Clear Wireless Customer Experience – User Submission by David M.

I switched from Dsl to Clear wimax about three months ago and I wanted to give everyone an update. As you can see from the title, it is not good. Up to now I have been a very happy and vocal customer of Clear; however, in light of some recent events I now submit this warning: Do not buy Clear.

Three months ago I ran into a Clear rep at a best buy. The product was cool and the opportunity it offered of being able to have mobile and home internet for slightly more than I was paying for Dsl was a winner. After some research, I called and was sent the modems – a home and a usb modem – very quickly. I plugged them in and within minutes I was on both.

Initially the product was great. I was achieving speeds up to 10mbps with an average speed of around 5mbps. If I had questions clear was available all the time and very helpful. I cancelled my Dsl and thought that was done.

Two weeks ago my speed dropped considerably – the year 1996 considerably. My download went from 5mbps to .30 mbps as measured by speedtest dot net (which is the stick they measure by). It was so bad that my daughter could not even watch a 10 minute episode of Kipper the dog on netflix without the service dropping out completely. The connection was completely unusable from my home.

The problem was not with my computer. The service worked great anywhere outside of ten miles from my house. Inside that area though it was impossible to use either the usb modem or the home modem. I tried moving the modem – which you will get used to doing if you get clear – unplugging it, and even tried getting on my roof to get a better signal. The modem was showing that I was receiving almost a full signal but the speed did not produce.

By the way, I purchased both modems instead of signing a contract which is a little bitter sweet. I now own two usless clear modems but at least I am not suck in a contract for two years.

The first time I called clear they offered to replace my modem after re-provisioning it did not work. I described the problem as being with both modems again, but the tech assured me that replacing the home modem only would solve the problem. It did not. Lets keep a running tally of time spent on the phone with them: so far 2hours on the phone – half of which was spent on the phone moving my modem from room to room and running a speed test so the rep could be assured I was not lying.

After the replacement modem failed to correct the problem I called back. I was sent around my house again running speed tests to prove I was not lying and that I was not a buffoon who could not grasp the issue. The tech re-provisioned the modem again despite my description of the first call. I was again asked if I had tried moving the modem before calling. After an hour of trouble shooting, the tech gave up and kicked me up to tier two tech support. The tier two tech again asked me to walk around my house (seriously) and do speed checks – I politely refused. She told me I needed to reset my computer – I told her that I probably would not be talking to her if that would solve the problem but hey, what the heck. It did not work. We played with the computer for another hour and I was asked to create some log files using the cmd prompt and send them to her. After I completed this worked she assured me that she would be on top of this and that someone would be calling me to set up an appointment to come to my house. Finally some progress right? Nope. No phone call no truck. Log: 3 hours on the phone with nothing to show and no explanation.

I called a third time to check on the status of the open ticket for the truck roll (clear speak for what was supposed to happen). I was told that the ticket had been closed with a note that said to ask me – I am really not making this up – if I had tried moving my modem. My frustration was building and my internet was not helping. I asked to be transfered to tier two tech support and was after the prerequisite moving of the modem and speed checks. I told the tech that I would do the dance as long as the tier two tech did not mention it when he transfered me. The tier two tech asked me if I we had tried to re-provision the modem. At this point I asked the tech – politely – to read all the noted on the account before we proceeded. After a five minute pause the tech that he was not sure why the “truck roll” had not occurred but that he would make sure I got the phone call and the service. No phone call and no truck. Log: 5 hours and no progress.

I called again to check on the status of my truck. The tech told me that she was not sure why I had not received a phone call and offered to call tier two and ask them what the deal was. They would not take my call directly this time. I was just told through the tech that I was on the phone with that there was nothing wrong with the tower and that there must be some sort of interference in my house. Mt house has not changed. To her credit the tech tried everything she could to get the problem resolved; however, the lower techs are limited to re-provisioning and trouble shooting. We left the phone call with a promise to have someone call me within 24 hours. No phone call. Total to date: 7 hours and no resolution or phone call.

I called AT&T today to have uverse installed on Friday. I am amazed by the lack of initiative from Clear. I gave them nearly three weeks to address a problem and no one above regular techs even bothered to follow up.

To be clear – pun – everyone I spoke with at Clear was very nice. I don’t believe in yelling or being rude to phone techs so every conversation was polite, but not productive.

So now I am stuck with a clear usb modem and a clear home modem. I am going to cancel my service with clear tomorrow afternoon. I am really disappointed. I really wanted this to work out but things just turned out bad – very bad. I went from being a very vocal advocate for Clear and wimax in general to being whole heartedly against it. It astounds me that the service and speed that I was getting just fine for two months can drop off so quickly without reason.

So to sum things up – Unless you are prepared to spend almost $200 for modems that may not work in two months; don’t get clear. Unless you want your life to be consumed by walking around your house with a modem to see if you can eek out one more bar; don’t get clear. Unless you want to deal with 1996 isp speeds without reasonable explanation; don’t get clear. However; if you are looking for the long way to getting uverse internet; get clear. I will see you soon!