I have a client that recently moved their office – have had Comcast Internet for many years and wanted it in the new space. Comcast assured us that it would be no problem – they scheduled the install for 5 days before the move date.
They show up at the scheduled time, and after 1/2 hour of walking around and on the phone with a manager decide that they can’t install it, they need the construction division to install a “mainline” in this commercial building so that they can service the 50+ possible customers in the building. Problem is, it takes 2 months (!) to get this done. Even with a little screaming, they insist that they can’t get it done any time soon.
So, I jaunt on down to the nearest Clear store (on Lovejoy in the Pearl District) and an hour later I have a fully activated Clear modem with 5Mbps down / 512Mbps up and a static ip – a perfect (hopefully temporary) stand-in for our Comcast Business service (we get like 27Mbps down / 7 Mbps up typically).
Fast forward to moving day, I have the servers moved, the network up and running, and Clear internet service working great. This is a Sunday, mind you – the next day is the first official day of work in the new office.
Come Monday morning, guess what? Clear is down. Everyone in the office gets only this annoying splash page that says we can’t activate. I’m on the phone with Clear for 1/2 hour before I hear: “We’re experiencing difficulty with a portion of our network that’s affecting many users – we are working hard to fix it – call back at the end of the day”.
So much for Plan B.
Tuesday morning, still getting the splash page. I reboot the Clear modem, finally it’s working again.
Comcast meanwhile has decided to install a temporary drop to the office while they work on the Mainline. Wednesday afternoon we’re back on Comcast. A collective sigh of relief….
I have to say that Clear has a great marketing campaign – their visibility everywhere has made them the talk of the town. Their speeds are decent, but nowhere near advertised and subject to your proximity to one of their wireless towers. The offer service in Lake Oswego supposedly, but the informal report is that the speed sucks down there.
Too bad they have product problems.
