Home › Forums › Open Discussion › anyone else having trouble with clear?
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March 26, 2010 at 5:05 pm #594318
JoBParticipanti have had real connectivity and speed problems lately.. and was finally told this morning that one of the towers was down.
is anyone else having problems?
i am ready to chuck them but not so impressed with my options
March 26, 2010 at 5:12 pm #691284
johnnyblegsMemberDump them. When we had Clearwire there were more problems than it was worth. These threads explain more:
https://westseattleblog.com/forum/topic/cable-internet-provider
https://westseattleblog.com/forum/topic/clearwire-anyone
DO NOT USE CLEARWIRE.
I was in the middle of my contract when we replaced our windows with more energy efficient double panes. The signal would not go through the double panes, it couldn’t and we were told it wasn’t designed to. The signal wasn’t a problem with our window open though. Customer service told us to just leave the window open for service. As you know, that’s ridiculous when it’s winter. It took a while but we got out of the contract without penalty.
Now we use Qwest. Not great but the best for the money. Qwest is owned by Verizon. Our bill is therefore bundled and discounted because of that.
March 26, 2010 at 5:17 pm #691285
FullTiltParticipantBy far the worst “high speed” internet service I have had.
March 26, 2010 at 5:36 pm #691286
JoBParticipantjohnnyblegs..
you get verizon bundling through QWest? I am going to have to check that out since we are back on verizon cellphone…
We had Qwest at our old location.. but it wasn’t available here when we moved which is how we ended up with clearwire..
i have to admit i am NOT a happy camper today..
March 26, 2010 at 5:46 pm #691287
JEMParticipantI have friends who also were told to open the window to get a signal since they have double-paned windows. Ridiculous. And then they recently received the new modem and their signal got much worse than with the old modem.
March 26, 2010 at 6:06 pm #691288
sam-cParticipantso it wasn’t just us!
yes, we’ve had problems lately. it started the night it was very windy (a week ago Thursday ?) and it has been in and out ever since. sometimes it will just stop working, and blink..
when it does work, Clear is fast for us. definitely faster on the one computer than the other, but that is related to the computer. I thought we couldn’t stream videos without stopping and starting annoyingly, but in fact, we can.
we originally tried to sign up for service with Qwest too. at a mall kiosk, the girl said we had coverage in our area, and it would be up and running in 3 weeks. after 3 weeks and no coverage, we called back and they told us, “oh I guess we don’t have coverage in that area after all”.
March 26, 2010 at 6:36 pm #691289
johnnyblegsMemberJoB: My wife and I did a lot of research, trying to find the best deal for internet because we pulled our hair out every time we had to rotate the antenna which is pretty much the only thing that their “customer service” says to do – “Turn it. How many lights? Okay, turn it another 90. How many now?” So stupid.
We don’t have any land lines or cable TV so Comcast was out of the question – way to expensive for us anyway and from what I’ve heard…terrible. We got the most basic phone hook-up just to get the internet. We also have shared minutes through our Verizon plan. What are you paying at Clearwire? About $30? With our cellphone plan we pay $135 a month for internet and 2 cell phones. I’d say that’s pretty good.
March 26, 2010 at 6:57 pm #691290
CarsonParticipantYou might want to consider Comcast “sharing” if you are friends with any close neighbors. A Wireless N Router is very good for a 100 feet or so, windows (even double pane) and walls knock reception by about 15%. Its cheaper, its easy, its super fast and pretty reliable.
March 26, 2010 at 7:40 pm #691291
FullTiltParticipantI have been on the phone with Clear for 45 minutes today. They just hung up on me while I was on hold. I really, really dislike their service.
March 27, 2010 at 12:15 am #691292
KatherineLParticipantI’ve had trouble the last couple days. Seems like every time I walked away from the computer, my connection dropped. I had to unplug it, plug it back in, and wait for the modem to power up. I spent about an hour on the phone with Tech Service this morning. They must be really busy. But, I have to say, they’ve always been extremely courteous.
March 27, 2010 at 12:35 am #691293
MousePotatoMemberMy biggest problem with Clear is their hours of customer service. They stop taking calls at 9:00 p.m. and start in the morning at 9:00 a.m. Completely unacceptable for an internet service provider. We’ve had our connection fail several times after 9:00 p.m. and have had to wait until the next day to get our service restored. They offer the ability to ‘chat’ with someone online about our issue but if the issue is lack of service, how do they expect anyone to have the ability to ‘chat’?
I have to admit that our connection has been relatively solid since receiving the new modem as long as I angle the antenna at 142 degrees to the west while standing on my right foot (with cleanly shaven toes) and keeping a prayer rug in the room.
Good luck–
March 27, 2010 at 12:52 am #691294
HelperMonkeyParticipantI am currently using Clear, and for the last two days service has been really poor. I generally get 5 bars – right now I am at two. It’s worse than dial up. :(
March 27, 2010 at 1:14 am #691295
JoBParticipantI did get a Clear tech to admit to me today that they had an antenna down in the morgan and 35th vicinity and said that antenna going down could have “messed” with our signal last night. it wouldn’t connect at all last night.
The problem with Clear for us has been a lack of reliability. we never know what signal strength or speed we are going to get on any given day:(
they are sending me another new modem which i will use i think until i sign up for QWest again.. if they are a possibility…
JEM..
we also got worse service with the new modem until they told us that the antenna is now located opposite from the plug in…
makes it kinda hard to sit it in the window without a shelf… but orienting the antenna towards the tower did help a lot… till it didn’t any more …
March 27, 2010 at 1:24 am #691296
MousePotatoMemberOther tips I’ve picked up from MANY calls to customer service…. You can’t have a 2.4 GHz phone in the house and you need to have your modem at least 6 feet from your wireless router (if you have one). Our service would die many times a day until this nugget of advice (too close to router) was finally revealed to us. I’m not sure why it took so many phone calls before a tech finally fed us that one….
March 27, 2010 at 4:14 am #691297
JoBParticipantmouse potato..
i knew about the router..
but not about the phone:(
mine is not only in the house but just under the modem:(
AARGH!
March 27, 2010 at 4:44 am #691298
JoBParticipantQwest DSL not an option at 30th and thistle:(
it’s comcast or clear…
i am not happy about the idea of giving up my walkaround phones.
March 27, 2010 at 5:08 am #691299
johnnyblegsMemberJoB – What about Verizon Wireless as an option? Haven’t heard any reviews about it but maybe look into it.
March 27, 2010 at 7:19 am #691300
Garden_nymphMemberWhen we first looked into Clear, they informed us that the service would be upgraded to a faster connection speed w/in a few months and we would NOT be charged for the new, better connection speed. We were told we would get our new modem as soon as the service was up and running in our neighborhood. After waiting almost a year, we learned about Clear’s upgrade while watching the news. We immediately contacted Clear to request a new modem. We have had many service outages since “upgrading” to the new modem (all “conveniently” when their call center is closed)! We tried to return the old modem directly to the Westwood store front, since we live in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, the people they employ in their store seem to do no more than surf the net and keep people from stealing their computers. They couldn’t take the old modem, couldn’t get a new postage paid label for us, couldn’t answer any of our questions… They merely hand us a pamphlet and tell us to contact their 1-800 phone number. I have tried to send e-mails, use chat and don’t get responses. We have sat on hold only to be hung up on or get the least informed “customer service” rep that only repeats a prepared script about troubleshooting! I am MORE than fed up with Clear!
JohnnyBlegs- you give me hope that we may be able to get out of our contract w/o penalty!
To me it’s “CLEAR” – their service sucks (in my humble opinion)! ;)
March 27, 2010 at 3:33 pm #691301
JoBParticipantGarden nymph..
the new modem has the antenna across from the plug.. not on the backside of the writing.. that may help.
johnnyblegs..
i will check out verizon wireless today
in the meantime.. i have unplugged those troublesome phones and will be playing find the signal later:(
when i looked into comcast.. it looks pretty expensive.. and from the website it looks like you have to buy a second service to get the expensive deal:( we don’t want comcast tv. and i resent having to buy their phone service to get an internet connection.
AARGH!!!!!!!
March 27, 2010 at 3:39 pm #691302
JoBParticipantjohnnyblegs..
i just checked the verizon link… and although our area is covered with their broadband service.. it just plain isn’t fast enough for streaming video:(
i was so excited there for a second..
March 27, 2010 at 3:50 pm #691303
austinMemberWow. I got a flyer from clear a while ago and it interested me enough that I held off putting it in recycle for a good fifteen or twenty minutes. I’m glad I didn’t go for it, this sounds almost like the internet equivalent of trying to get television by pointing the rabbit ears north and high above your head with your right hand while waving the specially shaped tinfoil wand randomly to pick up signal with your left.
Oh wait I missed post #11. Change that to sounds exactly like.
My service from comcast was twenty bucks a month for six months and about fifty after that. I don’t buy their television or telephone services. I get 16-20 mbps down and about 2 up. It’s never gone down, though it did slow down once a few months ago and they sent someone out the next day who fixed it in about fifteen minutes. I’m quite sure they’re the devil, but the devil that works is better than the devil that don’t. I just wish I could take it with me when not at home.
March 27, 2010 at 5:05 pm #691304
johnnyblegsMemberGarden_nymph: I have to mention that the reason we got out of our contract without penalty was because I have something that you don’t – my wife. She is an expert returner and a customer service rep’s worst nightmare. People usually cave to her when she gets on a tare. She’s returned open boxes of cereal and jars of salsa to the grocery store because it was a bad tasting product. Heck, she’s even returned salami back to the deli. She is a strong woman and it’s why I love her so much.
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The conversation started with me (the good cop) calling and initiating the request. When I couldn’t get them to agree I passed the phone to her (the bad cop). The key is not to get rude. Be firm and emphatic that you won’t take no for an answer. It’s not easy. If the person can’t grant your request, tell them “you understand that they may not be able to do this but please connect me to someone who can.” There is always someone above another that can make the problem go away. Don’t take no for an answer. If they need to send a rep out to confirm the bad signal, give them a firm “no”. You can’t take a day off work and spend more time on this issue. They even had the balls to mention “they’ll wave the penalty if we transfer our contract over to a friend that may be interested in the service.” Why would we recommend a broken product to a friend? These guys aren’t the sharpest tools in the box.
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Good luck. I could probably make a killing loaning out my wife to take care of situations like this :)
March 28, 2010 at 1:52 am #691305
KenParticipantQwest is not owned by verizon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qwest_Wireless
It has to be clueless cellphone sales droids that keep misinterpreting the scope of the MVNO contract. I see it stated here about every three months.
March 28, 2010 at 5:40 am #691306
JoBParticipantour modem was completely down again tonight from 8:30 till 10:30 :(
March 28, 2010 at 7:54 pm #691307
johnnyblegsMemberKen: Yes, I’ve seen previous posts you’ve put on. They may not be owned by Verizon but it doesn’t change the fact that there is a break in price when it’s bundled together (like my bill). So call it what you will, but they are affiliated in some way or another.
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