Lifestyle
My Hotspot is Following Me Around
Greetings, dear readers! I’m a software developer turned writer/reporter/social media disciple and I write news stories on Intel’s intranet. My friends in marketing hooked me up with this featherlight Lenovo ThinkPad X301—with built-in WiMax connectivity—to give WiMax a shot and share my adventures.
I’m writing from Hillsboro, Oregon, a few miles from Portland and I’m hooked up to the Clear WiMax network just launched widely a couple weeks ago.
Step one in my adventure: getting connected!
For me, connecting was super easy. I fired up the Intel PROSet/Wireless Connection Utility, toggled WiMax to “On,” and it generated a list of available networks (in this case, only the Clear network). From there, I selected the Clear network and clicked “Connect.” Here’s what it looks like:
What am I most looking forward to in trying WiMax out? The ability to bring a hotspot to places that sporadically, or never, have broadband connections available: the park, a restaurant, the shopping mall, public transit, or even grandma’s house (neither of my grandmothers have internet connections—yet!).
Where have you always wished you had a broadband connection that WiMax could bring?
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hi Jeremy,how about the connection speed ? did you make screenshoot, for example from speedtest.net ? what ClearMobile’s plan did you choose ? unlimited,frequent,occasional or 24 hour pass ?
“Where have you always wished you had a broadband connection that WiMax could bring?”
On a Mac. ;-)
It’s a huge bummer that the Clear connection software doesn’t work on a Mac, and it leaves a HUGE part of the market out – we geeky early adopter types in Portland, who would normally tend to be the first to get WiMAX, also tend to use mostly Macs, and are therefore left out of the game, until the Clear-branded mini wifi router that lets you share your mobile WiMAX connection with other devices comes along.
Yes, I’m jealous. How could you tell? ;-)
@Bermandt: I actually don’t know. The machine I have came all set up and ready to go. I’d assume it’s the same as the mobile plan, but I’ll have to verify and get back to you. Also, I’ll plan on testing speeds in different locations.
@Josh: I know, that’s the biggest complaint I’ve heard so far. I’m curious to find out what the roadmap on that is.
Thank you both for you comments!
Hi Jeremy, Those X301′s are awesome. I have one myself which I am using as a Win7 Beta test machine and I love it! Though I would be curious to know how you got the built in Wimax module. Are you built in by default?
@Naveed: That is correct, the machine has the WiMax chipset right out of the box. I just booted up, enabled the WiMax radio, selected the Clear network, and connected.