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Review by Legolas3 See Profile

  • Location: Brainerd, Crow Wing, MN, USA
  • Cost: $49 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 21 days
Received Modem within days
Third Rate Customer Service - Throttled Traffic
They don't want you using your bandwidth, just paying for it.
Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I received the modem right away. The sales representative didn't realize I was on the back-side of the wireless cone so my service was up one day, and down the next five. I would get spike reception if the weather was favorable was the explanation. Since my employer prepaid the account for a full year, I decided to take the modem to my place of work and use it as back-up or leisure-time usage.

Once inside the radius of the wireless network, speeds were at optimum (1.5mbps down/256k up) for all types of protocol traffic. For four months anyway. After many hours researching, altering ports, altering destinations, altering routes, and troubleshooting a bogged-down (512k max) nntp connection I suspected bandwidth throttling or traffic shaping. After lodging a couple trouble tickets questioning whether Clearwire had implemented throttling/shaping I got the run-around and typical basic troubleshooting support that went fruitless. I had a final 1 hour heated discussion with a tier 1 customer service representative who, by the way, had to Instant Message his supervisor, and got the local service telephone number. I almost got the Corporate telephone number but it's obvious this is a secret of some sort.

I called the local service and my assumptions that certain types of traffic had been throttled were verified. I was given fluff-talk about how a couple clients were running servers on the network and taking up all the bandwidth (how a person can run a server with 256k upload speed is a question within itself) and how Mom couldn't get 400k when surfing on a Friday afternoon. Clearwire has recently taken it upon themselves to shape and throttle traffic that looks like anything other than casual web surfing, the occasional windows update, and email with small attachments. Although their terms of service gives them the right to do this, it is shameful that they can't give a straight answer to their customers when directly questioned about it. I had gone through all the agonizing tier 1 troubleshooting and played their game but still could not get a straight answer until a heated argument led to the spilling of the local service telephone number. They wasted a lot of my time by not telling the truth or informing their customer service about intential and planned changes in the network.

A week later, after the field technician did not return any of my calls (which now seems to be the norm for this ISP), I was again contacted by the local office. What was explained to me was an affirmation of my assumptions from the beginning. THROTTLING. Those who pay for 1.5MB service are cut to 1/3 of that speed when doing anything other than web surfing. Funny thing is, those who pay for 512KB service are not affected at all. In all fairness shouldn't that traffic be throttled to 1/3 as well? Clearwire uses the excuse of fairness when trying to justify the thottle but fail to implement it on all tiers.

Bottom line: If you only want to surf the web and fetch your email now and again, this is the service for you. But don't waste your money for any package faster than 512KB. If you actually want to USE the internet find a different provider because Clearwire and their customer service will drive you mad. The service is most likely oversold and their network can't handle actual usage.

It's obvious nowadays that Clearwire doesn't want you using your bandwidth, just paying for it. I would seek an alternate provider before choosing this one again.

member for 18 years, 50 visits, last login: 17.5 years ago
updated 18 years ago

ernliz
join:2001-11-25
Albemarle, NC

ernliz

Member

Comment -- Brainerd.....

Too bad about your experience with CWire in your area. Here in Abilene, TX, it's a different story: great support and great connectivity. I'm not sure what you mean by "traffic shaping." Perhaps this could be just a normal Internet bog-down along the route -- it happens.
Good luck.

EW
Legolas3
join:2006-03-10
Brainerd, MN

Legolas3

Member

Re: Comment -- Brainerd.....

It is 100% proof-positive that this is not a bog-down. The ugly truth about the throttle/shape has been confirmed by the field reps for Clearwire.

A bog-down was my first thought for the problem. Router trouble or congestion does not last for a month and is not constant. The cap is 70k no more than that. Period.

Don't be fooled by doing a speed test thru your browser. This type of http traffic is not the protocol being throttled.

burktx
@brkbrnt.tx.cebridge.

burktx to ernliz

Anon

to ernliz

cebridge dsl

i have 1meg service cable and it runs faster than clearwires 1.5 meg ????why???
Legolas3
join:2006-03-10
Brainerd, MN

Legolas3

Member

Re: cebridge dsl

Because the Clearwire 1.5MBps is actually a 512KBps. Unless, of course, you only use your connection for Yahoo and Ebay.

But, can't a dial-up give you that anyway?
jbrock
join:2006-07-31
Eugene, OR

jbrock

Member

Clearwire so slow they commit fraud

I have been having the same problems of slow speed in Eugene, OR. My modem is about 200 ft. from their POP. Early in the morning the download speed is about 1 mbps but later in the morning it drops to about 400 or so. Have contacted the company and the best they can do is to say relocate my antenna reset the modem and network. They also blame spyware for slowing things down. They don't have the common honesty to tell their customers they have oversold the system and have do not have bandwidth to allow their customers the 1.5 mbps. I am in the process of documenting my speed tests and forwarding them along with their advertisements to the state attorney general. It is absolutely fraudulent how they infer 1.5 mbps and tonight I am getting about 400. I have two accounts with them an if there was any alternative would change in a flash. If you are a new subscriber look somewhere else.
Forgot, went to one of their kiosk in a shopping center a few weeks ago. They were telling people the speed was 1.5 kbps. I typed in speakeasy.com and did a qick speed test, you can guess the results, about 750 kbps. They can't even make the speed on their own equipment.

Review by countryboymo See Profile

  • Location: Amoret, Bates, MO, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Great speeds until you figure in the latency
Tech Support is not 24/7 and is far from being top notch
GO WildBlue or any other alternative, I will have WB by 06'
Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I don't mean to sound like an echo in here, but when Starband was first installed it was amazingly fast with high but tolerable latency (4yrs ago averaged over 1000kb down and 70KB up on T7 cluster 50) to speeds currently in the 350 to 450KB down and 50KB up with a latency that is borderline intolerable. Let me define intolerable.. some webpages timeout because the latency is so bad,I am talking about loading yahoo or google even. My modem got tired 3 months ago and cost me 100.00 for a replacement unit and a week down time after the modem arrived to get a tech support guru (ok that was sarcastic) that was competent enough to remove the old modem out of the database and add the new one. I think the new modem should have been set up in the database if the unit at the residence was not working before it was shipped, but what do I know. After T7 satellite went dead and then was found in space and electronically jump started or whatever was done to make it useable again, the speeds and latency just have not been the same. There was a time when Starband was the best bang for the buck for people living in the country who yearned for something faster than dial up, that time has passed and Wildblue seems to be taking the initiative to provide faster service for better prices with better equipment.

member for 18.3 years, 232 visits, last login: 2.8 years ago
lodged 18.3 years ago


Review by piith See Profile

  • Location: Medford, Jackson, OR, USA
  • Cost: $42 per month (12 month contract)
easy set up
4 weeks of great service then it's like "what service" once locked in contract your screwed
Do not get it, not worth the problems
Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:



Update 20 Nov., 2005

been gone for a month, came back was happy to be back, then to log in and find speeds no longer there, went and checked the my account, and I do not even have a account any more. That or the user id and/or Password has been changed. So it seems the first month is great, then it goes to crap after that.

Because my userID and Password does not exsist in their data . . I can not even get answers to the problem, My upload is faster then my download, my up is as advertised

23 Sept. 2005

For the past couple days I have been searching for something better then Dial up, with no luck, I just moved to Medford, and no phone yet, so was looking for wireless, according to all the wireless Co's here there was no service where I am currently staying. While looking for a cell phone to buy, I saw a clear wire store, I did a 180 and went inside gave my speach I really need this, but before I could finish the sales person was already searching if I could get service, I told him according to their lil map .. I am right next to it, but the web site said no service . . he said no problem, we'll test it this way . . gave me a modem to take home, with some verbal instructions .. so home I went, wel the locations I really wanted to place it . well that was a no go . . but Ironically in the middle of the living room floor I got 5 bars. Well we all know that would not work . so with a lil bit here and a lil bit there fond a spot .. only 3-4 bars, but outa the way.

hmm what am I to do now .. see this was my very first time going wireless . . just for my own entertainment I pluged in the lap top . . Bam . . Im online . . oh that was sweet, did a quick speed test 900dn 200up . . hmm not bad .. wel waited till the next day ad went down and said I'll take it .. so my day to order to success is kinda a negitive number, because I kinda didnt order it yet, just test. So you may say I had success before I ordered it.

my speed vary when testing between 1000-1100down, and 170-210 up . . so it is very close to what I am paying for and can not complain at all since I supposally out of their service area.

you can not purchase the modem . .you have to rent it . . I really did not like that part, and you also have to do at least a 1 year contract. for the moment those are my bad points about ClearWire.

Can not judge there tech, not till they are needed, hopefully never needed.

connection was as fast as it takes to find a good spot to place the modem, and pluging in the computer. in my case the time it took me to drive home after shopping, find a good spot, so it was about 2 hours after I left the clear wire store. would have been sooner if I didn't have to finish shopping

member for 22.2 years, 514 visits, last login: 11.5 years ago
updated 18.3 years ago

ernliz
join:2001-11-25
Albemarle, NC

ernliz

Member

Your Clearwire Service

piith........

I really don't understand your problem with Clearwire and how you're dealing with it! You say that you were gone a month and the service was gone. Uh, was your monthly bill paid? If so, why not just call the company and actually ASK THEM about your problem! They are very responsive and customer oriented.

Bottom line: it sounds to me like you expect to have service but are making no attempt to find the solution with those that would provide it.

EW
Shelby15psi
join:2005-11-28
Medford, OR

Shelby15psi

Member

Re: Your Clearwire Service

Here is a good solution for you if you live within the cable service limits. Have you ever tried cable internet? Its the fastest there is, I just got the 3mb internet with charter here in town, its 24.99 per month, u get 20 mbs of webspace and 10 email accts! Plus it comes with the modem, and u dont have to have a phone line, it comes thru the cable line. The guy I had hook me up is a charter rep in town, I believe his number is 541 210 1289 and his name is Dustin. He was a very nice guy to work with, the install was free and it really beats everything else, try it.
piith
Premium Member
join:2002-01-20
Medford, OR

piith

Premium Member

Re: Your Clearwire Service

Actually I needed the wireless . . one that is in more then one town, I travel around to much to pay for something I can not use, where a wireless (most) companies have many cities they may have service in, I just need to pack that lil antenna with me. I am gone 3-6 weeks at a time, and may only be home 2-10 days
Thank you for the info, I'll keep it in mind

oh and No I have never tried cable, usually never have a home that has cable service in the area.
Shelby15psi
join:2005-11-28
Medford, OR

Shelby15psi

Member

Re: Your Clearwire Service

Yeah, unfortunetly they dont do wireless, and they are quite a few places that are still untapped and un serviced by the cable companies. Since I posted, I have had Dustin help me with setting up my family and stuff too, I like what the cable companies are doing by providing a 1 person, 1 stop solution to help you, instead of having a 800 number to call.

Again for you guys,

Dustin 291 6015

I want to help him help you out, so I provided his number.
piith
Premium Member
join:2002-01-20
Medford, OR

piith to ernliz

Premium Member

to ernliz
I wasnt going to replybecause you missed something, may be my bad, Let me try something different.
I could not get any help for the fact according to their records I had no account, so they could not find what the problem may have been.
aS to your question about paying the Bill . . ahh no account seems to be no bill all equals to no help ( had it set up for automatic withdraw, so yeah . . no bill, meant I did not pay, but that was not my mistake. Any ways your mentioning of They are very responsive and customer oriented. That can vary from location to location, with any company, I am sure the we (you and I) are not talking with the very same customer service rep. So where your dealings may show very good . . who I may deal with was not.
Bottom line: looks to me like you only read part of what was written. Also you did not seem to relize a person can be some where else, besides TX..

Hey it's great your not having any problems. Clearwire may be just super there, but it is not just one person everyone talks to.

Review by Applebrook See Profile

  • Location: Tracy, San Joaquin, CA, USA
  • Cost: $15 per month (3 month contract)
  • Install: about 1 days
Portability, good alternative if you cant get DSL or Cable
modem resets on large downloads, VOIP services do not work
Horrendous ! Customer Service
Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

It has been over 21 days Clearwire has still not refunded $ 11.50 that they debited my account even though i returned the modem in the required 5 days. I will call customer service today to see what happened to my refund.

member for 18.8 years, 187 visits, last login: 17.1 years ago
updated 18.4 years ago


a
@qwest.net

a

Anon

clearwire

Customer Service even though 24/7 seems to be outsourced...

lol, the majority of the customer service and technical support has been outsourced for the past 3 years...
Applebrook
join:2005-06-10
Tracy, CA

Applebrook

Member

Re: clearwire

packet 8 has inhouse customer service., I know i have their video phone , which is a great service, I aslo have SR 199.00 yearly.






Review by brianhn1 See Profile

  • Location: Jacksonville, Duval, FL, USA
  • Cost: $49 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 10 days
Clearwire provides mobile high speed internet
High latency, slow upload speeds in poor signal areas, VERY inconsistent connections
Good for using the same internet connection at work and at home
Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Recently Clearwire has just started putting service in Jacksonville, FL. They are using wireless technology unlike many other companies. They are using the licensed 2.5-2.6Ghz frequency from Duval Public County Schools and are in return providing them service. Ordering the service was easy. I placed the order online and 10 days later the modem came to my house. The equipment is interesting. All it is is a small modem the size of a tape player with a little antenna. The modem is made by IPWireless. After taking all the equipment out of the package it came in and setting up the software on my computer, it was time to find a good signal. Finding one was the hardest part. First I didn't know what direction the nearest antenna was (they should provide a map of the locations of their antennas). Second, finding a good place to put the modem was difficult. After a couple days of standing on the roof and walking around the house, I found a rather ok signal at the front of my house. It was all easy after that. They will install an antenna if you cant get a good signal anywhere around your house. Connecting to the internet took me 5 minutes after finding the signal. Since I am only paying 49.99 a month, I am only getting about 500kbps download. My average speed at my house is 450/90 which I think is okay and not that great. But if I took the modem in my car and used it when it had full signal, i got about 490/440 speed. The technology for radio licensed 2.5Ghz is okay but i think that there can still be such improvements upon it. I usually get high latency and usually low upload speeds. But download speeds seem to always be consistent. The modem uses PPPoE and I am getting a dynamic IP address. They also provide higher download/upload speeds(up to 1.5mbps), static IPs, and ethernet connection to share the bandwidth at higher monthly prices.

Overall, the service is good since its works anywhere you go and is cheaper for businesses especially who can't get DSL. Only a few downsides remain...High latency, inconsistent upload speeds, and hard to find a good signal.

UPDATE:

So far connections have been very inconsistent. Obviously, the connection signal is highly affected by wind, rain, fog, thunderstorms, etc. On a windy day, my signal meter is jumping up and down and I always get disconnected. On a rainy day, I can't even get a signal.

Because this internet is so unreliable...I have decided to disconnect Clearwire.

I am very unhappy about the service...

member for 21.1 years, 1267 visits, last login: 138 days ago
updated 21.1 years ago


JaxEagle
@fdn.com

JaxEagle

Anon

Clearwire - Falling Down on claims

Per clearwire, their service isn't degraded by weather, however a client had a full 5 signal strength on a clear day, the last few days of rain prompted the signal to drop to 2 bars! Can you believe it, once the rain cleared, it returned to 5 bars... as I thought from the beginning, they are flat out fraudulentin their claims of service.

brianhn1
join:2003-01-26
Jacksonville, FL

brianhn1

Member

Re: Clearwire - Falling Down on claims

Thats true I noticed that my signal has gone down one or two bars if its raining or windy(?!?) outside.
cdevidal
join:2002-11-17
Jacksonville, FL

cdevidal

Member

Going to give it a try...

I placed the order Friday morning (today is Sunday). They have a 30-day money-back guarantee so I'm going to give it a try. At $35/mo. it's worth a shot.

According to the salesman (if they can be believed), they initially had alot of issues with reliability due to another broadcaster on their frequency and are currently following legal proceedings. Perhaps that's the problem that brianhn1 had back in February.

When the salesman brought his modem over I was also seeing intermittent dropouts. He believed it was because they were signing over and working on the Avenues mall tower that very day, which is possible but might have been just an excuse.

A co-worker has had it for a few weeks and really enjoys it, but he doesn't use SSH like I do (as far as I can tell he doesn't play games either so he won't notice intermittent connectivity problems like I would).

I'm not proud to say that I'm a former cable internet technical support rep for Continental Cablevision/MediaOne/AT&T/Comcast (it was MediaOne when I worked there 5 years ago). That company didn't have a clue how to keep their cable maintained (I couldn't even get my own problem fixed!) and we saw all sorts of intermittent dropouts. Unfortunately, I saw the same kinds of dropouts when the Clearwire salesman brought his modem to my house. So I'm very wary of this ISP but am still willing to give it the 30 day trial, especially at $35/month! The first three months are $19.95 and I'll be in a one-year contract.

Brianhn1 must have had an older modem because this one was just DHCP, no PPPoE (thank God, I use Linux and I just want it to work without alotta fuss; my current modem has a router and it just works). Because your machine gets a live IP and doesn't go through NAT, you should install a firewall for protection and a router if you want to share the signal with several computers.

The modem was about 8 inches tall/wide and 2 inches thick with 5 LEDs on top. They said in 6 months they'll have a smaller modem (and even PCMCIA modems in time) and eventually will replace it all with WiMax -- the NextNet service they're currently using is just an interim step.

The service is supposed to be 1.5Mbit/256Kbit and has a dynamic IP (so I plan on using a free dynamic DNS service like dhs.org). I didn't benchmark the download/upload speed but the ping times to the first hop were 60ms which is 10ms better than my DSL Unfortunately, the DSL was far more consistent; the Clearwire modem got some high pings and many dropped packets. Again, I'm choosing to believe the salesman that it'll be temporary (and I have 30 days to prove it).

I'm inside a metal trailer yet got 4 out of 5 bars, but then it was a sunny day and I'm only 2 miles from the tower :-\ When I get the service (in less than 2 weeks and probably next week) I plan on placing the modem in a window facing the tower and routing it all over the house with a home-built linux router/firewall/proxy cache/DNS cache/QoS box. I share 'net access with my neighbors over 802.11b.

I'll update this review if I have a success or a failure.
cdevidal

cdevidal

Member

Re: Going to give it a try...

said by cdevidal:
they initially had alot of issues with reliability due to another broadcaster on their frequency and are currently following legal proceedings.
Turns out I was completely mistaken about that; I completely misunderstood the salesman. Sorry, Clearwire!

Anyway, the salesman told me the Avenues tower is now live and I'll be getting the modem tomorrow. WOOHOO!

Other good news; I've found more about the pricing:
$24.99 for 512/128Kb
$29.99 for 768/256Kb
$34.99 for 1.5M/256Kb

30 day money-back guarantee (going to keep the DSL while I test Clearwire)
1 year contract with $50 activation fee
2 year contract, activation fee waived

I'll let you know how it compares with DSL. They're shooting for the dial-up crowd, so it might be less reliable yet reliable enough; I'll see how it goes.

brianhn1
join:2003-01-26
Jacksonville, FL

brianhn1

Member

Re: Going to give it a try...

I had recently saw many advertisements of Clearwire on TV so I decided to take a look at it again. After six months it seems like another company bought Clearwire back out from its death. The idea is good but its all dependent on the implementation.

I've noticed that they are using a new modem and have much better pricing. Before (9-18 months ago when the first Clearwire existed) the cheapest price was $50 a month. All that provided was 512/128. Most expensive was $150 for 1.5/256.
Now since they have much more competitive pricing and a new modem. It might even be worthwhile if only certain things are fixed.
1. Lower latency (max should only be 75ms not 200-1000ms as before)
2. Provision for external antenna that user can position (jacksonville has lots of tall trees, being able to position an antenna towards the location of the tower allows better QOS)
3. Ethernet (seems like the new one has that now)
4. Map of where all the antennas are

Another idea that could help improve signal quality is using dual frequency.

I hope to hear from you cdevidal as you test your connection. Please post latency data from pinging dslreports.com, etc., Speedtests, and number of hops
cdevidal
join:2002-11-17
Jacksonville, FL

cdevidal

Member

So sorry I haven't updated my report. I've been incredibly busy.

I too have had the random disconnects as reported by keymo. One minute I'll have 5 bars then inexplicably it'll drop to one or start scanning for a signal. In addition, my speed is nowhere near advertised -- around 30KB/sec (or about 240kbps) down, 15KB/sec (or about 120kbps) up. I'm only 2 miles from the antenna!

Wasn't on hold at all despite calling tech support a few times, but this was early September -- might have changed as they added customers. Techs wouldn't help me until I plugged it up to a Windows box (running a Linux router and a Linux workstation). Tried explaining the DSL was faster to no avail.

Grabbed a Windows laptop from work and hooked it directly to the modem to prove it wasn't an OS issue.

I had a high-level tech on the phone with me looking at the problem. Said I had a "smoking signal" (stupid modem, smoking is bad for you but he too saw the lost packets. Sent a tech out to the house, thought the modem might be bad.

Techs out the next day (very fast turnaround) and we tried a new modem with the same problem. Moved the modem to another window and got a better signal.

Unfortunately, moving the modem to that window is not an option without homeplugs or a long network cable, and I just haven't had the time to mess with it.

So since install I've suffered with random disconnects and slow downloads. When I drop to one bar, moving the antenna out of the window and back helps me get 4-5 bars back.

Fortunately we don't do much at home but surf -- I've always downloaded my stuff from work where we have two bonded T1s (300KB/sec he he). For home use, Clearwire is Good Enough(tm), and certainly faster than dial-up. Perhaps I'll move the modem and router this morning and see how it goes...
cdevidal

cdevidal

Member

Re: Going to give it a try...

UPDATE: Got inspired and moved the antenna to the other window. Much better now. Will let you know if I have issues.

Would *love* an external antenna. Clearwire, are you listening??? Perhaps they'll let me hack my own.

Would also love an antenna map (Clearwire, hint hint!!).

Happy now that my downloads as tested on atl.speakeasy.net are in the 6-800kbit range. Real download speeds are only marginally faster than before, but it seems to be far less laggy than before. Guess I'll just have to deal with somewhat slower download speeds in favor of a cheep and reliable connection. As I said before, it's better than dial up, and only slightly more expensive than a $5 unlimited ISP and a second line.

If you're looking for a $5 unlimited ISP on FreedomList.com, be sure to choose one that offers DUN so you don't have to download extra crap. Skip their email and use something like Yahoo/GMail so you can fire the ISP and switch at a moment's notice if they're screwy.
clearwire27
Premium Member
join:2004-09-09

clearwire27

Premium Member

Clearwire--the facts


.com
We've had some difficult getting Broadband Reports to correct the clearwire listing.

clearwire is a completely new organization and the correct listing would be:

»www.clearwire.com
Contact us a »:www.clearwire.com or 1.800.305.5873

Current Coverage:
Jacksonville, FL

Featuring:
High Speed Internet Access

Head Office:
Kirkland, WA
Network Ops Center:
WA Kirkland

Others connect wires. We connect people.
The Internet gives us all a profound freedom to communicate, explore and share ideas. But until now, Internet service has been, well, kind of a let down. That's why we created Clearwire.

Clearwire is here to provide Internet service that's as amazing as the Internet itself.
Now you can enjoy a high-speed broadband Internet connection on your terms — with a solution that's simple, flexible, reliable and affordable. Best of all, you won't be tethered to a cord or cable coming out of the wall because with Clearwire, you can connect to the Internet anywhere in the service area. In a nutshell, this is the Internet the way it oughta be.

Clearwire was created by Craig McCaw, the founder of Cellular One which was later purchased by AT&T Wireless. Our corporate offices are located in Kirkland, Washington, just east of Seattle. We invite you to contact us and learn more about Clearwire’s unique service, including our features and how it works.

jam1238
@mdo.clearwire-dns.ne

jam1238

Anon

weather??

About the two comments made about weather disrupting the service,you want to know what is more strange than that?!! I come from west Texas where it could be sunny on day and snowing the next. And you know what the last 5 or 6 times we have had terrible thunderstorms it hasn't been effected what so ever. What do you know, weird huh.
daviangel
join:2003-01-11
Farmersville, CA

daviangel

Member

Re: weather??

If you do a google search you'll see that current studies of weather affecting wireless are inconclusive at best.
personally haven't had any bad weather out here in california but will let you all know if the Tule fog has any effect on service. I"m currently borrowing the modem from my uncle that has just recently signed up with clearwire and I"m impressed so far. I've had modem for 2 weeks and first thing that is impressive is how easy to set up just connect modem to power and cat 5 cable to nic card and you are on internet. I"ve even connected my apple powerbook and various linux machines and all work great. I'm averaging 700+kbits/sec up to 1.5 and even spikes as high as 2.8? I've also used several computers hooked up to a linksys switch without a problem and each computer seems to obtain a different dynamic address. Haven't had any outages so far or any problems with modem obtaining IP. Only thing disconcerting if anything is that the modem lights on my modem don't seem to have any sort of correlation to my download speeds. Right now I'm only showing 2 lights of 5 and still getting like I said up to 1.5meg/sec and I'm about 1 mile from antenna I think. When I take it to my aunt's house which is down the street from the tower the modem gets up to 5 lights on the modem but the download speeds are the same. It wouldn't even be noticeable to ordinary users and being stuck with dialup for last year it's blazing fast!
After seeing/using other peoples sbc yahoo dsl/verizon supposedly highspeed connection this leaves them in the dust. Only downside I can think of is what's to prevent someone from connecting a whole bunch of computers like I did with my switch and using up all their dynamic ip addresses? Or could that ever happen? Their webpage doesn't really get into those kinds of technical details?

fxr1340
@clearwire.net

fxr1340

Anon

clearwire service

I have suffered with clearwires service for just over a month now. It has been a horrible experience.
I can have a steady 5 lights on the modem and can not connect to the server. The service can be down from 1/2 to 1 hr. I have created a macro to run ipconfig, got tired of doing manually. It still doesn't connect until it feels like it.
Calls to tech support, 45 mins to 1.25 hr.on hold. Then I am told to run ipconfig, and/or power cycle the modem. Still 'unable to connect. I am about 2.5 miles from the closest tower, but the modem doesn't see it. Instead it hooks up to a tower 6 miles away. Techs can't explain it.
I'm tired of fighting with and as much as I hate to, I'm going back to dial up. It might be slow, but it works.