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Old 06-21-2010, 07:43 PM
 
7,536 posts, read 11,517,179 times
Reputation: 4070

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I am thinking about getting clear internet I have comcast right now I hate there 250gb cap looking to switch to another ISP. I live on the south west side right near the loop what are the speeds like in the Willow Meadows Willowbend Meyerland area. Has anybody switched from Comcast to Clear what are the advantages of going to clear would it be worth it to switch?? If I were to go with Clear service 1 router & 1 usb adapter how much a month would this cost??
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Old 06-22-2010, 12:46 PM
 
221 posts, read 608,864 times
Reputation: 137
clear will definitely be a lot slower since its wireless internet
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Old 06-22-2010, 02:16 PM
 
611 posts, read 2,227,065 times
Reputation: 2028
clear would be great because you would NEVER have to worry about any 250GB cap

because even if you had 20 PCs on a router in your home all downloading the most content rich and bandwidth heavy applications you could find their service is so slow and sporadic you would never have a chance to come close to hitting 250 gigs in a month

if you only use your "high speed" internet to check email and browse content void webpages and you don't mind daily disconnects and a couple of times a week (at night after support is closed) or having an hour+ outage then clear would be great for you.....oh yea if you NEVER have to rely on the internet being up for ANYTHING

since you even brought up the 250 gig limit......avoid clear at all cost

I have had 6+ different high speed services in different cities both cable and DSL and two that were GOING OUT OF BUSINESS AFTER A WHILE (Sprint ION and direct TV dsl (I believe it was direct TV)) and both of the ones that were going under had better service until their dying breath than clear has ever had.......in fact I would say Sprint ION (my first high speed ISP) was still the best EVER for me.......damn I miss them it was ROCK SOLID and the latency was fantastic and the bandwidth was not huge, but it was ALWAYS there.....it was like having a T1....it was AMAZING

current dissatisfied clear user
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Old 06-22-2010, 02:44 PM
 
258 posts, read 950,655 times
Reputation: 103
Clear is highly dependent on your area. Please check their map for coverage http://www.clearwire.com/coverage (broken link)

I currently have ATT 6.0 Mbps DSL which has been solid ever since they sent a tech out to fix my disconnect issues. I always max out at 600kb/sec, which is more like 4.8 Mbps. Latency is low, web surfing is responsive.

I just activated Clearwire home service which is rated at 6 Mbps and up to 10 Mbps max. On the coverage map, I am in an area where the coverage is dark green (best coverage). However, the modem for clearwire is like a cell phone. You have to move around your house to get the best signal. The modem even has 5 LED's which act like "bars", indicating signal strength. Downstairs I got 3-4 bars, upstairs near a window, I get 4-5 bars.

One thing I noticed immediately is the latency is higher than DSL. If I ping google for instance, on DSL, the response is about 40ms. On clearwire, it's a little more than double that. On heavy downloads, I can pull up to 890 kb/sec, which is about 7 Mbps. The speed fluctuates though, between 4.8 and 6.5 Mbps.

For example, downloading a large file (ie: service pack full install) from Micrsoft on dsl, the speed will max and stay around 600kb/s. On Clearwire, it will go between 450 and 650 kb/sec.

I'm currently on month to month with clearwire, I want to see how it performs during a heavy rainy day. I'm curious to see if it will go out like my dish tv does.
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Old 07-03-2011, 07:59 PM
 
1 posts, read 12,477 times
Reputation: 11
Honestly would you really download 62000songs? or 125Movies 2GBs each? REALLY now. You will not download that many files over 1 month. the 250GB cap is perfect. Stop complaining. Clear on the other hand. Yeah been a clear customer since forever. Lemme tell you. Clear= EFFIN SLOW. The first 3 days= 8-10MBPS and they rest of the month, expect to be getting .15MBPS to .50MBPS. Good luck with clear. To sign out of a contract that's 40$ so be smarter.
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Old 07-07-2011, 11:40 AM
 
Location: In a van down by the river
75 posts, read 164,139 times
Reputation: 50
I've used both.

Clear coverage is like Swiss Cheese. Some areas are covered very well. Other areas are shown on coverage maps that don't jive with reality.

Then there's Clear's network management. In some areas, you get great reception, but since so many users are utilizing a Clear broadcast tower at a particular time, usually when everyone gets home from work, Clear will slow down users' connection speeds so that everyone can log on.

Clear doesn't have a hard data cap, but does have an "acceptable use policy" which states that they can disconnect you for being an "excessive" user.

Also, if you happen to be one of the users that uses/generates more traffic throughout a given day, then you are more likely to be first in the queue to be managed if/when Clear decides to implement its network management on a given tower. You are also managed more strictly (meaning your connection is slowed down even more than others) if you are one of the top bandwidth utilizers. In other words, bandwidth hogs get hit first and hit hardest by Clear's network management system when their radio towers get congested.

Not all of Clear's towers or coverage areas go through this. Some towers in Clear's coverage area are not heavily utilized due to a low number of subscribers in a particular area. If you happen to luck out and end up connecting to a low utilized tower, then you can download to your heart's content, as long as someone from Clear decides you haven't yet violated the acceptable use policy.

If you're in an area with congested towers due to a heavy subscriber base, you may be affected by the network management system even if you barely utilize the service.

Then, because Clear is a wireless service, latency (as seen in ping times) is often higher than terrestrial based internet services. This can lead to crappy voice-over-IP calls if latency is too high, even if your bandwidth and download speeds are high. In some cases, VOIP calls are fine, but typically the latency is just marginally acceptable in order to have decent VOIP calls, so it can go either way.

I've found Comcast's service to be more consistent, in terms of reliability, download speeds, latency.

See if you can get a Clear dealer to let you borrow a modem for a day and take it to your location, maybe offer to make a deposit on the modem, see if you can test out the service for a couple of days. Or find a friend who has Clear come over to your place with his equipment and you'll get a feel for the speeds and latency you would get when not hogging the bandwidth.

Prices are available at clear.com

Quote:
Originally Posted by DJboutit View Post
I am thinking about getting clear internet I have comcast right now I hate there 250gb cap looking to switch to another ISP. I live on the south west side right near the loop what are the speeds like in the Willow Meadows Willowbend Meyerland area. Has anybody switched from Comcast to Clear what are the advantages of going to clear would it be worth it to switch?? If I were to go with Clear service 1 router & 1 usb adapter how much a month would this cost??
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Old 07-07-2011, 01:26 PM
 
Location: Houston
6,870 posts, read 14,795,863 times
Reputation: 5890
My only options were Comcast and Clear. I've been with Comcast in the past for cable TV and after canceling that I swore I would never use them again for anything. So I've been with clear for about 8 months now with minimum problems. My only problem is streaming a movie on my TV while trying to surf the net on my laptop at the same time. The connection slows to the point that I just have to pick one to do at a time.
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Old 07-08-2011, 12:03 PM
 
Location: Conroe
270 posts, read 476,082 times
Reputation: 256
IK agree with everyone on Clear and their coverage. Depends on where you're at.

Had great service in Spring. Moved to The Woodlands and I'm between TWO towers and it's an absulute dead area. Before I moved out there I asked the guy. Do you have coverage ? "Awwww yeah." Gave him my address,looked it up and he's like "yeah see ?"

From the start, I got one bar on my signal. Plus the trees out here ? Awww man......then when it rained ???? It would take a day for service to come back.

But at the same time I hear people complain about comcast.

I went with Uverse and not a single problem. Love it.
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