Like all products/services we sell, 3GStore.com put CLEAR's service through extensive testing before offering it to our customers. 3Gstore's staff has now done CLEAR 4G testing in Las Vegas, Chicago and Austin with the CLEAR 4G USB modem and are CLEAR-ly impressed with what we experienced!
CLEAR set-up phase:
The CLEAR USB box contents
The Motorola "CLEAR USB" 4G modem ships with a round USB thumb drive that contains the connection manager software. Unfortunately, the software on the drive is a bit outdated and only includes an older windows-only version. A quick trip to clear.com/support allowed us to download the latest Windows7 and Mac OS X 10.6 connection managers. Installing the connection manager is simple and straightforward.
CLEAR's Connection Manager Interface: Windows 7 on left, OS X on right
Once connected to the CLEAR network, but before being allowed to surf to any website, each of us were prompted to acknowledge CLEAR's Terms of Service as well as provide a security question and answer for account authentication.
After authenticating and acknowledging everything required by CLEAR, we were online and ready to surf the web via WiMAX!
CLEAR speed testing:
Once we were connected, we ran a series of tests at speedtest.net to see how fast the connection really is (CLEAR's speed claims are "an average of 3-6Mbps download with bursts up to 10Mbps and up to 1Mbps upload"):
Austin, Tx:
Chicago, Il:
Las Vegas, NV:
The speeds we saw in all three locations were VERY impressive! We did notice that speeds were, as expected, signal-dependent. Our Las Vegas tester was on the outskirts of of CLEAR's coverage area and didn't have full signal strength like our other testers, but the speeds were still quite zippy. The CLEAR USB Modem ships with a flexible USB adapter that allows you to use your modem in a vertical orientation (instead of having it stick straight out from the computer's USB port), and that seemed to help with signal strength (and thus performance).
CLEAR performance testing:
As an "acid test", our tech support staffer in Austin connected the CLEAR USB modem to his Cradlepoint MBR1000 and then hooked up two computers and his Cisco VOIP phone. Then he made a 30 minute call through this system with no issues and even completed a 45 minute long support call over CLEAR 4G with no issues whatsoever. During that time, he was also streaming an internet radio station at 128kbps through Windows Media Player 10 and downloaded 3 copies of Openoffice, without a hitch. Needless to say, with average download speed between 6 and 12mb/s, he's quite hooked on CLEAR 4G! (disclaimer: your CLEAR speeds may vary. The speeds we saw in other cities was below what was seen in Austin, TX).
We should note that besides the MBR1000, Cradlepoint's other 4G-savvy routers include the PHS300 and CTR500 portable hotspots, and the MBR900 and MBR1200 home/office routers.
Final thoughts on our CLEAR testing:
CLEAR runs on an extremely secure network using WiMAX 4G technologies, broadcasting in a licensed spectrum using OFDM technology. This technology uses a licensed 2.5 Ghz frequency and ensures secure wireless data transmission. The connectivity was generally considered to be "snappy"... allowing for responsive remote control of screens and trouble-free VPN connections, both of which can be very frustrating on other forms of mobile broadband. With great signal, CLEAR's 4G service easily outperformed the best 3G service we've ever seen, on all performance benchmarks (and our lower-signal results were not too shabby, either!).
Related links:
- Discuss our CLEAR tests on the 4G Forums
- 3Gstore Now Selling CLEAR Products and Services!
- Order CLEAR securely from 3Gstore
