Clear Internet (or similar) mostly for Ipad

[Gator24765]

Hey everyone. I am wanting some advice on clear internet, or if you want to suggest a better alternative.


Basically I would like to get an ipad and would like some mobile internet on it for when I am outside the house. Especially when I travel occasionally with my job.

I would use the internet mainly for watching videos etc.


The thing I like is that it is fairly cheap, unlimited and has no contract.

The cheap and unlimited are the two most important of the 3.


Any suggestions or recommendations.

 

[Back2kcaB]

I use this clear with my iPad, saved money instead of going with the 3g. The clear device I have is the ispot made only for apple devices (now its discontinued). But the good thing about it, it can be jailbroken to be used with any device...you get unlimited service instead of being locked into only a certain amount of data and its only $25 to $35 a month.

 

[mlmwalt]

I've been looking into this exact same thing. I can't stand the idea of being locked to either VZ or ATT. Is Clear as fast as they claim? Do you think the ispot is available on ebay or amazon?

 

[Back2kcaB]

I never performed a speedtest but when Im in the city I get 4G connectivity. It is on ebay make sure you get the white one its about the size of the magic mouse, and you should definitely jailbreak it so you wont be limited to connecting ios devices. Im locked in at the $25 month price but now they only offer the $35 unlimited.

 

[Gator24765]

I never performed a speedtest but when Im in the city I get 4G connectivity. It is on ebay make sure you get the white one its about the size of the magic mouse, and you should definitely jailbreak it so you wont be limited to connecting ios devices. Im locked in at the $25 month price but now they only offer the $35 unlimited.

Unlimited.. but is it capped at like 1.5 mbps?

 

[Back2kcaB]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/10/clear-ispot-review/

"...On our iPhone, we saw speeds ranging from 1Mbps to 5Mbps down, while uplink speeds were more consistent and tended to hover right around 1Mbps. On our MacBook Pro, the downlink was more consistently speedy, ranging from 5 to about 6.5Mbps; uplink, meanwhile, stuck around 1Mbps the whole time."

 

[Gator24765]

Interesting. Do you ever see them offer any sort of deals or are they pretty much straight forward?

 

[Back2kcaB]

Deals no but for $35 unlimited and great speeds if you can utilize the 4g cant beat it. On eBay I have seen the ispot go for as low as $30 for the device.

 

[TWO2SEVEN]

Sorry for the long post ahead

I did a live chat with a sales rep yesterday.

She recommended the $99 Apollo unit for me. I was surprised because they also have a higher priced hot spot.

At first she tried to sell me on the $49 monthly plan. When I asked about the $34 she told me that plan did not offer "web surfing or email attachments". Since I had done my research I asked if they was a feature that blocked it or if it was just a restricted speed. She said the speed on the cheaper plan was capped at 1.5Mps, implying it would be unusable for surfing. We all know that it is still possible, as my 3G iPhone gets far slower than that at times.

I asked her if there was any discount for ordering online. She offered free shipping and said they do not discount their devices.

I did see that in February they were offering a $60 mail in rebate on the device, I'm sorry I missed that.

As for the no contract part, she said you can activate and cancel as often as you want. If you are deactivated for 6 or more months you do have to pay a new activation fee. The downside to no contract pricing is that the price is subject to change.

All in all it seems like a good deal. We have Clear at home and it is usually decent, for what it is considering I use quite a few devices on it.

She quoted me somewhere around $140 with the device, tax, shipping, and first month of service.

I may order it in a few weeks, unless I find a good deal on a 3G iPad 2.