"Clear" WiMax - You need to get this

[Johny Cee]

I'm necroing this because Clear pulled the proverbial fast one, just like most telecoms seem to do. 

Stop jumping on new tech service bandwagons.  There really is very little benefit as a consumer to be an early adopter, unless you have no problem of going through the hassle of looking for a new provider while dealing with your old provider self-destructing as they don't hit the forecasts they need for their next round of financing.

[Ingmar]

We still have XO Communications fiber in our building. 

[MahrinSkel]

About the only reason I have not to switch to Sprint is that I've got a grandfathered true unlimited contract with Verizon, and they have a much wider coverage area.

--Dave

[CaptainNapkin]

This sucks for me because they were, a year ago, my only option for anything close to broadband at my home. Their service over this past year has become rock solid, though it was shaky at first for me. I download from Steam at great speeds and stream Netflix and other services in full HD with rarely a hiccup.

I suppose if the service dies, I'll have to switch to Verizon who no longer offers unlimited 4g with new contracts as far as I understand. Verizon's performance is also not close to what I get from Clear currently in the area I want it (my house). Who knows, maybe this will be give Comcast incentive enough to stretch the service 1 more mile to get me covered, which is how far away they say I am.

[Nerf]

This sucks for me because they were, a year ago, my only option for anything close to broadband at my home. Their service over this past year has become rock solid, though it was shaky at first for me. I download from Steam at great speeds and stream Netflix and other services in full HD with rarely a hiccup.

I suppose if the service dies, I'll have to switch to Verizon who no longer offers unlimited 4g with new contracts as far as I understand. Verizon's performance is also not close to what I get from Clear currently in the area I want it (my house). Who knows, maybe this will be give Comcast incentive enough to stretch the service 1 more mile to get me covered, which is how far away they say I am.

Rumor has it that you can actually get the old unlimited data on VZW again.  If you call CS and request to add the mobile hotspot service to your plan (for $20 or $30/mo extra), if automatically puts you on unlimited data.  Reports from people thus far are that cancelling the hotspot after it starts showing on their accounts leaves the $29.99 unlimited data in place.  Hotspot fee is pro-rated if you cancel, so if you cancel in 3 days, you'll only be charged $3 for it, but be on unlimited data @ 29.99 forever.

I'm already grandfathered on my phone, but we just got a Xoom tablet for my mom for christmas, so I'll be trying this trick on that here shortly to see if it does actually work.

[CaptainNapkin]

Interesting, please let me know how it works out when you give this a try. I'm not going to jump ship unless or until I experience degradation of service.

[Nerf]

Interesting, please let me know how it works out when you give this a try. I'm not going to jump ship unless or until I experience degradation of service.

No luck on the Xoom, and I've already got unlimited data on my phone plan (grandfathered), but there are a ton of reports of this working on slickdeals.  Apparently the trick is to make sure they put the wifi hotspot as a separate line item - tell them that work is reimbursing you for it and you need it billed separately.  When you cancel the hotspot a day or two later, it leaves the data untouched and you're now on a grandfathered plan.