new wireless broadband provider?

Midwest Wireless does this
They are the only ones I know that do
I am sure there are others out there.

 

I don't know anyone who has used it but the CEO Craig McCall was formerly with Nextel and Nextlink (now XO Communications).

 

Clearwire is an ISP that's delivering their service via "fixed wireless". Their accessories don't include any external house mounted antennas, so you could carry it (with built-in antenna) around with you in their coverage area. You could use it anywhere you could power it.

COtech

 

We are Clearwire Dealers and love it. Do you have questions about it?

 

Yea, when are you expanding in New York state? Not too many choices around here, and an all wireless service would be refreshing!

 

Here is a coverage map.

 

That's pretty limited. But I'll check back in a few months to see if there is any noticable expansion. Like I said in my earlier post, NY state could sure use someone to shake up the existing services!

 

I've got Clearwire right now here in Reno. I'll give you my own personal
experiences and then some things I've heard elsewhere, but can't confirm
myself. Again, this is my own experience in downtown Reno from my 2nd-story
apartment.

Pros:

1. My speed so far has been what is promised when no interference is occuring
and the modem is properly placed (see cons below).

2. Customer service is available 24/7 and is knowledgable and friendly. They
DO stumble a bit when I mention I run Linux, but I can usually translate into
terms they can understand.

3. The modem runs on 12 volts and the store says you should be able to use it
from a vehicle, though they insist an adapter that stabilizes the voltage and
filters out spikes be used. (There may be another reason, too--see below.)
I've heard conflicting reports on whether it can be used why the vehicle is
moving: the store people say yes, while others have said no. This can be
critically important if you use VoIP like a cell phone with this service.

Cons (and there are a lot):

1. The price for bandwidth is higher than DSL and cable, but I don't think that
should be a big surprise. However, unlike satellite and cellular, it won't give
you sticker shock, either!

2. They like to block things: ports (LOTS of them!), bandwidth eaters like file-sharing
programs, etc. Vonage specifically doesn't work and they're adamant about
not letting it on their network. Skype isn't supposed to work, but it does for me,
not sure why. Azureus (bit torrent) is heavily throttled, but I found a way to get
around it (secret below). Bottom line: if you want to do more than web
browsing, you may want to look for something else or be prepared to do some
network cracking and sniffing, as I did--and there's no guarantees.

3. CONTRACT!!!!! You're stuck with them for a year, like it or not! And the grace
period at the beginning is short. For an ISP, this is a BIG RED FLAG, and I think
the above is why they do it.

4. Interference: despite working on a frequency higher than the ISM band used
for Wi-Fi (aka 802.11b+g), Bluetooth, and microwave ovens, it turns out these
modems must be really cheaply built or I got a defective one. Specifically,
when I turn on my microwave, the modem can barely receive; ditto if
if someone else does as my downstream slows to a crawl for a short, random
amount of time at random times. Wi-Max must also use an AM signal because
placing the modem next to my CRT monitor makes it useless--it needs to be
a couple of feet away to work. Also, as part of its fallback algorithm, if the
interference hangs around long enough the modem will change to a different
cell, if one's available. This is usually non-optimum and will result in a
reduced speed even after the interference is removed. The only cure is to
shut off the modem for an extended period (half an hour, in my experence),
as the modem will remember the previous site it connected to otherwise.

5. Multipath considerations: Placement of the modem for maximum speed is
CRITICAL. Literally, moving an inch can make a huge difference. Clearwire
modifying site placement/numbers in the neighborhood can also make a
difference. I've had to move the modem twice now since I initially found the
"sweet spot" for it.

6. The link crashes on occasion for no apparent reason. I say this because my
connection will suddenly stop working and I have to tell the computer to
redo the DHCP negotiation as if I were cold booting (probably a lot easier to
do in UNIX/Linux than winblows, but I don't know). I have no clue why this
happens.

7. Possibly related to the above, lately DHCP negotiation at boot will take a
minimum of 3 rounds to work--i.e., I have to manually trigger the script twice
after the computer is booted before I'll get an IP address. I've never had
this problem before. Even stranger, the time of day you do this seems to
make a difference.

8. They bill directly to a credit card (can be debit)--they do NOT send out bills!
I've read online this can be a problem (AOL-style) when you try to disconnect.

9. Their coverage area looks a lot like a Cricket one (we have both here and the
maps are a close match). Which means "roaming" is not possible unless
you travel to another Clearwire area. They do not have any kind of roam
agreements with other Wi-Max providers.

So there you have my own experiences. As for others that have had it before
me, they're not nearly as kind. Most of them describe their links as being flaky,
customer service as being imbecile (I don't know if it's better recently, or has to
do where I live for myself), and the company as being very crooked and will
pull AOL-type stunts if you're not careful, though I haven't experienced that yet,
either. If you DO get them, exercise the hell out of the modem before you get
out of that grace period so you're not stuck in that contract with a service that
won't work for you!

Oh, finally, my secret for defeating the Clearwire firewall (at least around here):
the secret is they have more than one gateway! And of those, they apparently
keep one for themselves that isn't rate-limted. So, in my case, I simply change
the final number in the IP from a "1" to a "3" for the gateway IP. And voila!
Azureus transfers at full speed!

Hope this helps! As for me, I still plan to ditch the service when my contract
runs out. Maybe I'll use HSDPA or EV-DO instead--opinions?

Mike