 Review by el3ment000 
UPDATED: 40 days ago
member for 1.7 years, 136 visits, last login: 1 days ago
 West Linn,Clackamas,OR
 $50 per month
 "Customer service helped me in a timely fashion."
 "Not a reliable internet connection for home."
 "Personally, avoid Clear unless it's your only option"
| Pre Sales Information:
Install process:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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10/15/2009 - Canceling service.
I have found the best spot in the house. Had 4 bars, and the bandwidth seemed to be consistent for awhile. Sure enough, the first day it starts raining for fall I noticed a significant ping spike and degradation in signal. I was pinging everywhere, and it was apparent that the bottle neck is the stupid CPE and the ISP. I am tired of the countless hours I've spent trying to find the best signal spot to squeez the most bandwidth as I can. But then, when i needed to depend on my internet connection...Clear couldn't get the job done. Thanks Clear for your failed deployment. Your flavor of WiMax did not add up to all that hype.. I would much rather exchange customer service for some real internet any day.
9/8/2009 - Modifying it again for an even lower score... This connection is not reliable. Unfortunatly, this is my only option for internet (As in, i don't dare go back to EVDO or other bandwidth capped schemes)... If they don't fix things within a week.. I'm giving this company all 1's and will unfortunatly have to continue my love hate relationship with them.
9/5/2009 - I am modifying my review to reflect a smaller score. The reason I feel it should be smaller is because I have done countless hours to find the "5 Bar Nirvana.. I can get up to 4 bars right now, but the bandwidth seems to be inconsistent even with 4.. One morning i'll have 6-8mbps down... The other i'll have 1.5 to 2.. When i get slower speeds, the ping is still low, but every once in awhile i'll get packet loss or there will be a ping spike... This seems to go away when I have good bandwidth..So, when it's around 6-8 mbps the service is good..
Don't get me wrong, this company seems to be on the right track, but for users like me, I would hope that they have some kind of option for signaling boosts... I've been harrasing them about an external antenna or some kind device where I can customize the signal strength myself. Perhaps a directional antenna... As an ISP, Clear is not quite there yet, by my standards - but i see the potential.. I think it will get better as time goes on eg. expanding network, and/or having new CPE's on the customers premise that are customizable.
Original Review.....
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First off, i was a little confused on how this technology works. I thought it was going to be another EVDO service.. However, Portland is one of the few cities that has the WIMAX infrastructure. And the new Clear brand uses it..
So In April, I ordered their mobile service because their website prequal did not qualify my address for home service.. The order process was simple and quick. I received my modem, but I got a faint signal and It kept dropping.. I needed a home solution so i returned it until they extended service into my area.. They promptly refunded my money when they recieved the modem ..
A month later, I got a call from a nice representative asking how I liked the service and what was the particular reason I canceled service.. I told him that I liked the service (Cause it was screaming fast downtown.. 6mbps+) but it wasn't available at my house..
He then offered to come over to my house and troubleshoot with me using their home modem (That has a higher signal strenghth) to see if we can get a better signal..
I agreed. We made an appointment and he arrived 2 hours late, but he notified me that he was running late..
Sure enough.. We were able to get 5 bars of service at my house..I did a speedtest and it was just over 8Mbps.. Over 2Mbps the advertised speed.. I checked the latency and it seemed to be consistently between 50 - 85ms. The only downfall is that the modem has to be outside underneath the awning.. Because of that, I had to be crafty, and it took awhile to get it mounted.. But, that doesn't matter to me.. I'm consistently getting fast speeds with no interruptions so far.. It's like a wireless cable connection..
For that reason, i'm giving this company 5 stars all around.
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