We describe our service as “Fixed Wireless” to help clarify what we do, but there are still many misconceptions that people have about it. This mini-series will explore the top 4 misconceptions that people have of Freewire’s Fixed Wireless service.

Misconception #1: “It’s like Clear”

Clear (the mobile WiMAX provider operated by Clearwire) utilizes 802.16e mobile WiMAX equipment to provide services to homes and very small businesses. Their network is similar to ours in many ways, but the way they use it to provision services is very different. Here’s a comparison:

Line-Of-Sight

Clear uses short-distance, non-line-of-sight RF links from their towers to the customer radio. We use medium to long distance, direct line-of-sight RF links. The huge difference here is the line-of-sight connection. Having clean RF line-of-sight allows us to guarantee performance with an SLA. Our signals don’t have to deal with swaying trees and cars driving in front of the antennas.

Mobile vs. Fixed

Clear uses indoor and mobile customer radios. We only use outdoor fixed customer radios. Using fixed equipment mounted outdoors gives us a much better signal-to-noise ratio, allowing greater throughput. Since our radios are not mobile we can be sure of clean line-of-sight and consistent performance.

Asymmetric vs. Symmetric

Clear’s WiMAX equipment is designed and configured for asymmetric upload and download speeds, resulting in slower uploads than downloads. We design and configure our equipment for symmetric speeds, resulting in the same performance on upload traffic that you see on download traffic.

Oversubscription

Clear oversubscribes much more heavily. The oversubscription levels on cable, DSL, and other non-SLA networks (including Clear’s) are much higher than our oversubscription levels. Yes, we oversubscribe, every internet provider does. If you ever see a company saying “we don’t oversubscribe” it’s either a blatant lie or a partial truth. We strive to oversubscribe only to the point where our systems are efficiently utilized, not to the point of reduced speed (like the non-SLA providers)

Tech Support

Clear’s tech-support phone-line is only available 9AM-10PM. Our tech-support is 24/7/365.

Service Level Agreement

Clear’s service is not backed by an SLA (that I am aware of). When they go down, or when the speed is slow, their customers have no financial recourse. Our service is supported by an amazing SLA that guarantees significant payment to our customers if our network has problems. It’s the best SLA I’ve ever seen, and I’m confident that we can deliver on it (I wrote it and designed the network, so I should know).

Freewire Is Built For Business

As you can see, there is just no comparison. While Clear and Freewire use similar architectures, the service and usage methodology is completely different.

If you’re looking for service at home, call our friends at Whiz to Coho or Upward Access, and if they can’t serve you then call Clear.

If you want mobile or nomadic service, call Clear. They have spent significant amounts of money and effort establishing an impressive network to be able to provide true mobile WiMAX service.

Finally, if you’re looking for service at your business, then call us. There is no other wireless provider in the region that can provide better performance and reliability for your business needs.

In part 2 of this series I will discuss the second common misconception—”It’s not secure, just like WiFi”. You’ll learn how our service differs from WiFi and what measures we have in place to keep the network secure.

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