyone throttles. This is true but I pay for the high end service as we watch Netflix and play games online.
Other people may pay for the lower end service around 20$ a month I pay 50$ and I get throttled to the same
below dial-up speed as the lower end service which in no way do I feel is right or ethical to do to a customer
paying your paycheck.
At this point I wouldn't recommend Clear to my worst enemy as they wont even tell us why we don't have service
and would like to keep us chasing our own tails and bullshitting us to believing our hardware is broken.
Hell I had one tech rep tell me I wasn't covered in service area Last night! I have lived in the same house for
entire time I have had Clear. My modem is fixed to the external wall of the house in a custom fabricated case
which keeps it clean and safe from the elements and ensures no direct sunlight and maintains a beautiful 5 bars
of signal worst ever being 4 bars.
Now I assured the tech rep my house being 2500 sq-ft had not in fact moved out of the service area magically
floating or otherwise. After this he decided to terminate our conversation.
So for those of you thinking of investing in clear before you do check out
»www.google.com/finance?client=ob···DAQ:CLWR
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Review by paule123
member for 10.7 years, 393 visits, last login: 86 days ago
updated 212 days ago
- Cleveland,Cuyahoga,OH
- $52 per month
- about 1 days
- "When network isn't busy, it's great, and no caps!"
- "In congested areas speed is pretty bad, worse than 3G"
- "Good bang for the buck if network not overloaded"
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Originally purchased the Clear 4G Mobile USB (PXU190) on the $45/month plan, no contract, purchased modem for $79. Received modem overnight, installed, and was up and running quickly. Had trouble with a dead zone in the DC area, so I decided to cancel service. Clear's website is great for information on ordering and support, but surprise - there's no way to cancel or suspend your account. I submitted a support request to that effect, but never got a response. So thumbs down to Clear when it comes to terminating service on a month to month plan.
Anyhow, I ended up keeping the account open so I could test for my business in Cleveland. Cleveland launched service in November 2010, and the speeds are great since there are no users on the network here yet. I upgraded my account online to the $52 plan and the 6M speed cap was removed instantly. Routinely getting at least 10M down / 1M up. Had some downtime last week, it appears the new tower near me died overnight for a few hours (no signal)
Now, the bad news. I took this Clear modem to downtown Chicago and the speeds were pretty bad. The uplink speed was a pathetic modem like speed of 50 or 60Kbps. Download speeds were jumping around 1-3Mbps. I had the same experience when I returned to Washington DC in an area with good signal. So, it seems when Clear gets popular and the network busy, performance can suffer dramatically.
I did a side by side shootout at these locations (Cleveland, Chicago, DC) with the new Verizon Pantech UML290 4G LTE modem, and I have to say the VZW LTE blows away Clear. LTE speeds are typically in the 12M+ down and 2-5M up range. (we shall see if this changes when VZW's 4G network gets busy) Clear should really consider increasing the upload cap to at least 2M on the more expensive plans if they want to compete with LTE.
Update Sept 2012: We've found Clear 4G (WiMax) signal penetration inside large buildings to be quite poor. Unless you're near a window, it doesn't work well. VZW 4G LTE has been our go-to when travelling around the country because the 700MHz signal penetrates buildings quite well.
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Reviews:
 ·Clearwire Wireless
|  Clear v Clearwire
Clear seems to be getting much better reviews then Clear wire , causing the customer ratings numbers to be better than they would be if these were reviewed separately | |
| Alky
join:2001-08-12
Cleveland, OH | Clear Is there a forum on dslr for Clear? I just ordered them because of AT&T's impending caps and forced u-verse upgrade.
I have one friend who has has it for about 4 months now, and he says it's great. | |
| | | Save yourself the time The salesperson told me that they covered my area and there was actually a tower right down the road. He signed me up for the wrong service. After more than an hour with "customer service" they tell me that service is not available in my area. Thirty minutes later I am finally able to can the service.  | |
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 Review by UnKown
member for 10.5 years, 1944 visits, last login: 240 days ago
lodged 244 days ago
- Lake Worth,Palm Beach,FL
- Contract price not specified.
- "fast"
- "spotty coverage"
- "if it works in ur area its worth a try"
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Ive got the boost mobile 4g phone that uses clearwires WiMAX. Its good where it works bit the coverage área is shotty, and the ping is Great. Speeds are always above 5mbit nd always getting 1.5mbit on the upload
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Review by yates
member for 2.9 years, 752 visits, last login: a few hours ago
lodged 272 days ago
- Norwalk,Fairfield,CT
- $35 per month
- about 5 days
- "A great secondary internet connection for working on the road or when my primary internet fails"
- "Clear's coverage isn't as broad as I would like"
- "Definitely worth it, but check to make sure they cover the areas where you need to use it."
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I have a primary internet connection at my home through my cable provider, but it isn't always the most reliable. That, combined with the fact that I am on the road for meetings somewhat often and Clear's promise of unlimited internet at a decent price, made their offer seem worth it. I purchased their Voyager Hotspot and the 1.5Mb/s ($35/month) plan. It arrived in a few days and worked right out of the box.
Overall, I've been pretty happy with it. I typically get slightly better speeds than I pay for. While their wireless coverage isn't as extensive as I would like in a perfect world, Clear does have coverage in most of the places that I find myself, bu this is something worth looking into before signing up for their service.
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Review by pinkybone
member for 275 days, 1 visits, last login: 274 days ago
updated 275 days ago
- Las Vegas,Clark,NV
- $32 per month
- (24 month contract)
- "nothing good"
- "horrible tech support horrible service"
- "not worth it"
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So first off i would like to point out that unlike every other review i have read i get 5 bars...all the time...... anywhere i put my modem. Yet i can not get more then 1mps/1mps which is needless to say somethin else. the first 3 months i had it all they did was tell me that noone gets 5 bars and that my net should be the best they can give..... after 3 months of dealing with them i talked them in to lower my rates from 50$ a month to 32$ a month. i have made atleast 70 calls to tech support in the yr i have had the service and every time they say its the tower,can i move the modem, they are adjusting the tower for me, and then they never contact me back as they say they will. the best part is i can see the tower out of my window and get 5 bars 24/7. Also i found out that the 4-6mps they say they give is a max that is not garunteed. after i signed my contract and had all my issues with them i was told that they garuntee nothing as far as speeds....for those who like it i hope u never get throttled.
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| | Throttled or slow speeds? Did you experience the slow speeds prior to being throttled? | |
| | | | Re: Throttled or slow speeds? i had slow speeds before i go throttled. the throttle just makes it worse. i believe in the yr i have had it my fastest d/u was like 3.2/1.5 which lasted for about 10mins. Even at 1 am when no one is on i get a nice slow 1.3 avg. | |
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| | Perhaps There Are Too Many Active Users Clearwire uses a WiMax network to provide Internet services on its shared network. The way WiMax works is, as there are more and more “active” users on the network using simultaneously the bandwidth throughput (sustainable speed) will decline.
You should ask the tech support of how many active subscribers are actually on that particular cell sector (Base Station). The Wimax residential bandwidth is fixed at 10 MHz with spectral efficiency of 3.7bit/hz (about 37 mb/s) and it is shared with all active users. This means if there are 20 active users on the network at the time of your using you may only get a 1.7 mb/s bandwidth (about 1.3 mb/s download and 0.4 mb/s upload).
This is due to WiMax channel is being shared on both directions (download/upload) through a scheme called half-duplexing. (Note: The first release WiMax supported full-duplexing but the download speed would have been even worse due to a better upload speed tradeoff.
Fortunately, Clearwire is also currently overhauling its network with a buildout of LTE network using a TDD version (TD-LTE). This new network is highly resilient and with a much higher spectral efficiency (8.5 bit/hz). The bandwith peak for WiMax is currently at 37 mb/s max while a TD-LTE can peak at 168 mb/s. Keep in mind, that this is only during its initial launching stage with an allocation of 20 MHz, for Clearwire is also planning to expand it up to 60 or 80 MHz (about 1000-1300 mb/s) gradually at later stage as the need arises. This type of allocation can never be done with a WiMax technology. | |
| | Reviews:
·Clearwire Wireless
| Re: Perhaps There Are Too Many Active Users Ya they have been telling me that for a yr now lol. Honestly its not worth the wait and the bad support. Not to mention all of this information was not given to me before i signed up when i was "guaranteed" 4-6mps. 1 rule if business is don't guarantee what you cant give. That is why i am no longer a clear customer. i would rather pay the extra couple bucks and go with a better internet. | |
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| | clear wireless tri-cities I had a horrific experience with Clear wireless. Crappy service/connection, incompetent "support" staff who don't know anything at all about their product or how it works, and when I finally tried to cancel, they lied and said I had agreed to some fictitous 2 year contract that invented out of the sky.. After filing a complaint with the attorney generals office, I was finally able to cancel. This was of course after wasting countless hours via telephone and email. They have thousands of complaints against them I guess do to all of these issues and more.. My recommendation: Look elsewhere for your internet service. | |
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Review by ResidentWeev
member for 279 days, 1 visits, last login: 278 days ago
updated 279 days ago
- San Francisco,San Francisco,CA
- $50 per month
- "If you're lucky enough to be in an area where coverage is as promised, it's adequate."
- "False coverage maps, svc doesnt wk as advertised, tech suppt so bad I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't been through it myself"
- "Liars. I don't understand how they stay in business."
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I've been with Clear for a few months and the service has been totally inferior to what was advertised... my entire neighborhood is in their "best coverage" on their coverage map, and in fact the map says there is a tower 250 feet away, and the website says I should have no problem receiving signal even indoors... yet I get little to no coverage, from anywhere in the entire neighborhood (I've walked around the surrounding blocks trying to get a better signal.) I pay for 6M/1.5M, but typical speeds are more like 1M/.05M... when I can get a connection at all, which is rare.
If I stand out in the middle of the street with my Clear hotspot, on the same block where they claim there is an antenna, I *sometimes* can get 1-2 bars. I have stood outdoors on the third floor, line-of-sight from the rooftop where they claim there is an antenna 200 feet away, and the RSSI is about -90 or less.
But the worst thing of all is their "customer service". This is the most unhelpful company I've ever dealt with, bar none.
You've honestly got to experience it yourself to believe it, it's beyond the pale. They lie, they concoct different stories every time you call, they disconnect you without warning and then when you call back the next person sees no record of the half hour you just spent on the phone, they promise to get back to you and never do - they very obviously have no interest in actually helping the customer. My favorite one was being told a few weeks ago that my neighborhood was "too close to the tower" to get reception. 
They don't even seem to be familiar with Clear's products, and can't answer questions about it that don't appear in the script they read from, assuming they understand the questions, which they don't always. If you ask them to explain something they said - or, say, point out that a flat, square device doesn't have a "front" that you can "point" at a tower - they seem not to even comprehend the question. I've been on the phone with support about 25 times at this point (no, that's not an exaggeration) and I can say for sure that this is the norm. It's worse than a joke.
If you complain on Twitter, you'll occasionally get someone who seems to speak better English, but is certainly even less helpful. Today, when I wrote to ask why I - AGAIN - haven't heard back in ten days on a promised reply, I received back, in their typical broken English, "Are you still having the same issues? If so, it may be a poor fit for our services. I can definitely understand if you would like to pursue other services." This, after months of trying to get the problems resolved. It's a "poor fit" to expect to receive the service they advertise as providing.
Honestly, I have more than once felt like they were actually *trying* to make me angry. It's like they go out of their way to be enraging. "Poor fit", my foot. They're liars.
Google for the class-action lawsuits, Better Business Bureau complaints, etc.
The frustrating thing is, I can take my hotspot to other parts of the city, where there is taller buildings and more electronic interference, and be much further from any antennas, and I get 4-5 bars, even from deep inside a building full of other wireless networks. So I know the service *can* work, if you get lucky - some areas are fine. My area? It doesn't work, and they don't care. They'll tell you it does, and take your money for months and months, giving you a support runaround until you finally decide to cancel. Anything to get your couple of hundred bucks until you figure out you're being scammed.
I don't understand how they stay in business. I guess that Sprint contract pays well, and Sprint doesn't care either. Dunno.
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Worst ever