Best Buy to offer Clearwire wireless broadband
posted October 13th 2005 12:20PM
Best Buy, in an effort to provide customers with immediate Internet access once they arrive home with their new computers, will soon become one of the first retailers to offer pre-WiMax service in certain locations. The company has teamed up with Craig McCaw's Clearwire (clear wire = no wire, get it?) to provide this nascent wireless broadband technology in what is being promoted as a true plug-and-play configuration. Customers will lease a wireless modem which need only be plugged into a computer and power outlet to begin usage: no software required. The rollout will begin October 30th at 25 Best Buy stores (mostly along the West Coast, Texas, and Florida, although currently no major metropolitan areas are covered), to be expanded as Clearwire enters new markets, and will cost between $25 and $40.
Clearwire is not a good service. They block ports required for VoIP (look out, Best Buy...don't sell that Vonage box with a Clearwire modem!), the modem is a directional antenna, which means you might have to leave it in a pretty unsightly place at an awkward angle to make it work, and they are prone to the same issues Satellite Dish users are accustomed to whenever it rains (the service becomes slow or goes out all together).
In addition, the speeds are pretty inconsistent. I got a lot of dropped packets when I had mine. It may be fine for a casual user who has no need other than to get online, check email, and look at pictures from the family, but if you try and step outside the bounds of "typical net usage", you're gonna be screwed.
I'd love to be a fly on the wall when that first customer comes back to Best Buy carrying the Clearwire box and the shiny new Linksys Vonage box with a disgruntled look on their face!
no thanks
no thanks
Sadly, I've heard that ClearWire has such a restrictive user agreement that they can, under the agreement, go so far as to prevent you from accessing a Vonage account and things like that. I've posted about that at www.broadbandblog.org
It doesn't really matter whether you agree with their agreement plans or not......everyone at home that was dumb enough to sign up for clearwire soon realized a huge problem: They didn't get reception in their home. Sure you can just hook that modem up to your computer and plug it in, and recieve signal anywhere, but if you can't get signal in your own home, and have to re arrange your furniture to get that modem in a room getting good reception, well thats not cool. Using cell phone towers and signals sounds like a good idea, but most cities have very large dead spots, and they are usually in the areas where you want it.
My experience with Clearwire has been very different... I had great coverage in my parents house and it is easy enough to just plug in a WiFi router to allow access all over the house... So rather than bashing a company that neither of you have used, post something useful. I can't wait to ditch my cable internet and get Clearwire when they come to my city...
As a reseller of clearwire already i'm rather disappointed they are going to best buy now also.... o well. Its a good technology but we'll see where it goes, could be another Monet -- for those of you that have experience that company you'll know what i'm talking about.
I was talking to a Clear Wire rep here in Anchorage (yes, even Alaska's getting the initial rollout), and he said they plan to cover the entire state by next summer (right now, only Anchorage and Fairbanks are covered). It looks like they have 95% coverage of Anchorage, which is better then any of the cellular providers.
I'll probably hold off until it's been out a while, but it is definitely an interesting idea.
I've had it for about three months now (was one of the first set up in our area) and couldn't live without it. I'm rural -- can't get *any* other high-speed service (oh wait, DirecWay?) -- and it's been great for routine use.
Well I had a good experience with ClearWire. I live in stockton, ca and the service covers the whole city. So I had a awesome internet connection andywhere in stockton his high speed 1.5 mb alost all the time (the lowest speed I ever got was 700k-800k which is enough to do productivity work and stream high detail news shows/clips or music videos AT THE SAME TIME! So personally I have a good experience with Clearwire and I STRONGLY RECOMMEND it to anybody in the clear wire service area and the price is awesome for the performance, speed, and the fact its wireless!!! for more info go to www.clearwire.com
I just signed up with clearwire. I originally heard saw a report on the 10pm news and then attempted to set up an account online. At the time we had dialup as no one could offer anything else. The web site asked for my zip code which then determined if service was availible. It's response was no service. I could not believe this, as we live right on the outskirts of Meridian and our home overlooks the whole town at a higher elevation. I called Clearwire in Boise and within 24 hours I had the service installed. The reception is perfect, I havent had a drop, and the whether has'nt affected the system in anyway.
I've had the service for the last 4 days and it's been great.
I was curious as to it's performance due to storms etc, and yesterday we had a big storm and a couple of inches of snow and the service had no glitches (it's actually pouring now). I'm actually just outside of their shown coverage area but higher (they actually gave me a modem after they made a copy of my driver's license to take home and try it out).
It is interesting that it did not like to be close to a window I actually get 4 lights outta 5 with out on my stereo rack behind facing a outside wall whereas the window got me only 3 lights. They say they block port 80 etc but that is not true so hosting a site is possible but they say you can host a ftp server just fine. At any rate it was very easy to install and i'm getting consistent 1450+/-k downs and 180k to 210k up speeds... very happy with it.
Hey this is not a new technology if you search around you'll find this company has been doing this for several years now.
My 2 cents.
I have had the service for less than a week and the first two times it was fine. Last night it was real slow for some reason. I will cross my fingers and hope it was a one time event.
Well it's been almost a month and only one time it's been a bit spotty - for about 1/2 hours. ping was up and down and i had 3 lights. It cleared back up and was good to go. So far i've been very pleased with it - this is my only broadband option though. I did error on the web site hosting i stated before. It blocks port 80 from the outside in to clearwire, when i tested i was in clearwire's network and it came up fine, outisde it does not work... oh well, the ftp server works great. I went with the 1 yr contract...
I don't know what to do...clearwire is the only option in my area outside of cable dsl (which costs $56.99 a month). but you see, i like to play games and i wonder if it is okay for gaming. i heard that it can be a little spotty sometimes and have these spikes that go up to 150 ping, but for the most part it stays somewhere between 70-120ping with a 4-5 bar connection. I live in Modesto, CA and it has full coverage (except the crappy area of town), so it seems like a good idea. does anyone else have experience with gaming on clearwire? i'd like to know. thx