The CLEAR Spot Voyager – Mobile Internet Love

February 12th, 2012 | Author: Chris Sully

People are accessing the internet in many different ways and from many different devices. Smartphones, tablets, music players, portable gaming devices, eReaders and other gadgets are being used to check email, update facebook, tweet, play games and (oh yeah) surf the web. Not only are people using these gadgets more and more every day, they are doing it while on-the-go. Mobile internet is no longer a luxury, it is becoming a necessity.

With every company offering you the newest device AND a 3G plan (ALERT – monthly cost) things could get out of hand quickly. You can shell out several hundred dollars a month to stay connected or you can get one device to cover it all – a personal hotspot.

CLEAR 4G

Almost 2 years ago I signed up for the new 4G internet service from CLEAR here in Houston and I could not be happier. For one low, monthly price (around $75) I get home internet, home phone AND a mobile USB stick. I immediately paired the USB stick with a CLEAR Spot (an additional one-time cost), giving me a mobile WiFi hotspot that I can take anywhere. This hotspot allows me to connect multiple devices, while on-the-go, eliminating the need for individual 3G plans for each device.

The CLEAR Spot is great and I’ve used it daily since that original purchase, but recently I noticed other similar devices from AT&T and Verizon that really peaked my interest. These other devices are smaller, more lightweight and the battery life seems to be far better than my original CLEAR Spot, so I thought it might be time to look for a new device. I decided on the CLEAR Spot Voyager.

CLEAR Spot Voyager Review

At $125, the Voyager may seem like a pricey purchase, but I decided to take the plunge. The few things I read about it online seemed promising, but no one had given a full user review, so lucky you - I took the plunge. Here is everything you need to know about the CLEAR Spot Voyager

SIZE – First and foremost, this thing is amazingly small. No picture I had seen on the internet did this thing a bit of justice. At 2.6” x 2.6” x .5” and only 2.1 oz the Voyager is about half the size of an iPhone. To put it in perspective, check out the images to the right.

SPEED – Looking at this little thing, I would have thought that speed and keeping a connection would have been a problem, but a few quick tests proved otherwise. I am DEFINITELY getting better download speeds on the new Voyager (when compared to my old CLEAR Spot) and it has not dropped the connection one time. I even tested the Voyager out by burying it in my backpack on the way to work and was still getting a strong connection. Here are a few tests I ran via the speedtest app for iOS.

BATTERY LIFE – To be fair, I have only had the Voyager for a few days now, but I can already tell you that the battery life is going to be a blessing. My old CLEAR Spot barely gave me an hour of use before the battery light would begin flashing. I used the new Voyager for roughly 3 hours and the battery level (available in the admin panel) showed it at 2 bars (out of 3).
CON: I’d rather see a percentage of battery life left (versus a bar system), but I rarely go for more than a couple of hours on the battery alone, so this is not a deal breaker for me.

CHARGING – This might seem like a minor detail to some, but the charging cable for the CLEAR Spot Voyager is a simple Micro USB Cable. Compare that to the giant, clunky power supply that I was lugging around for my old Spot (shown in the picture above) and this is a major win.

EXTERNAL DISPLAY – The Voyager does NOT have an external display like the Apollo (also offered by CLEAR), but I don’t think that will be an issue. With two button clicks I can access the admin panel for the Voyager via my iPad or iPhone and check the status of my device, including signal strength, battery life, number of connected users, etc. There are however 3 small lights on the front of the device that show power, Wi-Fi and 4G.

PRICING – If you are new to CLEAR, the Voyager does come with a monthly fee (starting at around $35) but for those who are already CLEAR users, the device can simply replace an old one (like the original CLEAR Spot) with no additional monthly fees.

OVERALL

So far, the biggest criticism I have about my Voyager is that it might be easier to lose than my old CLEAR Spot. It is honestly small enough to fall right out of a pocket or bag if you aren’t careful. Mine will be safely secured in a zipped pocket while in use.

CLEAR 4G Launching in Houston – The Skeptic’s View

Tags: 4G, 4G internet, Clear, Clear spot, hotspot, internet, Mobile, mobile internet, Voyager, WiMAX

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 12th, 2012 at 11:51 am and is filed under WiMAX. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Schandler1226

Thanks, I’m acutally looking for some thing like this. So much for a favor.
-Sarah
http://twitter.com/gallifrey Craig Campbell

Thanks for the review! Have been looking at this device recently, and your experience has been very helpful to me in making the decision to try one out!
http://www.jumpstartmypc.com/ Chris | JumpstartMyPC.com

Glad you found this helpful Craig. I’m pleased to report that the Voyager is still performing as strong as it did on Day 1 and I have been using every day. If you have any questions or would like to contribute to the article after trying yourself, please feel free to contact me!
Singer516

Thanks for the review, haven’t found many…planning on getting the voyager to use for my mobile data, torn between the $35 and $50 plans though…$50 is supposed to have better coverage and/or higher speeds…? Not really sure. Able to shed any light on the real world difference?
http://www.jumpstartmypc.com/ Chris | JumpstartMyPC.com

@Singer516 – Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. Homestly, in my area I only see one price option for the data and it is $50 per month. If you see a $35 plan it probably has some sort of data cap and then a penalty for overages. I don’t know if ey actually throttle the speeds or not.
If you wanna truly get the most bang for your buck, I would recommend getting one of the bundle packages that provides home internet, mobile internet and home phone. I did that years ago and I think I pay about $80/month total. I was able to drop the home phone and Comcast high-speed that I had before and save money overall.
Natalier143

Clear started out as a great service then miserably crashed and burned. I
have been a customer for two years. I pay $40 something a month. The
first year I had service with clear I lived in a neighborhood that was
very new. The service was great and i never had loading problems. As
more houses were built and more neighbors moved in the service got
worse. Starting about 6 months ago the service became practically
useless. I called customer service multiple times. I always got someone
who was hard to understand and of very little help. At first they told
me I was the problem and that I was using to much data. Note my usage of
the service never changed. When I finally got someone who would listen
to me (the 4th customer service agent and 3rd day of calling) and take
the time to consider that their customer was not the problem I was
finally walked through some trouble shooting. The customer service agent
couldn’t give me a reason I was having trouble and told me the problem
was the tower had to much traffic. When I asked when the issue would be
fixed he couldn’t give me an answer. I call back several times over the
next couple of weeks trying to figure out the issue because the tower
guy didn’t sound to sure of himself either with no result. So I found
new Internet service. I call back AGAIN only to be told I will have to
call back on Monday because no one has the ability to cancel my account
on a weekend. It is beyond ridiculous that a customer service agent
can’t perform a customer service because it’s a Saturday. I am beyond
frustrated. I feel like I have been duped. HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE and
HORRIBLE CONNECTION. I want my money back for the last 6 months and I
want to tell the world how horrible Clear is.

And one more
thing… It wasn’t until I started researching where to leave bad
reviews that I found out there are actual clear stores. Not once did the
sucky customer service mention this. I’ll be stopping by today to drop
off this p.o.s. box. But I’m guessing after the wonderful customer
service I’ve already experienced they won’t be able to take the box or
cancel my service either.
http://www.jumpstartmypc.com/ Chris | JumpstartMyPC.com

@9d558a9a7887d9d8a84d0d33641143bc:disqus - While I am a huge fan of sharing bad service/customer service issues with others, I think we would all benefit from additional information (so we can make our own determination on the issues here):1) Where are you located (city, state)? (I’ve read many reviews on CLEAR and it seems that connection issues vary wildly from city to city)2) What do you mean by “service became practically useless?” Please share upload/download speeds and if possible some screenshots from speedtest.net.3) Have you tried moving the modem to different locations in your home? Not sure what the sales person shared with you, but I can tell you that you have to find the “sweet spot” in your home to get the best service. Simply moving the modem from one room to another could possibly have a huge impact on your connection speeds.
Josh

Actually, I have the $35 Plan and I have no data cap. Truly unlimited usage. The only downside to the lower plan is the lower speeds. I only registered a 2.5 Mbps download,max (via speedtest.net) and a 0.5 Mbps upload. With the $50 plan, you get download speeds from 3-6 Mbps.* I thought that was okay for me.

* depending on the area in which you use it.
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