4G for Home Internet?

[Twisties]

We were on 10 Mbps cable and downgraded to (after an incorrect statement by a Comcast agent, who promised 6 Mbps) 1.5 Mbps. So we are on 1.5 Mpbs now, and it is a little slow for some video and large downloads. Speed test comes in around 1.3 - 1.4 Mbps.

 

Now comes an offer for 4G for a little less money than the 1.5 Mpbs cable service. No specific speed specification given. Wikipedia says 4G is 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps. Are those speeds likely to be real? Problems when the weather is bad? Anything else we should be aware of? Seems too good to be true!

 

A 2-year contract is required. The carrier is called "Clear."

 

Your thoughts please.

[SageRider]

Quotes from the Clear site:

"With average speeds of 3 to 6 Mbps and bursts of over 10 Mbps"

 

"$35 plan limits to 1.5Mbps download / 500 Kbps upload.

$45 plan limits to 6.0Mbps download / 1.0Mbps upload.

$60 plan no download speed limit / 1.0Mbps upload. includes voice."

 

Best bang for buck is $45 plan unless you wish VOIP also.

Even if you pay for 6Mbps, per their statement above, you may receive anywhere from 3Mbps up to 6Mbps.

 

You look to be in a good coverage area.

 

I would make sure there is a 30 day opt out clause or equivalent so that if you are unhappy with the performance from the start, you will be able to cancel.

 

 

 

 

[Twisties]

Says 14 day cancellation, but I think there would still be some hooks.

 

With all the talk about the end of unlimited data on phone plans this seems to come at an odd time.

[Rocer]

Well, I'm always surprised how these threads come along at the right time. I'm just in the process of replacing my computer and curious about accessing movies/videos etc. We recently were upgraded to DSL which is supposed to have a max upload speed of 7 mbs. I've forgotten where to access my actual connection speed on my computer so went via Bell (our provider) to a third party website which measured this remotely from a site 50 miles away from my location. Their readout is 4.33 mbs dnload / .67 mbs upload. I seem to remember 6 mbs when the tech hooked us up.We are about 3/4 of a mile from the bell substation where the max 7 mbs resides.

 

I just spoke with Netflix which just came into Canada and was told 1.5mbs as a minimum speed for uninterupted download, 3 mbs for DVD quality and 5+ mps for HD. I would appreciate any comments as well.

[SageRider]

6Mbps upload would be impressive for ADSL.

Are you sure this is the upload speed?

 

I would call your provider and ask them specifically what the average download and upload speed is that you are paying for.

From your figures below, I would guess either 5 or 6 Mbps download and 500 or possibly 756 Kbps upload.

[Rocer]

Thanks Michael. Just checked with the service provider and did two speed tests on their website. The first check confirmed approximately with the numbers I got from the 3rd party ie. 4.3 mbps download and .681 mbps upload. He said that my package was for a minimum 6 download and a max. of 7. I'm not sure what he did remotely (if anything) but he had me retest and I then got 6.03 mbps download and .681 mbps upload which are in agreement with your estimate. They will send a tech out to check my line as a result. Thanks for the help.

 

In the meantime I'm going to drip some chain lube down the modem line to see if we can't hyper extend the speed to HD speed.

[bakerzdosen]

The major drawback to wireless services has historically been latency (aka time to get from point A to point B.)

 

If you're merely going to be using your internet connection for web surfing (including YouTube and the like), email, and direct downloads (things like video or photos) latency isn't a big deal.

 

If you're doing things like remote access (things like Remote Desktop, VNC, WebEx, and even to a certain extent SSH and telnet) or VERY serious day trading, bad latency is a killer.

 

The easiest way to check latency is to ping a server like google or yahoo ("ping yahoo.com" from pretty much any command line including Windows) and see how many milliseconds it takes to get back to you. Times in the teens or 20's are pretty good. <50ms would be fine. However, once you pass 100ms, it gets pretty sketchy doing things I mentioned in the previous paragraph. However, for the things I mentioned in the 2nd paragraph of this post, you'd hardly notice the difference even with 150ms of latency.

 

As long as their specs and prices meet your needs, I don't see any drawbacks other than the latency thing I mentioned.

[AZKomet]

I have sprint 3 and 4 g. Honestly i do not se the difference. It will probably be much faster than what you have now though.