WiMax San Antonio TX

Have you ever noticed around Christmas time especially, or in the grocery store when it’s the night before a holiday, that the item you really wanted, wasn’t on the shelf at the store?  Too much demand for the current supply chain.

Well, with the big push this month in August for the “Back to School” special deals on all CLEAR 4G+ modems and hotspots, the demand has out stripped the available supply of 4G+ Hotspot modems. 

At only $50/month for service, plus $5.99/month for equipment, this item has proven to be extremely popular with the customers, breaking sales goals set by corporate, just like the San Antonio market has exceeded its sales goals for 2010 SIX MONTHS EARLY.

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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.

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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.   

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We just returned from a CLEAR Wimax Dealer’s briefing on the new 4G+ USB modem (4G/3G combo) that will be available in the San Antonio, Austin and nationwide markets effective July 1st.  We learned about the new modem that is Mac Compatible!  Yay!  My wife will be very happy as soon as she gets one of these, cause, as our readers are aware, my wife is a Mac Consultant  (www.MacAnswers.com).

This disc shaped USB modem can swivel 180 degrees, making it easier to fit more computer’s USB port configurations.   The swivel is metal, not plastic, which should help in both durablity and heat disipation.  But see that little cover on the right edge of this photo?  That’s for an external antenna connection. 

Yep, you can connect an external antenna for about $20 (according to Sierra Wireless Rep)  to increase your signal by about 50%.  

The Sierra Wireless Rep showed how she  velcroed her external antenna to the upper lid of her laptop, so when it was opened, the antenna would be sticking up in the air more.  One might even assume that you could connect to a really external antenna, stuck up higher in the air, over in a nearby window, or some other place where you can pull down a better / stronger signal.  At this time, we don’t know if the CLEAR dealers can sell those antennas with the modem, or if you will need to visit www.SierraWireless.com to purchase direct from them.

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CLEAR has announced they have  dropped the dreaded early termination fees (ETF) on some contracts, effective June 1, 2010.  If you subscribe to CLEAR under a new 2 year contract, and lease the equipment from them, there will not be an ETF applied to the account.  Rather, you will be charged a $40 per device “Restocking Fee” if you cancel before your contract expires.  Of course those who chose to buy equipment and go without a contract don’t have to worry about ETF at all.

Folks who buy Wimax Embedded Devices (i.e. laptops with built in wimax) will still face an ETF fee, as will anyone who buys the CLEAR equipment outright and still enters into a 2 year contract with CLEAR for service.

They have also modified the criteria for opting out of a contract, such as moving out of a coverage area, or being deployed in the military, so if you find yourself in such a pickle, please contact CLEAR’s Customer Care department direct to discuss your case with them.

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Nothing ever stays the same in the tech world, especially pricing.  But it was announced by CLEAR earlier this month that  CLEAR customers wanting to buy their own equipment from CLEAR, rather than leasing it under a 2 year contract, can now expect to pay higher prices.   CLEAR has reduced the subsidy amount they had been applying in the form of discounts at the time of purchase.  Of course if you go on contract, the up front cost is much much less.

Home modems are now running $84.95, while USB modems (depending on model) are running $59.99 – $69.99 each. 4G  Combo modems (i.e. 4G/3G USB modems) are running $224.99 (same price), but the new Mac compatible 4G+ modem is only $112.99 (available starting July 1st).

CLEAR slashed the price of their current CLEARSpot router (aka Cradlepoint’s PHS300 router) from $139.99 to only $49.99 (no lease or contract required), but you still need a CLEAR USB modem of  some sort to make it work on the 4G or 3G network.  We’ve used ours (paid a lot more for it) with both the 4G and 4G+ modem in the past few months.

CLEAR has announced some other changes also, so watch for more postings by us on this topic also.

We are now selling CLEAR services in the San Antonio and Austin Texas markets, including New Braunfels and San Marcos along the IH-35 corridor between the two cities.  Contact us if you are interested in getting CLEAR and we’ll bring it to your door!  Call us at 210-771-7075 or email us at lee@wimaxsatx.com with any questions.

We had lunch the other day with the San Antonio Indirect Sales Manager for CLEAR.  He said that subscriptions for CLEAR have been double the expected levels as of this point in time, with 40,000 wimax devices currently active in the San Antonio, Texas, metro area.  That number also includes devices sold by Sprint or Time Warner on the 4G network also, but it was mostly CLEAR customers who are using these devices.  

The rapid growth resulted in the San Antonio market winning multiple awards from CLEAR awards six months in a row, over all other CLEAR markets.  But it also resulted in a heavier use load on their system locally.

So they have embarked on an earlier than planned expansion of their network in San Antonio, increasing the number of receiver sites by about 50% over the next  60 days.  Some sites will be used to fill in holes where coverage is spotty, and areas where usage is higher than expected.  But some will be used to expand coverage further out from the city, perhaps catching some of those folks outside 1604 who currently can’t yet get reliable 4G coverage.

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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.   

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Had a phone call over this past holiday weekend, from a new CLEAR customer (not sold by WiMaxSATX) who had been experiencing erratic speeds on his home and USB modems.  He lived just west of downtown San Antonio, and was only  9 blocks away from the nearest CLEAR tower site.   His apartment faced the tower direction, and a had full signal strengthon both modems.   He had only gotten CLEAR service within the past month, and either was apparently not aware of the toll free number for CLEAR Customer Care,  or just preferred to find a local source of help.   So he searched the Internet to find us instead.  Yea, Google!

Even though he wasn’t our customer per se, we still provided him with some help to isolate the problem, and decided that he must have found a cell tower that had developed “issues” recently.   We then referred him to the proper toll free line, 888-888-3113, and suggested he file a trouble ticket.   This all happened over a holiday weekend, Memorial Day to be exact.

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We just received the green light from CLEAR to expand our dealership’s sales territory to include the Austin, Texas market, which includes San Marcos, Austin, and the towns near Austin, such as Pflugerville, Round Rock, etc.

We’ve successfully completed the application process, got the written okay from all parties needed to sign off on it, so now all we’re awaiting is for that pesky computer to get updated so we can start entering orders for customers up north of here.

So please be patient bit longer, and we’ll be in a position soon to start selling CLEAR wireless Internet services to even more folks than before!

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