Clearwire: wireless anywhere
Clearwire is getting close to launching their wireless broadband service here in Seattle; they've already launched in other areas around the country. Their service aims to make your wireless life easier, more convenient, and more productive.
There are few things I look forward to more than summers in Seattle. (Okay, I really like winters too since I love skiing.) One of the reasons I enjoy summers around here is that there’s so much water access, which means lots of opportunity for boating. Every once in awhile, when the weather is really nice, I’d like to be able to work from “home”, where home is really the boat. (Shh, don’t tell Sherman! :) But it’s hard getting wireless access while floating in the middle of the lake. I could try to freeload on an unencrypted wireless network, but I haven’t found any of them with enough signal strength very far from shore. I have an unlimited data plan through Verizon and my Motorola Q, but the battery life on that thing isn’t very good to start with, so I can’t imagine going several hours being continuously connected.
After a bit of research, I found this promising technology, to be rolled out soon in Seattle: Clearwire. Based just across Lake Washington in Kirkland, their service is already available in 27 metro markets, covering more than 200 cities and towns. The modem is about the size of a typical cable modem or router, so “as long as there is a power source, secure Internet access is available in any Clearwire coverage area.” This means you could have access from all over your house, your friend's house, your favorite cafe (that doesn't already have wifi), your boat, etc.
My understanding of their service is that it's sort of a pre-WiMAX wireless technology, where they mount transmitters/receivers on high points around their coverage area (just like cell phone providers covering an area). Similar to a cell phone, you'll get better coverage if you're out in the open and in line of sight of a tower, but you'll get service indoors as well depending on a number of different factors (including terrain features, walls, distances to towers, etc.).
This could be the perfect solution for my working from “home” problem... :)
Comments
Sorry to hear that. You're actually the first person I've heard from who has tried the Clearwire service. It's getting great mind share, so I always wonder how they're doing from a market share perspective. It's a new wireless technology, so having some growing pains isn't a huge surprise to me.
Posted by: Tim | March 5, 2007 11:58 AM
My experience with clearwire has been a bad one. I am not getting anywhere close to the advertised bandwidth and in trying to bring the problems to their support team, there is no effort to get the problem solved, just excuses and no offer to refund since they haven't delivered the service paid for. I even requested contact from an executive and got a run around by their service department on that too. I would not recommend them to an enemy even at this point! This account was given to me for a year by a friend to help me be able to show and sell my art on the Internet because I am disabled and the service works so lousy in trying to upload print files because they are throttling bandwidth on everyone. This is not how they represent their service to be!!!!
Posted by: Randall | March 4, 2007 06:15 PM
I thought 2.5ghz was MMDS? Did they change it?
Posted by: Sean | November 14, 2006 04:09 PM
what about boats that have GPS? you know...and it tells you the depth and alerts you when fish are around.
Or maybe a mobile GPS that can provide the wireless.
cant you make a connection by manually entering address/access #?
maybe some kind of wireless jump flash drive with security lock feature that holds the information of a connection. It only works if unlocked and a device requests it.
perhaps you can think of or have some other device that will do the job.
im no tech-ex or nothin. nor am i very familiar with the boat products or GPS systems.
what about a dish/satellite connection?
like GOOGLE EARTH or something. maybe you can find a lat/long of one around the lake your going to. (spacestation?) im not familiar with all that. the ideas just pop into my head.
GOOD LUCK!
let me know if any end up working and how, or why NOT?
Posted by: trace | September 1, 2006 07:32 AM
Regarding its comparison to 3G, that's a really good question. I don't know that Clearwire is really trying to compete with 3G per se. With Clearwire, you need to be somewhere with a household power plug, and their range will be much more limited that 3G cell phones. But I think 3G will be significantly more expensive, unless you already have an unlimited data plan. And if you're using your cell phone as the 3G device (as opposed to a 3G modems), you have to deal with power drain on your cell phone batteries, not being able to use your cell phone as a phone while you're online, etc. I think Clearwire is really looking to compete with other fixed-line BSPs (cable and phone service providers) with some appeal to certain mobile-profession markets where they’ll usually have power available (e.g. real estate agents).
Posted by: Tim | July 11, 2006 10:31 AM
How will the Clearwire technology compare to 3G and others being depoloyed by the cell companies? I'm always happy for more competition in this areana.
Posted by: Doug | July 10, 2006 07:28 PM
Sherman--sounds great. As long as you bring the cooler... :)
Posted by: Tim | July 5, 2006 09:45 AM
Clearwire uses a technology called OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) - They use the 2.5Ghz frequency. Great solution for areas where you need mobility and global coverage. They mostly co-locate their tranceivers on commercial towers (like cellular / two way etc.). You should have the option of going with an indoor CPE or an outdoor version (more expensive solution - obviously). Logically, you "should" get a better signal with the outdoor model (which consists of a weather proof antenna that mounts to the outside your house/business/ "boat" ) :) As awesome of a solution as it may be, remember, you are working with a "WIRE LESS" signal. The enviroment (weather) does play a part in it...
Posted by: Anonymous | July 3, 2006 12:01 PM
Hey I'm all for working on the boat on a sunny day--but you'll need a captain. So how about I drive and you bring your laptop and work away?
Posted by: sherman | June 30, 2006 09:42 AM