Not-so-Clear Experience

Because of the abilities of my HTC Incredible with Verizon along with switching to DirecTV, I was able to downgrade our Brighthouse services to Internet only. So I was trying to switch the Internet over as well, but DSL is not available in our neighborhood and satellite is too expensive for such slow service. So I attempted to give Clear a try.

When looking into Clear I found that they are the company that Sprint uses for their 4G Internet service through their HTC Evo phones. That started the skepticism since I already knew how notorious Sprint has been for weak service. So I thought that maybe Clear would be different.

I signed up for Clear at my local Best Buy store and was a little excited to take home this new modem that only needed power and a wire to the router. I was really hoping this would work since it would save me another $10 a month. Once I got it connected, the speed appeared to be fast, but when tested it was a little over 6 Mbps. This is far below the 9.72 Mbps I was currently getting with Brighthouse. I then attempted to try it out in different areas of the house.

After looking around the house for the right spot, I packaged it up and was prepared to send the modem back to Clear. I then called them up and tried to set up the modem with their technical support’s help. The first thing they did was tell me that I was on a limited plan and they could switch me to unlimited data speed. Then they told me that it cost $10 less a month. When asked, they explained that this was not a promotional plan or rate that I was going to get. I was a little disturbed that this plan was available, but not originally offered to me.

Late that night I got on my computer to look up my email and stuff on the Internet. This time it was super slow. I did a speed check and found that my current connection was just over 1 Mbps! This is totally unacceptable so I called them up… the next day because their technical support is not available 24/7 like other reputable Internet providers.

Once I did get a hold of Clear, the technician said it was probably a bad modem and offered to send me out one that is more powerful with an amplified antenna. What I received was a similar modem, said to have more antennas inside, along with a new Netgear N Wireless Router. I did try the new modem with no better reception and I called their support again.

After spending some time on the phone with the technician from Clear, he said, “It is a cell phone signal and cell phones don’t get as good of reception inside a house or a building.” It was at that point I realized that Sprint will continue to be failures in the cell phone industry as their signal is poor and they are trying to advance with worse. I have rarely had issues with my service with Verizon and is the reason why I cancelled my home business phone because I knew I could depend on Verizon to take care of my needs.