On Thu, 26 Mar 2009 04:21:04 -0700
Word Wizard <[email protected]> dijo:
> Does anyone have any experience or advice?
>
> Recently Clear WiMax has begun offering its services here in Portland. I
> was given a 7 day trial using a desktop Motorola WiMax Ethernet modem.
>
> My experience with Comcast service for both HiDef cable TV and broadband
> has been utterly dismal, with periodic service interruptions, ever
> increasing charges, poor service tech performance, etc. Comcast's
> recent addition of a 99 cent monthly service insurance charge (or pay a
> large service tech bill if they need to actually DO something) is
> particularly galling given their lack of competence.
I have had Comcast at home for internet and basic tv channels for
several years. I have never had any significant problem with them.
Recently my modem died and the first tech person I talked to failed to
get the new one working. On the second call I got a different tech
person who did the job right. Other than that minor incompetence, I
have never had a problem.
I always pay several months in advance to avoid the hassle, which
requires talking to a human instead of the automated telephone system..
About three weeks ago I made such a call and the conversation went like
this:
"I notice you have had no special offers from us for a long time."
"Ummm, well, I don't need any new service."
"No, I mean I can offer you a reduction of $12 a month in your bill for
the next six months."
"Why? What do I lose?"
"Nothing, we just like to keep our customers happy."
"Oh. OK, I suppose."
He pushed a couple buttons and now my bill is $40 a month instead of
$52.
As for speed, at one time they were throttling torrents, but I'm pretty
convinced they are telling the tuth when they say they are no longer
doing that. Instead they have gone to a monthly download limit and if
you exceed it you get charged more. I don't have any problem with that
business model. It seems reasonable to charge the heavy users more, as
long as they are not secretive about it.
I know I am getting about 2.5 - 3.0 MB/s down and about 450 KB/s up. I
use speedtest.net to check my throughput. Recently Clear had a table at
PSU with a couple employees, each with a laptop. I stopped and asked
them what their bandwidth was. They gave me some number in kb/s, not
MB/s or even KB/s, which makes it hard for me to compare quickly in my
head. So I suggested that one of them go to speedtest.net. They did,
and their download speed was 450 KB/s - a sixth of what I get with
Comcast.
I can add another little fact. There was an older student in my
Phonology class winter term who works for them. Her job is to get use
permits from the city for new tower installations (you can't just build
something any more; it must first be approved by a dozen government
agencies and there has to be a public hearing). She said that they have
at least a couple dozen requests in process all the time because of
their expansion needs. In other words, they are adding infrastructure
that they will own, rather than having to lease poles from other
utilities. I get the impression that they are intending to improve
coverage aggressively.
For me their bandwidth/cost ratio is not impressive. But I am at home
90% of the time, and when I am not at home I am at PSU, Free Geek,
Roots, or someplace else where I can get online for free. If I traveled
all over the city all day long and needed a constant connection that
would be a different matter. Plus, I suspect that if I signed up with
them I wouldn't probably notice a huge loss of speed when surfing
because the bottleneck is on the web site's end, not mine.
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