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glitchsys
@openpeak.com

glitchsys to GeekInfoNow

Anon

to GeekInfoNow

Re: OMGfast.... Looking for review

I've had them (OMGFast aka Clearband) for almost a week now. Installation time took an entire day, close to 9 hours. The tech said the average installation time is 4-5 hours. It was done nicely and professionally though and there was no additional cost, so that is good.

The service is fast, that 50mbps is more of an average, I've seen mine top out at 65mbps down. The upload is always 3.2mbps though as that's the limit of the WiMax device.

They use MVDDS for the downlink, it's one way only though so to solve the return path (upload) issue they use a separate WiMax antenna installed underneath the MVDDS antenna (MVDDS antenna looks like a round satellite dish, the WiMax antenna is an all in one unit, it's white and about 12" x 12" and mounts underneath the MVDDS dish on the same pole).

The WiMax is better at handling tree's and such, the MVDDS requires direct line of sight. I imagine a tree branch wouldn't harm it too much. I learned that the limiting factor on range from their tower is actually the MVDDS portion, the WiMax could go further.

Well the bandwidth is good, the 3.2mbps upload has been a constant, I've never seen it less, and the 65mbps download is sweet, every speedtest I run always shows 45-55 down, but the latency is fairly bad. Pinging to the first or 2nd hop, which is within their network but beyond my house, the latency is 40-65ms and everywhere in between, and it's not consistent either. It's 40 65 42 60 50 59 58 57 40 etc. and that's just within their network. Try pinging out to the regular internet and you'll see increased latency and erratic ping times. For the average user downloading large files, browsing the web, etc. this won't pose too much of a problem; but certain uses, like VoIP and real-time gaming (Call of Duty, Team Fortress, first person shooters, etc.) could be a problem. I have not verified this yet, but I do know VoIP prefers consistent latency, but good VoIP hardware and provider could probably compensate even for this connection. First person shooters I don't usually play on the internet so I'm not sure how well that'd work either but I imagine where latency is everything, it could make a different. My friend plays Call of Duty a lot and he has U-Verse, which also has a latency issue (it's high latency, but consistent), and he said he never noticed the difference until he played using a xfinity connection, then he suddenly could tell the difference.

South Florida is an experiment for them (ClearBand/OMGFast). They're testing the technology and making constant improvements. A different friend of mine got it 3 weeks ago and the modem they gave me last weekend was already newer/better than the one they gave him. They're learning and getting better all the time. They're probably losing money for every customer they sign up, just to have a sizeable test bed. Think about it, 50+mbps (again I'm getting up to 65mbps) for $40/month, that's insane, no contract and no installation fee either? that's just awesome, UVerse or Xfinity can't touch that (price), but that's the point. They're luring people away from those providers in order to test their MVDDS system. I imagine after some time after all the 'kinks' have been worked out that the big owner will deploy this nationwide.

They've also had 2 outages since I've had the service for less than a week. One point the service cut out and about 30m later it came back but at a much lower speed. 8-9mbps down, 3.2mbps up. It turns out the MVDDS system had issues so they switched to 100% WiMax temporarily. It's good to know they can do that and that the WiMax isn't just pure upload only, in a pinch it can download as well, and WiMax is a tried and proven technology, although I'm thinking that's the cause of the high and erratic latency. MVDDS is the real speed, but also what's really being tested here in Florida. It's only going to get better. Anyways, after 4 or 5 hours on pure WiMax at the reduced download speed, the internet cut out again and this time never came back until I called them. After I rebooted all my equipment they were still down so a call to their customer care department and they had to make some change at the tower end after which I came back online. Frustrating yes, but it's all good because I have xfinity as a backup.

This leads me to my conclusion. I think the only way I could have ClearBand today would be to have a backup ISP. ClearBand's MVDDS is an awesome technology that's still being worked on, and eventually they should be rock solid, but for today if you were to use them, I'd have a backup connection. They can't suffer wire cuts like Cable or DSL/UVerse users could. My comcast cable wire was cut and it took 4 days for comcast to get out there and fix it. My neighbours phone line was cut (at the same time as my cable, thanks FPL) and it took AT&T 6 days to get out there and fix his line. That wouldn't happen with ClearBand. I think one "hard wired" connection and one "wireless connection" is optimal. I'm personally using ClearBand as my primary connection and I switch to xfinity (who I have on the "Economy" plan for $15/mo) whenever I need to. My boss is getting the service as a backup to his xfinity connection. He's getting xfinity at 50-100mbps but is also concerned about line cuts (especially with the hurricane coming) and general xfinity outages, so he's getting ClearBand as a backup connection.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

A few quick notes:

1. A tree branch would probably kill your MVDDS connection. It's in the 12GHz range, and in that range all sorts of stuff can cause your signal to fade.
2. My bet is that WiMAX is where your high, erratic latency is coming from. If Clearband deployed something like Ubiquiti AirMax as the uplink, they would probably cut that latency by upwards of 50% and lower jitter too. The AirMax stuff is cheap too. But it's not an IEEE standard so they probably won't deploy it :/

I'd be perfectly fine with a setup like MVDDS where you've got an uplink radio that is more robust and could be pressed into service on the downlink side if needed...it's not beyond question to keep a wireless network like that up 99.9+% of the time, to the point that you don't need wireline backup (even if you can get it).

GeekInfoNow
join:2012-07-25

GeekInfoNow to glitchsys

Member

to glitchsys
Thanks for the info! I've got then coming this weekend. Couple of questions.
1. Will they let me use my router? I was told they user a E1200. I have the E3000. I wouldn't mind using theirs for a wireless extender...
2. Is the speed always constant? I have a synology NAS set up for my downloads for the home and business
3 . I do use my 360 to play cod and battlefield. Issues with that?
4. Do you have any pics of your equipment?
5. What takes them 4 hours or all day to do? Isn't it just a dish a coax cable and ethernet cable run into the house to their equipment?

I am coming from Comcast business class for this service so i want to be sure before i cancel them...Thanks
GeekInfoNow

GeekInfoNow

Member

Well Im not impressed so far..... I am not getting my advertised speeds at all. The latency is not good either. Let me answer my own questions so people know....

1. Will they let me use my router? No.... They have to use the cisco e1200 router make sure it works and then you are on your own. I messed with mine for about 30 min or so in order to get it to work.(i have a call in to tech support with no call back...going on 2 hours)

2. Is the speed always constant? Im am not impressed at all....

3. I do use my 360 to play cod and battlefield..... I am actually scared to even test this because I am at this point

4. Do you have any pics of your equipment? I will post pics if people want. Its a router cisco, a clearband box and some sort of small box

5. What takes them 4 hours or all day to do? Isn't it just a dish a coax cable and ethernet cable run into the house to their equipment?
It took my guys about 2 hours or so. They said that I have very strong signal(5.8 out of 6). They put the dish at other end of the house and ran the wires...

At this time im still waiting on a call back about my speed and I cant use my vonage either. I can receive calls but not make them. I will post some test results later....