Clearwire Leaves A Dirty Taste

How times have changed!!!!!!!!! Only a few years ago, Chris was touting a certain Iowa-based ISP whose idea of “customer service” included terminating customers who overused their “unlimited” dial-up service. Sounds like Chris has gotten a little “older and wiser” since then.

Now, if Chris needs a hobby, he could always take up annoying Clearwire. Step 1 — make a list of every Federal and state agency that affects it (FCC, FTC, SEC, etc.). Step 2 — locate and organize a large group of unhappy Clearwire customers. Step 3 — institute a letter writing campaign addressed to the aforementioned agencies and to every politician in sight. Step 4 — start a class action lawsuit.

In short, Chris, don’t get angry, get even.

Obviously everyone missed the most important first step you can take, and that’s RTFC (read the contract). This is why I’m still on dialup out here in the wilderness, until recently, no competition on broadband service, and the ones available had all kinds of hidden little nasties buried deep in the fine print of their agreements…..

Chris, I thought I would only read this kind of comment on some other site.
I don’t care to read the insinuated “f-word” in “off their —- rockers!? ”
This makes you look really bad, I think you should apologize to your readers. If this is the kind of expression that will be permitted, then you
loose your readers. You can call me old-fashioned, but I don’t care for it.

I have been constanly having problems with clearwire. Ive open two “trouble” tickets and they sent me an email saying they sent me a lengthy email and resolved the issue, which i resieved no such email. Plus now, when i log into my account there’s no longer a link to open more trouble tickets. I called the tech support and the first thing i asked them is whether or not there was sapposed to be a link for trouble tickets (think there might have been a change with an update) and he told me there was. So clearwire closes your complaints and removes all links to complain more. I have started a complaint with the BBB, and i will be meeting with lawyers to see whethere or not a class action lawsuit can be started.

[...] Clearwire Leaves A Dirty Taste [...]

Jason, I have a few on board for a Class Action. We were all lied to cheated and given NO service or support. Currently a few are working with the BBB or State Attorney Generals office filing complaints. I would love to do anything I can to help. I am fed up with how I have been treated and don’t want others to experience the same treatment in the future.

I reqet the day I received their flyer for DSL, upto that point I had dial-up for years and looking foward to going back. I recently move in apartment complex and my signal is very limited (one light on the modem). I have cakled technical support 3 times and was promised they would send me the necessary equipment to get a better signal, that never happended. I was put on hold forever, last call lasted 45 monutes, dealt with rude individual’s in their so called customer service dept. I am fed up with them They do not deliver what they promise to deliver, one guy said, “we are not here to give you the run around”, that is all I’ve gotten is the run around. Yeah then theres the contract that is so unreasonal and so not directed for customer satisfaction. I absolutly hate this company and cannot wait to get away from them. I will be contacting my BBB in my area.

Hi my e-mail is thenextgreatsomething@yahoo.com. Clearwire blows I never got the speeds I was promised and then i was stuck in a contract. Please contact me via e-mail I would join a CLass action.

Hello Everyone,

I’m in Seattle Wa. and have also had nothing but problems with Clearwire. They rope in customers with a promise of a companion ariline ticket and then never diliver. When I asked about how they could keep in a contract wherein they didn’t honr the promotion they offered or there service levels concerning speed they explained that the promotion was handled via a 3rd party and wasn’t there problem and the contract was valid- if anyone has any success with the BBB or a class action please contact me at the email provided I would love to get involved…

Unbelievable, I just got off the phone with someone at Clearwire, Kisha, the most rude and condecnding person I’ve spoken to in a long time.

I was just informed they had turned down my dispute of charges including the early termination fee.

It didn’t matter to Kisha that I was told that by the salesperson that I wouldn’t notice any difference in my intrnet service if I switched from high speed cable to Clearwire. I’m a photojournalist and I need to upload high resolution photos several times a day. My uploads were averaging aroung 6k to 12k …. I get 112k using my cell phone as a modem!. A file that would normally take me less than an hour with cable would take days with clearwire. Yeah right no difference. I would be out of business!

Not only does this company have a bad service but their business practices are devieving and dishonest too. The reason they make you sign those long contracts is because it is the only way they can keep customers

I used to work for them in sales. Complete joke. Must of the sales team left because we did not want to sell stuff we knew was coming back into the door.

The one thing any potential Clearwire customer needs to ask:

Ask the rep to provide the location of the cell tower that is nearest your house. If it is further than a mile, forget it. Also, the Clearwire signal hates pine needles. And if you do get a good signal in a location in your house where it is not feasible to have your computer, ask for free Home Plugs. They should give them to you.

hey im in the middle of an army base the worst place possible to get signal even for a cell phone and i get perfect signal when i perch my clearwire modem on my window sill i get either 4 out of 5 or 5 out of 5 but id didnt sign a contract i got the modem from my friend who got his comp stolen so if i want out of it all i got to say is take this back so sucks to be you lmfao at all of u stupid mother f***ers who got the contract

yes, all of you are right! I’ve recently signed that contract (or just click on their website because I did it by phone) so I’m also stuck on this 2 years charade. They promise me 1.5 mbps but I’ve just had 100-150 kbps on download and for the upload…that really sucks!!! I have only 10kbps…and when I ask those thieves to cancel my contract, they said that I have to paid them $220…what??? So I’m angry with those guys too. If you have any word about your class action, let me know. They are doing false advertising…I guess that is Illegal right?

Regards

So clearwire charged me 45.00 to see if I had $$ in my acct Nowhere in their agreement does it state that they will charge you 45.00 (isnt that illegial) …I now have to have a conferance call with them and my bank to get it dropped now..And they just charged me 20.00 when I should be getting 3 months free…
YES IAM FOR A CLASS ACTION SIGN ME UP!!!!

I too am a victim of their fraud,deception,bait and switch tactics, Ive 11 mo’s left on their miserable service and of course they want the 180. Then theres the automatic renewal they dont tell you about. If you dont catch it,oops theres another 180. If theirs a class action suit heck yeah sign me up, I wana see them burn. My E mails Rpokeytruck@aol.com

I am beyond angry because I think I’ve had problems that go far beyond those mentioned below, and beyond anything that Clearwire should expect a customer to tolerate and pay a single dime for. I ordered phone and Internet service, dismantled my bellsouth equipment, and hooked up Clearwire. Nada. Not a weak signal, but no signal at all! And no dial tone on my phone. I thought maybe another, newer phone might do the trick. Didn’t. Unhooked everything and hooked my bellsouth DSL back up. Then, the real kicker. I called the support number listed on the paperwork that came with my modem and phone adaptor, and couldn’t even get through! From both my home phone and cell phone (tried for a couple of hours) I got a recording stating, “This number cannot be reached from your calling area.” WHAT?! So I sent an e-mail from my local library telling the idiots my problem, and the sent me some stupid, standard reply message that didn’t even address the problem! Next, I reconnected Clearwire equipment and called a number in my local area. They gave me an alternate number to reach Clearwire support. The tech I spoke with was very nice, but the 45 minutes I spent with him was pointless. He had me turn that modem every which way but loose, and the only location where I could get even a MODEST signal was in one front window of my house, perched at a precarious angle on a glass end table where my cat frequently jumps up to sit. And this was nowhere near my computer station! I had to go out then, so told this guy to thoroughly document what we had done, and that I’d get back to them. I sent an e-mail telling them I wanted to cancel and wanted return of all monies, to which I got a response saying I needed to call them. Called them just now, and of course I got a chick telling me I either had to give them a customer to sign up for their service in my stead, or pay their stupid $210! The only other option she gave me was to have yet another tech come out and try to find a place in my house to get a signal, wasting even more of my time. I am disabled, work from home, and have not only lost valuable time and service, but also business, and it took some doing for me to even get to the local library! The rep’s only response was, “Well, ma’am, things happen.” I am calling my attornet general’s office, and can only hope that there’s help for people who are unable to get any signal whatsoever.

Nothing but GREAT service from Clearwire in my home - and it has been that way for almost a full year now. I get consistent upload and download speeds and the service (when I have had to dial) has been very helpful and friendly.

I always chuckle at people that will sign a two year contract and then bitch about getting out of it……its a CONTRACT for hells sake! You agreed to abide by it. Our society is too “throw away” at this point and this is just another sign of it.

I’ve had no technical problems with Clearwire. But if late with a monthly payment, watch out! They typically hijack the browser so you are forced to view their nag screen daily. After you are forced to view their screen, you can click on “continue using the internet” and you won’t get hijacked again usually until the next day. Lately, they’ve added a new inventive twist to get you to physically call them on the telephone. Instead of a resolvable nag screen, your browser is hijacked (they call it being “captured”—but to me, a spade is a spade) and you are put into a loop which starts off with a message saying your modem is not recognized and they ask you to input your modem’s serial number (twice) which results in you starting over with the nag screen…loop loop loop! So you have to call them to resolve it. They are sooooo paranoid as a corporation and sooo afraid of not getting paid! Why don’t they simply send an email reminder one is behind like any other NORMAL company would? Because they are psychotic as a company.
I’m NOT renewing my service with Clearwire. I don’t care if they become the largest WIFI provider in the galaxy…they won’t get my money anymore.

1) Their service did not perform as advertised
2) I spoke with them after 9 months about disconnecting the service. I was then told about the $180 early termination fee. I told them I would finish out my contract, as that would be cheaper, but did not want to renew it.
3) I was not billed the 13th month. I believed this was due to my contract having been cancelled. I found out later that it was considered the “promotion” I was accepting and therefore “renewing” my contract.
4) Called after 14 months, after the term of my original contract, to cancel and was told that because I did not call within 30 days of the end date, the contract automatically renewed and I was stuck for another year unless I paid the early termination fee, as I had already “accepted” the “promotion”. I was referred to the terms of service.
5) I reviewed the terms of service and noted that it said that near the end of the contract date I would be propted to either renew the contract, go into a month-to-month, or cancel. I was never prompted. I spoke with a customer service rep about the prompt and he informed me that a “prompt” meant that I had to call in.
6) I spoke with another customer service rep and tried to spaek to someone with any authority. They would not. I then told them to bill me the early termination fee and cancel my contract. I was informed that they could not do that until they recieved my modem, and was instructed NOT to return it to a sales location. I was told that a shipping slip would be e-mailed to me. No shipping slip was e-mailed.
7) I reviewed the terms of service again and found a paragraph that stated that the modem had to be returned within 30 days of cancellation, implying that the cancellation could be done first. I tried again to cancel and was told I needed to return the modem first. Again no packing slip. I am still being billed every month for a service that doesn’t work as advertised and that I was willing to pay to discontinue.
I am considering a lawsuit.

I must be the odd one out. I am in Nashville and have had my Clearwire for about six months and I’ve been nothing but completely satisfied. Sure, it’s a tad slower than my DSL was, but part of that is my fault. My neighborhood wasn’t even on the “service is available” map, but I took a chance and got it because we can see two towers from our house. It just so happens that we are right on the outside edge of their “confirmed” serviced area and just haven’t made it into our actual neighborhood yet. My modem could also be in a better location. I have it on the second floor, on a southeast wall, when I really should have it on a northeast wall. If I would ever get off my butt and go get the ClearPlugs so I can move the modem to a better location, I’d have all the speed I desire.

Hello -

Thought what a great thing - as i travel and this had the appearance
of being an easy fix. Got it home plugged it in and easy internet
access. Was great for emails, as I had the 5 lights glowing. But
when it came to uploading for youtube just didn’t happen. All day and
all night still no way. Had to surf the neighbors signal with one bar
and uploaded without a problem. So packed it up and took it back to the kiosk where was told they can’t take returns - so was sent to the local market where the modem was turned in. I phoned the clear wire company from the market (as they can only accept the equipment but not terminate the service there.) Got a girl on the phone who insisted that I had to go home and print out a label to send the modem back. Fortunately the guy at the local market told her that was ridiculous and he was going to call into the supervisors. Have called now for 3 days to make sure that the contract is cancelled before the 7 days times out. Was told 24 hours and then 3 - 5 business days but it is in the process of being cancelled. Unfortunately it appears they are promising a lot more than they are willing to deliver. This is to bad as the email part of it was quite fine. With hearing all the horror stories am still a bit nervous about having to wait for a cancellation to take effect.

HORRIBLE CLEARWIRE EXPERIANCE!!

I have been with clearwire 6 months now, 4 of which I have been trying to ditch the service but cannot! No matter what I do it seems virtually impossible. I have gone over the contract several times. My problem is that I do not have the service promised. “UPTO” is their key word. I am running slower than dial up, but they do not care it is “UPTO 1.5 MBPS”. They will not do a “truck roll” unless I have no service which happens on a daily basis, but cannot be proved other than my word. I’ve contacted tech support, my cheeta score is horribly low, but the tech support neglected to not this, so when I spoke to accounts they said my cheeta score was 20 on installation. the problem is INTERMITTENT, meaning yes sometimes it is fast, most others nothing, or very little. Well, level 2 techs, accounts dept, ect…. accounts wants someone to come out, local office refuses because policy for truck roll is “NO SERVICE” not inadiquite service. What am I to do? Spoke with an accounts supervison, refered back to level 2 tech. Told supervisior I am going to make a formal executive complaint in writing. Also clearwire uses American Arbitration Association, however you may have to split fees. Vs. them getting my money I’ll waist their time, and they have waisted mine. I am taking this to Arbitration, and I advise others to do the same. If anyone is interested in a class action suit please email me, daddizlilman@yahoo.com. We unhappy users can arrange this, and I am going to head it up! I need contact information, IE phone number and email or whatever you feel comfortable giving. I’d like to write up a petition and snail mail all to sign to take into my lawyer. After I have at least 200 he will take the case, it wont be hard to find 200 of us!!! There are 3 of us living next to eachothere here and going through this. Lets get back at them and forget paying them or $180 termination fee. We were promised something that is not being delivered!!!!!

I have been a Clearwire customer for two years. Generally I have been satisfied although I have not really needed to use Clearwire’s customer service. Recently, I have found that I have not been receiving all of my emails from other web sites (When I send 5 emails from my work domain, one got through). These are from multiple domains which if I redirect to my online Yahoo email - all are received properly. I directly use the Clearwire’s email website and so it had nothing to do with my local machine. Yet, after explaining at exhaution, their customer service through multiple people they blame the user and makes the user responsible for their clear defect. There is something wrong with this ISP provider lately. The have issues and are keeping them to themselves. Horrible service response and they don’t listen, particularly when customers are losing important data/emails.

Looking for other ISP options.

I just received a call from “Bureau of Recovery” trying to collect charges from Clearwire after my partner canceled service near the end of 2007.
She cancelled service during the time required by Clearwire after a year long contract. The reason for cancellation was poor service, speed not up to promise, and connections spotty at best.
At the time of cancellation, Clearwire required my partner to send via mail the modem she had leased or rented to an address that Clearwire would email to us and they refused to divulge that address by phone and refused to accept the modem at the store where we had purchased the contract. Clearwire did NOT send that address. Nor did they email us. After about a month my partner was in contact by phone again with a Clearwire rep who said he didn’t know why we didn’t get their email and assured her that she would get that email and address right away.
Again, no email, no address. Another month. Finally my partner gets the email and the address. She sends in the modem, now some two months after cancelling service.
My advice is that if you wish to avoid a scam or undue charges by a company that I consider dishonest, AVOID CLEARWIRE!

Clearwire throttles bandwidth. Don’t expect to enjoy anything that requires streaming. You can even see them drop the speed on you after you’re watching a movie from Netflix for a little while - the first few minutes load fine, then it starts buffering, then about 15 minutes in your connection gets so slow you have to turn it off. Same goes for any streaming video (or even audio) or any other large downloads for that matter.

In addition, they don’t consider other protocols part of the deal, so good luck with FTP, legal use of peer to peer, etc…

I wish I had read up on the horror stories before I signed up, it sounded so promising, but I was really let down and now I’m stuck

Also, I fully support your insinuated F word. I hang out in grown up land where people don’t cry about stuff like that. Any readers you lose will be offset by the ones you gain because they don’t like a sterile, censored, PC, and insincere writer.

While I personally have decent signal and have had little to no problems with Clearwire, I also went into the contract with both eyes open and knowing about the early termination fee before I signed on. That said, I’m surprised there’s such a huge problem with so many people regarding the service, and naturally Clearwire should uphold their part of the contract. Since a contract is an agreement between two parties; the first party (consumer) should need only to prove that they reported the lack of fullfillment of contract or breach of contract to Clearwire and that given sufficient time (as designated by your state law) that Clearwire failed to correct the issue so that the contract continued to be fulfilled. This being done, I can’t see how Clearwire can legally initiate an early termination fee caused by an uncorrected breach of contract on their part. I’d be interested as well in the outcome of your suit.

I do agree however with a couple of the commenters as such; never go into a contract blinded or unwilling to commit to your end of the contract (ergo, early termination fees); be ready to pay such fees but also willing to initiate legal proceedings to get those fees back. Lack of initiation on their part does not prevent you from upholding your part of the contract, it just enables you to initiate legal matters to regain those funds for legal reasons.

Also, MYH, you might want to have a less sensitive ear. We’re adults and as such must accept that online in an group of adults example of colorful metaphors may be used in place of the colorful metaphors themselves. It’s that same kind of “moral upholding” that eliminates “freedom of choice” for everyone else.

I’ve had Wireless (not), Broadband (not) cLEARwIRE for 1 & 1/2 years and had to call at least once a month about lack of bars (service) with their service. As I write this Mozilla is telling me I’m receiving 3.26 Kb/s; a little on the low side of “up to” 750 K, would’nt you say?
Their excuses of “Do you have double pane windows?”, “Could you move the modem 1/4″ to the left?”,
“Can you put the modem in an upstairs window?
(with that 4 ft cord they sent with the modem)+WIRELESS!!!, or “You need to understand ‘HOW’ the internet works”.
They must live off the early termination fee. And they better save their pennies ’cause after this month (I finally got them to release me from the early termination ripoff clause they lied their way into) They Are History! Where is the FTC, and FCC, when it comes to contracts, everyone seems to be looking the other way (Oh, I forgot it is big business, and they can do what ever they want, and screw the public, and just get a slap on the wrist…)
Gonna spray paint “SUCKS” onto that T-Shirt they gave me and go stand by their booth at the mall.
LIES, That is all they are good for…
Wireless> my ass, Broadband,…when pigs fly!
Let’s see, $35.00 a month @750 K, divided by a lawsuit, minus lawyers fees = Good Bye Clearwire!
Where can I sign up for the class action lawsuit?
PS: And “up to”>as in> (I’m gonna shove this modem so far “up to” a place where the sun don’t shine).
They need to know how “CONTRACTS” work, because they have not delivered what their contract stated!

Update: I dumped clearwire.

If you’re interested in the details I posted it over at clearwiresucks.com

Basically, I found something in their contract where they are not holding up their end, so it’s an easy out.

Well, they will still harass you but legally they can’t collect on it.

Well guys if you are worried about the early termination fee of the contract you shouldnt have signed the damn contract! You knew before hand that there was an etf and you still agreed to the contract. Its not cleawires fault you are cancelling! Should have thought about it!

I have used cable for many years and seen the prices go up over two to three times when I started.
So I decided to try Clearwire; BIG MISTAKE.
If you are just surfing and e mailing they are happy campers “Clearwire”; but what what happens if you really start to use the service. I asked the sale rep what I intended to use the service for; downloading video presentations, powerpoint , etc. these files can get to 100-200 megabytes. That is when the Clearwire monster raised it’s head. They bombarded me with RST ( Reset Packets ) which cases to port connects to abort or reset. They call this “Throttling Bandwith”. They were “Throttling” it to the point of knocking me off the connection and require computer; modem, and router reboots. The amount of packets according to my network monitoring software ran average as high as 37000 RST Packets when I had the sampling at every ten minutes equaling over 2 MILLION per hour.
I called Clearwire Tech and a person named DAVE H informed me that there service is not a “Broadband” Service. I then asked him about the advertising stating just that BROADBAND; download your picture, videos, music, etc. No real response except B.S. He was also very surprised about the RST I told him about and about them knocking me off the internet; Doing that is basacally called a DENIAL OF SERVICE ATTACK AND VIOLATES OUR CONTRACT. He went into that song and dance about how 95% are ok but the “Other 5% hog the bandwith. I asked him to provide me non confindential documents to proved what he just stated; TO THIS DATE I HAVE RECEIVED NOTHING.
Bottom line is their service is no problem if you use it once in a while; but if you use it like I intended for getting my work files forget it. I went back to cable.
Oh they offered to drop the 1.5mbps/256kbps to 19.95 per month; jee I wonder why?
Could be all those RST logs I have showing their breach of contract? Hmmmm.
P.S. I did not sign any contract; I told them produce the contract with my signature; which they could not…

I have read the listed complaints and have the same problem. I need to know where to go from here instead of just venting to fellow victims of Clearwire. I called to cancel service and got the “you signed up for 2 years”, even though I was quoted “month to month service with no contract. Was told about the early termination fee of $180, but was offered faster service for a reduced rate when I told them no I wanted the service cancelled. The Clearwire person was rude and persistant. I have not signed any contract with them and they stated that they do not have one with my signature, but stated that “I clicked the I Agree button” therefore Clearwire will not stop service unless “I agree” to the eary termination fee.
So I am where most of you are at “now what” where do I go for any type of recourse of these deceptive practices.

I need help getting out of Clearwire without giving them more of my money to get out of contract!!!!!!

I am frustrated with Clearwire and its scamming ways. I wish I had known that their internet bandwidth and speed sucked. I wanted to use Clearwire because I wanted to astray away from the big corporate internet service provider powerhouse (i.e. Comcast, qwest, bellsouth etc), but going to the Clearwire route is probably the worst decision.

I went to one of their dealers (a small, postoffice shop that also sells bags, luggages, among other things) back in Dec. 2007. When I signed up for Clearwire, I was simply asked where my physical address was. The dealer punched my address in his lil “clearwire” laptop and he says I have coverage. I was informed about the $225 termination fee in the contract and I was promised that I should be getting great internet quality because I lived in the city.

A year later and about 10-15 calls later (since October 2008), my connection still sucks. They advise me to “move” my modem around so that it can pick other towers surrounding my area. I was told to go to speedtest.net to check my internet speed. My ping is always high (at around 800 m/s) and my download and upload speed averaged about 300 kbps (not the 1.5 mbps that they usually advertise). Some “tech” personnel blame it on my computer, while some blame my modem and recommended to send me a new one in case the new one may have more updated software and may be able to speed up the internet.

I feel that I shouldn’t have to be stuck on a $225 termination fee because their service suck. I don’t want to have to pay $45 a month (including taxes) to be stressed out with my internet connection, to “move” my modem around to pick up the right connection and speed, and I certainly don’t want to pay them an extra $225 out of my pocket because I signed up for crappy Clearwire service.

I still have a year left and I’m debating whether or not I should just pay the $225 termination fee. I really don’t want to pay this out of pocket. I want to be able to get out of it soon, but I just don’t know how. Calling them is just soooo stressful and such an inconvenience. Is there any other way I can get out of the contract without paying the fee?

I’ve done my share by telling my friends and colleagues to not sign up with them. 

As a follow up to my post above, I actually contact our local Attorney General’s office. Finally, after several weeks, I was able to get out of my Clearwire contract. They waived my 2-yr contract and will only need to pay $50 for some other fee, which I’m sure their way of squeezing out more cash from their departing customers. Well $50 is waaay better than paying the $225 early temination fee and waaaay better than for me to wait until Dec. 2009 when my contract with them ends (while paying them $45/month). I’m glad this ordeal is over.

I have Clearwire too and it is an absolute piece of garbage. The Internet service hardly EVER works so I have not even bothered trying to connect the phone, for which I have been paying for a year and a half. A Clearwire rep even admitted to me there was no use trying the phone since I cannot get a decent Internet connection. It was sold to me as fast, reliable service and it is anything but. Hope I can join in the lawsuit.

clearwire just sucks balls seriously. dont buy it :l