Syl and I took a look a few different internet options aside from the usual: cable, DSL, or FIOS. The requirements were that the service would need to be a) temporary, b) able to be shared, c) free of obtrusive installations, and d) convenient - no long-term contract requirements. Two options immediately sprang to mind - EVDO access using a Sprint data card + Kyocera KR1 router or Clearwire.
Due to the fact that Sprint would require an actual long-term contract, we decided to check out Clearwire which offers month-to-month service. Clearwire launched with the intent of providing nationwide Wi-Max broadband access to the masses. Since 2004, Clearwire has added a handful of major metropolitan cities to its service coverage map.
The convenience of online shopping, right?
In todays internet age, I find it more convenient and efficient to utilize online resources to make purchases. Purchasing service through http://clearwire.com should be no different from completing an order through http://sprint.com, http://cingular.com, or http://comcast.com. Unfortunately, a recent scenario proved that shopping online can still feel very alien.
Welcome to clearwire.com
Immediately, we visit http://clearwire.com. We are greeted with a general landing page with a clear-cut navigation, an invitation to "Save up to $100 when you order online today" (Bingo!), three service option summaries, a quick "Get pricing and service availability", and an invitation for "Live chat".
How much and is it available in the neighborhood?
We’re both informed, we know what Clearwire is all about, and we understand that Wi-Max coverage is still being rolled out. Let’s fast forward, check coverage availability, and enter the address where service will be used. Visitors have a convenient form for entering a street address, zip code, and floor. Floor?
I know Clearwire means to convey a message along the lines of "How many floors are in the home or building where the service will be used? This is important because your connection quality relies heavily on the modems ability to acquire a strong signal. Physical structures may prevent the modem from receiving the strongest signal possible.", but how would the average Joe looking to leave Comcast interpret the option?
Let’s assume that everyone understands that the option refers to the number of floors in the building where service will be used. Let’s also assume that service at the address is available but that I live on the 2nd floor of a 4 floor complex. Would I enter option 2 since I live on the second floor? Or, do I enter 4 because I live in a complex with 4 floors? What If I lived on the ground floor of an 8 floor apartment? If this extensive of a preliminary inquiry is required, users might as well be asked to enter whether or not they live in a brick, all steal, concrete, or wood structure. There are no directions or hints explaining why "floor" is so important. [No reference in the FAQ] Sprint or Verizon don’t ask whether I’ll be sitting in a garage, lounging at home, or walking outside during service usage.
Experimenting with a number of different scenarios, the resulting page which expresses whether coverage is available mentions nothing about what affect the floor may have on your service.
Our first few attempts checking coverage availability resulted with the above image. Because of this initial hurdle, we were unable to find out how much the service would be on a month-to-month basis. As potential customers, it would be much easier to see a quick overview of the pricing tiers - for comparison with other services - before having to enter any type of personal information.
I’m having issues ordering, can I talk to a sales rep?
After realizing that little progress was going to be made as far as ordering service online was concerned, we resorted to contacting a sales or support representative. At the time of posting, the Live Chat graphical links redirected to an email form with the prompt that no representatives were available. With that in mind, we located a telephone number at the top right corner of the page next to Store Locater. The number reads 1-888-Clearwire - C-L-E-A-R-W-I-R-E = 9 characters which when added to 1-888 would equal 13. Your standard telephone number is comprised of 10 - this might throw a few people off.
1-888-Clearwire = 1-888-253-2794-73 which does not equal the 1-888-253-2794 shown in FAQ. Regardless, we dial and listen to the available prompts for opening new service. Calling from both a 206 & 425 area code numbers (which area clearly major metropolitan areas in Seattle / Bellevue), we both received the following (20 sec. recording). Not exactly the answer we’re looking for when the coverage map clearly covers our area(s).
Disclaimer
It is important to note that this entry was published after initial attempts of checking coverage availability and ordering service online failed. At the time, Clearwire coverage availability was reporting that the address entered was outside of the coverage area. Subsequent inquires later in the day oddly reported that the address was indeed within the service coverage area. The experience shopping online does not reflect the quality of the actual internet service - I am more than happy to and look forward to comparing Clearwire to Sprints solid EVDO network which I use daily with both a Novatel U720 (external USB) & Vaio VGN-TXN15P (bult-in)..
86 Comments
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No that you need warning, but I would strongly advise against using Clearwire as your ISP. Just last month I finished a one year contract with them… and ran screaming for RoadRunner. My reason for leaving was simple: unreliable connection speed and usually that of dial-up. They had great tech support and were quick to respond, but they could never find a reason for my shoddy connection (read: 56K).
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Adam, the low speeds seems to be a consistent complaint from users who present the disadvantages of the service. It’s difficult to justify choosing Clearwire over a porvider like Sprint when you take into consideration the fact that a) Clearwire service requires that you use a bulky (textbook sized) modem and b) that same modem be plugged into a wall outlet.
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I’ve gone through the same thing while attempting to sign-up/research on Clearwire. The website is poorly designed as you stated. Thumbs up for sharing. I bet lots of people have had the same experience but don’t bother write about it.
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Geez… They have you all smoked. First off Clearwire’s current service is NOT wi-max. It’s pre-wimax technology called “EXPEDIENCE” this service offers at the most a 2mb download speed.
They were originally planning on having some of the wi-max markets opened this year (2007) but now it looks like they won’t be out until next year at a minimum (2008)
It’s all smoke and mirrors. They are working with Sierra to develop a pc-card for laptops but have not been able to perfect the dualmode capability. It would be a real shame to get the clearwire laptop card and only be able to go within the clearwire coverage area. It’s also important to note that the SECTORS are much smaller than the FOOTPRINT.
It is all totally flawed from a technology standpoint to an investment standpoint. I think what they are hoping for is for their good friends in Kansas to bail them out yet again.
BOB
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Bob, smoke & mirrors indeed. You don’t sound too optimistic that Clearwire can pull something positive out of their magic closet. Thanks for the bit concerning the fact that Clearwire operates using a pre-WiMax technology. I wasn’t able to find much info concerning Expedience and Clearwire though. Any external links?
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Hey derek I’m not as tech savvy as id like but here is a link to the fact sheets on motorolas website
http://www.nextnetwireless.com/products_specs.asp
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I enjoyed Clearwire for about three months… then the connection started moving so slowly that I realized I could have saved myself $45.99 a month and just gotten some cheap dial-up ISP for all the problems I had. Tech support (at the 888 number, in-store help might as well come from my 3 year old niece, who seems to be more computer savvy than the employees I faced) was very friendly and determined to help me out with my connectivity problems, but when you’re told to point the modem southeast, facing a window, without any trees or houses in the way even though your main “tower” is 1.2 miles from your home, you might as well just give up. I wouldn’t have been surprised if the tech had suggested I stick my left hand out the window with a roll of tinfoil and place my right hand on the modem at the same time.
Billing is paperless and charged to a credit or debit card monthly, which is another complaint I had. They never sent an electronic invoice of charges nor did I ever get a notification that the fee had been withdrawn from my checking account. When I initially signed up with them, the tech who installed the modem and opened my account asked for a credit card, “for identification purposes” only. Imagine my surprise when the following month I didn’t receive a bill from Clearwire, but found a fee of $45.99 on my card instead. The paperless billing isn’t something I found out about until I called customer service to inquire about the charge to my credit card… and there’s no option to receive a paper statement. There’s also no service statement with your monthly due date, so I had to get that from the person I spoke with to ensure the funds would be in my checking account at the proper date.
When my contractual obligation was through, I ran back to Comcast with my tail tucked between my legs. That I could have left a company I had had years of great service with just to save a few bucks a month really killed me. And canceling was a nightmare and close to impossible. It took 20 minutes and three in-store representatives to cancel the account after all three insisted I was still on contract and would have to pay a $180 termination fee. It wasn’t until I told them to check the year as well as the month that these three geniuses realized I was, indeed, off contract.
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There had to have been some type of violation going on with the billing issues - lacking electronic or paper bills yet charging accounts for service.
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That’s not the only violation they are facing…
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I was reading and wanted to put my view in… I just want to say that I am very pleased with my Clearwire service. I own a couple of businesses and then I also DJ at weddings and it is great to have the internet wherever I go!
The modem is the size of a small paperback book, weighs about 2 lbs, and takes me less than 30 seconds to pack with me.
I’m happy, that’s all I can say, and it’s cheaper than cable. One strange thing, though, is I’m supposed to be getting 1.5Mbps, but I have tested it over and over again, I always get at least that, sometimes I have had it test as high as 2.6Mbps, Usually I get around 2Mbps though. Anyways, unless you need to huge speed, Clearwire is a great option. Plus it gets us away from those antique cable companies! I read somewhere that Clearwire’s churn rate is less than 1.5% so I don’t see them going out of business anytime soon. Anyways, like I said, I’m happy!
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My landlord just kicked Comcast to the curb and got Clearwire to my dismay. I seem to be able to browse around fine (sometimes), but my downloads and uploads are crawling at slow dial up speeds. My old 56.6k modem puts Clearwire to shame. Sad. Very sad. And I thought I hated Comcast….
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Wait, so your landlord got Clearwire as the entire buildings internet service? How many different routers are setup?
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Hi I too “WAS” happy with my Clearwire account for the first 3 months that is…. Now I get laughed at when I attempt to use a brodband speed test, they have”NO RECOMENDATIONS FOR
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I’m writing this using my niece’s Clearwire connection in Reno, and I’m really impressed–by its utter simplicity, and by the speed. Setup really is that simple–just plug it into a power outlet, plug in one’s computer, and it’s up. Surfing is very snappy, too.
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I welcome anyone who is thinking about joining clearwire to check out http://www.clearwiresucks.com. See the complaints that people have, to make you better equipped if you decide to join then.
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I’ve used Clearwire in Jacksonville, FL for almost a year. While it has always been reliable and I never have connection problems, the speed is horrible. Even though speakeasy.net/speedtest always reports a 1-1.5 meg download, I can’t use this for anything more than simple browsing and email access. Trying to stream Youtube or any video is choppy and useless. I have never had that problem, even with DSL at the same speeds. Several calls to Customer Service have left no resolution. Speed immediately get better after complaining. But, after a week, it’s back to the same old thing. After my contract is up, I will cancel it without a doubt. In the meantime, I put a Cisco router and access point/high gain antenna on it and give it to my neighbors for free! I work a lot from home and Clearwire is not up to the task for VPN or any type of remote access.
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I;ve just signed up with clearwire. I live in Anchorage AK. I have feelings of DOOM! since reading all the negitive input. Decided I’d give in 30 days to prove it’s self, or prove the naysayers right. I’ll let you know whats up.. Lee
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I had clearwire, it worked ok for about 5 months then in the spring time the connection would not stay. Call the techs and they are very nice, but blame the problem on trees?
Now they want $192.80 for early termination fee and billed my credit card 3 times and they say they will not take off the charge. I believe they are ready for a class action law suit?
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Agree with all negative comments about Clearwire. Unfortuanately my contract runs through March 2008. Hate the automatic credit card payment which I also did not know was going to happen. Download speed is miserable and I kept thinking it was my computer until I read all the above comments. I must say the Tech Support people are nice to work with. Trying to think of a way to stop the credit card payment and toss the modem in the Atlantic (a block away).
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Because I was thinking of investing in Clearwire’s stock I starting investigating anything about this newer WiMAX technology. After reading all these issues I’m not sure what to do. But I’m also looking at the growth of this company compaired to the complaints, (all company’s have them), from 1,000 (Sept 2004) customers to more than 200,000 as of March 2007. Also in July 2007 Sprint Nextel partnered to accelerate WiMAX technology across the US. Could all these issues be just Clearwire working out all the kinks? I’m going to check out Tims lead> http://www.clearwiresucks.com and see what’s there. Thanks for all the comments.
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my daughter signed up with them and my life has been a living hell with them.she signed up with the understanding that should she move to where she would be unable to get a signal they would release her from her contract just as they had done for her boyfriend”wrong” they continued to take payments out of her account long after she canceled service with them at which point they told her she couldnt cancel because she was on a two year contract “wrong” gave out personal information to her such as the ss# driver license # date of birth and then told her I signed this contract with them ,never met these salespeople not my information on the account they have been calling me 10 to 15 times a day everyday have the phone records to prove it. Had to finally complain to the attorney general we will see what happens next.
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I was here at Clearwire Belgium, and I can tell you there is something about them they don’t tell you. They are actively blocking VoIP ports only so customers don’t use it because else they would figure out their service is unreliable.
Skype does work, but since there is lag every now and then, I had to ask my phone partner againg and again to repeat what she had said.
Oh, and if you are into internet gaming, make sure it is a very SLOW game. Because in games like WoW or ego-shooters you might notice the lag that occurs from time to time.
As for the contract, make sure they don’t rip you off if you should ever cancel the contract. They might not tell you that they keep charging invoices as long as you have the modem, no matter whether you actively cancelled the contract or not. One of their “rules” is that their customer support does not even know they certainly can shutdown your connection. So the support people keep telling you that as long as you have the modem, they keep billing you, no matter whether you cancelled the contract or not. I lost 2 monthly fees because of that.
A 2 MBit/s contract here is 38.99 €. No webspace. 10 GB volume.
Compare that to a 29.99 € DSL provider with 6 MBit/s and 100MB webspace (and 5 emails etc.), and 20 GB volume, and a <20 ping to UK game servers.
I personally regret I ever chose Clearwire. Do yourselves a favour and choose a good local ISP.
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I have clearwire and I love it. I think that the problems that clearwire is having will be sorted out. I don’t understand why everyone is surprised with these issues the company is having it’s a brand new company they have only been out for a few years. Isn’t anyone familiar with dish network and direct tv which have problems receiving signal when it rains. Doesn’t anyone have a cell phone?! How many times do you get dropped calls? How many times does the phone call sound like he–o c-n y– he– me, exactly! At least you can here your favorite mp3’s though. I don’t want to hear music I want to hear the call!!!!! Has anybody ever tried canceling their phone service,cable or satellite service. What about home security alarms, does anybody have one of those?! (Don’t get me started ) My point is most of these companies (and many companies I didn’t name) have contracts, customer service, reliable service and payment issues, c’mon folks get over it. We pay way more for other things that don’t work but you’ll continue to give them your money right, WOW.
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Clearwire is fine. Its not great, buts its fine. I get decent download speeds, true its not good for gaming. I choose clearwire because I couldn’t get DSL, and I just hated comcast so much. Comcast charges an insane amount of money, would never work with my wireless routers, had horrible and rude customer service, were always raising their rates without warning, and is about to be bought up by another evil monopoloy, Timewarner. In my mind anything would have been better then comcast, even dial up. Thats why I choose clearwire. I know its a developing technology, and a new company, but if we don’t support new companies and technologies how will they ever compete against aweful large comglomerate monopolies like comcast and timewarner. I am curious to see how WiMax developes in the future.
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They offer voip they have to be kidding LOL, Read about 911 before you buy. Even they think it’s a joke. Nice wirteup
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Thanks for all these pro / cons. I live out in the country with very slow (read 33k dial up speeds at best) and verzion has signs (no lie) less than three miles from my house (in two directions) that read “get your dsl on” but it’s not available to me. Also my phone line used to go out at least once a month. Finally that has gotten better, but not my dial up on this line. Its crap. Alternatives are satelite ($$$) or Clearwire. I was all hyped before I came here, now I’m just not sure.
911 service is nice, but I do know my local police and fire numbers (small town- I can still call them). So the speed is 56k? that is still, sadly better than what I have now. Could my daughter play flash games on disney or Nick.com? They do offer a month to month? Can you get out of that contract easily? I use Linux, so I won’t even bother with their customer service, as I would probally find quicker answers using the library pc. lol.
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The answers are easy
1. No, to slow to play games
2. No one and two year contracts only any change renews your contract
3. No for about $180.00 you might get out.
Please note there is no paper trail with clearwire.
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Questions from Steve:
1>Can your daughter play flash games on disney or Nick.com?
That depends on how fast your processor is and which speed you go with clearwire has different speeds.
2>They do offer a month to month?
You can just buy the modem $100,pay a little more for activation and you can go month to month. NOTE if one year agreement is too long and you think within that year you won’t be able to pay the $35 dollars for that month then you should cancel your cell phone service! Thanks.
3>Can you get out of that contract easily?
No, it’s not that easy there’s a cancellation fee, but you shouldn’t sign up if you think you’re going to move in the next year or go completely broke.
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It doesn’t matter what speed you pay for I pay for one 1/2 meg and get 400k most of the time. Then there are times that they are not much more that dial up speeds.
http://security-central.us/forums/showthread.php?t=11194
But if you stay up until four in the morning then you may get the speed you are paying for. But some one may buy them out and it may get better as the are around $20.00 a share from a high of almost $40.00
Cell phone service??? thought we were talking about ISP’s
Pay $100 of a modem that you can’t use when your done with clearwire?
As clearwire adds costumers the do not add equipment fast enough to keep up download and uplaod speeds. The more they add the less speed you get. IMHO
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I’ve had Clearwire for around a year now, always get great download speeds, always above the bandwidth limit they advertise. The only issue I have is they seem to shape my bandwidth to the point where ONLY internet is fast. I try playing games or torrenting or even sharing files on AIM or MSN and it’s slow.
And to the people having trouble cancelling their service after their initial contract is up, try calling your credit card company and tell them there’s unauthorized charges being made to your account. Visa has been more than happy in the past to fully refund me for services I had trouble cancelling.
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@Rip-Saw good tip to notify your credit card company about charges made to you account while you were trying to cancel. It’s something that I’ve done twice already and helped to reinforce the fact that I really wanted to cancel my account.
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Clearwire sucks!! I would NEVER recommend them to anyone. First, I given incorrect information when I signed up, the sales rep told me that if we moved from a service area, they would not charge a cancellation fee…we moved from California to Colorado and they DID NOT hold up their end of the bargain, I had to pay for two months of service that I couldn’t even use!!! They have what they call a “Retention Dept”, and that’s what they are paid to do, either “retain” or charge a butt-load to cancel. And who ever heard of “transferring” service…that’s what they suggested I do when I wanted to intially cancel. Then a month after I canceled my service for good and sent back my modem, I received a call saying I owed another payment! I called and they said had to set up a ticket to go to another department so they could approve it…what do they have to approve…my account is closed! And their customer service is terrible! Out of the 8 people I talked to, only ONE was understanding. Not to mention the connection was not that good, if it even worked at all. Needless to say, even if they do offer services where I live in the future, I would NEVER use them again and I would suggest to anyone to think twice before getting Clearwire.
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Here’s a letter my wife sent off to Clearwire…we hate them!
November 14, 2007
To Whom It May Concern:
I have never had such a frustrating customer service experience as the one I’m currently having with Clearwire. Please let me share this painful experience with you…
I can assure you, that we were VERY excited about your product and service. It was recommended by a few of my husband’s co-workers at Starbucks corporate office, and he was very eager to try it out. Prior to getting the service, we had been talking about it with all our friends and neighbors about its potential versus the cable and DSL options out there today. We ordered our Clearwire system on October 26th and had it delivered very quickly to us (great feature and prompt service)! It was easy to set up, but we immediately realized it wasn’t very useable from the minute we plugged it in. It was hit and miss in terms of speed, and had trouble staying connected to the signal. My husband spoke with your customer service and tech support that very first night because it just didn’t seem to be working right.
For the next week or so, if it was foggy, no luck…in the middle of the day, no luck. I watched my husband walk around the house for 2 nights trying every plug and window set up, no luck…we still could only get 1 bar! ONE day I did get 2 bars for about half an hour. We have trouble logging on at night, and only with the window shades up and the window cracked open (apparently the signal doesn’t travel well through double pane windows…wow, surprising defect given that most houses in the northwest have these windows!). One bar is all we can get 99% of the time.
HOWEVER, we were still big believers in Clearwire, and were not discouraged. We are having a house built, and guess what, we can see your towers in Poulsbo from anywhere on our lot! We were excited because we just knew the signal would be stronger at our new house. We took the unit to the model home in our new neighborhood, plugged it in and got 4 bars and high speed! Awesome…we had renewed excitement about Clearwire! We were still excited (even more so), because we knew it would work as expected once we moved. We told the community sales manager (of the new home development) about how cool Clearwire was, and she was excited to get all the info to share with the other home buyers who are looking for internet options other than cable, etc. There are 185 homes being built in this development! That’s a lot of potential customers for you!
However, after a week and a half (and several long phone calls to your company, one being the very first night) our love affair with your product and company has been destroyed. We do not get the speed, or the consistent connectivity that we need. My husband cannot log on and download the things he needs to from work. I cannot send pictures to friends or family. I cannot even download pictures to snapfish.com or Costco to get digital pictures printed. It’s too slow and does not meet our needs…its definitely not “high speed” internet. When it was foggy last week, forget trying to log on and read/use the Internet during the day…the router could not lock in on a signal!
So, after deciding that this very cool technology is not going to work for us right now, (while we live in a rental house while our new house is being built), we have no choice but to cancel Clearwire until a later date. Unfortunately, when we tried to cancel and tried to explain the problems we were experiencing with the service, we got nothing but a very uncompromising response, unrealistic solutions, countless holds, and transfers to 3 different people… unbelievably bad customer service!!!
The bottom line is this…It DOESN’T work for us! It doesn’t meet our needs and is too inconsistent! We should NOT have to pay a cancellation fee of $220 after only 2 weeks of horrendous service because your product does NOT work as advertised? How is that even close to fair and reasonable, let alone good customer service???? We called to complain about the service on the very first day we had it, and allowed the tech person to talk us into trying the service for a couple more weeks to be sure it wasn’t just a one time thing. Had we known there was a 7 day trial period, we would have cancelled within that time frame. How we wish we would have just canceled that very first night so we could have avoided the very bad experience we are going through now.
So, upon our trying to cancel, you sent out a field technician, who arrived with a 5 minute warning a day earlier than scheduled, thus interrupting my personal plans with my child (but that’s another customer service issue all together). And guess what, he stuck the router in a window (the same window we’ve tried many times) and got 2-3 bars and a fast connection speed. How does that happen? Of course, it was the clearest, non-foggiest, non-rainiest day we’ve had here in 2 weeks, so maybe that makes a difference. I can only guess that it helps to highlight how inconsistent your service really is. He couldn’t get more than 1 bar anywhere else in the house. And, of course, this one and only good spot was nowhere near the computer.
Perhaps if he comes back at 8pm some night, he’ll get the same frustrating, slow or non-existent speed that we get all the time? Because guess what? It’s not working again and he even taped exactly where and what angle to place the router. Go figure! Not to mention the fact that the one and only place that it works in our house is in the middle of a window sill in the middle of the kid’s play area, and only when the curtain is open. I have a 4 and 6 year old boys, and cannot have wires and routers dangerously hanging off the edge of a window sill in their play area. And do you know what the solution was for this, per your customer service rep? A wireless router!!! Hmm, so if I add yet another device (and pay more to get this setup working), I can have 2 things sitting in the window sill? Wow, would anyone with common sense think that is a legitimate solution, not to mention a safe thing to do? Why can’t we put the router in the office where we want it? Why does Clearwire think getting a signal somewhere in the house, whether or not it works out well for the customer, is perfectly acceptable and deemed as ‘meeting’ the contract? Are you willing to pay millions of dollars in lawsuits if my son dies because he trips over all those wires and strangles himself on the setup your customer service team is offering? Is that really a wise suggestion? I sure hope not everyone at Clearwire thinks this way. I’ll be sure to avoid any stock investments in Clearwire if that’s the case, because I see lots of liability in statements like that!
So, back to my thoughts and the frustration I’m feeling right this minute. Something that we were so excited about and had talked up to everybody, including the sales manager at our new home site, (where we had perfect vision of the towers and 4 bars when we tested it) will now get nothing but bad publicity from us. I can’t wait to call Lindsey and tell her NOT to recommend this service to anybody in our new development. In fact, I’ll be sure she tells them all about your terrible customer service and how you would not work with us on such a simple request. I’m sorry to say this, but we will do all we can to make sure everybody we know is aware of how poorly you have handled this situation, and also how bad your product and service is. I have never felt this way before, and have never thought I would have to act this way, but this experience has been overwhelmingly negative and is truly ruining my day. I can only hope that you find it more important to have positive word of mouth advertising then to steal $220 from a 2 week old customer with legitimate complaints. I’ve heard it said that it takes 7 good word of mouth recommendations to earn a new customer, and only 1 bad one to lose 20.
I am not exaggerating when I am telling you that my husband was OVER the TOP excited about this because he could take it most anywhere and log in (coffee shops, friend’s houses, whatever). He was really, really pumped about the potential. Now, it’s not the case. And, I’m afraid, based on principal alone, you’ve lost a great advocate for your services. Please just let us drop our service without charging us a cancellation fee, because believe me (PLEASE believe me) if we could have made this work for our needs we would have. It’s just not fair and it’s bad business.
Too bad for all…
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Clearwire is the bomb! Wi-Max is coming out and it will blow the socks off of ANY wi-fi…. Just do a google search for Wi-Max and bow down to Clearwire as they own most of the spectrum!!!!!!!!!!
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First, those of you crying about Clearwire, check it out first and read the Terms of Service and etc before you sign up. It’s your own fault if you do not read before you sign. Many want to cry over spilt milk, especially when it’s your fault it spills. Clearwire is trying to provide a newer technology and there are going to be issues, as with many things in life. If you don’t like the contract terms, then don’t get the service. But don’t get it and then cry about it later.
Secondly, the 911 issue is dictated by the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, not Clearwire. Clearwire has to follow their guidelines for E911 service. Due to the fact that VoIP or Internet Phones are not tied to an actual street address but an IP Address they do not report an address when you call 911 for emergency assistance. Clearwire, nor any other VoIP service, can provide phone service if the address does not pass E911 Verification. Again, the rules here are set up by the FEDS, not any one certain provider.
Most of y’all are just a bunch of nuts that had a bad experience and want to cry about it. Nothing in life is perfect, so live with it. I bet most of ya complainers did not read the Terms of Service and etc before you signed up and now want to blame someone else. Too Bad !!!!!
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They do have a mont to month that requires you to purchase the equipment outright, pay the activation fee and the first month of service. Maybe pricy to start up but with all of these bitter people, Im sure someone would be willing to give you thier modem?
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Well I would have to say that you are wrong. It does when the IP address is assigned to a street address. The reason that clearwire can not be sure that the 911 service will work is because of and I quote “911/E911 features may be delayed or disrupted if your Internet connection slows or is interrupted”
They can not be sure or guarantee the speed will be there for VOIP, this is going back to the “up to” speed.
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wow, these postings are great! I never expected to find so many stating problems. I’m still on dialup but only because I have high speed at work. At home, I use dialup. Clearwire is supposed to be coming to my area and I was looking forward to trying their service. I’ll do so with caution. Thanks all for your posts!
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I too have Clearwire and moved from Florida to another state where it is not available. I was told it would be a $180.00 cancellation fee and it would be deducted from my checking account. I did not authorize them to use my checking account for payment and never received a contract to sign. If I had known it was a 2 year contract I would not have taken then service. All I ever received was my modem in the mail, no contract
I have experienced frustrating converations with their customer service department and was told by a supervisor they were not going to release me from my contract without the fee. Now I wonder after reading the other comments if they will continue to take payments even after they get their cancellation fee. Will I have to cancel my checking account that I have had for 15 years? No one should have to go through all of this and still get lousy service.
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Update on my issues canceling out my 10 day old service with Clearwire (see my story in a prior post)…
I was able to cancel my account without the $220 fee and get all of the setup money refunded as well (but only after 5+ frustrating hours on the phone with customer service reps that are paid as ‘retention’ people)…here’s how I did it (don’t forget to remain calm, cool, and collected as nobody wants to deal with a hot head!)…
I went to the Clearwire website and found the email addresses for investor relations (investorrelations@clearwire.com), public relations (media@clearwire.com and teresa.fausti@clearwire.com), and then I found the names of the board of directors and correctly guessed some of their email addresses (try these craig.mccaw@clearwire.com, gerard.salemme@clearwire.com, benjamin.wolff@clearwire.com, john.butler@clearwire.com, perry.satterlee@clearwire.com), and finally I also found IT writer for the Seattle Times (bdudley@seattletimes.com).
I wrote an email (from my work email because my Clearwire didn’t work!) telling them about my horrible experience. I also included my wife’s letter (see prior posting) and some pictures of the one and only place where I could get one light on the modem (the kids play area, hanging half way off the window sill).
Within 2 minutes of hitting send, I received a phone call from the president & COO (Mr. Perry Satterlee). He was very nice, and sincerely apologized for the hassles I had gone through. He promised that I would get a full refund and no cancellation fee. He also promised that someone from Clearwire would follow up with me that day with instructions on how to send back the modem and close my account. I received three more calls that day from various people, and was emailed a UPS label for returning the modem. Within a couple of days, I saw a credit to my Visa for all the money I had paid so far, and haven’t seen any other charges!
So, this seemed to do the trick for me, and I hope it does the same for any other folks out there that have truly been duped by Clearwire. I appreciate that they did the right thing in the long run, but am still incredibly unhappy with the way I was treated until I sent my email to the leadership group. I will never recommend their products or service because of this experience…at least not until I can find only positive feedback on them, and only once they actually get true Wi-max, not radio wave coverage! Good luck to all of you unhappy customers out there…
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Thank you, thank you, thank you, one and all. I am grateful for all the postings here, and I truly believe that you have saved me a few hundred dollars and countless hours of frustration and regrets. I was seriously considering using Clearwire in order to save $9 a month (hey, finances are tight) over Comcast. After reading this though, there’s no way I’m going with Clearwire.
Thanks for all the information!
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Was a Clearwire customer for about 1 year. Had a so called business package which included 1 dedicated ip address (additional could be purchased @ $10.00 a month each). I read everything I could find online about their terms & or policies (which was almost nil) before making a phone inquiry. I was warned of the $280 early termination fee but only after I asked. It was not disclosed to me that they would automatically bill my credit card for monthly service nor was the fact that I would not recieve any form of a paper trail such as an invoice. I was further saddened to find out that I could not write a check for payment of service. I must agree with the majority on their speedy tech response. I found out super fast that they block port 80…..;( . So much for hosting an http server. They did refund my $10.00 for 1 months additional ip address fee after I discovered what ports they block. My chief dissatifaction is their non disclosure of policies/terms of service in detail prior to a contractual obligation.
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I use clearwire for work and play. My new room mate has comcast and we did a speed test with a download of a serman from his church web site and his was 3 minutes faster then mine. But he is stuck with comcast at home. I use my clearwire at Home , Church, and at work with the same modem lets see comcast or any dsl do that.
I have not had the problems you all spoke of. my speed is faster then my Quest dsl but not as fast as my room mates comcast but then Quest dsl is slower then comcast. But when the cable goes out my 3 room mates switch over to my wireless signle and use clearwire. and we all get the same speed. if I add my laptop to the comcast wireless network it drops everyone in the house to clearwire speed. so whats the problem with clearwire nothing.
I use it in Washington State in the cities of Seattle, Burien, Des Moines, Carnation, Bellevue, North Bend, Fall City, and Redmond. One (1) modem, one (1) conection, one (1) service provider. NOW tell me what other high speed internet service provider can do that. NON thats who.
Oh did you hear that potatoes can give you cancer?
just thought I would give you all something else to complain about.
Oh by the way my email address in frommydesk@clearwire.net cause I work at a job and from home so see I’m at my desk right now at home and I’m using clearwire.
Disclaimer: I live in the State of Washington Please don’t spam my email or you could be sued up to 500.00 by the State of Washington, 500.00 by clearwire my service provider and 300.00 by me yours truely. Now that you don’t want to support clearwire if you do spam me you will be giving money to clearwire. ha ha ha.
Can’t we all just get along? Most you all probly never even had clearwire bet you all work for comcast or Quest and trying to give clearwire a bad name will it’s working you think thier stocks just went up $0.84 cents on the 19th.
yours truely from my desk
Frank
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Sounds more like Frank works for Clearwire. Good for you Frank! We’re so happy that you’re happy. Hope those <= 128k uploads work well for you
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First I want to say that I do not work for Clearwire. I came across this site, read everything and figured I would look at their site. As far as the billing of your credit card; If you look on their site under the Customer Service in the FAQ the first thing there is “How am I billed” and it plainly states how you will be billed and when. As far as signal strength and connectivity speed in the FAQ section under Signal Tips, third question it will tell you that you must be in the signal area but even then you might not receive the best signal due to geographical reasons or other “unknown” circumstances. Also if you live close to the tower(s) you should get a high signal. Sorry for those who don’t, you could have a faulty modem or you are in the “area” of the signal but you are outside the service area. Also, the more people on the system the lower your bandwidth. As far the 911/E911, can you just use your cell phone? Or NOT get the VoIP and pay the $15/mo. for basic telephone service (with a land line phone) so you can talk when the power goes out? If your power goes out, your Clearwire signal goes out and your VoIP goes out too! Traditional land line phones get there power from the phone line and usually work when the power is out!
I just think some people are expecting this to be blazing fast. Look, if your a hard core gamer go with 10meg DSL or 5meg cable even then you’ll pull 2megs at best unless you have a dedicated line and you have that type of money.
As for the Sprint/Nextel Clearwire thing. Yeah it was shot down but I also read that that could possibly be and issue again and happen once Sprint/Nextel get their new CEO.
I have never used their service but you have to look at it. Its a new technology with Intel as a big promoter of it. There will be setbacks and some reliability issues at first but give it time.
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I too was told if I moved outside the service area, I would not be held responsible for and cancellation fees. But Im getting charged $180 dollars. Is there any lawsuits with this going on right now, Im ready to join. CLEARWIRE SUCKS!!!! Missfrog68@yahoo.com
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I had clearwire for about five months, not that it worked like I had hoped but I am in the navy and deployed allot. The internet worked like a 56k but it worked I tried to cancel and was told if I would have done it two day before I wouldn’t have to pay $200.00.
That was unreal, I was ordered to go to japan and called clearwire and was told give it to a friend or a family member. They have been taking $43.00 out of my Acct. for three month after I cancelled and I can not get them to stop. They keep telling me that is the last and now $209.03 TWO TIMES! I had to cancel my card or I will have no money in my Acct. am not giving this thing that does not work to anyone! So they have I will let everyone know that CLEARWIRE is a company that does not work and does not care about making this better only make money. PLEASE STAY CLEAR FROM CLEARWIRE!
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Web Site Not Supported
After the salesperson stated clearly that our WEBSITE could be moved from a cable account to ClearWire, we signed up. However, ClearWire does not support WEBSITES and will not refund our money, or even cancel without fees. Considerable time and expense has been spent before we understood the scope of the problem. A recent call to their sales team shows that they are still advertising web support. We are considering legal action to recoup fees, IT expenses and other costs. Anyone interested in joining a legal action against ClearWire? If yes, email .
LDilley
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To elaborate on my earlier submission, I had an interesting encounter with ClearWire when I requested a refund. I called ClearWire requesting a refund and was told that WEBSITES were not supported and we should not have expected them to be. I tend to record telephone transactions, so I mentioned that I have a recording from their sales person that clearly stated that WEBSITES were supported. Further, I had explained in detail my current setup with RR and what I wanted to switch it unchanged to ClearWire. I was assured that there were no technical limitations and that my specific needs were no problem. Upon hearing that I had a recording, I was asked if the current conversation was being recorded. I said it was, She replied she could not continue if the conversation was being recorded. I reminded her that ClearWire’s announcement stated that the conversation was being recorded. She said that ClearWire’s recording was OK, but she could not continue if the customer was recording. I did shut off the recording as per her request. However, she just repeated her offer of a $180.00 fee to discontinue service.
BTW: “Clearwire.action@gmail.com” is the e-mail address for those that might be interested in legal action against ClearWire.
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Hey Lee, I’m a little confused. What are you referring to when you mention the word "WEBSITES"?
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Derek: We have a business website like the millions of other commercial sites on the web (eg. http://www.xxxxxx.com