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As a remote worker, I really need decent internet when I'm not in my home office. Sometimes I'll be at the local coffee shop, but more and more restaurants with Wi-Fi are kicking folks out who are leaching their bandwidth. I probably, in aggregate, waste an hour or two a month hunting for Wi-Fi. Clear Wireless - The Good One of the newest entries into the mobile wireless internet business in the US is ClearWire from clear.com. It's a WiMAX technology and it's got extremely limited coverage at this point. However, it covers where I am 90% of the time: You can go an put your address in, of course. For the Portland/Metro area it's pretty good on paper: Clear just started a new promotion where you get 1/2 your service for the first 6 months. That means about US$22.50 a month for unlimited mobile wireless. They call it "4G WiMAX" and the package I got included: 3-6mb/s download, 1mb/s upload. I got over 6 in my tests around Portland. It does drop off some inside buildings. I paid $49 for a USB modem They have a 2 year contract, but I reject contracts and instead opted for a month-to-month. I paid $35 for the privilege. So, $100 out of pocket, but $22.50 a month for the next several months. If it's awesome, I'll pay $45 a month. If not, I'll cancel. Rude Q&A Some folks might immediately ask these questions. Here's my best answers. Q. Why not just tether your phone? A. AT&T's 3G network is not only crappy, but they are threatening to cap their most leachy users. That will no doubt affect me. Most 3G phones max out their bandwidth at about 3.6mb/s depending on radio. Others can do 7.2mb/s, but seriously,when have you EVER seen that kind of sustained throughput on your 3G phone? Q. Is it faster than 3G? A. So far it feels faster. I was totally able to hold a two way 640x480 audio/video conference with screensharing and with no lag. I just don't see that happening over a tethered phone connection. Q. But really, the coverage is non-existent. A. True, and it bothers me, but I realize that

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Review: Trying Clear from Clearwire - Mobile Broadband Service

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