4G experiences?

[SeaRat]

When I first purchased an ipad it was with the intention of watching movies and streaming content and the like while 'on the go', as am truly o.t.g. and have no permanent address or hard phone line or desire for either. Unfortunately I soon
learned that one can burn AT&T's 2 gig plan out overnight with just a few movies,
or several uTube episodes. I have, by virtue of the preceding posts, perused Clears
website and have just purchased one of their devices and a month to month plan. I
imagine I will soon see if their claim of unlimited data usage is true, and if speed of
transmission (a bonus!) has increased to boot.?.. I'll let you know.

 

[xune]

The iPad cannot do 4G without the proper hardware. If you are seeing faster speeds that is just your 3G being maxed out. IT IS NOT 4G!

A wireless router, aka personal router, aka mifi's takes 3G and/or 4G and converts it to wifi. It's as simple as that. What proper hardware are you referring to exactly?

I own the iSpot, advertised as a 4G ONLY router, so it has nothing to do any other carrier's "3G speeds being maxed out." In fact Clear doesn't even have their own 3G network. They do however lease Sprint's 3G network as a combo option for those who want a wireless router that does both 3G and 4G, but the two companies have separate networks based on my last phone call to them.

I am most definitely seeing faster speeds, though, that's for sure.

Not sure what your sources are, but perhaps you can shed some light on how it is not 4G, but maxed out 3G. You could be right, and maybe all of the telecoms have been holding out on us, but frankly I could care less what they call it, as long as it's faster, and costs me the same.

They could call it negative two G for all I care! Lol. Give me fast unlimited internet and I'm a happy camper!

 

[epb]

Wow.

.. Way over both your heads. How hard is it to understand.

The concepts aren't hard to understand, your writing is. Your punctuation is all over the place, your sentences start in the middle and trail off in a flurry of periods, and you steadfastly refuse to elaborate on any of the vague points you claim you've made. You seem to have a strong opinion on this subject, but you're simply not communicating it well. I appreciate the attempt, though.

 

[epb]

I imagine I will soon see if their claim of unlimited data usage is true, and if speed of transmission (a bonus!) has increased to boot.?.. I'll let you know.

I'm going to pik up the Clear set-up today as well - I'll report back my results.

 

[epb]

And I'm back. I'll lead with the conclusion: I'm disappointed. It works properly, but so far 4G performance, which is advertised as being as fast as my home DSL connection (3 to 6Mbps), is on par with AT&T's rickety 3G service. This falls far short of my expectations, which was to use Splashtop Remote to access my home PC with the same performance abroad that I do at home. I need to do some testing outside of home (where I'd normally use the device) and see how it does then. Using Speedtest's app, I got the following results on my iPad:

Clear 4G = PING: 448ms DOWNLOAD: .86Mbps UPLOAD: .04Mbps

AT&T 3G = PING: 244s DOWNLOAD: .93Mbps UPLOAD: .05Mbps

DSL = PING: 163ms DOWNLOAD: 4.91Mbps UPLOAD: .62Mbps

 

[xune]

epb,

Interesting.. Based on the above numbers, it seems more like a 3G router. Curious. Did you download the iSpot app to check the signal strength for the speed test? If not, do you recall what the color the 4G LED light indicator was on the router during the test?

Also, I was wondering if you contacted Clear customer service/tech support regarding your findings, as those seem slower than they should be? Based on some speed test comparisons of my own, i'm experiencing an average of a 19-25% increase in speed over AT&T with 3 bars present, a 42-56% increase with 4 consistent bars, and 73-81% increase with 5 bars of signal strength; the differences in %'s were based on selecting the default Canada server, or the closer Los Angeles server. The app I used is speedtestX HD (accurate?). Not sure how reliable it is, but it at least gave me a measuring stick to compare to your findings. I positioned the router in different areas to get the varying signal strength and ran two back to back tests on the two carriers to see what my results would be. Unfortunately, this was not the best controlled test, as i could only vary one control (the iSpot's signal strength by changing locations, I could not get the same matching variance with AT&T's signal strength, which was 4 bars on the the first test, 5 bars on the second test and 4 bars on the 3rd test. Each test was done within 20 feet of the router. With the best Clear 4G speed result (5 bars as shown by the iSpot app) yielding an 81% increase over AT&T's 3G 4 bars as shown on the iPad's top left readout. Doing some fuzzymath based on 1.4 mbps representing 3G, and adding 81% to that, I get a 2.5 mbps. That based on the validity of the free speed test app used to determine the speeds my ipad was seeing. In any case, it does not compute to a 4 fold increase as Clear advertises, however, I do notice greater speeds using the 4G router vs the internal 3G connection through AT&T. I'll see if I can conduct another test tomorrow, and share my personal findings. In the mean time, I would be curious to find out what the LED color was or the iSpot's signal strength was showing on your iPad app, as it does affect of the connection download from what I've seen.

 

[SeaRat]

I'm back as well, but in a somewhat confused condition. I received the iSpot in the mail yesterday (exceptional delivery time) and set it up per included instructions. The unit made me SO happy; as soon as I got a wifi icon on my
ipad my 20mb apps started to download without a Starbucks in sight, jumping
around the 'net was indeed faster, and I actually watched a utube video that
did not appear to be covered with a film of motor oil. Joy uncontained. Then
I turned off my ipad and the iSpot for awhile and since then and unto the
present time My ipad will not recognize the iSpot. The ipad settings have wifi
on but shows 'not connected', the iSpot cycles between yellow and green, and
my happiness is evaporating. I am thinking of going back to flint and steel and
forsaking the electronic world forever.

 

[epb]

epb,

Interesting.. Based on the above numbers, it seems more like a 3G router. Curious. Did you download the iSpot app to check the signal strength for the speed test? If not, do you recall what the color the 4G LED light indicator was on the router during the test?

That's why I'm going to try the unit outisde my condo today - I never got more than 2-3 bars at home; the router has never gone to green, always yellow or red, and then only right by a window. I'm hoping a batter signal will mean better performance. And yes, I've got the Clear app; I downloaded it before I even bought the iSpot.

As for calling Clear support - I've seen a LOT of evidence on their forums that support can't do a damned thing. If I can't get this working better on my own, it's going back before the trial is up.

I turned off my ipad and the iSpot for awhile and since then and unto the present time My ipad will not recognize the iSpot. The ipad settings have wifi on but shows 'not connected', the iSpot cycles between yellow and green, and my happiness is evaporating. I am thinking of going back to flint and steel and forsaking the electronic world forever.

Sounds like you've got the MAC address problem. The iSpot firmware is supposed to recognize only Apple devices by te MAC address, but it appears a lot of equipment prefixes weren't included. Clear is releasing a firmware update on January 3 to fix the problem. On their forums, lots of people have had the same issue - the iSpot works immediately after set-up, but stops after the first time you turn it off.

 

[SeaRat]

Fixed!

I imagine I will soon see if their claim of unlimited data usage is true, and if speed of transmission (a bonus!) has increased to boot.?.. I'll let you know.

I'm going to pik up the Clear set-up today as well - I'll report back my results.

I called Clears tech dept. and spoke to someone who had trouble understanding that the ipad doesn't have a USB cable to unplug and plug back in ("see if that works"). Frustrated, I called back and got a tech who fixed my
problem in @ ten minutes. He had me turn off the iSpot and then hold the
butten down 'til it had a solid green light (no blue). As soon as I did this my
ipad recognized the iSpot and all was well. I live in Los Angeles, and I get
almost entirely green signals with occasional bits of yellow. I'm a content
camper at this juncture, yay!

 

[epb]

I live in Los Angeles, and I get
almost entirely green signals with occasional bits of yellow. I'm a content
camper at this juncture, yay!

Congrats. I've tried the iSpot at two locations outside my place today and results are positive:

PING: 341ms DOWNLOAD: 4.35Mbps UPLOAD: .91Mbps
PING: 225ms DOWNLOAD: 9.04Mbps UPLOAD: .88Mbps

Compare that to my home DSL connection:
PING: 163ms DOWNLOAD: 4.91Mbps UPLOAD: .62Mbps

The iSpot isn't as consistent as my home connection - a 1GB download took 45 minutes, as it seemed to speed up and slow down at various times, compared to 30 minutes or so at home. Still impressive performance for cellular, and much faster than 3G.

 

[xune]

Bad news for those who didn't get their iSpots already. They were discontinued as of today

Clear iSpot discontinued already -- Engadget

If anyone wants to sell theirs to me, I'll buy it. PM me.

 

[epb]

They're not available from Clear online, and I suspected this was coming when it was pulled from their web site. but you can still pick them up in stores. The location where I bought mine had about 20 stacked on a table.

Speaking of the iSpot - have you tried the jailbreak?

 

[SeaRat]

I watched Netflix 'til the wee last night and when I awoke this morning found out via
ipad Forum email that the iSpot had been pulled from the shelf. This sort of counter-
balances my not getting the unlimited data plan from AT&T when the getting was good.
Also, I would like to report that my transmission speeds, while perhaps not the 4x speed
advertised, are VERY much higher than AT&T's, and I've had little but green LEDs on my
iSpot since I've been using it (a lot!). Satisfied camper at this point.

 

[xune]

So I ran a couple real world tests back to back from the same location, downloading an app over AT&T 3G, deleting the app, and redownloading the same app over Clear 4G. Turned off wifi for the AT&T only test. Turned off cellular data(3G) for the Clear only test.

Downloaded Virtuoso (piano app)

The results: (seconds) download/install

AT&T: 124/153

Clear: 43/61

Based on this non-scientific comparison, Clear 4G downloaded this app 2.5 times faster than AT&T 3G from this particular location. Clear iSpot app signal strength 4/5 bars/green LED, AT&T iPad signal strength 5/5 bars.

 

[epb]

Well, I'm committed - I turned off AT&T's 3G service today, so the iSpot is all I've got. And I've learned that the poor signal at home is due to the awning we have over the windows and balconies - nice for preventing rain when they are open, bad for the signal. Out on my balcony or outside my building, the signal goes to solid green/5 bars.