After a Weekend Away...

At 9:00 AM on a Wednesday morning, slow as ever!!

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1170667537.png

I am a telecommuter, and this could get me fired. My job doesn't even require that much bandwidth. Most of what I am transmitting is pure text, but even at that, this speed just doesn't allow me to do my job.

Tonight's Yummy Speed from Clear

At least they're consistent.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1162567784.png

Trying to watch a 45-minute episode of a program on Netflix took an hour and fifteen minutes because the streaming paused four times during the viewing to buffer. Running another speed test after getting through the show revealed that speeds are even slower:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1162595946.png

A speed of .25, when I should be able to expect speeds of 4.0 to 6.0 is horrible.

Clearwire Speeds Hot in the AM, Cold at Night

Compare this smokin' speed from 6:00AM this morning:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1160027663.png

To this speed at 9:46PM:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1161091027.png

This is consistent. Every morning, speeds are what Clear promised when they sold me my service. Fast. At around 8:30AM every day, the speeds change, as though someone flipped a switch. In the evening, the speed is always pitifully slow. Every day.

Clear Uniformly Sucks for Higher Bandwidth Users

So, if you do a search for the words, "clear" and "throttle" you will get tons of hits from forums and blogs of people who are Clear customers with speed problems. Throttling is when the provider (Clear or Clearwire) intentionally slows your internet connection. Clear does this to me.

Right now, my connection speed is so slow I can't accomplish anything. The website, speedtest (http://www.speedtest.com) will tell you what your connection speed is. Right now, the speed is so slow, that the speedtest web page won't even load. That's the worst I've seen it. An hour ago, I ran the test and got a download speed of .37. That's pitiful.

The poor speeds are made worse, though, when I've made the mistake of calling Clear support. I am a UNIX Systems Administrator, so I know my stuff when it comes to technical issues. So, when they tell me to optimize my browser or make sure my Clear devise isn't sitting near other electronic equipment or any of the other things they did to waste my time, I know it's pure bullshit. Clear knows it's pure bullshit.

Speed Test 2/15/11 1755

Clear Watch Begins

It's February 14, 2011, Valentine's day. To commemorate this sacred holiday, I am starting this blog to log and track the connection speeds I'm getting from my Clear account.

When I opened this account, I was promised high speeds. What I'm getting most of the time would make a dial-up modem seem quick. Having more than one computer in the house at play can cause fist fights. Streaming a movie or watching something on UTube is just frustrating.

So, here we go. This blog will serve to document the service I'm getting from Clear and to explain, along the way, what customers are getting from this provider vs. what they should expect.

Click here to see SpeedTest results for 2/14/11 1935