Thread: Anybody have WiMAX (3G or 4G) as their ISP?

I just got a new Toshiba Satellite laptop (my 1st ever laptop), and one of the pop-ups it keeps presenting me with is for this service called WiMAX .... which seems to be WiFi with super-large coverage areas. Sprint and some company called Clear are the two options, and their coverage maps seem to blanket pretty much all of LA & OC.

Does anybody have experience with this kind of service? If so ....

Who's your provider?

What cities/areas are you roaming around in using it?

How's it working out for you?


I'm pretty excited about trying this and throwing away my cable modem & the ethernet wire that ties my home computing to my desk.

It all depends on your internet usage.

Do you download and/or stream media a lot or more of a casual web user?

What are your current speed rates on the modem? Have you considered using a wireless router?
Posted via Mobile Device

Originally Posted by King Taco

It all depends on your internet usage.

Do you download and/or stream media a lot or more of a casual web user?

What are your current speed rates on the modem? Have you considered using a wireless router?
Posted via Mobile Device

KT -- your questions are all good ones to consider in deciding whether to get such a service ..... my questions are trying to determine if -- for anyone who has such a service -- they get what the pretty brochures claim they'll get.

WiMax is pretty good. i have the HTC EVO which uses wimax as its 4G service. it works pretty well where there is service.

It all depends on where you live i believe.

You might want to make sure it is available in your area. when im at staples tomorrow ill run a test and see how fast it is compared to what the brochures say.

Originally Posted by waterboy100

WiMax is pretty good. i have the HTC EVO which uses wimax as its 4G service. it works pretty well where there is service.

Are you a Sprint customer (EVO seems to be married to Sprint)? According to their website, their 4G service only covers 4 California cities ....

Merced
Visalia
Modesto
Stockton

.... outside of which we're left with 3G service that caps at 250 MB / 5 GB monthly ceilings.

Originally Posted by waterboy100

You might want to make sure it is available in your area. when im at staples tomorrow ill run a test and see how fast it is compared to what the brochures say.

South Bay for me ..... meaning Sprint has nothing ..... and upon further review, Clear only has 3G for now (4G in the future). Clear also does something very deceptive: when you go to check coverage CLEAR | 4G WiMAX Internet Coverage Map with Service Area. if you just select the 4G radio button (not 3G) their website keeps insisting on checking the ...

Best CLEAR Coverage
Future Coverage
Towers

... check boxes (to hide the fact that they have no 4G coverage today) which the user has to keep turning off. Cheeky bastards.

My dissappointment is palpable!

You can add Los Angeles and Orange County to that list of cities/areas in California. I work in Torrance, near the 110 and 405, and I get full reception.

4g hasn't been fully turned on in la and oc but there are numerous wimax towers already in operation. Should be fully rolled out before the end of the year. I've gotten 7.7 down, 1.2 up in oc.
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See larth19. The flip should be officially switched by early next year. but for now its pretty good.
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sprints data network went down for about an hour for me this evening. when it came back up i figured id check it. and the west valley is up!!!! with a 'fair' signal i am pulling ~220KB/s down with peaks of about 400KB/s. not too shabby for a service that is only going to get better.