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'Clear' Launches In Portland
Though future network launches remain murky
There's really no mystery here since the network was already live, we've discussed the pricing, and customers have already been signing up for service for weeks -- but Clearwire's "Clear" Mobile WiMax network went officially live in Portland today. A refresher: the mobile version comes in four flavors, all of which offer 4Mbps/384kbps connectivity, but with different bandwidth caps ($30/month for 200MB, $40/month for 2GB and $50/month for unlimited). The home plans come in three flavors with no caps: 768kbps/128kbps for $20, 3Mbps/384bps for $30, and 6Mbps/512kbps for $50. Which market will launch next isn't clear, the company delaying Chicago and DC launches, after recently announcing a sour economy may delay the network build.
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S_engineer
Premium Member
join:2007-05-16
Chicago, IL

S_engineer

Premium Member

Good luck

I wonder when the tin foil hats will claim that this is causing defects in Portlands children?

RadioDoc

join:2000-05-11
La Grange, IL

1 recommendation

RadioDoc

Re: Good luck

I thought that was already proven to be caused by the tin foil hat.

Marylander
@umbc.edu

Marylander

Anon

Weaker than Xohm

If you compare the "Clear" plans to the current Xohm offerings "Clear" is a lot less competitive.

I don't understand why they'd eagerly "unveil" a weaker product in this kind of market.

Smile__
Premium Member
join:2008-10-10
New Freedom, PA

Smile__

Premium Member

Re: Weaker than Xohm

Marylander,

How's those 24MB/18MB speeds at the college? lol

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5 to Marylander

Premium Member

to Marylander
I thought Wimax was a 4G product. The upload speeds being offered are pretty anemic for 4G - they barely compete with the 3G wireless offerings from the telcos.

Greyface
@or.us

Greyface

Anon

Re: Weaker than Xohm

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMAX

It's a group of broadcasting technologies suitable for longer-range broadcasting than Wi-fi. It's usually cheaper to set up and run, although it can be used in close proximity for theoretically tremendous speeds.
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Wrong Price

»www.clear.com/home_services.php

The 6/512 tier is $40, not $50. Provides nice counterpoint to cable if you ask me, though Verizon DSL is a slightly better deal if available. Beats "dry" AT&T DSL though.
travelguy
join:1999-09-03
Bismarck, ND
Asus RT-AC68
Ubiquiti NSM5

travelguy

Member

Re: Wrong Price

said by iansltx:

»www.clear.com/home_services.php

The 6/512 tier is $40, not $50. Provides nice counterpoint to cable if you ask me, though Verizon DSL is a slightly better deal if available. Beats "dry" AT&T DSL though.
And Qwest's "We really don't want to but the PUC made us" rural 1.5Mbps Dry DSL for $58/month...
iansltx
join:2007-02-19
Austin, TX

iansltx

Member

Re: Wrong Price

Better than $60/month for satellite 1 Mbps, or $69.95 for 1 Mbps fixed wireless that's rather unreliable to say theleast. Feel better now?
travelguy
join:1999-09-03
Bismarck, ND
Asus RT-AC68
Ubiquiti NSM5

travelguy

Member

Re: Wrong Price

A little bit. Actually, considering where I live, I consider myself fortunate to get any kind of broadband service.

Clear was advertising for a local project engineer here a year or so ago, so I'm hoping they'll be offering Wimax service at some point.
PDXPLT
join:2003-12-04
Banks, OR

PDXPLT

Member

Home Plan Business model

I don't see how they're going to succeed with the home plan. They appear to only be deploying in areas already served by Comcast, Verizon, and/or Qwest. Being the third entrant to a territory means they need to compete on price alone; not easy.

Of course, they did not deploy in my neighborhood, or anywhere near. If they did, they'd own the broadband market here.

Smile__
Premium Member
join:2008-10-10
New Freedom, PA

Smile__

Premium Member

Go XOHM!

decifal7
join:2007-03-10
Bon Aqua, TN

decifal7

Member

yeah

yeah, tell me about it.. Everyone deploys in already saturated markets First one to provide a reliable service (( i'm good with 95 percent up time )).. And i'm going to be a long term customer....

wesm
Premium Member
join:1999-07-29
Seattle, WA

wesm

Premium Member

Delay?

Does anyone know what the actual delay is in getting the other prospective markets going? Dallas has been running great for a few months (XOHM is my only connection at home), as have Chicago and others. Why go to the trouble of getting an entire WiMAX network built for "testing" if it's taking so long to launch?

kieranmullen
Premium Member
join:2005-12-12
Portland, OR

kieranmullen

Premium Member

Pushing it hard

It was sad in a way seeing them in multiple parts of the city trying to push that product on people in the rain today. They were by Powels Books on Burnside and on Broadway by the Portland State Univeristy Campus.

Students are not going to pay for it I would imagine since they have free wireless and by Powels Books .. Personal Telco offers some free wifi access points.

They were shoving the brochures in peoples hands. It was bad. Happy with Fios...

EIC
@norcalbroadband.net

EIC

Anon

hardly news

yeah, it would be a lot less like a press release parroted up by a halfwit if you included . .. .gosh, I don't know: What state Portland is in?