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Review by johnslater 
UPDATED: a few hours ago
member for 157 days, 15 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Wheaton,Dupage,IL
 $30 per month
 about 1 days
 "Easy install"
 "Haven't seen 6Mbps yet"
 "Good value, decent service"
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So far so good. Clear is new to Chicagoland and doesn't claim to work in Wheaton yet, but I drove around last night listening to a web stream and only had a couple of brief drops. I understand they are still in the process of activating towers in the burbs. Best bandwidth I have seen is about 2.5Mbps which is not too shabby, although short of the promised 6Mbps I signed up for.
Promotional rate was too good to pass up: $30/month for first 6 months, rising to $45 thereafter. No contract! USB modem for $50.
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Review by The1TheOnly
UPDATED: 1 days ago
Fair warning: reviewer joined this month
Jacksonville,Duval,FL
$40 per month (24 month contract)
about 60 days
"Great speeds, connection, price, reliability"
"None"
"I highly recommend clearwire personally."
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I've had clearwire for a few months now. I have read a lot of horror stories about clearwire, however my experience has been completely opposite. From the day I purchased clearwire, I have had a full signal, with excellent speeds. The package I have is supposed to get speeds of 1.5 D/L and .256 U/L. When running speed tests, I average around 1.56 U/L and .30 U/L. Installation was as simple as taking it out of the box, and plugging it in. Thats it! I've had cable with comcast, and AT&T U-Verse, both more pricey, and had more issues as far as reliability, and speed that I was supposed to get, I didn't. Clearwire is a newer company and is still working on their coverage areas, so I can imagine that a lot of the reviewers of this service are having some issues as do all new companies and technologies... With clearwire, it's truly does matter where you are located in relation to one of their towers, as well as where you modem is located in your home. Fortunately for me, I have a tower about a mile down the road from me that I can see from my front door, which is why I have probably had such an excellent experience overall. When you purchase the service, the representative can tell you exactly where a tower is in relation to your home address. I think if you ask that question before you buy this service, you should definitely go for it. If clearwire as a company isn't the future of the internet, the technology is.
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Review by dysfunkshun
Posted: 3 days ago
Fair warning: reviewer joined this week
Las Vegas,Clark,NV
$40 per month
"not many"
"spotty at best, slow, bad support"
"terrible choice"
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Ive had clear for about 3 months now, and have never had a fair connection. when i first got it, i had it hooked directly into my computer. it took 7 hours to download an iphone update because it kept knocking the connection off. since, ive tried updating my ps3, which took 28 hours to finally update and download my purchases. i constantly received messages about the update being aborted due to internet timeouts. i have called clear several times to try to resolve these issues with the pretty much standard "try unplugging the modem and router and resetting." after that didnt work, it was "maybe theres a tower problem." its still spotty at best, and overall just a waste. at this point, id be better off going with cox, which i decided against because of their temporary outages at least once a week. now i get outages multiple times a day, ranging from a couple minutes to a couple hours. i even get times where my computer still says it is connected, but no page will load. i tried to do a ping test from a website which failed because it kept timing out. i tried with another site and got 149ms ping with 11ms jitter, which i dont know what that means. the speed test resulted in 1.32 down and .49 up which is less than the 3 down and 1 up i pay for. bottom line, avoid clear like the plague!
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Review by kguru
Posted: 3 days ago
Fair warning: reviewer joined this week
Seattle,King,WA
$36 per month
"Easy, fast setup, pretty reliable"
"Pings are sometimes high, sales kiosk at mall was not familiar with plans available"
"Good option for people not able to bundle Internet with the cable company"
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The Clearwire mall kiosk was advertising the 3G service in the Seattle area. There was confusion about the types of plans available. The plan I selected was the 1.5 mbps plan for $36 a month, which includes the modem lease. The modem is a Motorola wireless broadband modem. The modem has had full bars of service (5 bars) the whole time I have had the service. The connection might occasionally drop as I have noticed instant messenger has disconnected overnight, but I have not noticed any times where I had no service. I was told that the Seattle area will be upgraded to Clear's 4G network within the next few weeks, in which case an upgraded modem would be used to access a faster network. Speedtests yield me between 1.2 mbps and 1.8 mbps depending on server I use. The ping test results vary from about 29 ms to about 300 ms. The higher ping times result in some delays of the page loading, though usually the pings come back down after a little while. Installing the service consisted of unpacking the modem, placing it by a window, and then connecting an ethernet cable and power to it. It then loaded some welcome to Clearwire information, and then was ready to use.
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Review by gpctexas
UPDATED: 7 days ago
member for 5.7 years, 101 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Odessa,Ector,TX
Contract price not specified.
"Was good for 1 week"
"has been poor ever since"
"Clearly cannot provide the needed capacity for the services they offer"
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What other options did you consider for broadband?
Only 2 options in my area for internet, dial up or wireless.
What SPEED/package did you order, at what monthly price?
6mb service, barely receive 0.2 mb at ~$45 with static ip
What good or bad experiences most struck you?
Clear aka clearwire has never provided the service they offer. I am 4 weeks in on the new Wimax service and during that time there has been a major service outage and speeds never get above 256k. The new modem forces you into their nat router on their modem which cannot be disabled. I'd rather have my cisco router handle my internet and nating,
Tech support, although improved somewhat, still make you jump through the hoops to prove it is not your computer.
Update: 11/13/2009 Issues still persist, service is highly unstable and poor performance. So called "Tower Problems" for the area are taking too long to repair.
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 Review by Duramax08
UPDATED: 11 days ago
member for 1.3 years, 499 visits, last login: a few hours ago
San Antonio,Bexar,TX
$30 per month (24 month contract)
about 1 days
"Unlimited, Fast and Cheap"
"All of a sudden im out of the service area?"
"Starting to get fishy........."
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Clear recently launched in San Antonio and they said I can get their services so I decided to go for it after years of dial up. Got the 3mbps down with 1 mbps up for $30 a month. You can lease or buy the equipment but the home modem was only $70 so I decided to buy it rather then lease it for $5 a month. Got home and hooked it up but had no signal. Moved it around the house and got 1 out of 5 bars at the kitchen and decided check out the speed. Got on and did the simple registering stuff and was on the web. Did a speed test and got 5mbps down ON ONE BAR! Upload was a little on the slow side with .1mbps but its probably because of the signal. Also the latency was 142ms. On dialup I use to play realtime games with a latency of 300ms so im gona try xbox live and tell you the results. Im just happy that I can finally get something better then dial up. Thank god for clear coming into town. 4G FTW!
Update 11/08/2009
Lost signal around 3pm today. Still have my dial up connected so I got online with that and got on the clear website to chat with a rep and they say they have a problem at the local tower and it should be fixed within 2 hours. Other then that its been smooth so far. Still getting 3mbps down. I can play gta4 with a friend with no problem but i get some problems when playing with other people. I can also play runescape which I have been playing for years and it seems faster now due to the lower latency I have now which is around 150ms. on dial up i believe it was 300ms. Will keep you up-to-date if anything else happens.
Update Evening 11/08/2009
Signal was still gone so went back to chat with the rep online. They said that I am not in the coverage area. WTF? I was in it all last week and now im gone? They said I would have to call tech support but I really dont got time to do all there run arounds. I moved the modem where I first had it and I got 1 bar. Better then nothing I guess.
Update 11/9/2009
Still have a bar on the modem and this is the last day of the trial. I can back out now or go for the long nasty ride............
too bad they didnt put a antenna port on the modem. That would really help me. Right now im thinking of going outside and looking for the best signal and put it in a weather proof enclosure.
Followup comments:  ernliz
join:2001-11-25
Abilene, TX
 ·Clearwire Wireless
| Clear Stuff... Good for you and your Clear performance. It seems like you can get more than 1 light if you play with the the placement of the modem a little more.
You're one of the lucky ones. I get 2 to 3 lights on my modem and am very, very lucky to get over 500 kbps. I suspect a tower issue but the local Clear people at Abilene TX are mentally-challenged as far as their service and technical prowess goes.
Please keep us posted on future performance issues. Many have started out with excellent speeds (like me) only to have them deteriorate soon thereafter. | |
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Duramax08
Oh rly?
join:2008-08-03
San Antonio, TX
·Clearwire Wireless
 ·Juno Express
| Re: Clear Stuff... Got 2 bars now in another room and getting what im paying for. Getting 3.5mbps right now. Thinking of upgrading to the next plan with no cap on the download side. I tried xbox live but it seems like I cant play that great due to the latency but I can play another game that ive been playing since dial up. Going to take it to town soon and will post results.
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High speed internet is on my road thanks to Clear 4G! F$*% you AT&T and TWC! | |
| ernliz
join:2001-11-25
Abilene, TX
·Clearwire Wireless
| Hey Duramax....... Thanks for the updates. I read your comments of Nov 8th and 9th and it's getting interesting! As I wrote before, things seem to get worse as the days go on with Clear for many users. Please keep us posted on your performance in the days to come.
Also, this may be trivial, but when you update, and the report is not so good, adjust your rating of Clear. Your last update still has your original "very good" rating, and this may not have been what you wanted. Sure as hell don't want Clear to get credit for their service when it's not warranted. | |
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Duramax08
Oh rly?
join:2008-08-03
San Antonio, TX | Re: Hey Duramax....... What I am going to do tomorrow is put the modem in a weather proof enclosure and put the modem outside somewhere.
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High speed internet is on my road thanks to Clear 4G! F$*% you AT&T and TWC! | |
| | | ernliz
join:2001-11-25
Abilene, TX | Re: Hey Duramax....... Great, and plz keep us informed. This may be THE answer for some of us. | |
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Duramax08
Oh rly?
join:2008-08-03
San Antonio, TX | Re: Hey Duramax....... will do. | |
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Review by danclearwire
UPDATED: 17 days ago
member for 17 days, 3 visits, last login: 12 days ago
Lockport,Will,IL
$50 per month (24 month contract)
about 1 days
"Much faster than DSL -- Down"
"Clearwire site was so slow, it was difficult to activate. Probably b/c Chicago on boarding."
"Too early to tell, but considering my town was shown in an uncovered spot, I'm pretty happy."
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4.5 x my DSL speed for download. Apx. same for upload.
Attachments:
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 Review by el3ment000
UPDATED: 36 days ago
member for 1.7 years, 135 visits, last login: a few hours ago
West Linn,Clackamas,OR
$50 per month
"Customer service helped me in a timely fashion."
"Not a reliable internet connection for home."
"Personally, avoid Clear unless it's your only option"
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10/15/2009 - Canceling service.
I have found the best spot in the house. Had 4 bars, and the bandwidth seemed to be consistent for awhile. Sure enough, the first day it starts raining for fall I noticed a significant ping spike and degradation in signal. I was pinging everywhere, and it was apparent that the bottle neck is the stupid CPE and the ISP. I am tired of the countless hours I've spent trying to find the best signal spot to squeez the most bandwidth as I can. But then, when i needed to depend on my internet connection...Clear couldn't get the job done. Thanks Clear for your failed deployment. Your flavor of WiMax did not add up to all that hype.. I would much rather exchange customer service for some real internet any day.
9/8/2009 - Modifying it again for an even lower score... This connection is not reliable. Unfortunatly, this is my only option for internet (As in, i don't dare go back to EVDO or other bandwidth capped schemes)... If they don't fix things within a week.. I'm giving this company all 1's and will unfortunatly have to continue my love hate relationship with them.
9/5/2009 - I am modifying my review to reflect a smaller score. The reason I feel it should be smaller is because I have done countless hours to find the "5 Bar Nirvana.. I can get up to 4 bars right now, but the bandwidth seems to be inconsistent even with 4.. One morning i'll have 6-8mbps down... The other i'll have 1.5 to 2.. When i get slower speeds, the ping is still low, but every once in awhile i'll get packet loss or there will be a ping spike... This seems to go away when I have good bandwidth..So, when it's around 6-8 mbps the service is good..
Don't get me wrong, this company seems to be on the right track, but for users like me, I would hope that they have some kind of option for signaling boosts... I've been harrasing them about an external antenna or some kind device where I can customize the signal strength myself. Perhaps a directional antenna... As an ISP, Clear is not quite there yet, by my standards - but i see the potential.. I think it will get better as time goes on eg. expanding network, and/or having new CPE's on the customers premise that are customizable.
Original Review.....
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First off, i was a little confused on how this technology works. I thought it was going to be another EVDO service.. However, Portland is one of the few cities that has the WIMAX infrastructure. And the new Clear brand uses it..
So In April, I ordered their mobile service because their website prequal did not qualify my address for home service.. The order process was simple and quick. I received my modem, but I got a faint signal and It kept dropping.. I needed a home solution so i returned it until they extended service into my area.. They promptly refunded my money when they recieved the modem ..
A month later, I got a call from a nice representative asking how I liked the service and what was the particular reason I canceled service.. I told him that I liked the service (Cause it was screaming fast downtown.. 6mbps+) but it wasn't available at my house..
He then offered to come over to my house and troubleshoot with me using their home modem (That has a higher signal strenghth) to see if we can get a better signal..
I agreed. We made an appointment and he arrived 2 hours late, but he notified me that he was running late..
Sure enough.. We were able to get 5 bars of service at my house..I did a speedtest and it was just over 8Mbps.. Over 2Mbps the advertised speed.. I checked the latency and it seemed to be consistently between 50 - 85ms. The only downfall is that the modem has to be outside underneath the awning.. Because of that, I had to be crafty, and it took awhile to get it mounted.. But, that doesn't matter to me.. I'm consistently getting fast speeds with no interruptions so far.. It's like a wireless cable connection..
For that reason, i'm giving this company 5 stars all around.
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Review by rcrowley
UPDATED: 39 days ago
member for 318 days, 4 visits, last login: 39 days ago
Hillsboro,Washington,OR
$30 per month (24 month contract)
about 1 days
"Nice when it works"
"Decreasing speeds, erratic service"
"Doesn't live up to the hype, big dissapointment"
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I signed up for the Mobile (4MBPS) Unlimited Service at the Clear kickoff event on Jan 6. I had been using Sprint EVDO, but with my Intel employee pricing, Clear WiMAX is 1/2 the price and 4-5x the speed. You can't hardly beat that combo.
After they got my account setup (overnight) I was up and running the next day with a simple driver installation and plugging in the USB RF modem dongle.
The dongle is a Motorola USBw25100 (i.e a USBw100 for 2.5 GHz). It doesn't use an internal battery like the Sierra Wireless 595U, and it is half the size, too. The Motorola unit gets rather warm, though.
I had some intermittent connection problems (connected, authenticated, but couldn't get an IP address) so they installed new firmware (in the dongle) and new software on my computer, and I haven't had the problem since (about a week).
It is excellent having much higher speed than EVDO (and dialup before that), but at the loss of coverage area (Clear vs EVDO). Clear coverage is pretty much limited to metro PDX, where Sprint EVDO has coverage across the USA (not wall-to-wall, of course, but in cellphone service areas.)
Their customer service (located in the USA) seems above average (but I've only called them twice). But they keep "bankers hours" which is inconvienent if you need help before 9 am, OTOH, they are open til 10 PM.
UPDATE: October, 2009: Speed keeps decreasing, signal strength varies from 2/10 to 9/10 at home. Download speeds rarely reach 2Mb, and upload 200K. This is way less than advertised (and I am paying for). Customer service is tied to lame scripts and cannot (or will not) provide any actual support.
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 Review by pupowski
UPDATED: 41 days ago
member for 7.6 years, 2105 visits, last login: 16 days ago
Vancouver,Clark,WA
$22 per month
about 3 days
" customer service response time and low price"
"crappy reception"
"avoid,not worth having until technical issues resolved"
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Signed on for 6000k, barely getting 600 with motorola surfboard modem, and spotty at that.USB modem reception is nil, even with four towers within 3/4 of a mile.Not worth having at any price here in Vancouver, Washington, a stone's throw from PDX Speeds have now dropped to 35/11, even with modem by outside wall. The service is useless.
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