A line modem in your pocket . Rockin ’ down the highway with video on need . Real wireless broadband . I tested an unthrottled Clearwire WiMax connection all over Portland , and that ’s ( mostly ) what I got .
It ’s hard to conceive of harnessing that much bandwidth wirelessly while sitting outside a shopping heart , enjoying an unseasonably warm March day . It ’s almost a jocularity , being able-bodied to watch out Jon Stewart ream Jim Cramer — stream via Hulu — while sitting in the backseat of a Lincoln Navigator doing 60 on the freeway . Having reviewed gadgets for almost a decade , I sometimes have to fake agitation that I may not truly sense in my loins . But this is dissimilar — real , honest - to - God wireless broadband made me freakin ’ giddy , even if it did n’t deliver eyeshade speeds at every spot where I parked .
If most of what we review is a chunk of the present , WiMax is from the future tense . Thankfully , it ’s the close future .
The Test
Clearwire is a wireless data religious service now bulk owned by Sprint ( but with Comcast and others holding stakes ) . Currently it ’s got the Clear WiMax help in both Portland and Baltimore . In Portland , it trade mobile and abode modems that can take out down up to 4Mbps , but you know fromreading Giz Explainsthat WiMax is already able of a lot more : It ’s the first 4 G connection that ’s in reality up and running in the US .
https://gizmodo.com/giz-explains-why-wimax-and-lte-wireless-4g-data-will-b-5168035
Clearwire gave me a chance to see what WiMax was like without any throttling : I got a USB dongle that could pull in down whatever was out there . That turned out to be , in some places , nearly 13Mbps downstream — the current speed of your typical cable television modem , and about 10 times what wired broadband delivered just a few years back .
I trek around Portland , OR for a twain of 24-hour interval , testing the boundaries of the WiMax meshing , and spot testing in different locations around town to see what I become . I used the Motorola USBw25100 WiMax dongle , connected directly to a very sweet , very pimp - out HP Pavilion dv4 notebook that I borrowed for the occasion . ( At the moment , there ’s no Mac driver for the WiMax modem , but as you may imagine that ’s in the works . )
As a helpful comparison , I used a 3 G dongle from Verizon Wireless . I want to be well-defined that this is n’t to be read as a test of Verizon ’s Portland connection . However , that little USB modem held its own amazingly well , 3 G beating 4 gibibyte on a few occasions — at one level reaching a top speed of 3.3Mbps — so good on you , Verizon !
The test were clean bare , and resembled the ones we used for ourCoast - to - sea-coast 3 G Testlast fall . I go theSpeakeasy Speed Testa lower limit of five time in each location with each connection , then averaged those results . I charge a very impenetrable pageboy — theWikimedia Commons Hubble Imagespage — at least five meter , timing the pageload with the YSlow plug - in for Firefox . And I ping local servers in three sets of 10 to define latent period . I choose localisation based on their overall geographical variety , throwing in some locations that just made sense for me to call in , like my in - law , and the kinfolk of my sidekick Tom .
https://gizmodo.com/the-definitive-coast-to-coast-3g-data-test-5111989
Here are the placement , neatly marked on the mapping , followed by a chart of psychometric test results :
Click to view
View Larger Map
raging Spots and Cold Spots
As you’re able to see , though I get the kind of awesomeness that blisters during three of my stops , I watch some mediocrity in three more , and in one location , taste in the inwardness of Ithiel Town , I got nothing at all . When I checked with Clearwire , they not astonishingly differentiate me I had circumstantially select four locations that were slated for improved coverage , the two business district locations arrange to get lit up in the come months .
The up side of the experience was exciting enough that the downside did n’t bonk my spirits . You ’ll acknowledge in the chart that even when the connective was n’t that not bad , reaction time tend to stay humble , and even when the connection was shabby , the download focal ratio tended to stay at or above 3 G levels . I signify , before now , when was 1.2Mbps radio considered a bad thing ? Uploads were consistently just below 2Mbps — a far war cry from the 10Mbps I can get with heavily - wire cable , but pretty much on equation with 3G.
Clearwire has to lease all of its cell column just like any other wireless carrier , and not receive a legacy connection in berth does keep it from automatically having a tower everywhere it ’s needed . Also , the fact that WiMax runs in the 2.5GHz band point to a indigence for more towers . 3 grand is in the 1.8 to 2.1GHz , and the proposed LTE operate in the 700MHz spectrum . Though WiMax ’s higher oftenness may guarantee a more strong signal closer in , it also has shorter mountain range with the same business leader . WiMax does n’t feel like Wi - Fi — it can address smooth handoffs from tower to tower at gamy speeds — but the Clearwire coverage map of Portland does depend a snatch like a tightly packed assembling of hotspots .
This can be good news : Clearwire knows every column inch of the city , and can look up any client ’s home , workplace or favourite hangout to see if getting the armed service even makes sense . But it also means that if you ’re not encompass — depending on how a school board votes about what happens on their rooftop , or what the local port confidence has to say about wireless transmitting aerial — it may be a while before that changes .
Rockin ’ Down the Highway
Like most carrier , Clearwire take advantage the many tall cell towers that delineate the main road , mean you get WiMax ’s sick bandwidth pretty much unbroken as you fly down the route at 60 or 70 nautical mile per hour . In the undermentioned TV — in 90 straightaway seconds — you’ll see the following :
• Speakeasy speedtest showing some 13Mbps at 60 sea mile per hour
• Skype voice call ( sorry we did n’t do a video recording group discussion )
• Slingbox telecasting that ’s being upload via WiMax at Clearwire ’s authority , and download via WiMax in the motorcar
• Hulu , where we load up and begin watching a full - blind episode of The Daily Show , at 70 miles per hour
In Summary :
It ’s easy to reach download speeds that are four times the peak of today ’s best 3 G networks
Power demand does not seem to be any groovy than other wireless connecter
Most available absolved services now are capped at 4Mbps , though uncapped program may be available sometime this class
Only ahandful of citieswill have this armed service in 2009 , withmore to hail in 2010
https://gizmodo.com/wimax-4g-to-hit-80-markets-by-2010-clearwire-offering-5165274
Wide wavering in bandwidth experience eldritch : 12Mbps upper side ready 3Mbps feel like a unsatisfying dribble
Within Portland ’s metropolis limit , there were plenty of dead zone that will hopefully be filled in presently
[ More info on Clearwire service ]
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