nanog mailing list archives

RE: "Unlimited" wireless data...


From: Nathan Eisenberg <nathan () atlasnetworks us>
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2010 23:47:27 +0000

This came up in another thread yesterday or today, and I just got the
solicitation mailer for Clearwire's WiMAX service in Tampa Bay, which they
call "4G", though the ITU disagrees.

The AUP is here: http://www.clear.com/legal/aup

I cannot strongly enough discourage you from using their service.  My experience with them has been consistently awful 
- and given that they're headquartered in my area, that's unacceptable.  I'm informed that my experience is not at all 
unique - either to the Seattle area or to their service at large.  Their Wikipedia article tells you pretty much 
everything you need to know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearwire

Their definition of unlimited tends to be "barely acceptable throughput levels, until you start streaming 
youtube/netflix or doing a long-running download or using bittorrent to seed files to your work PC and laptop or using 
your VPN to retrieve a document, in which case, we won't turn you off, we'll just silently jail you into a 32-128kbps 
bandwidth profile.   Also, have some poorly implemented NAT on our ludicrously underpowered CPEs!"

I also understand that they've been having financial difficulties, so they're unlikely to address the issues their 
customers are faced with.

If I were you, I would keep your backpack offline until another option is available.  You're not going to be able to 
use VOIP on their service, anyways.

Nathan
(Speaking as an individual - not as the company I work for.)

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