Clear 4G

[13Gigatons]

Was looking at Clear 4G and after punching in my zip it showed me these plans:

If it uses 4G Wimax for the connection why do they have a Home Plan and do they lock you into a zip code or cell site?

Also why would I need a Home + Mobile plan?

 

[rudeguy]

the better question is what is the actual speeds?

 

[FelixDeCat]

Ive kind of looked into this since I get junk mail from them all the time. It seems really tempting. The only thing that worries me a bit is that they are losing money at these prices, so I wonder how long that $45 per month would last. The companies stock symbol is CLWR.

 

[Crusty]

I believe they come with different hardware. IE the home might come with a router while the Mobile is just a USB modem.

FWIW a friend here in Austin has their service and hasn't complained yet. I was looking at switching my parents to this instead of their Time Warner simply because it's far cheaper for what they need.

 

[spidey07]

Home is so they can size their network appropriately for your cell. Mobile is, well, mobile.

 

[jpeyton]

It's pretty damn fast in my area. 6Mbps/1Mbps down, and that's deep in the suburbs.

 

[amddude]

I strongly recommend you do not get involved with clearwire. I used to work for a business that resold them. Our shop got bonuses based on the numbers of people we signed up. We took a lot of people off our local cable provider (bright house, which is actually really wonderful) and put them on this crap.

I think the service is shitty and would only do it as a last resort. Signal can be iffy and throughput is hit and miss.

 

[rudeguy]

It's pretty damn fast in my area. 6Mbps/1Mbps down, and that's deep in the suburbs.

that's actual connection speed or advertised speed?

Or am I thinking of Clearwire?

 

[AnonymouseUser]

I believe they come with different hardware. IE the home might come with a router while the Mobile is just a USB modem.

Yup, different hardware. Home is a 4G modem a little bigger than most routers which does wired LAN only. Mobile is a usb modem that does 4G and 3G (when 4G isn't available).

FWIW a friend here in Austin has their service and hasn't complained yet. I was looking at switching my parents to this instead of their Time Warner simply because it's far cheaper for what they need.

I tested the home modem for a couple of days and had mixed results. At home I had poor service for a couple of hours, then couldn't connect again no matter what I did. At work the same modem worked pretty damn good. Speeds were mixed: slowest down was 2mbps, highest down was 10mbps, typical was 4mbps. Slowest upload was 1mbps and highest upload was 2mbps. Latency was high, typically 100ms, but VOIP worked flawlessly.

Don't expect to do torrents else you'll get kicked.

 

[Genx87]

It's pretty damn fast in my area. 6Mbps/1Mbps down, and that's deep in the suburbs.

How is the latency?

 

[jpeyton]

that's actual connection speed or advertised speed?

Or am I thinking of Clearwire?

That's the actual connection speed on a mobile USB modem with Clearwire. Burst speeds closer into the city can peak higher. It's a great broadband option for someone who doesn't want to pay the cable company $40/month.

 

[jpeyton]

How is the latency?

50-100ms.

BTW, from what I've gathered by talking to Clearwire reps, don't purchase the "Home" service if you don't have to. The mobile units are uncapped but the "Home" units are capped around 6Mb/1Mb. Reception is better with the mobile units too.

Of course if you want to share a mobile unit among multiple devices, you have to get the Wifi hub.

 

[rudeguy]

That's the actual connection speed on a mobile USB modem with Clearwire. Burst speeds closer into the city can peak higher. It's a great broadband option for someone who doesn't want to pay the cable company $40/month.

so it is Clearwire.

Very YMMV. I get calls literally every day from people who get complete crap for speed. Plus don't they make you sign a contract?

I wouldn't think of going with that place unless I lived in an area where that was my only option. Even then I would have to get a screaming deal.....

 

[frostedflakes]

As others have mentioned, YMMV a lot. There are so many factors that can affect reception, and if you get poor reception speed and latency is going to be horrible.

I'd give it a shot *if* they allow you to try the service at your home to make sure speeds are good. I think they have a 7-day trial period, so you can try the service for a few days and get out if it sucks w/out having to pay any ETFs.

 

[Crusty]

so it is Clearwire.

Very YMMV. I get calls literally every day from people who get complete crap for speed. Plus don't they make you sign a contract?

I wouldn't think of going with that place unless I lived in an area where that was my only option. Even then I would have to get a screaming deal.....

All the ads I've been seeing around here are saying no contracts.

 

[shocksyde]

I'm using it in Baltimore. Get pretty decent speeds of up to 300kb/s when downloading. Costs $35 a month.

 

[robphelan]

they continualy spam our local craigslist