FAQ
1) How does it work?
Clearwave broadcasts it's internet service wirelessly,
by means of microwave radio systems from various tranmission points around
Edmonton and surrounding areas. Like a radio station or cellular phone
service, you require a receiver at your home or business that picks up the
radio signal and brings it to your computer(s). Once inside, the service
can be run directly to a single computer or by means of a router, be
shared with multiple computers.
CLICK HERE TO SEE A DIAGRAM ON OUR INTERNET SERVICE
CLICK HERE TO SEE A DIAGRAM ON OUR VoIP SERVICE - STANDARD
INSTALLATION
CLICK HERE TO SEE A DIAGRAM ON OUR VoIP SERVICE _ PREMIUM
INSTALLATION.
2) How fast is it?
Internet access speeds have to be considered as
download (IN to you) and upload (OUT from you) components. There are two
types of internet access, symmetric (the same speed in both directions)
and asymmetric (faster one way than the other). For comparison, think of
dial up service as a two track dirt road IN and OUT (symmetric). Think of
Shaw or Telus high speed internet as a paved highway IN but a gravel road
OUT (asymmetric). Now get ready for Clearwave, a paved road IN and OUT,
true symmetric high speed internet.
What does symmetric mean to an average user? Probably
not much because you can travel pretty fast on a gravel road. But ask the
same question to someone who sends a lot of emails with attachments or
they work from home, someone who plays a lot of online games, or someonoe
who shares / downloads movies or music, and it makes a world of
difference.
Clearwave strives to deliver consistent service over
best effort service, so that when you need to get on you can and the service
is what you expect. Residential services offered are as follows:
Residential
Standard Service - 1.5 Mbps burstable symmetric at $ 41.45
per month, with 20 GB of monthly data transfer
Residential
Premium Service - 3.0 Mbps burstable symmetric at $ 51.45 per
month, with 50 GB of monthly data transfer
3) Does snow or heavy rain interfere with the
signal?
No, the radio signals are immune to weather related
interference issues, unlike satellite signals.
4) How many computers can I connect and will my
service get slower?
With a standard wired router, 4 computers can be
connected and share the service, with a wired/wireless router 4 wired
computers and up to 250 wireless devices can be connected.
Technically, yes, your service will get slower if
multiple computers use it but IF AND ONLY IF all computers are all online
downloading / uploading at the same time, which turns out to be rather
rare. 95 % of users will not notice the difference.
5) What about Security?
Clearwave fully firewalls our service to help protect
you against internet threats. Our radio network in a commercial grade
proprietary non 802.11 a/b/g system that is not vulnerable to "listening
in" or eavesdropping .
6) How far does it travel?
Depending upon the frequency of the transmitter and the
height of the transmission point, coverage can easily range 25 km in rural
locations, depending upon obstructions such as terrain and foliage.
7) How do I know if I can get service?
Check our COVERAGE AREA map, if your area
falls within our coverage pattern, you may be able to get service form us
depnding upon the obstructions between you and our transmitting locations.
Trees, buildings, hills, etc will obstruct the radio signals. Usually, in
cases where it is not clear if you can get service from us an on-site
evaluation is performed to determine the viability of a reliable signal.
This evaluation is a free service from us. Ideally, we want to have a clear
un-obstructed path (LOS - line of sight) but that is not always possible. We
do have some technologies at our disposal that have some NLOS (non line of
sight) abilities, but each location is dealt with on an individual basis.
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