This past Friday, August 20th, the local CLEAR Staff & Dealers got the “bad” news that the guy who helped launch the San Antonio CLEAR Market last year, Samuel “Sam” Rosario, was being stolen by by New York City’s CLEAR Market.
Yep, stolen from San Antonio, from under our noses.
All the hours of hard work Sam put in, all that over time on evenings and weekends, to the point that even his skin was turning the same shade of green as the official logo, has resulted in a serious promotion for Sam, and he deserves it! Hmm, wonder if all that green Koolaid he was drinking and lack of exposure to sunlight had anything to do with that skin color changing. Just kidding!
Sam had been the Indirect Sales Manager for San Antonio since before it launched on November 1st, 2009. He started by working out of his garage until CLEAR rented office space to be official. He recruited & hired the Indirect Account Reps, training them and sending them out to make cold calls upon prospective dealers who had never even heard of CLEAR.
He conducted info and training meetings for the dealers, and helped convince us that we ought to jump on his coat tails and become CLEAR Dealers. Many of us local dealers, became dealers because either Sam, or his handful of Account Reps, personally convinced us this was a viable risk to take at the time.
Starting this month (August), CLEAR has apparently started to restrict the sale of fixed location Home Modems (4G only) and even some 4G USB or Personal Hotspots, depending upon your service address. The following is just an opinion / conjecture on our part, based partially on factual statements made by CLEAR to us dealers, conversation with other CLEAR Account Reps and Dealers in both San Antonio and Austin markets, and our actual hands on experiences this past week while trying to sell CLEAR in these two markets.
Sometimes growth causes growing pains. Remember when Cell Phones first came to town? Some areas were better covered than others, some areas you got “network busy” messages on frequent basis. Over time, the cell phone companies expanded their systems, to the extent that now we have two of the major carriers (AT&T and Verizon) poking fingers at each other, claiming to have the best 3G Coverage. Well, CLEAR has the best 4G coverage, in fact the only 4G coverage, and they are spending literally billions of dollars to expand and promote their network. In fact, in a recent release statement, parent company Clearwire execs reported they have reached 1.7 million actual subscribers already in the USA, and their expansion plans call to double the number of markets (cities) by the end of 2010.
First of all, we think part of the “problem” as we perceive it, is that CLEAR has been such an over whelming success, that they’ve simply over sold in some areas of their market. Too many CLEAR customers on too few towers. You might remember that I mentioned a while back, that CLEAR in San Antonio alone, had reached their 2010 December sales goal by the end of May 2010. They started a major expansion effort in San Antonio, building new towers where they couldn’t find an existing tower to piggy back, and adding more receivers to existing towers where they need to support more clients. All in all, we were told to expect about 120 new towers or enhanced tower sites around San Antonio using construction funds reserved for the last 6 months of 2010.
We fondly remember the character Forest Gump, played by Tom Hanks, saying several clever sayings, including “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you will get next” and “Stupid is as Stupid does.” Or at least we think that’s where we first heard those comments.
Anway, phishing emails are aimed at folks who aren’t properly self-educated about the Internet, or are too greedy to know when something’s too good to be true. We delete them ourselves by the dozens every day, some days more than others, when they make it past our anti-spam filters on the server.
Remembering simple things, like no legit ISP, Bank, etc. will ask for your password via email. Anyone getting a letter from an unknown person, telling them $$ are waiting for them if they only provide their personal bank account info, etc., ought to know it’s bogus. Anyone getting an email from “your webmaster” saying your email was being suspended due to suspicious activity from a foreign country ought to know better.
We would use stronger language to describe the 4G speed that we’ve been experiencing our our new Sprint EVO Phone, but this is a family rated website, so we’ll mind our language better.
We’ve been putting our EVO to the test and here are a few of our findings.
Battery life test- Yep, it sucks battery power. We did make it thru the day once. Got about 9 hours of life between charges, but we weren’t using it very heavily on the Internet. Today, we unplugged the power at 8:30am, and by 11am, we were down to 67% battery power remaining. We were surfing the web, doing more email and phone calls than the other day. We’ll see how long it goes, but fortunately we did buy an extra auto power adapter for in our car, and an extra micro USB cable to keep in the car for charging also.
4G Speed -We sat in the shadow of a known CLEAR Wimax tower site and ran joint speed tests on both the EVO and our laptop. Our laptop is of course running on the CLEAR 4G network, using their combo 4G+ card (dual 4G / 3G) equivalent of what Sprint offers. The highest we’ve gotten so far on the EVO was a shade higher than 2mbps download, and 1mbps upload. The lowest we’ve gotten was 0.5 mbps down and 0.14 up. (further away from tower in weaker signal area) While our EVO was pulling down that 2+ mbps, our laptop was pulling down more than 10 mbps on the CLEAR network.
Since both devices are using CLEAR WiMax for the 4G signal, shouldn’t the speed be similar?
We stopped by a local Sprint Store to ask that exact question, and here was their response:
“We’ve been getting multiple reports of the slower speeds with the EVO on 4G, and Sprint is looking into the problem. Expect an update at some point in the future, but we don’t know how soon that will be fixed or if it will be fixed.”
You may have read in the news lately, that AT&T is dropping their UNLIMITED DATA plans today, June 7th. Users of their popular iPad and iPhone won’t be able to sign up for any unlimited data plans after today, perhaps it is already too late.
The move away from unlimited wireless data plans, has been viewed as both a blessing and a curse. In some instances, light wireless users could save money, while heavy users can get left holding the bag and paying more than they did before the change.
AT&T’s dropping their $30 per month unlimited wireless data plans also comes as all eyes are on Apple, as they prepare to release the latest version of the Apple iPhone, the iPhone 4G, on the masses today at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
The new iPhone has been widely rumored to include new video capabilities including a front-facing video camera and mobile video chat, capabilities that will consume massive amounts of wireless data on AT&T’s networks.
The new data plans being offered, are $15/month for 200mb or $25/month for 2gb usage. Overage fees range from $15/200mb overage on the first plan, to only $10/gb on the second plan. Duuh? Why would anybody in their right mind sign up for that first plan if they have a smart phone or the two Apple phones we mentioned above? The overage fees would bankrupt you quickly.
We had a customer this past week who used his PayPal Account Debit Card that drew funds from his PayPal account, and then from his bank account if there were insufficient funds in his PayPal account. He paid for his brand new CLEAR subscription with his PayPal debit card.
This solution may not be for everybody, but PayPal does offer at least two options for using a credit card drawn on your PayPal account. PayPal uses MasterCard, not Visa, American Express, etc., but normally that’s not a problem with the vendor. We’ve found one vendor who only accepted Visa, and thus we had to actually mail a paper check to pay for our order. Gasp!
This post to the WiMAX San Antonio website has nothing to do with CLEAR or anti-virus / spyware issues, or any of our usual topics.
But we got a comple of emails today warning about a new security threat to companies who use larger high volume digital copiers.
Seems that most modern digital copiers built since the year 2002, contain hard drives, especially networked larger copiers. And those hard drives tend to not be erased prior to the copier getting returned at the end of the lease, or sold when traded in on another copier.
I couldn’t believe the reports I was getting from customers on the northwest side of San Antonio, download speeds up to 17 mbps, upload speeds up to 4-5 mbps? Get Real!
So I took a short drive out to the shopping center where Little Caesar’s Pizza was located (it was customer appreciate day after all) and set up in the parking lot near Tezel Road and Guilbeau Road. We did some speed tests using www.speedtest.net and found out the stories were quite true!
Speedtest thought our IP address was in Midland, Texas, but we used the San Antonio server for testing purposes as always.
Feel free to contact us for all your CLEAR needs in the San Antonio Texas Metro Area by calling 210-771-7075 or email to lee@wimaxsatx.com. We can offer onsite free demos for CLEAR and quick professional installs for DirecTV as well.
We promised you a quick video to let “U Bee” the judge of the new LED light used by the Ubee PXU1900 CLEAR USB Modem, compared with the LED light used by the current Motorola USBw25100 CLEAR USB Modem. Here is a short 46 second video clip (with no audio) to let you be the judge.
We’ve arranged to get our hands on one each of the new CLEAR modems coming down the pipeline, ones that are not yet out in general distribution for the San Antonio area at least. We’re planning to make a couple of info videos to explain and compare the new modems with their existing counterparts. These are the new USB modem and the Series “M” Residential Modem.
So far, we haven’t too impressed or wowed by the performance new modems, at least not enough to recommend delaying purchase until you get the new ones. They work quite well, but not that much better in our opinion. Read below…
The new USB modem has a very strong flashing LED in the form of a CLEAR logo, about 3/8 of an inch or larger, that is really, really bright. We mean you might want to keep a pair of sunglasses handy! It glows bright red when you are not connected, changes to bright green when connected, and then starts flashing like a strobe light when there is activity happening.
Using the new USB modem in a well light environment wasn’t too bad, just sort of a distraction out the corner of your eye, but if you used it in a less well lit area, you might as well had a strobe light flashing in the room.
The older modem (shown on the left of the three in the photo) has a low intensity LED that flashes not nearly as bright for the same functions. The dual mode modem (on right) has the same lower intensity LED as well.
One big advantage to the new design, if it works, is the ability to plug in the new modem to it’s matching antenna docking station, thus creating a larger antenna. The Docking Station (shown on right, blue photo., courtesy of www.wimaxian.com) still connects to your computer using USB, but the modem has two antenna jacks on the back side that allow you to snap this modem into the docking station and, in theory, create a mode sensitive antenna for pulling down the CLEAR Wimax signal.
Of course, you won’t be able to hang this docking station on the side of your laptop, but if you needed that extra boost without wanting to buy the residential modem, this may be an option for you. The docking station accessory is only $9.99 from CLEAR.com, but your dealer (that’s us) can order it for you also.
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We became an Authorized Retailer for Clear.com in October 2009. We were the 3rd to be activated in San Antonio on November 1st, and among the first hundred dealers to pass their stringent requirements and sign up for this great service. We've remained in the top 1/3 of all San Antonio area dealers in sales volume of sales since then.
We are NOT CLEAR employees, we are an independent dealer providing a value added service at CLEAR's posted prices and plans, plus offering extra service for Computer repairs and upgrades, DirecTV sales and installs, Home Stereo / cabling installation or repairs, etc. Ask and it shall be done if we can do it well.
We bring the CLEAR WiMAX equipment to you, perform free signal tests and demonstrate the service in full, prior to signing you up for any service. This on-site service is always free.
As a result of this extra care and attention we pay to our customers, we've only had 1 customer cancel his CLEAR service in this first 6 months of service in the San Antonio area, and he lived way out on the fringe of the coverage area to start with.
We are also accepting applications for sales folks who want to work on a 100% commission basis, selling CLEAR services for us in the San Antonio market, or elsewhere. We're willing to work out deals that nobody else will offer, if you are ready to make qualified sales.
We don't hide behind a faceless web site, unlike some of our competitors, so here's the contact info...
Battery life test- Yep, it sucks battery power. We did make it thru the day once. Got about 9 hours of life between charges, but we weren’t using it very heavily on the Internet. Today, we unplugged the power at 8:30am, and by 11am, we were down to 67% battery power remaining. We were surfing the web, doing more email and phone calls than the other day. We’ll see how long it goes, but fortunately we did buy an extra auto power adapter for in our car, and an extra micro USB cable to keep in the car for charging also.
You may have read in the news lately, that AT&T is dropping their UNLIMITED DATA plans today, June 7th. Users of their popular iPad and iPhone won’t be able to sign up for any unlimited data plans after today, perhaps it is already too late.
So far, we haven’t too impressed or wowed by the performance new modems, at least not enough to recommend delaying purchase until you get the new ones. They work quite well, but not that much better in our opinion. Read below… 