If there’s one thing Clearwire is guilty of doing wrong, it’s launching their service way too early using a technology that most people in the industry knew wasn’t going to be supported. Looking to right that wrong, Clearwire has been in the process of conducting tests using LTE technology, otherwise known as Long Term Evolution, which is the same 4G networking technology being used by Verizon Wireless. Unlike Verizon Wireless however, who recently launched their network and multiple independent tests prove that their 12 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up speed guarantee is a bit conservative, Clearwire is hitting 90 Mbps download speeds and 30 Mbps upload speeds. Now of course this is on a test network that only has one or two guys connecting to it, but it shows what is capable when you use 20 MHz wide channels.
Think of channels like lanes on a highway. Clearwire is essentially creating a 20 lane highway for both their download and upload; that’s a 40 lane wide highway. Verizon on the other hand is using a 10 lane highway for both their download and upload, effectively a 20 lane highway. That still doesn’t explain their “low performance” results, but we’ve got a sneaking suspicion it’s got something to do with their use of the 700 MHz spectrum, which allows them to build out fewer towers to cover a given area. Fewer towers = more users per tower = less download speed for everyone connecting to said tower. Clearwire on the other hand is using the 2500 MHz spectrum, which is terrible at penetrating buildings and requires more than double the amount of cell towers to cover the same amount of territory, but more towers = bigger speeds for users.
If this video is meant to demonstrate anything, it’s proof for Clearwire investors that the firm is in fine shape and isn’t going to go under. When will they actually be able to deliver numbers like this to users? Don’t know, but I can’t wait to see it happen!
[Via: Clearwire’s Blog]