WiMAX - initial review: killer, if you get a signal
I waited in extreme anticipation for my WiMAX adapter to be delivered. It wound up being a day late due to the weather. I unpacked it and installed the software and plugged it in and ... nothing. No network found. What? WiMAX has no line of sight issues, it's supposed to "just work" - I tried using Clear's 24/7 online chat support. Guy was just a random first level support. Not much help. I decided I would give it a try when I was out in a zone that should definately have a signal.
Right now I'm using it, and I was using it the other day. Both times I've been looking at ~5mbit down and 400kbit up according to speedtest.net. Very nice. Currently it feels like I am at a home wifi connection. So at the moment if this was consistent, I would be sold. However, I am still not able to claim this is the best thing since velcro until I can figure out why I get not a single bar of signal at home.
I tried calling Clear the first time I was out and of course it was working - I thought it was going to fail like it did at home. Doh. Anyway, I need to do some more testing and diagnosis, but right now I have to say if the coverage improves (or someone explains why I get nothing inside of my house when it sounds like I should) WiMAX is pretty awesome. It's going to make me wish my laptop had it built-in so I didn't need a separate USB dongle for it 🙂