Comments for Customers Sue Clearwire For Rotten Service, Early Termination Fees

Customers Sue Clearwire For Rotten Service, Early Termination Fees

2009-04-23T22:47:26Z

Customers from Washington, Hawaii, Minnesota and North Carolina have teamed up to file a lawsuit against Clearwire for misrepresenting the quality of its hit-or-miss wireless network, and then charging ETFs for account cancellations even when there's no service as promised. If they win, Clearwire will be banned "from enforcing the Early Termination Fees and from further false advertising."

"Clearwire Facing Lawsuit over Advertising and Early Termination Fees" [Cellular-News via mocoNews ]

Comment from wildazndude on 2009-04-24

2009-04-25T03:35:30Z

I'm currently using Clearwire in Modesto, California, to type this post. The service is the worst I have ever experienced. There's too much latency. I have Comcast Cable internet at home and AT&T DSL as a back-up internet at home. I use the Clearwire at work. Boy, am I dissatisfied by their terrible service. I'm still locked onto a 2-year agreement. The moment I'm out of the 2-year agreement, I'm switching over to Cricket Wireless Internet.

FUCK YOU, CLEARWIRE! FUCK YOU AND YOUR E.T.F.!!!

Comment from asplodzor on 2009-04-24

2009-04-24T11:47:28Z

@yagisencho: Tinfoil hats have been proven to MAGNIFY radio waves of specific frequencies. Haha.

[people.csail.mit.edu]

Comment from Inglix_the_Mad on 2009-04-24

2009-04-24T09:48:50Z

I thought Clearwire was Wi-Max which was supposed to eliminate the need for cables!

/snicker

Wi-Max, which I wouldn't doubt is the tech used here, has been overhyped.

Comment from Brian James Schend on 2009-04-24

2009-04-24T08:48:58Z

@EarlNowak: Also, it sounds like if they do have a 30-day cancellation period, they aren't honoring it.

Comment from feralparakeet on 2009-04-24

2009-04-24T08:09:37Z

I worry that this posting will make the entire Wireless ISP industry look bad. Note, I work for a company that does some WISP buildouts, and have a friend who manages a WISP.

99% of the WISPs out there are small businesses, run by honest people who want to make sure their customers are happy. Clearwire isn't the model for the rest of the industry.

There are a gazillion factors that have to do with how good your reception will be (the frequency used, how well it penetrates trees, distance from the transmitter, hills between you and there, etc). But I've never heard of someone saying that you should put your CPE inside the house. That's just crazy talk.

Mount it outside and run a line in to connect it to a wireless router. You'll have a much happier wireless 'experience'. :P

Comment from rhys1882 on 2009-04-24

2009-04-24T05:30:34Z

@tmyprod: I thought about Clearwire when I moved, as opposed to Comcast. But the service is so much poorer then Comcast's, and that's saying something.

Comment from rhys1882 on 2009-04-24

2009-04-24T05:29:37Z

@EarlNowak: One, I've read through their terms and I don't see any mention of a 30 day grace period. Two, the claims in the lawsuit mostly relate to the internet service offered by Clearwire not the cellphone service. People are not as quick to notice poor internet service as opposed to poor cellphone service, especially if they do not use the internet as much as other demographics, and are not as quick to act on it. Three, the early termination fee applies even if you move to an area where they do not offer service, and that's pretty messed up. Finally, the other claim is for false advertising because they claim their internet service is "always on" and comparable to DSL or Cable, when in fact, it is well documented that their service suffers from regular outages across the board, at least for the internet service.

Comment from Randy Treibel on 2009-04-23

2009-04-24T03:18:01Z

My good friend josh signed up for this. He's sort of a sucker in that he's very trusting and believing, but he's a good guy. As you can imagine he fell for the clearwire BS and got pwned by their lousy service. Sometimes i call him on their VOIP and it'll take 15+ seconds to ring! And it disconnects regularly!

Comment from shepd on 2009-04-23

2009-04-24T02:50:55Z

@yagisencho:

Remember that the strength of radio waves over distance is an inverse square relationship. Specifically, in your case, you'd probably want to know sensitivity so you can calculate how much voltage is induced into your body at a distance.

Let's imagine this (pre)WiMax unit is running at 200 mW. Let's also assume it is placed rather far away from your bedroom, let's say 10 meters away.

Let's also assume you have a TV station 10 km away broadcasting at 1 MW.

Clearwire EMF = ((30 * 0.2)^1/2) / 10 ~= 0.25 V/m
TV EMF = ((30 * 1,000,000)^1/2) / 10000 ~= 0.55 V/m

The TV station would need to be more than 20 km away before the induced voltage were less.

Basically, what I'm saying is that unless you live way, way, way out in the country, where you can barely get decent TV reception, you're going to be exposed to more radiation from that than you will be from your WiMax.

Comment from Tankueray on 2009-04-23

2009-04-24T02:21:25Z

They actually allowed me to borrow one of their notebook cards for a week to see if I could get it working at my house. I couldn't, but I thought that was nice. I know quite a few people that have it, and it works great for them.

Comment from Anonymous on 2009-04-23

2009-04-24T02:19:01Z

Clearwire's treatment of people called up to active duty bears some looking at. A reservist I know was called up to active duty to serve overseas -- had orders 3-4 months in advance. Tried to talk rationally and politely to Clearwire the week after he got his orders so he could plan ahead. No dice, even though he supplied a copy of his orders. The poor guy was left trying to sublease his contract ... possibly at the suggestion of the Clearwire staff. (This happened in Hawaii.)

Comment from Mykie Gunderson on 2009-04-23

2009-04-24T01:30:57Z

But clearw˙re has that cool logo, with a "˙" where the "i" should be, your eye EXPECTS to see an "i" there, but it's just a "˙"!

COME ON HOW COOL IS THAT?!

Comment from xtc46 - thinksmarter on twitter on 2009-04-23

2009-04-24T01:08:04Z

I hate clearwire, I hate their traffic shaping practices, and I hate their support.

...I still use clearwire because they provide a viable temporary solution when our T1s drop at a remote site and they need internet access NOW. I can drive out with the clearwire modem I keep on standby and get them up and running. The connection is slow, and getting reception is a 50/50 shot in many cases, but for what they charge, and the convience of being able to move it wherever I need the connection, its worth it.

Comment from Ben King on 2009-04-23

2009-04-24T00:58:49Z

I usually only get 3 of 5 max. But it works well for me, and I've been planning on buying a router to put it in my window. Anyway, the only problem I have with the service is the dang contract. Does this mean they won't be able to enforce any ETFs, or just the ones for the people in the suit?

Comment from noone1569 on 2009-04-23

2009-04-24T00:30:11Z

@jklug80: ah . . . I see what you did there . . .nice.

Comment from 2 replies on 2009-04-23

2009-04-24T00:13:44Z

I walked into the Bellevue,WA mall Clearwire store and while waiting for the one rep to finish up with the old guy in front of me had to laugh out loud when the old guy asked "How about signal strength? Does it (the antenna) have to be near an outside wall or window?" to which the rep said "Nope you can keep it next to your computer in the middle of your house"
...The old guy had explained not a minute earlier that his computer was in his basement.

I was there to return my hardware because I didn't get service at my new place (my old place only got 3of5 bars MAX. Usually it was 1 or two bars. And even when I hooked it up in the parking lot the speed of the service was slower than my neighbor's open wifi AP).
Anyways, the rep said they don't do returns there. O_O
Not IN STORE?! WTF!
He said I'd have to call tech-support and schedule a visit to my place in order to return the hardware.

Hopefully I can jump on this too and get out of the mandatory 2 year contract and get Fios.

Comment from Anonymous on 2009-04-23

2009-04-24T00:04:48Z

@EarlNowak:

Though I agree with you on most points, occasionally people move. You can't cancel your cellphone or Clearwire service as long as they have "coverage" according to thier maps in the area you are moving. My good friend bought a Condo in downtown Seattle where there is supposedly "good" coverage, but his signal drops in and out all of the time on Clearwire. Sadly, he has no alternative but to keep paying due to his contract.

Comment from tmyprod on 2009-04-23

2009-04-23T23:34:04Z

@tmyprod:

...yet

Comment from tmyprod on 2009-04-23

2009-04-23T23:32:06Z

I'm only using Clearwire because the only alternative is Comcast and as much as I dislike Clearwire, at least it's not in the running for the WICA.

Comment from ORPat on 2009-04-23

2009-04-23T23:20:37Z

@Don't take anything aaron8301 says seriously: In the Early days Clearwire did just that. They came out with one of their modems and checked. I have 8 of them that my company uses in various places, including the link to the server. I have had no more problems than we had with DSL or Comcast. The up side is that we lease buildings, stores open and close, and I can just pick up the modems and move them. I have a spare that I can use while waiting for them to ship a replacement. That being said I have a commercial account, and a local contact for problems.

Comment from LegoMan322 on 2009-04-23

2009-04-23T23:18:54Z

@Don't take anything aaron8301 says seriously: Because then they cannot charge you and what fun would that be?

Comment from jklug80 on 2009-04-23

2009-04-23T23:17:25Z

@Don't take anything aaron8301 says seriously: Odds are it was a do it yourself home install kit and the customer didn't get it working within 30 days and didn't cancel. I doubt a company would do an install, have it not work, and just leave acting like it was OK. I could be wrong though...

Comment from yagisencho on 2009-04-23

2009-04-23T23:14:28Z

@Don't take anything aaron8301 says seriously:

Actually, a tinfoil hat would probably do a decent job. Just not fashionably.

Comment from Anonymous on 2009-04-23

2009-04-23T23:08:49Z

I had clearwire in NW Washinton, but alas had to drop them, my service was okay, I only got cut off once for using too much bandwidth, i had to slow some of my downloads.

but they top out at 1.5 Mb here, and that is just too slow for hulu or netflix to be watchable.
so alas to comcast I went... funny thing 5x faster same price

Comment from PølάrβǽЯ on 2009-04-23

2009-04-23T23:07:43Z

The small, privately-owned wireless ISP that provides service where I live comes out and does a site survey before they even allow you to sign up. Then during install, they use a signal meter to make sure the Motorola Canopy antenna they use is getting a sufficient signal. If it won't work good enough, they won't finish the install and won't bill you. Essentially, you can't get screwed like this.

Why doesn't Clearwire make sure their service works at your house when you sign up?

Comment from jklug80 on 2009-04-23

2009-04-23T23:05:22Z

@yagisencho: I personally enjoy being bombarded all night in the bedroom.

Comment from PølάrβǽЯ on 2009-04-23

2009-04-23T23:03:33Z

@yagisencho: Don't forget your tinfoil hat!

Comment from EarlNowak on 2009-04-23

2009-04-23T23:01:11Z

Clear, like most wireless services, provides a 30 day money back guarantee. If you don't have service in the first 30 days, why would you keep paying and lock yourself into a contract? It's been my experience that sprint/at&t are happy to take your phone back in the first month if you tell them the service isn't up to par where you live/work/play.

It's one of those things that bothers me about people who complain about their cell phone service- "Oh, T-mobile doesn't get a signal in my house, I hate them but I'm under a contract". Well, you've been living there for five years, why didn't you cancel in the first month and sign up with someone else?

(not trying to blame the customer here; the money-back period isn't an optimal solution but it's an easily available solution).

Comment from yagisencho on 2009-04-23

2009-04-23T22:59:49Z

Living next to a major traffic corridor, my Clearwire transceiver has a clean signal most of the time. There's still the occasional hiccup, but no more so than we experienced with Verizon DSL.

My main concern is with additional EMF exposure, though I've done what I can to cordon off the transceiver without interrupting the signal. I also added EMF shielding for the bedrooms so we're not bombarded all night.

Comment from LegoMan322 on 2009-04-23

2009-04-23T22:54:55Z

Sweet....only 2,000 more shitty companies to go. I wish all states (especially my state) would do this. I might smile while I write out a check for AT&T or CableVision.