Sunday, June 19, 2011

Tech: My evening with Clear (Jim)

Like many, we use WiFi service. Some of us are signed with Sprint, some with Clear, some with . . . So when a reader has a problem with WiFi service, we can usually relate. Brendan e-mailed us (thirdestatesundayreview@yahoo.com) about a problem he was having with Clear. After reading the e-mail, I (Jim) ended up with the same problem with Clear.

clear


I utilized the "chat" feature for technical problems.


I was greeted with "Hello Jim. Please wait while we find a CLEAR specialist to help you.
You are an existing customer with a Tech Support question."

A minute later, "All agents are currently busy. Please stand by."

Two minutes later, "An agent will be with you in a moment. Thank you for your patience."

One minute later, "The next available Agent will be with you in a moment."

Seven minutes after I got the "Hello Jim" greeting, "All agents are currently busy. Please stand by."


Eight minutes in, I was finally chatting with someone. Though it took her over a minute to say anything which is why I typed "Hello Katie" (I've changed the Clear tech's name to "Katie M." -- otherwise, it's all as it was in our chat) after waiting and waiting for her to type something.

You have been connected to Katie M.

Jim: Helllo Katie.

Katie M.: What is your difficulty?

Jim: I'm not able to connect and haven't been for about four days. I contacted the man who sold me my Clear plan. He told me to unistall the connection manager and then reinstall it. I can uninstall. But I can't find that device I hooked up to my port when I first got Clear and installed it on the laptop. So I was hoping I could download it online it it was online.


Katie M: Yes there is please hold

Jim: Ok

Katie M: sb

Katie M: For security verification purposes can you please tell me what city you were born on the account?

Jim: NYC.

The agent is sending you to http://www.clear.com/support/download/usb/

Jim: So I need to click on that? Before or after I uninstall the old connection manager?

Katie M: yes

Katie M: Click on it and it will link you to clear connection manage

Katie M: Save the file

Katie M: andrun it

Katie M: It should uninstall your old one as well


And that was my conversation with Katie. Not exactly a friendly or warm one but . . .

Did it fix it?

Well there was more to do than Katie said.

After doing the above, I still had things to do. I didn't know what they were

The WiMAX Bus Driver had to be installed. What's that? The thing the USB device uses.

I just got a message that I had to install the WiMAX Bus Driver and was thinking, "What the heck is that?" (Jess and C.I. enlightened me.) After doing that, it appeared to be working fine.

Brendan's tried that and his now up and running. He had less luck with Clear chat and was to the point that he was going to go to the local AT&T store in his neighborhood and see what kind of WiFi router and service they offered.

In terms of tips, I'm no font of wisdom. Overall, Clear offers good service for me. But that may be because I anticipate problems when in motion. If I have a signal on a train or in a car, I open several windows and find what I'll need for the trip. That way when the signal slips out, as it usually does when you're in motion, I've already got what I need.
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