>>>>> "John" == John Jason Jordan <[email protected]> writes:
John> [...] I have had Comcast at home for internet and basic tv channels John> for several years. I have never had any significant problem with John> them. [...] Comcast has an immediate significant problem for me. That is, lack of freedom. Freedom is a major advantage of Free Software, and it is a major advantage of open access networks. Comcast is largely free to do whatever they want with rates and restrictions. Yes, they are sometimes fast. But also, yes, they block useful things at a whim. Compared to 100 Mbps symmetric fiber you can get in Tokyo for $11/month, they are FAIL. John> As for speed, at one time they were throttling torrents, [...] Clear is not going to be a good choice if you plan to run torrents. They use a medium (the airwaves) that has a finite capacity, and they are likely to be aggressive about keeping it relatively free, to enable them to get the oversell ratios to the point where it's profitable for them. John> [...] Recently Clear had a table at PSU with a couple employees, John> each with a laptop. [...] They were probably not Clear employees. Clear has been extremely open to resellers. Many, many podunk little computer consultancies, ISPs, cell phone dealers, etc have been signing up to resell Clear. You see "Clear people" everywhere. Few to none of them are Clear employees, any more than the cell phone kiosk dudes/dudettes at the mall are Verizon or AT&T employees. I don't know what the resale deal is, but I suspect they get a cut of the subscription fee. Clear has had a lot of money dumped into it. Intel alone gave it something on the order of $1.5 Billion (somewhat amusingly, the devices that Clear is using on the network are not using Intel radios, but broadcom and motorola). Comcast, Sprint and others have also invested in Clear. Right now, Clear is aggressively advertising to get subscribers. We (Personal Telco) have been told that Clear can be used to backhaul PTP hotspots. If that is verified by experience, then they can be counted as sharing-friendly and we'll identify them as such to potential node hosts. John> For me their bandwidth/cost ratio is not impressive. But I am at John> home 90% of the time, and when I am not at home I am at PSU, John> Free Geek, Roots, or someplace else where I can get online for John> free. If I traveled all over the city all day long and needed a John> constant connection that would be a different matter. Right now, there are no linux drivers for the Clear USB WiMax device. So mobile WiMax use for linux (and Mac, I think still) is problematic. You can take the Clear Home modem thingie with you, and it uses a standard 12V power supply and has ethernet ports so drivers are not an issue with it. Just a bit bulky, is all. That is, in summary, what I know about Clear. Eventually (when device drivers appear and work reliably), they might be a good choice for mobile Linux and Mac users. Right now they might be a good alternative to Comcast in places you can't get DSL or where DSL service is crappy. But ultimately, for fixed-location service, I think open-access (by which I mean where you have an wide choice of ISP and Terms of Service) fiber is the way to go. -- Russell Senior, Secretary [email protected] _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
