Clear Wireless Brings 4G WiMax to Philadelphia

"4G" and "WiMax" are buzzwords these days, but they refer to the generation of wireless connectivity, allowing for faster wireless transfer speeds across a wider geographical area than previous methods. Clear's network functions as a city-wide hotspot, allowing subscribers to use either an in-home router to access the internet from anywhere in their home or a portable card that can be used in laptops to access Clear from anywhere in the city. You can read more about 4G, or WiMax, technology at Wikipedia.

This Phillyist was so intrigued by Clear's service plans that he jumped at the chance to test out one of their services himself.

Clear sent out one of their 4G USB modems and we installed it on our iMac running Snow Leopard (earlier versions of Mac OS X are not currently supported). Windows XP and Vista versions of the software are also available. We weren't able to test outside our home due to some laptop trouble, but, considering that the indoor location is presumably harder for Clear to reach with their WiMax magic, consider this a somewhat handicapped test.

For the duration of the testing period (about a month), we deactivated our wifi connection to Comcast's High-Speed Internet service. That service always gets the job done, but our $60/month subscription abruptly ends when you step outside our apartment.

This is where Clear Wireless shines. Their coverage stretches across the city, north to Mercerville, west to King of Prussia, south to Chester, and East (across the river!) almost to Williamstown, NJ. And that is just current coverage. Clear plans expansions in each one of those directions, most notably south, well beyond Wilmington, DE.

Coverage is important, but the heart of any internet service provider is their speed, and what price they charge for that speed. In this case, you have the option of either leasing the USB modem from Clear for $4.99/month or buying it outright for about $50. After that, they'll charge you $45/month to use unlimited bandwidth on that bad boy.

So, let's recap: so far, we have liberated our internet connection from the earthly clutches of cable lines and the limitations of wifi routers, all the while slashing $15/month from the cost of connectivity.

Now, let's talk speed. The USB modem offers up to 6.0 Mbps, compared to Comcast's base plan, which offers twice the speed.

That may sound like a win for Comcast but Clear claims you can engage in online gaming on their network without risking lag. Unfortunately, we couldn't test this out, but we did run our own anecdotal lag test during the review period.

We don't watch much TV on our television. Part of the reason for that is that we are already giving Comcast mucho dinero for internet access, and the return on investment for adding another $30 just isn't there.

Not when we can catch everything we want to see on Hulu or on Netflix via Watch Instantly. These are streaming video services and they are the most bandwidth-intensive activity in which this Phillyist engages on a daily basis. We have watched hours of content on these and other streaming media services via Clear's 4G connection and we have noticed no discernible difference between the quality of that experience on Comcast's network and the same experience on Clear's.

At the end of the day, the last sentence of the previous paragraph is the game-changer, at least for this Phillyist. We contacted Comcast via their live online chat support and the first representative we chatted with informed us that the early termination fee, which we would have to pay to ditch Comcast early and fall swooing into Clear's wireless arms, is a terrifying $200. Then, oddly, the representative abruptly ended the chat session, without so much as a goodbye. Rude? Maybe. But you can't argue with his efficiency.

We weren't satisfied, though. We started a second chat, with a different representative. This time, we confirmed our account information and asked when our contract was scheduled to expire. After a long pause, the representative asked us to, well, wait a little bit longer: he was having trouble finding the expiration date on our contract. Good thing it wasn't a carton of milk.

Anyway, after another pause, he told us that he can't find an agreement, just "regular internet rate." This must mean the agreement we signed 2 years ago didn't have one of those "automatic rollover" provisions extending it for another year unless we opt out. So it appears that our arrangement with Comcast is essentially a month-to-month setup. We then asked this second representative the same question we posed to the first: What is the early termination fee on such an account? Logic dictates that if there is no current agreement, there is no need to terminate anything early, so there should be no fee. However, as we all know, Comcast does not always bow to the false god that is logic.

But, sure enough, the representative informs us that there is no termination fee. So logic wins...this time. We mentioned that we may have to cancel our service soon, and asked if we should call customer service for such an issue. The reply? A terse "yes."

So, to bring things back around to our review of Clear Wireless and their USB modem, we can report with confidence that the service will 1) enable uninterrupted video streaming (as long as you don't have a dinosaur where your video card should be), as well as all other forms of internet connectivity and 2) save you about $10 over Comcast's standard high-speed internet package. Coverage, at least in Center City West, was excellent, even in the inner-most room of our apartment.

Like we said earlier, we were stuck in our apartment due to laptop trouble, but the success we had in making the switch for a whole month shouldn't be hard to replicate for those who are equipped for mobile computing. Even in our inner sanctum, our Clear modem had no problem connecting to their network.

Conclusion: Casual users who don't do much travelling outside the Philadelphia metropolitan area would be smart to at least consider Clear Wireless over the competition.

Clear's Center City location at 1736 Chestnut Street is minimally staffed, but they are always available by phone at (215) 586-4884. You can find other nearby locations here.