| [Troubleshooting] clear modem with great signal drops throughout Hi all,
Having an issue with clear and you guys most prominently pop up in google, not much else does so id like to also document my experience here for others considering clear to see
I was one of the first people in the Philadelphia area to sign up with clear, i got the 1.0mb for 25a month after buying the modem and paying setup. The original cpei 150. Clear is frustrating to be sure, working flawlessly for months only randomly choose to take a dump for a month or so at different times of year. Most often is during prime time but also almost as often in the wee hours of the morning at 5 till after seven when i goto beef after getting of my night job. I've had the service for going on threeyears now. I all your patience as art this moment clear is out, (its been out all evening, as happens 50% of the time a decent rain storm comes through if its having a crap month like out is now.) Im on my cell typing this. And the spell check plus ics browser = haha NO!
Ive called clear no less than 50 times in the last couple years, most of the calls i know they wont fix anything but its to build a paper trail so when i get a sup on the phone they see im not just b*tching about a one time problem They dont devoate from script. Initially they had terriffic us based support - really sharp guys and gals i tell you, id yourself as a geek and they drop the idiot speak and tell you what you need to know....that didnt last long...
For year one (the first 3 months were great, after that it got spotty) the answer from the new, obviously non us support was "we are sending a tech to the tower, wait up to 6 hours (even on holidays or weekends, which is how i figured they were just lying). Often connection issue would resolve in less time than that but would again fall out before long. eventually i got angry and asked for a supervisor who gave me a partial month refund and assured me my concerns (voice over about 25 calls by this time) would be resolved, and for the better part of a year his word was good...then again for no reason i can detect, clear goes to crap again....Every time they tell me im close to a tower ( yep, half a mile) and i have great signal (yep, 4 or 5 bars) but cant explain the issue. But say its my fault or the environment or some other bs answer. Recently the reps have gotten a bit more competent, and rather than sitting in silence during the obligatory 90second modem power cycle will try to strike up conversation.
About half the time the modem will still report signal but the actual connection will go intermittent (work great, then click another link and its back to dialup or worse speed...then 404....then the lights start "scrawling" this process typically takes two min or less.
The crux of it though is if i call in, they cant find an outage and say it must be something beyond their (but possibly not my) control. Meanwhile chat reps always admit "during peak usage its probably congestion kicking you off" but never give any dates or times for when they will alleviate said congestion. Modem either connects and works great or cant get any of the 3 towers near me (even if pointed at the other two it 90% of the time links up with the closest tower). Plus i doubt its congestion now at nearly mkdnigh on sunday or at 5am when i get off work
Now phone supprt is saying "your device is VERY old, they burn out with usage" but as usual refuse to state any numbers for the expected lifespan or even mtbf of the modem. Now its all "towers are working, its probably you should buy a new modem (FROM US)". I know this is a computer part and everything is old by the time you get it unpacked but really?? Its not three years old yet, in mid december it will be.
I have found NOTHING about these things lasting any less than any other typical electronic equipment, though i do recall cable modems having a pretty high failure rate back when i had comcast a decade ago. (High being cooked modem every 12 to 18months)
Are they just making another excuse but being smart enough to make me also give them more money?
I hear that preference on here is the m series modem is better, amazon heavily disagrees but it may be moot because im not sure if my area supports a m series device (i read they only worked in certain markets and philly wasnt on the list i saw)
Any help or suggestions would be very very appreciated! |
Qrusher
join:2002-09-26
Farmersville, CA | reply to dosmastr
I've been having the same kind of problem.
I had one of the old Motorola modems(CPEi 25150), had it since i signed up years ago.
About a week ago, it would connect and get 4 lights and then less than 2 mins later, it would lose the signal and start scrolling.
It did this for over a day before i called them, and the rep thought it was overheating(was getting up to 56 C)
So he sent a newer Motorola modem(from 2010 i think), and i get the same issues. It can get a good signal(4-5 lights) and the RSSI and CINR are good, but then he says they just lose me at the tower. He thinks it might be interference.
Anyone else had to deal with this? Its like 4-5 feet away from my computer and its on top of a tv, but i've unplugged it. The only thing near it is in an AC unit. Its near the window, but i get this problem everywhere i put it in the house. Could it be WiFi from my router? Just never had this happen, usually when clear goes out it will be for hours or days at a time but never every few mins like this.
Just frustrating 
Daniel |
| it should not be WI-FI as i have two networks running. I have the DSL running along with clear running and this does not interfere with clear at all. There could be some kind of interference between you and the tower or something even going wrong at the tower itself. It could also be the tower keeps knocking you off reason unknown. |
