CLEAR 4G review: Durham's new cable-free broadband works well, but try before you buy

As noted here last month, I've been testing out the new 4G wireless service from CLEAR (formerly Clearwire) since early December as part of a media review program. CLEAR's is a mobile "WiMax" broadband said to be competitive with other choices for high-speed Internet service.

CLEAR subscribers get a home broadband modem, which resembles a cable modem or DSL modem and plugs into your computer or home router/wireless network, as well as a mobile device that resembles cell phone air-cards available for portable computers.

And it's been getting a lot of buzz on neighborhood listservs, with many Durhamites eager for a new option for Internet service beyond DSL and Time Warner Cable's solutions. (TWC also sells a Road Runner Mobile solution based on CLEAR, while Sprint leverages CLEAR's network for their 4G coverage.)

It hasn't been my regular broadband solution, but something I've used in driving tests around the Bull City to measure how well the network performs in different parts of our town. I've also used it from time to time to test out when on the road, substituting it for my usual mobile gig, a Virgin Mobile prepaid 3G air card that runs on the Sprint network. 

Substituting, that is, when I've been able to get a reliable and useful signal.

All in all, the bottom line on CLEAR right now seems to be that it can be a solid option for home or mobile broadband at very competitive pricing -- but you can't emphasize the word "can" enough.

To start with, let's start with BCR's on-the-road CLEAR test. For this test, yours truly motored around the Bull City, checking out most of the locations requested in the December article's comments, along with other sites to "fill in" the gaps. Each map point shows whether my laptop could obtain signal and, if so, the speed of the connection in kilobits down and kilobits up, using Speakeasy's broadband tests. The signal strength listed ('Perfect', 'Great', 'Good', 'Weak') are those provided by CLEAR's Macintosh connection agent.

The signal strength and availability on the map confirms generally the boundaries shown on CLEAR's own rough-outline map of signal strength:

The map suggests coverage doesn't extend far east of US 501/Roxboro Rd., and that held up in BCR's tests; I couldn't get signal at the Durham P.D. District 2 office at Infinity/Latta and Roxboro, or at Old Oxford Hwy. and Dearborn Dr. Signal was also weak in mid-north Durham, as I was unable to get signal on two different instances at Carver and Duke, and a weak signal at Carver and Roxboro. 

That said, other areas in North Durham saw fine signal coverage. In many areas, signal seemed to vary by topology; I got a decent signal at the corner of Calais and Bivins in far-northern Durham, but it went downhill as I drove my car downhill into a low-spot in the neighborhood at Calais and Sherbrooke.

That's a lesson we'll come back to, but perhaps the most important one to keep in mind with CLEAR: if you want to know if it works, the map above -- and, we'd suspect, CLEAR's own map online -- only give you a general sense. You'll want to actually try at your house, most especially inside your house, to make sure that you can get good signal strength in the location where you want to place the modem.

Eastern Durham is hit-and-miss, also as suggested by CLEAR's map. E. Club and Dearborn and the Walmart Supercenter area at Geer/Club had coverage, and there was signal strength at Holloway/Junction and outside Oak Grove Elementary. But the Grove Park area was outside signal strength, as was Brightleaf at the Park and most of the Miami Blvd. corridor along RTP south of US 70.

Coverage was fine in most of South Durham, with some spotty areas along the Durham/Wake and Durham/Chatham borders. I got almost 7 megabits/second down at Fayetteville/Massey Chapel, but weak signal with lots of dropouts at C.M. Herndon Park a few miles south of there. The corridor from 54/55 west to Garrett Rd/751, including areas like Parkwood, came out fine in tests.

Signal strength was generally fine throughout the rest of South and West Durham, from the Hope Valley area to the 15-501 corridor, even along parts of Old Erwin Rd., though topology again seemed to play a role. The best connectivity -- 10 megabits down -- came in Mt. Moriah and 15-501 intersection.

Generally, downtown and near-downtown neighborhoods on the north, east, west and south of downtown all had strong coverage, and much more consistent coverage than in North Durham or eastern Durham County. Even in unusually high, low or poor line-of-sight points -- like through the rolling terrain of Forest Hills, or amidst downtown's tall buildings -- I found very consistent and quick connections in a 3-mile radius around downtown.

If you're considering getting CLEAR, they'll check your address to make sure your home or business is within their areas of signal strength.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

That said, finding out that you're in a location that supports CLEAR on the map is just the first part of the challenge.

Around town, I got fine connectivity when I was driving through Trinity Park or past Northgate Mall. Service also worked fine inside coffee shops and most other

In some cases, though, it can be another story if you're inside certain building structures.

Sitting inside the Sears Auto Center at Northgate -- a nice, solid 1970s hulk of a building -- I got zip, zero, nada for connectivity, even when I moved myself and my laptop next to a window. Same thing in the George Watts Elementary School media center at Urban and Watts; spotty connectivity, dropping in less than a minute.

Even in my house, a 1930s house on North Duke St., I've found signal coverage to vary by which room I'm in, just like my cell phone does, and to have even certain "favored" locations work better than others.

This is more of an issue, mind you, for mobile use than local use.

On local listservs, new home broadband subscribers have sometimes mentioned that they've struggled with getting a strong signal until they relocated their broadband modem near a window.

For home use, that's no problem, particularly if you use a home network or wireless router to provide in-home service.

But for mobile device users, it's a bit harder to work around those restrictions, given that -- as I found at Northgate and Watts -- you may be hard-pressed at times to get connectivity when you expect it. (In both locations, my Virgin Mobile 3G card was able to pick up signal OK.)

The other challenge with mobile CLEAR service is that it works in the local area, but as CLEAR has a limited national footprint, you don't get much in the way of roaming territory nationwide as they build out their own 4G network. A mobile service plan offering CLEAR 4G plus lower-speed 3G roaming over partner networks is available, but is pricey -- $70 per month or more with roaming added in.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

How is the connectivity?

Qualitatively and subjectively, it was definitely a broadband connection, and generally felt pretty zippy, at least at or exceeding the quality of a public WiFi connection at a good coffeeshop, hotel or whathaveyou.

Web pages and downloads generally worked as well as I have experienced using TWC RoadRunner at home. Listserv reviews suggest that downloaded media services through Netflix and iTunes work fine, too.

I found some hiccups at times using Hulu, the popular free streaming video service from NBC and Fox. In my Parkwood test, even with a "perfect" signal and good bandwidth, a streaming video stuck on "Loading..." for more than 30 seconds before starting. In addition, there was more frequent rebuffering and delays than I was used to.

Again, these were mobile experiences; I would expect that a home broadband router, carefully and well-situated in a fixed location, may be better.

My bottom line recommendation, though: try to find a way to test CLEAR 4G in your home location via a friend, or asked the vendor for their terms and conditions on trials and tests.

Despite the mixed results in the review, I'd still suggest CLEAR service is worth a look for broadband needs.

It's newly rolled-out in our area, and one can expect that speeds and reliability of connections should improve over time as modems and towers alike get upgrades over time.

The low-end CLEAR services are priced at $25-$30/month for home service based on speed caps of 1mb down/500k up or 3mb down/1mb up, respectively. That's competitive with Time Warner Cable's pricing on the RoadRunner Lite service.

Personally, I don't consider CLEAR's $45/month rate for 6mb/1mb up to be competitive with TWC RoadRunner, available for almost the same price but with higher up and down speeds.

The best deal, though, looks to be a $50/month bundle that includes both home and mobile broadband options. (The regular price for the bundle is $65/month but it's currently available at a discount.)

The plus here is that you're getting the fastest home broadband ($45/month) plus a reasonable replacement for a cell phone aircard service, which by itself can run $50+ per month.

Of course, that comes with service only on CLEAR's 4G network, not roaming outside areas that have their service nationwide, so this is most attractive to those looking for in-region mobile broadband to go with home service. (Within the state, the Triangle has coverage, including west towards Hillsborough, Mebane and the like; Charlotte and Greensboro also are green-lit for service.)

It's an interesting service and can work well. My suggestion: do your homework and test it out to make sure it meets your needs.

Comments

[Ross Grady]

"No Signal" in the heart of RTP at Miami & Alexander? Just who do they see as their primary market, if not hi-tech mobile RTP nerds? Yikes.

[GreenLantern]

Figures. Grove Park still can't get decent cellular coverage (2 bars on AT&T, 0-1 bar on Cricket) despite not being so close to RTP and downtown, and despite a large middle class population.

I'll stick with my TWC bundled cable phone w/RR & standard TV. I'm only paying $100/month for great service and no cell phone (for which I can live without).

[JeffS]

Unfortunately, I did not find it to be an acceptable cable modem replacement. I am getting a pretty strong signal, without going to the lengths some describe online.

A speedtest looks good, but overall usability is poor. High latency makes web browsing painful. The service seems to especially struggle with web pages that are loading from multiple locations. For example, a complex page sitting on one server load just a little slow, but a big portal site with banners and data across many locations (but the same amount of data as the previous page) loads painfully.

I first thought I would try to adjust to the slower performance. Over time though, I noticed how often the router was resetting itself. I don't know why, but the device reboots (or at least disconnects and reconnects the connection) fairly regularly, especially at night.

As a mobile solution, the service might be worthwhile, but unless they improve it really isn't a worthy replacement for your cable.

[Mohammad Goldberg]

As exciting as wireless broadband might be, for the foreseeable future, nothing is going to beat a wired connection. When will we see a Fios or UVerse type fiber to the home offering coming to downtown Durham? I am sick of paying extra fees for TWC's advanced service to only receive a few hundred extra Kbps on the downstream for the 1st minute of connection, only to see them throttle me back?

I work from home, and use both VOIP and Vid OIP, but certainly can't afford business class offering at home.

[Phil]

WOW, that's a lot of testing. How long did you take for the driving, parking, testing, loggin? You're supposed to hire interns for that, dude.

[Bull City Rising]

@Phil: All told, 8 1/2 hours over 2 weekends.

Yeah, I probably could have found better uses of time. But to be honest, it was actually fascinating to get to see a wide range of Durham, including areas (like the Bivins/Calais and S. Roxboro areas) that I havent spent much if any time in.  Not a bad way to experience the Bull City first hand.

[M]

I would think there are also may be time and weather-related issues, in addition to the geographical and inside-outside ones. We do the rabbit ears / digital converter box / old TV thing over here (Watts Hillandale) at our place. Sometimes signals are good, other times terrible. I don't watch TV a whole lot so thus far I can live with that. Would hate it for internet though. -m

[Khalid]

I always new that areas of Hwy 501 (Roxboro Rd.) and north of the Eno received limited wireless coverage but its ridiculous for most of East Durham to have limited coverage while Hillsborough has coverage.

If this type of coverage holds up, CLEAR is missing a huge market opportunity. They could have more subscribers in E. Durham than the entire population (maybe even double) of Hillsborough. Maybe Hillsborough is considered rural under a broadband stimulus grant...

[Joshua Allen]

Kevin, Thanks for this thorough review! I hate TWC so I'm always looking for other options. A friend in Cary has UVerse (AT&T), and it is really awesome from what I've seen. Crossing fingers we get UVerse in Durham!

[Jason]

Trying it out myself...I'm getting and average of 3.5 down and 0.7 up with the home modem in Old North Durham. But I will say that I have a small window and a set of french doors with lots of glass near the router and they face the direction of the nearest tower (.6 miles according to clear rep I IM'd with), so I probably have as clear of a signal as you could expect indoors without mounting it in a window. I have seen it go as high as 7.1 down and 0.9 up at the same location (and as low as 1.0 down and 0.35 up). The connection did actually seem to improve after the first hour following install....so my recent speeds have averaged closer to 4.0 down and 0.8 up. I have the home modem wired to an dual band Airport Extreme Wireless Router with a network hard drive hooked to it. No problems accessing the hard drive (there shouldn't be since it is on my local network). Streaming Hulu really had no significant problems that I haven't experienced on TWC roadrunner (if it hangs, it does so at the beginning of a video and you just pause it and let it buffer for about 10 seconds/...after that the show streams perfectly on high quality).Streaming Lost episodes from ABC.com (the first 4-5 seconds of streaming the picture is pixelated, followed by 3-4 seconds of SD streaming, but then it auto up-converts to smooth HD quality streaming at 1.5 mbps). Streaming Netflix looks good and smooth but it may be downgrading it to SD (if I want it any better I'm jsut getting them to mail me the blu-ray version). I was actually able to stream multiple videos and music at once without any noticeable problems so far. The USB modem is slightly slower in speed, but not noticeably slow ( at least when I was at the same location). However, it is definitely subject to where you are located and what kind of walls are around you. I think it will be good for working at places that don't have free wifi (a bus, Whole Foods, car, airport, etc), but if given the choice between a coffee shop's free wifi and the 4G modem, 8 times out of 10 I'll probably just connect to the wi-fi since it seems slightly faster. All in all, I'd say slow and steady seems to win the race for me...at least for now I plan on keeping it after my 7 days is up. WC performance (but not noticeably slow), and it is actually more reliable (I needed to replace my cable modem, which they would have done for free, but my connetino had been very up and down for months).

FYI...Setup was super easy and if you want to try it without waiting for the mail to come, the woman working at the Southpoint booth gave me the same discount deal as online (you just have to ask because their sign advertises the bundle at higher). Also I didn't get any hassle about asking for the no contract option (I expected to be asked 14 times about it, but I wasn't). However, she did say you have to call the support number if you have any technical problems or decide to return/cancel. Just something to be aware of.

[Nicole]

I went to the Clear.com website and found it so aweful that I can not have any faith in their company or product. I couldn't obtain complete information on any of their plans. When I entered in my address to see if i'm covered, it linked back to the national map. When I tried to purchase a service, it linked back to the home page.

I'm desparate for reasonable mobile, becuase I live in two homes due to my job. I'll need to wait until they are more savy.

[Rich]

It amazes me that the Miami/Alexander/RTP area has such woefully inadequate internet service, and I'm disappointed that Clear isn't covering this area. And Verizon DSL here tops out at 768 Kbps because according to Verizon the lines won't support anything faster. Yes, I live half a mile from RTP and most of the time I'm blazing through the internet at 500 Kbps.

[Todd Patton]

It's been a few months since anyone commented on Clear. I am looking for a new ISP and am wondering if people are satisfied or not with Clear.

[Tony]

I reside in the Parkwood area. According to DSLReport's speedtest I have typically .8-2.5 mbs/down and .001-.125 mbs/up. I'd characterize this as similar to my experience when I tether my Verizon BB tour at most major airports. That said, my BB mostly performs well on Verizon's superior network seems to perform poorly in Parkwood too.

I moved here from Cary, near Crossroads. There my Clear experience was stellar at times, 5-7 mbs/down and .8-1 mbs/up.

I strongly do not recommend Clear for the Parkwood area. I would only recommend Clear for the Cary Crossroads area, if you want one of their 2 device plans. My window modem routinely needs to be reset at least once a month and is down for 12-24 hours at a time but the speed of the USB modem is very good when you are out on town, when it is working.