Torn between Verizon 4G mobile hotspot and Clear Mobile hotspot?. This post will provide a comparison between the two in some key areas, such as prices, dimensions, coverage and other essential details.

Coverage

Clear is a leading wireless internet provider that serves around 80 cities across the US. Not only does the company offer the wireless internet in the US it also offers the service in Belgium and Spain. Verizon, currently is the biggest US carrier with over 31 % of market share. Its broad and extensive network coverage and excellent customer service, I assume, is unmatched by the other big US carriers. In the US, Clear’s 4G wireless internet technology is based on WiMax technology transmitted from cell sites over licensed spectrum of 2.5-2.6 GHz, while Verizon’s is based LTE network technology.

Verizon is currently aggressively building and expanding its 4G network across the US with the last major roll out taking place last September. The company aims to upgrade all of its 3G network to 4G by 2013 with at least new 175 markets by the end of this year. The company claims it now has 4G LTE coverage for over half of Americans. To find out the latest Verizon 4G LTE network coverage clik here . Meanwhile Clear 4G coverage is currently available in around 80 cities. Click here  to find out Clear WiMax 4G network coverage.

Verizon Mobile Hotspot Vs Clear Mobile Hotspot :The Device, Speed, battery life

To avoid confusion and to make it as clear as possible bellow is the table detailing Verizon mobile hotspot Vs Clear Mobile Hotspot prices, dimensions and other key features.

 

VerizonClear
Samsung
SCH-LC11		MiFI
4510L		Clear
Spots		Clear
Spot Apollo
Contract Price$99,9$49,9$6$6
Price Without Contract$99,9$99,9
Weight3 oz3.2 oz4.58 oz.4.44 oz
Dimension3.5×2.3×0.5
inches		3.7 x 2.4 x
0.5 inches		4.3 x2.4x
0.7 inches		3.4x 3.4 x
0.7 inches
Battery LifeLess than 4 hoursAround 4 hoursAround 4 hoursAround 4 hours
Supported Devices5588
USB TetheringNoYesNoNo
GPSNoNoNoNo
MicroSD SlotNoNoNoNo
External DisplayYesYesNoYes
Data Plan Cost$50 and $80$50 and $80Start at $45Start at $45
Data Allowance5GB and 10GB5GB and 10GBUnlimitedUnlimited
Overage Fees$10 per 1GB$10 per 1GBNot
applicable		Not
applicable

 

Speeds and the number of devices that can connect. Verizon currently (as of October 2011) offers two dedicated 4G mobile hotspot devices: Samsung SCH-LC11 mobile hotspot and MiFi 4520L mobile hotspot. Both devices sport a sleek and compact designs and can share internet connection over Verizon cellular network with up to five Wi-Fi capable devices. They work both on 3G and 4G networks, when on a 4G the average download speeds are 7 Mbps to 13 Mbps, depending on your locations and signal strengths . Clear currently also offers two dedicated mobile hotspot devices, Clear Spots and Clear Spots (Apollo). Both can serve up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices at the same time, three more than the Verizon mobile hotspot can. The two boasts average speeds of between 3 Mbps to 9 Mbps, again these speeds vary from location to another. So in terms of speeds you can safely say there is no significance gap between the two.

Battery Life. Samsung SCH-LC11 and MiFi 4510L have battery life of around 4 hours, meanwhile Clear Spots has a battery life of 4 hours and the Clear Spots Apollo has a longer battery life of six hours.

Network compatibility: Verizon  mobile hotspot works both on 3G and 4G networks while Clear Spots only works on 4G network,  rendering it useless if you’re out of Clear’s 4G network.

Cost

Clear Spots sells for around $99 with no contract required or you can lease the device for $6 per month (two-year contract) with monthly data plan starting at $45 without data cap, meaning you can browse, download, play streaming media without restrictions.
On the other hand Verizon’s MiFi 4510L sells for $49.9 and Samsung SCH-LC11 sells for $99.9 with a two-year contract, Verizon offers two-tier 4G mobile hotspot plans: the first plan costs $50 per month with data allowance of 5GB and the second one costs $80 per month for 10GB of data. Both plans include overage fees of $10 per extra 1 GB.

In terms of pricing and data limitation , Clear mobile hotspot’s affordable price and unlimited plan without data cap clearly is one of the areas where Clear mobile hotspot shines and, beating Verizon mobile hotspot plans hands down.

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Filed under: Mobile Hotspot

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