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As some of you may know, I have been trapped in a contract with Clearwire, for nearly two years (it ends in November). Well, this past Friday was the straw that broke my back. We were finally able to locate a spot in the house that received more than 1 bar. That place is in an open window, over our kitchen sink. It’s not the most convenient spot, so we only put it there when we really need a consistent connection (like, when we pay bills). So, on Friday, my wife was putting the modem in the kitchen window and when she plugged it in, nothing happened. No power, no signal, nothing.
So, I got home and did some troubleshooting (this involved plugging it in, looking at it, unplugging it, and plugging it in again (repeated several times)). The modem was, in fact, dead. So, we took it to a Clearwire kiosk, where we were told that the only location that did exchanges was 45 minutes away. So, I called them up and they said their store closed in 10 minutes. “Well, what are your hours tomorrow (Saturday)?” I asked. “Oh, we’re not open on weekends. Our hours are Monday – Friday, 8am to 5pm. But, for a $15 shipping fee, we can send you a new one.” What normal person is available during those times and why should I have to pay for shipping when it’s your product that’s broken?!?
On Monday, I called and asked if they would waive my early termination fee and let me send back the modem and be done with it and they said no. I’m not sure what I expected them to say.
I had officially had enough. I called Comcast, who we already have TV through. They said that their introductory offer for existing customers was 6 months for $19.95 a month. Perfect! Sign me up. We’ll be paying two bills for a while, but we could handle and extra $20/month. I also asked what my fee would jump to, after the 6 month trial. The operator said $42.50/month, which is exactly the same price we are paying Clearwire!
After the technician left yesterday, I ran a speed test. Comcast advertises 12 megabytes per second. The download speed was 13.5 mbps and uploads were 4 mbps. Lightning, for someone who just left Clearwire. By comparison, when I ran this same test with Clearwire, a few months ago, my download speed was 0.6 mbps (compared to their advertised 2 mbps) and their upload speeds were around 0.15 mbps. Absolutely shameful.
Clearwire has, by far, been the worst company I have ever had to deal with, both customer service and the product itself. I will never recommend it to anyone. In fact, I will actively encourage other to steer clear of them.
But, I’ve already written a Rant about Clearwire. This is a well deserved Rave for Comcast. I’ve only briefly dealt with their customer service, but I was not given the run-around. My questions were answered clearly and quickly. I never felt like I was being pushed to buy anything I didn’t want to buy.
I have only had Comcast’s internet for 24 hours, so I haven’t dealt with their tech support yet, but their television tech support is great, so I have every reason to believe the Internet support will be just as helpful.