Clearwire - are they any good?

Ludo

I'm sure there has been a thread about this before but without the search functionality I can't find it so apologies to all if this has been done to death.

I am thinking of signing up to Clearwire today as it is the only option available to me bar satellite at the moment. Could someone who has it already give me an idea of what they are like please. Is it reliable, etc, etc?

Thanks.

Private Joker

Two friends of mine have this and have had no probs . good pings for gaming too.

Shougeki

Contacted them yesterday and was provided with pretty much all the information i asked for. Only reason im humming and hawing is the contract length......

Ludo

Well I just ordered it ten minutes ago. First impressions are good anyway. They will be deliverng the modem to me in about an hour at work so I will be good to go once I get home this evening...nice one.

Took the 2meg option for the first six months and can drop down then if I want once the special offer period is over.

The yearly rolling contract is wrong they said alright. After the first year it becomes a monthly rolling contract if you dont cancel it and not yearly as it says in their terms and conditions. They offered to give me that in writing if I wanted it so there will be no quibbles.

I hope the bb service is as good as their sales staff.

dub45

Ludo wrote:

Well I just ordered it ten minutes ago. First impressions are good anyway. They will be deliverng the modem to me in about an hour at work so I will be good to go once I get home this evening...nice one.

Took the 2meg option for the first six months and can drop down then if I want once the special offer period is over.

The yearly rolling contract is wrong they said alright. After the first year it becomes a monthly rolling contract if you dont cancel it and not yearly as it says in their terms and conditions. They offered to give me that in writing if I wanted it so there will be no quibbles.

I hope the bb service is as good as their sales staff.

If 'the one year rolling contract' is wrong (and dont forget the 60 day notice of termination period!) why dont they fix it in the terms and conditions that are displayed on their site? Surely the fact that it has now been brought to their notice by a number of people would mean they would be anxious to 'correct' the 'misprint' as soon as possible?

And what sort of a company insists on these type of conditions in the first place? No other isp asfaik has attempted anything like this in their T&C's.

Get it in writing signed and dated before you sign up!!!

DamoVOTF

I contacted them again today about the student deal and they said it would be hopefully available online only from next week. (I think they meant a weeks time).

I am waiting for this before I get it, as being a student I dont need anymore expense than totally possible.

If anyone hears anymore on this please give a post up here.

Yggr of Asgard

DUB45, where is your usual "any reputable company" phrase you use in all topics about clearwire? Did your company today not give you enough time to dish on a competitor?


Back to the Question: Clearwire - are they any good?

I have the 2 MB pack and I am constantly having very good download rates (251.4 kbs from US sites for example).

When I complained that I sometimes had problems with VOIP they did some modifications and now VOIP is running fine.

Tech Support guys are good (not the usualy India crap) and very keen on helping if there is a question.

Setup is easy, find the point with strongest signal, put the LAN cable either into your router or pc/laptop network port and off you go.

I so far can't find a down side and I'm using it a lot for both work and games.

And you can always try and return it if you are not happy.

jd-ie

Got my modem yesterday, and very pleased with the speed. It's all good so far!

philologos

theres been a lot of praise for em go for it

dub45

dublin-texas wrote:

DUB45, where is your usual "any reputable company" phrase you use in all topics about clearwire? Did your company today not give you enough time to dish on a competitor?


Back to the Question: Clearwire - are they any good?

I have the 2 MB pack and I am constantly having very good download rates (251.4 kbs from US sites for example).

When I complained that I sometimes had problems with VOIP they did some modifications and now VOIP is running fine.

Tech Support guys are good (not the usualy India crap) and very keen on helping if there is a question.

Setup is easy, find the point with strongest signal, put the LAN cable either into your router or pc/laptop network port and off you go.

I so far can't find a down side and I'm using it a lot for both work and games.

And you can always try and return it if you are not happy.

That is the very point I am trying to make - you are signed up presumably to a two year contract unless you opted for the extra for the one year. And apart from bad service suppose you want to get out of the contract for any other reason like moving or suppose a new product comest to marked?

Thats you locked in. I dont know why it upsets you so much that I try to warn people about Terms and Conditions that in my view are most unsatisfactory. I regularly criticise terms and conditions that I think are unsatisfactory no matter who the company is.

Again I repeat a 'reputable' company will have its terms and conditions well thought out and in place they wont be 'correcting' them over the phone or claiming a 'misprint'. If people want to go with Clearwire or anyone else thats fine but they should do so in the full knowledge of what they are letting themselives in for.

antodeco

Jesuz Dub45, u must seriously have something against clearwire. You havent said 1 good thing aboout them in any post you have put up. U must work for IBB or something! Its funny because you are the only person saying anything bad about clearwire. Ive never had a problem with them. Anyone who has posted has the same, so why do you bother complaining about a company that you are not even a customer of, or have had any experience of. At the end of the day, you seem unhappy about everything, whilst everybody else are happy to sign with clearwire. If the contract was 5 years I would still connect. Sure anyway, even if the contract was only 6 months, youd be complaining that there is a contract at all. Nobody is agreeing with you at all, so enjoy your rant, because ive enjoyed mine! :cool:

dub45

antodeco wrote:

Jesuz Dub45, u must seriously have something against clearwire. You havent said 1 good thing aboout them in any post you have put up. U must work for IBB or something! Its funny because you are the only person saying anything bad about clearwire. Ive never had a problem with them. Anyone who has posted has the same, so why do you bother complaining about a company that you are not even a customer of, or have had any experience of. At the end of the day, you seem unhappy about everything, whilst everybody else are happy to sign with clearwire. If the contract was 5 years I would still connect. Sure anyway, even if the contract was only 6 months, youd be complaining that there is a contract at all. Nobody is agreeing with you at all, so enjoy your rant, because ive enjoyed mine! :cool:

I dont know anything about Clearwire's performance so I cannot comment on that. As a bb user the terms and conditons that companies attempt to foist on their customers concern me. It is very easy to say in the early stages of signing up for a Company that their terms and conditions dont concern you.
If you are happy to accept probably theh worst T&C's in respect of length of contract and notice period that I am aware of that is your choice. If you dont find it strange that Clearwire appear to be in no hurry to amend Terms and Conditions to take out a so called 'misprint' that is your choice.

I have no difficulty with Companies having contracts - they are entitled to recoup their costs over a period but I think a six months contract with subsequently a months notice to quit is perfectly reasonable.

antodeco

I appreciate your concern for us Dub45. However, with all my dealings with clearwire they have been very helpful and have always gone beyond what I asked them. I think for once this is a genuine company who want to make everying right. In reference to the T&C's, I have in writing that the misprint is indeed a misprint and its a standard monthly rolling contract. They advised me that it was upto their parent company Clearwire International to change their T&C's, but they have to wait on them, before they can change them. And I believe them. As is said, they seem genuine and they want to make sure that people are happy, to get a good name, rather than screwing people over.

dub45

antodeco wrote:

I appreciate your concern for us Dub45. However, with all my dealings with clearwire they have been very helpful and have always gone beyond what I asked them. I think for once this is a genuine company who want to make everying right. In reference to the T&C's, I have in writing that the misprint is indeed a misprint and its a standard monthly rolling contract. They advised me that it was upto their parent company Clearwire International to change their T&C's, but they have to wait on them, before they can change them. And I believe them. As is said, they seem genuine and they want to make sure that people are happy, to get a good name, rather than screwing people over.

How can something so deliberate be a 'misprint'? The mere fact that they would say something like that would make me doubt them. The terms and conditions as posted on the site will apply in law to anyone signing up for Clearwire at the moment unless like you they get a statement in writing. this means that from the beginning there are two sets of terms and conditions in place.

The Terms and Conditions on the web are very uncustomer friendly they are consciously designed to make it as difficult as possible for a customer to leave.

And as for their parent company having to amend them please...............:rolleyes:

Sadly I have seen this all before - it is not so long since IBB and UTV were the darlings of boards. The time to judge a company's performance is when they are up and running and dealing with the normal day to day running of of a service. At the beginning they are all 'nice'. Where will the person be in six months time who is now telling cusomers over the phone that the website contains a misprint?

antodeco

dub45 wrote:

How can something so deliberate be a 'misprint'? The mere fact that they would say something like that would make me doubt them. The terms and conditions as posted on the site will apply in law to anyone signing up for Clearwire at the moment unless like you they get a statement in writing. this means that from the beginning there are two sets of terms and conditions in place.

The Terms and Conditions on the web are very uncustomer friendly they are consciously designed to make it as difficult as possible for a customer to leave.

And as for their parent company having to amend them please...............:rolleyes:

Sadly I have seen this all before - it is not so long since IBB and UTV were the darlings of boards. The time to judge a company's performance is when they are up and running and dealing with the normal day to day running of of a service. At the beginning they are all 'nice'. Where will the person be in six months time who is now telling cusomers over the phone that the website contains a misprint?

Funny that you say that. Have clearwire 6 months now!! So they have been around for a while. I can see that you obviously dont believe in innocent till proven guilty. Also, where I work it takes 3 months for T&C's to be changed. Our parent company, a well known mobile phone company, must approve it and have it legally checked before we can change it. We would generally stick in a sheet of paper with the amendments on it. Legally, any amendments made to a t&c is binding. I have it in writing that the t&c's are wrong. I am happy to accept this as I have it in writing. As you mentioned in a previous post, "get it in writing". Now that I have, you still dont seem to accept it. When the T&c's are changed online, im sure you'll be complaining that the font size is too small! Again, legally it must be at least 12 points.

Also, why would Clearwire screw their first customers over?
Have you rang clearwire to talk to somebody about this?
Do you know anyone who is using clearwire?
Have you a legal background regarding the display of t&c's?
Have you researched this "terrible untrustworthy" company that is clearwire?
Do you have evidence to support your paranoia over Clearwires sordid t&c's?
Do you have anybody who can back you up on Clearwires delibirate misrepresentation of the t&c's?

Until you can answer yes to all those above questions, I suggest you listen to what others are saying and compliment Clearwire on actually providing a good service.

dub45

antodeco wrote:

Funny that you say that. Have clearwire 6 months now!! So they have been around for a while. I can see that you obviously dont believe in innocent till proven guilty. Also, where I work it takes 3 months for T&C's to be changed. Our parent company, a well known mobile phone company, must approve it and have it legally checked before we can change it. We would generally stick in a sheet of paper with the amendments on it. Legally, any amendments made to a t&c is binding. I have it in writing that the t&c's are wrong. I am happy to accept this as I have it in writing. As you mentioned in a previous post, "get it in writing". Now that I have, you still dont seem to accept it. When the T&c's are changed online, im sure you'll be complaining that the font size is too small! Again, legally it must be at least 12 points.

Also, why would Clearwire screw their first customers over?
Have you rang clearwire to talk to somebody about this?
Do you know anyone who is using clearwire?
Have you a legal background regarding the display of t&c's?
Have you researched this "terrible untrustworthy" company that is clearwire?
Do you have evidence to support your paranoia over Clearwires sordid t&c's?
Do you have anybody who can back you up on Clearwires delibirate misrepresentation of the t&c's?

Until you can answer yes to all those above questions, I suggest you listen to what others are saying and compliment Clearwire on actually providing a good service.

As I pointed out above I am not commenting on Clearwire's performance because I cannot as I am not a user. Six months is nothing in terms of judging a company's performance as for instance people are finding out with IBB at the moment or in recent times UTV or on an ongoing basis Esat's accounts department.

I am basing my comments on how Clearwire present themselves to potential cusomers. I have never described Clearwire as 'terrible untrustoworthy' I dont know where you got that quote from nor have I used words like 'sordid' and if you wish to argue at least quote me accurately. Nor have I said that Clearwire are deliberately misrepresenting Terms and Conditions. And a good service and rotten Terms and Conditions are not mutually exclusive!

You state that Clearwire's parent company have to approve changes in Terms and Conditions. Presumably then the parent company have approved the Terms and Conditions presented on the web site - so how can there be a misprint when it was checked and is presumably a straight lift from their American terms and conditions given the reference to dollars?

If the terms and conditions have to be checked and approved by the parent company then on whose authority are Clearwire stating that the terms on the website are wrong? If they have the authority to verbally amend the T&C's then why cant them amend the printed version?

And why is the default option on the order form still two years? thats not part of the formal terms and conditions so could easily be amended?

Will Clearwire be writing to all their customers to tell them that they now have new terms and conditions?

Legally, any amendments made to a t&c is binding.

That is not correct and even Clearwire recognise this see para 29 of their T&C's.

And seeing as how you mention it the font size is pretty small ok!.

Tiesto

well my friend has been using clearwire for a while now.he thinks its great and works for gaming too..
i live on much lower ground than he so i found it difficult to get a signal..
but after a bit of effort i managed to get between 1 and 2 blocks out of the 5...
doesnt sound that great but i was so surprised.Even tho i had between 1 and 2 blocks, it was still excellent, i was getting massive download speeds.

Ludo

Well I ordered it yesterday and they dropped the modem into me straight away at work as the guy I ordered off said he would be passing my office later in the morning...how bad.

Works like a treat so far. Could only get two bars at first but even then irishisptest.com was reporting 1.6Mbps and everything was zipping along.

Around 8 o' clock the speed dropped so I played with the position of the modem some more and got it to flicker between four and five bars. Performance still wasnt as good as earlier in the evening but that is to be expected I guess when everyone starts using it. First impressions are excellent anyway. I hope it lasts.

Yggr of Asgard

I rather invest in shares/options/projects of Craig McCaw than in shares/options/projects of Eircom (hopefully Swisscom buys that outshoot and brings some customer focused service into it). Man, he got 11 Billion $ when he sold his Celluar Network over to AT&T.

What upsets me is that DUB45 blindly assumes that we all are idiots that don't read T&C when we sign up for something important like Internet Access, especially when in large capital letters on top of the T&C there is a remark about minimum contract and even where exactly that part is in the later of the document.

I read the T&C and don't find them worse than my Sky contract, NASN TV contract, my 3 contract (where is DUB45 rant about their t&c) and god even my bank's T&C.

Maybe DUB45 can finaly tell us for who he is working so that we all can see in what great shape his T&C's are. Obviously he must be working for some form of competition when he who even does not have Clearwire and seams to have no interest in getting Clearwire has time to constantly check if the T&C's have changed and constantly monitor the board to be able to post about the "worst terms" of this "unreputable" company.

DamoVOTF

Dub45, I am appreciative of your input, as I am an idiot who normally doesnt read the terms and conditions.

But I think you have made your point. Why not just tell us what to ask about rather than get tore into Clearwire?

We thank you for the info but not the way you present it.

PS. Still waiting on the clearwire student deal!

LFCFan

I take it the Clearwire system is the same as Ripwave (i.e. non LOS) except that is uses Wimax and actually works?

Ludo

yep...not line of sight. I had IBB out a while back but the line of sight failed for them. I'm glad it did now to be honest after what I have been reading about their service.