Today, Clearwire unveiled the WiMAX network in Portland, Ore., that we covered last month. Portland is the first city to get WiMAX service under the Clear brand since Clearwire closed its WiMAX spectrum merger with Sprint last month. Portland joins Baltimore, Md., as Clearwire’s only pure WiMAX network in the country.
Clearwire plans to upgrade its 46 pre-WiMAX markets in the coming years. Meanwhile, it looks like other pure WiMAX deployments, such as Chicago, are getting pushed back. Clearwire has said it may slow its WiMAX deployments in response to the financial crisis, but CEO Ben Wolffe said in December that decision would be made at a January board meeting, the date of which has not been set as of today. Pricing for the Clear service in Portland runs from $30 per month for 200 MB to $50 per month for unlimited data for wireless service and from $20 per month for 768 kbps uplink to $40 per month for up to 6 Mbps up for home service.
I’d be curious to hear if anyone (other than a Clearwire employee) has ever had a good experience with them. Everything I’ve read is completely negative about the slow speeds and bad customer service. In theory I’d love to have their service, but if all they’re offering are slow speeds and bad customer service.. I’ve already got Comcast for that.
Im using it right now as I type this …. Im getting great speed and have had great customer service. it also depends on what dealer your dealing with. there are a few bad dealers just like cell phones but Ive found a great dealer and great service. infact they went the extra mile for me. I am proud to be a Clear customer
It works great in Baltimore!!!!
Some Portlanders are wondering if it is to blame for recent rash of XM radio outages.
http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_011609_news_xm_reception.d575a79.html
XM radio operates two satellites, cleverly nicknamed Rock and Roll which operate between 2333 and 2344 MHz; when you factor in intermodulation distortion, this could indeed be an issue.
The other problem could be that XM finally reduced the power output of their terrestrial repeaters which have been frequently cited by the FCC as broadcasting above authorized power levels. WiMAX vendors have been howling for this to happen for some time and, if it now has, XM could be finding themselves unable to provide the same level of coverage.