[TriLUG] Buh bye ClearWire

[Igor Partola via TriLUG]

The Problem with Clear was their positioning on the market and their
policies. The technology did not fit what they were trying to sell. First,
they had terrible latency and dropped packets. Not enough to affect
bandwidth, but enough that doing certain things like using ssh or gaming
was impossible. Surfing the web always felt like you were on a mobile
network (because you were). It never felt snappy. They also had this
terribly policy that you had to pay a cancelation fee, even after using
them for just a little. So you buy the device, sign a year long contract,
and if you want out three days later you have to return everything and
still pay like $80.

The technology IMO is much better suited for mobile phones and tablets.
It's great for streaming video for example. The problem there is that the
competition is so stiff and GSM dominates as the standard. Perhaps WiMax
was just a bit ahead of its time. Had Clear instead gone after car
manufacturers and sold the service as a car add-on (a la OnStar or Sirius
radio) they might have been more successful.

Igor