Mobile WiMAX impresses in Portland, says analyst

In outdoor and indoor locations, as well in mobile scenarios, the performance of the ‘Clear’ mobile WiMAX network in Portland is “consistently good”, typically achieving over 3Mbps on the downlink and between 350 and 450Kbps on the uplink.

This is according to Monica Paolini, president and co-founder of Senza Fili Consulting, who visited various locations in Portland – as well as taking a trip on the Portland streetcar – to test the performance of Cleawire’s mobile WiMAX network on 5-6 January, just prior to full commercial launch of the Clear service.

Armed with a Lenovo X301 laptop, and network speed test software from FrontierNet, Paolini found that Clearwire’s first-wall objective (that is, you need to be close to the outside perimeter of the building to get a good connection) was consistently met. Paolini also found that WiMAX managed to reach multiple ‘deep-indoor’ locations, behind thick cement walls.

In mobile scenarios  (using the Portland streetcar) the median throughput on the downlink was just over 3Mbps, and 382Kbps on the uplink. The peak mobile downlink speed recorded by Paolini was just over 5Mbps (425Kbps on the uplink). Only one part of the streetcar route was the signal lost through lack of coverage, but otherwise the handoffs worked well, reports Paolini.

“The Clear network was consistently and significantly above what I observed for 3G networks in the US in previous informal tests,” concludes Paolini. “The improved performance is in line with the industry expectations and it is enabled by the use of wider channels and more advanced modulation techniques.”

For a full breakdown of Paolini’s test results of Clear’s performance in different locations in Portland, click here.