Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA) News

Why, When I Migrated Off DSL, I Didn't Consider Comcast An Option

Here's a great story about how Comcast's customer service and billing is abysmal. It mirrors my last experience with Comcast perfectly.

Here's a pithy quote from the article that says it even better: I wouldn't give my business back to Comcast, even if their service was cheaper and the technology superior - their customer service is that bad.

I haven't had much cause to deal with Clearwire's customer service or billing... but they also don't seem to go out of their way to irritate me, or just completely don't care about me as a customer, as was my experience with Comcast.

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2008 by Steve Stroh except for specifically-marked excerpts. Excerpts and links are expressly permitted (and encouraged).

This article was written and posted via Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA); Clearwire service using a NextNet Wireless / Motorola Expedience Residential Service Unit (RSU).

This article is Copyright © 2008 by Steve Stroh except for specifically-marked excerpts. Excerpts and links are expressly permitted (and encouraged).

This article was written and posted via Broadband Wireless Internet Access (BWIA); Clearwire service using a NextNet Wireless / Motorola Expedience Residential Service Unit (RSU).

Today I Use Only Clearwire Service For Home And Office

It's embarrassing to admit, but I hadn't been using my Clearwire connection very much since I signed up last year. It's a long and convoluted story about why I couldn't get my Clearwire modem connected into my household LAN, but now that's been corrected, and earlier today I "cut over" completely from pretty good Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) from a local Internet Service Provider (ISP) who I prefer not to name. (The wireline service is Verizon, but for any service issues, I deal with the ISP which was one of the primary attractions of working with them.)

A brief note - the Clearwire modem is just that - a modem. There's no router built into it. If there was, it would have been easy to set up many months ago. So if you're going to feed a household LAN from your Clearwire modem, you'll need a Network Address Translation (NAT) router.

When I have used it sporadically, the Clearwire modem has been totally plug and play. Unlike all the silliness that you have to go through with some DSL and cable systems about using their software to set up your system (which, again, if you're going to share out the connection, you have to "fake out" or later undo) and set a specific hostname, or set up Point To Point Protocol Over Ethernet (PPPOE), the Clearwire modem is, again, plug and play - just plug it in, and if your computer or router is set up for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), it'll just work.

I'm A Clearwire Customer

As of Wednesday, March 14, 2007 - approximately 3:10 PM Pacific Daylight Time, I am a functioning Clearwire customer from my home in Woodinville, Washington (a suburb of Seattle, just North of Redmond).

It's good to actually be using Broadband Wireless Internet Access service once again.

I purchased my Clearwire service at Clearwire's retail store in downtown Woodinville, Washington over-the-counter. I am a retail customer, paying full price (and then some, but that's for a future post), with no "Press" benefits or other discounts or special deals or treatment from Clearwire.

In upcoming posts, I'll be detailing my real-world experiences with the purchase, setup, and usage of Clearwire, as well as analyzing the bigger picture of Clearwire's activities and its role in the greater Broadband Wireless Internet Access / WiMAX industry.

Here are some of my initial experiences as an ordinary Clearwire customer:

1. Upon purchase, make sure your Clearwire modem doesn't rattle. The modem I was initially given had a broken power jack - the power jack was loose inside the case of the modem - clearly defective. Upon discovering this as I was trying to install it, I took it back to the Clearwire retail store that I had purchased it from less than an hour before and I was simply handed a new modem; my salesperson handled the change of serial number. Also... there are apparently more than one model of modem with different power jacks. The modems on display at the Clearwire store had smaller power jacks than the second unit that I was given.
2. The modem certainly does work through trees - surprisingly so given that Clearwire is operating on 2.5 GHz. The second (working) Clearwire modem synched up immediately (solid 4 bars within the 30 seconds between plugging in power and Ethernet under the desk and settling back into the chair.) I suspect my signal path is shooting from my house on the side of a hill, across a valley, to a Clearwire base station at the top of a ridge on the far side of the valley - perhaps three miles (which I'll verify soon with my GPS receiver.)
3. The Clearwire modem doesn't seem to be an IP router capable of giving multiple IP addresses, at least in the retail version of the service. Previously, my office used a 4 port 100 Mbps switch under my desk. The DSL modem and router in the basement was plugged into the Upstream port of the switch, and my Mac Mini and a network laser printer were connected to two of the four Downstream ports. I disconnected the Ethernet line from the DSL router and plugged in the Ethernet line from the Clearwire modem, and I could not connect to the Internet. I'm guessing what happened is that the network laser printer "grabbed" the single IP address that the Clearwire modem made available, and the Mac Mini retained its non-routable address which the Clearwire modem wouldn't deal with. To be fair, from what I've seen of the  Clearwire literature, and overhearing a sales rep deal with another customer, Clearwire tells you to plug the modem directly into the computer, which I'm sure works fine... for those rare households these days that only have one computer. If you want to use mulitple computers... that's probably up to you to figure out, and over the next few days I'll be reconfiguring my home network to use the Clearwire modem as primary Internet.
4. Trying the first speed test that came up on Google, Speakeasy, Seattle, Washington resulted in 3.367 Mbps download, 310 Kbps upload speeds. If accurate... nice (though the Clearwire service doesn't feel twice as fast as 1.5 Mbps DSL.)

By Steve Stroh

This article is Copyright © 2007 by Steve Stroh