Wireless / Mobile > Wireless Users Chat > OMGfast.... Looking for review

reply to someguy43120

Re: OMGfast.... Looking for review

Well after the a bit of thunderstorm recently my internet was down during the evening, I called around 8:30am the next day and I told them the box unit that power the satellite is dead (it was connected to surge protector). They said they would transfer me to the IT department, which didn't call back after 3 hours. So I called again to ask someone to come to replace the broken unit, they're book so it'll have to be the next day. Not until noon the next day I got internet back. Almost a day and a half turn around. But my speed actually improved after this and the ping by a small percentage.

I also talked to the service person about the latency issue and even show the fluctuating ping in my system. We also spoke on the phone, but the other-side reply was expected that it shouldn't defer with normal web browsing. I guess I can't blame them too much since its WiMAX.

One thing I have to note is the way Clearband seems to hire people. They don't issue company van or laptops. The installer and serviceman bring their own van/truck, home laptop, and own equipment. The servicemen who did my installation was a roofer by trait (which is fine), but wasn't trained properly on the IT stuff and took until the second day to finally installed everything correctly, because of issues with his equipment and laptop. The second servicemen I met was extremely disrespectful, I won't go into details, but he doesn't even know how to greet. And base on someone else saying it only take 2-4hours for his installation compared to mine of more than one day, it seems to depend on luck which type of person you will get.

If you can put up with some of these issues you might save a little money and get fast speed, but really as you can see from my experience if you can afford more expensive service and don't mind paying a little more money for 20MBps ATT or Comcast, sure its 30Mbps slower, but at least you get consistency. One thing I like is I can use clone MAC address and use my my own router, instead of using the all in one ATT's UVerse modem/router box, but that's hardly a plus considering everything else I had to deal with.

Re: OMGfast.... Looking for review

reply to GeekInfoNow
I got a surprise last night. It looked like OMGfast finally updated their system or did something to fix the latency issue.

Before this, in an online videogame, my character's footsteps actually skips. Now the footsteps is actually in rhythm and ll the game information are smoothly portrayed/downloaded. It's a night and day different.

My ping test still show the ping spike up in a pattern, but more stretched out now than before. Though pingtest.net shows my jitter rate lowered.

This is in the Margate area of Florida, so I don't know how it is for everyone else, but for the first time I'm happy with their internet. Just finger crossed its going to stay this way.

Well I too have noticed more consistent ping responses. Latency is still higher than DSL or Comcast but at least it's not erratic like it was before.


28 packets transmitted, 28 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 35.364/48.717/66.863/8.126 ms


I've clocked it as high as 65mbps which is nice. 3.2mbps up is always the case, that's wimax. I'm just wondering why they're using this system. I heard from one of their tech's that MVDDS is the one that's limiting the range of how far they can go from the towers, and I also hear that it runs in the 12ghz range which is why they require line of site. MVDDS just doesn't seem that feasible to me then. Why not try pure WiMax, LTE, or even 2.4mhz (or 5ghz) WiFi. I have 2.4ghz directional WiFi Antennas, smaller than OMG Fast's antennas, and they can do 2-5 miles. 5 miles with direct line of site and enough power. And that means you could do 802.11n which is 150-450mbps.

Anyways, my connections been unstable for the past week, every few days it goes down and I have to power-cycle the modem. They're looking into it. My friend a few miles away has a more stable connection so I know they're 'capable' of it, hopefully it's just my modem which can be replaced.

Re: their using different technologies other than MVDDS for the downlink...

1. WiMAX - Slow. You've seen what it can do on uploads. Multiply that by three or four for download speeds, if that.
2. LTE - Not available for the spectrum Clearband owns, and no spectrum is available to buy at this point that supports LTE. Even if it were, the spectrum would be too expensive to deploy speeds, without caps, comparable to what they're doing now. Plus, I haven't seen an LTE fixed terminal anywhere yet, and that's the only thing that would give you better range than the current MVDDS system while still having any sort of capacity. You would need a 10MHz channel at least for FD-LTE, or spectrum usable to TD-LTE, and the former is tied up by AT&T on 700MHz and the latter by Clearwire on 2500MHz.
3. WiFi - It's a good option. Not so much on 2.4 but 5GHz would work. 2.4 has too much interference in a flat place like Florida. 5GHz may not be much better though. The result: you'd end up with, at best, the same speeds as you get on MVDDS at the same distance, but using cheaper equipment and unlicensed spectrum (unlicensed may have reliability issues). Getting even 80 Mbps of capacity out of a single WiFi channel (20MHz wide...40MHz is a bad idea for point to multipoint due to signal-related issues...so your air link rate is at best 130 Mbps with a dual-polarity antenna at each end of the link) is iffy in PtMP over long (more than a mile or two) distances.

Hence Clearband's choice of MVDDS, particularly since they own that spectrum anyway...and they own more than all 2.4GHz, 5.8GHz (longer-range 5GHz due to FCC requirements), 700MHz, Cellular and PCS spectrum combined...for all carriers...and nearly as much as all of the above plus AWS. To put things into perspective, Clearwire, which says it has a lot of spectrum (it does), has less spectrum than what's available in just the PCS band.

reply to GeekInfoNow
Could someone provide the general direction their receiver (satellite dish) is facing? I'm trying to determine the location of the towers and if I'm in the line of sight for their service. I have a very tall roof, but only have 1 clear area for mounting...the front of the house . I have a high screened in pool area that is attached to the eaves in the back, so i'd have to do some sort of mount/bracket to attached the dish there.

reply to GeekInfoNow
I canceled them. They came and picked up their equipment from me. Since my last post I had the tech come out twice to the house. The ping and lag was crazy and I wasnt getting the speeds that would beat my current provider. I also couldnt get my router to clone their router so that wasnt good for me. I think they need to do a few things to fix their service(IMO).

1. Let us use our own router. You shouldnt have to reconfigure your home network to use their service

2. When they do an install they should explain how they are setting you up and what they are doing. Ex. I have to mount this dish on top of your roof and not on the side of it like your directtv.

3. Vonage (or any voip) wont wok with it. I dont know if its possible for them to make it compatible but it would be nice

I told the techs that came out to leave the box outside the house just in case i wanted them back once they get some things worked out. Overall their customer service was great. They log your calls and emails are sent out when you do call them so thats a plus.

I got it installed a few days ago, installation time is long takes pretty much all day. But my home is a little tricky.

The speed hardwired is about 68mb download, upload is always around 3.3.

Through the wifi it's about 30ish download (limitation of the wireless router perhaps?)

It went out one time for like 30 seconds, then everything was back to normal.

It's light years better then bellsouth/att DSL.

The cable modem box runs very hot..

They *sales* guy kept pitching that they are going to 100 mb soon. It will require an equipment change, but it's on the way.

They *sales* guy said the rates are locked 4 life, I'm sure that's far from the truth.

I been playing some online games and haven't had an issue.

I have directv and on demand was horrible with bellsouth dsl, with this, I can instantly watch on-demand movies and shows. That's a big plus.

reply to GeekInfoNow
I just got OMGfast today in Boca Raton. I'm getting between 30 Mbps and 45 Mbps download speed but the upload speed is only around 0.85 Mbps (less than 1 Mbps). It has gone as fast as 63 Mbps download and 1.05 Mbps upload. It also has gone to as slow as 8 Mbps download and 0.44 Mbps upload. The installation took about 4 hours and the installer was prompt, very nice and knowledgeable. I guess the main problem is the slow upload. I was getting around 5 Mbps upload from Comcast but only about 25 Mbps download.

reply to glitchsys0
Boy I'm not impressed with that installation at all. One good real CAT 1 or better hurricane and that will be ripped from the side of the eve and do all kinds of damage to the home could let wind and water in. Do they even have it grounded with anything to a real ground rod or cold water pipe? I would hate to have their installation be the path for lightning to take out other electronic items in the house.

reply to GeekInfoNow
The service cuts out a couple times per hour and then can take between one to five minutes to respond to clicking on a web link.
Makes it pretty much unusable. I'd rather have a slow connection than an inconsistent one. It's my first day so maybe it's an install problem. I'll call them and give them a chance to fix it and if they can't it has to go. Also my upload is only 0.85 Mbps average and never been above 1.1 Mbps.

Sounds like you may not have a good uplink...

reply to GeekInfoNow
Had them since July. Service is better recently. Used to lose the signal during thunderstorms. Had more outages over the Summer as well. They replaced my modem a couple of months ago. Since then, I can''t download torrent files. It took weeks for them to admit they block torrents. Looks like I will be going back to Comcast. OMG just lost BIG money on me. Between the $hundreds the Dish is worth, and the Full day's labor of the installer and the other two times a tech person came out.The Installer took ALL DAY to install me. I am not having them take the Dish off my chimney. So- they can have their modem and Cisco Router. I was not a Huge downloader. No throttling or warning or anything. Just 100% Blocking of Torrents!! Clearband is like a Bunch of COMMUNISTS!!

reply to GeekInfoNow
10.4 Upon termination, all equipment installed at Users premises (which equipment is the property of OMGFAST) must be returned to OMGFAST within ten (10) business days. User authorizes the entry of the premises for such removal. If any equipment is not returned within ten (10) business days, or if damaged by User, the full amount for replacement will be charged to Users account and become immediately due. Failure to pay any past due amount will be turned over to a credit agency chosen by OMGFAST!.

This place is a waste of time and money! I had service for maybe a week and a half and it was up and down constantly. I had made many calls with them telling me someone will call back and no one ever would. 2 weeks ago I called to cancel it and for them to just come get their crap and refund me. Its been a month now with no service! I was told each time I called someone would call me back. I asked to speak to a manager and again "someone will call you back" but they will put in a request for cancellation. 2 weeks of calling over 10 times no one called me back. Today I called again after no one calling me back and after them charging another $50 when I don't even have service and put in a cancel request 2 weeks ago! The only way I got them to cancel it today and put in for 2 refunds now is because I threatened to call local news, file a complaint with the police for scamming and stolen money. I also told them I was calling the BBB today which I still will because this place is horrible!! The rep who came to my house to get me to sign up BSed me and nothing he said I would get was true.
Do not waste your time with this company! Comcast may suck but they are far better then these people!

reply to GeekInfoNow
I am glad I read this thread. It sounds like they are still in beta testing. Hard to believe they block torrent files or that you can't run voip on it . . I won't be ordering this because I rely on my broadband connection for phone service.

reply to GeekInfoNow
The guy came out at 10:30 on 12/31, left at almost 7pm... Yes, New Years Eve!!!. Speed is consistently 35+, have topped 54.65 a couple of times. Typical up is 2.4, although I have hit 3.14 a few times.
Much faster than my U-Verse and about 10 dollars less expensive. I will keep both for the month, then decide. So far, so good....

What are all of the expenses for install and modem, etc.? Do you think that it's reliable enough for VOIP?