More fun today with Clear’s 4G iSpot… If you missed the unboxing and need some background, start here.
Otherwise, let’s talk speed. Based on cursory testing while driving through weak to good coverage areas, as indicated by the iSpot’s glowing indicator, my iPhone download throughput ranged from the high hundreds to the mid 2000kbps (below left). At home, supposedly with poor WiMax coverage, downloads to my Macbook were reported in the high 2000s. Not too shabby at all, although I obviously haven’t yet come close to Clear’s theoretical 6Mb peak. Regardless, I’m generally seeing much better rates than I got from my 3G Sprint MiFi. And I should also see about double the battery life (4hrs+) if iSpot marketing materials are accurate. Granted, Clear’s 4G footprint is nothing like the fully built 3G networks. But for $25/mo, I’ll take it.
Speaking of that Macbook, I have indeed gotten my laptop online via MAC spoofing. As marketed, the iSpot is purely for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch connectivity. And why Clear is offering a very reasonable $25/mo data plan, versus their typical $40/mo mobile fees. However, their iDevice policy is merely enforced by device MAC address. By virtually changing your network adapter’s physical address to look like something running iOS, you can easily fool the iSpot into allowing you online. Of course, this could violate your terms of service and Clear could introduce additional checks and/or examine your traffic for compliance.
I discussed this earlier today with my buddy Dan, who’s documented how to efficiently spoof a MAC address on both OS X and Windows platforms. Here’s all you have to do on a Mac to fool the iSpot…
1) Launch Terminal
2) Disconnect from your current wireless network by pasting this (without the line break):
sudo /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/
Versions/Current/Resources/airport -z
3) Give your laptop an iOS MAC address by pasting:
sudo ifconfig en1 ether 00:1D:4F:13:E1:D9
4) Connect your laptop to the iSpot WiFi access point
* Rebooting your laptop will restore your actual MAC
Check it out: