The service has technically been available for a month or so, but yesterday we got word that Clearwire has announced the Atlanta market for their WiMax network. The only real change is that Clearwire will now being an enormous marketing push to make everyone aware of the service. This represents Clearwire’s biggest market yet, as it nearly doubles the size of the networks in Portland and Baltimore.
While Clearwire touts the service as 1,200 square miles of coverage, it has been less than that or some consumers. Apparently demos for reporters went smashingly, but the actual service has its glitches.
But it’s still not perfect, said Atlantan John Jowers, who has been using the system about two weeks.
“I was up in Sandy Springs yesterday and couldn’t get a signal,” he said. “And I would not get rid of my AT&T 3G air card because there are places where Clear doesn’t go, like Birmingham or far outside Atlanta.”
But Clear enabled Jowers to download and watch a Netflix video remotely, “which I couldn’t do with my AT&T air card,” he said, as well as make overseas phone calls using the Skype Internet system, which he said wouldn’t work with his 3G air card.
Service price could be an issue, too. The modem costs $60, which is not bad compared to other similar devices. Then there’s the $35 activation fee, something customers always, and mostly with good reason, complain about. And then there’s the price, which can range from $10 per day to $50 per month. It’s an expensive service to be sure, but so long as Clearwire provides unlimited access whether at home or traveling around the city, the price could be worth it.
Now that Clearwire has service in three markets, with a fourth coming in Vegas soon enough and another five or six due before the end of the year, we’re going to start getting real reports of how the service works. Clearwire had better hope that they’re mostly positive, because LTE is right around the bend.
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