Complaints began surfacing last fall, when customers claimed that Clear wasn’t being forthcoming on its throttling practices. In some cases, connections were being slowed to 256 kbps — and the reason why was different depending on who you talked to. For some, it was said they were exceeding the bandwidth cap of 8GB per month: others got told it was due to “network congestion.”

This schizophrenic explanation of what was going on upset customers, who began to complain on Internet forums. Clear did later admit that it was throttling, although it refused to specify which customers it was doing it to, or how.

At issue is the company’s advertising, which says nothing about bandwidth caps and in some cases guarantees a minimum speed of 1-Mbps or more. It also takes issue with the fact that customers locked into contracts are forced to pay early termination fees if they disagree with Clear’s up-until-now unclear throttling practices.

There’s a few other goodies in the suit (available here from DSLReports), including the plantiff’s accusations of a Ponzi scheme and implementing the throttling in order to take on more customers than Clear’s network could handle due to the company’s financial issues.

But I’m curious, have any of our Technologizer readers had issues with Clear and speed? Overall, how has your experience been with the company? Let us know in the comments.

“We will have a lot more 4G devices,” Sprint VP of Business Marketing Tom Roberts told me on Monday at a customer and press launch event for Sprint’s 4G services, now set to start November 1 in the New York City metro area.

With WiMax rollouts also slated for San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston some time in the near future, Sprint and its partner Clearwire will have penetrated more than half of the major US metro markets by the end of this year, said Roberts.

During a presentation, Roberts pointed to Sprint’s intentions for the eventual nationwide availability of 4G devices in categories ranging from phones to mobile hotspots, routers, and 4G-embedded PCs. One slide spoke of “4G-ready mobile computing devices [from] Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo, plus more.”

Sprint and its allies also conducted video-centric demos of a number of 4G WiMax gadgets already under deployment with customers in various parts of the US.

Aside from the HTC 4G EVO and Samsung Epic 4G phones, these included Motorola’s CPEi25150 desktop modem for SOHO use, videoconferencing systems from VTEL and Creative Labs, home health monitoring equipment, and assorted surveillance paraphernalia.

Some other wireless were not on display, though, such as Sprint’s Galaxy Tab tablet, a rumored second 4G WiMax phone from HTC, and the Sprint 4G-embedded Dell Inspiron 10 netbook and Inspiron 11z notebook PC just announced on Friday.

Roberts wouldn’t comment on recent reports that a new WiMax phone from HTC, possibly to be called the “Knight,” will be released in January.

But he noted that Sprint will start offering 4G-embedded editions of Dell’s Inspiron 10 and 11z in retail stores on a nationwide basis on November 14th. The 4G-embedded Dell netbook will be available free of charge, after a $100 mail-in rebate, with a two-year 3G/4G or 3G-only pricing plan.

The Dell laptop will be priced at around $150, after rebate, also with a two-year contract. Roberts told me that the laptop will be available to businesses slightly earlier – on October 31 – through Sprint’s direct business sales team. Monthly wireless service plans for the two Inspirons run $39.99 for 3G-only, with 500MB of data, and $59.99 for 3G/4G, with unlimited 4G and 500GB of 3G data.

In contrast, Sprint’s edition of the Galaxy Tab will come with a choice of two 3G wireless plans: a 2GB data plan with unlimited messaging for $29.99 per month or a 5GB data plan with unlimited messaging for $59.99 per month.

Like Samsung’s Galaxy S phone before it, Samsung’s tablet will be presented in various flavors by the leading US wireless carriers. Verizon will sell the Tab for $600 without a contract, while AT&T and T-Mobile haven’t yet specified their plans for Samsung’s tablet.

On the other hand, Sprint’s rendition of the Galaxy S smartphone – the Epic 4G – is the only Galaxy S-based phone in the lot to be outfitted with 4G, not just 3G.

Why isn’t Sprint’s version of the Galaxy Tab also 4G-enabled? It’s hard to say. Yet although issues around tablet chip availability, limitations of the Android 2.2 operating system, and WiMax bandwith might come into play, it’s also true that the Tab is geared to consumer use.

Meanwhile, Roberts told me on Monday that Sprint is initially targeting its 4G services mostly at big businesses, whereas Clearwire and its cable provider partners are focusing on converting consumers and smaller businesses from DSL.

Generally speaking, Sprint takes the first dive into new geographic markets, although sometimes Clearwire makes the first move, according to the Sprint VP.

In an effort at faster speeds, Clearwire recently announced a pilot test in Phoenix of a network integrating WiMax with LTE, the 4G architecture planned by Verizon and AT&T.

“We’ve said at Sprint that we’re open to the idea of integrating WiMax with LTE, too,” Roberts observed. Roberts also told me that Sprint actually welcomes the anticipated entrance of Verizon into the 4G fold in mid-2011: “This will create even more buzz around 4G.”

In any case, live demos during the mid-day session of the event on Monday did give evidence that deployments of 4G WiMax in New York are indeed already real.

In a demo at one booth, VTE Ken Hall, said several organizations have already stepped in to commercial rollout with V-Tel’s Sprint 4G-driven videoconferencing app, including a school system in Ohio, a sheriff’s department in a Southern state, and the US Department of Labor.

So far, the Department of Labor has only deployed the videoconferencing app in its Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD offices – but plans call for a nationwide rollout to cut down on travel expenses, according to Hall, who is VP of sales for Atlanta, GA-based VTEL.

In another booth, Larry Diamond, VP of American Telecare, told me that the Eden Prairie, MN-based company has already completed testing of its Sprint 4G app for wireless monitoring of vital signs among homebound senior citizens.

Based on these test results, he said, several home health care agencies are now rolling out commercial services for reporting on blood pressure and stethoscope-measured heart rates, including an agency on the North Shore of Long Island.

Rover is a little different in how it measures out its various plans. Instead of using the megabyte, all prepaid plans are for unlimited use. The catch here is that its by the day, week, or month: once you run out of time, you have to buy a new block.

Pricing is fairly competitive. A day will set you back about $5, while a week costs $20, and a month $50. This may work better for some of us — instead of guessing how much data we need, instead we can plan out for a period of time that we’d need data access.

The Rover Puck (shown above) is the $149.99 piece of equipment you’ll need to make it all happen. The device will let up to eight users share the connection, but Clear is also offering the Stick, a $99 USB modem intended for a single user. A little more expensive than other offerings like Virgin Mobile’s Broadband2Go, however if you are in Clear’s coverage area and speed matters, it will be a much faster connection.

There is a catch. In order to qualify for the promotional rate, you can only connect it with an Apple device — it’s iOS compatible only. Using it with other mobile devices bumps that rate back up to the typical $40 rate.

The $99 device (on sale for $29 for today only) will create a hotspot of about 150 feet around the device and allow for up to eight devices at a time. The iSpot will last about four hours on a single charge, the company says.

Apparently the device is “unlockable” to use on all platforms, but it requires that the customer get the standard rate. It should be noted that the $25 rate appears to be “promotional,” so it may not be this good for too long.

I’m curious as to whether anyone would be interested in this and why. I’ve been eyeing Clear for my home Internet as Comcast has become increasingly unreliable here, and FiOS is still not even close to being available. Don’t know about this though — especially with my iPhone bill now regularly over $100/month after taxes.

We have yet to hit the holiday shopping season, so you know there will still be plenty of gadget goodness before the year ends. However, there’s also some new behind-the-scenes tech to get excited about in 2009. Here are four enabling technologies to watch out for in the next four months. This tech may not be sexy, but it’s guaranteed to make those shiny gadget toys work better, smarter, faster.

NVIDIA ION Chipset

Since my netbook is clearly not cutting it for a lot of video playback, I’m psyched about new processors making their way into netbooks and small laptops in Q4. Most likely to actually hit the commercial market this year is the NVIDIA ION chipset, which is said to boost graphics power significantly in any Intel-Atom-powered device. According to Brad Linder over at Lilliputing (also heard as afternoon anchor on my local NPR station), two major manufacturers, Lenovo and Samsung, are planning to ship ION-powered laptops in the last few months of the year. And, Brad speculates that the upcoming Nokia netbook, the Booklet 3G, may also sport NVIDIA ION graphics. More info to come at Nokia World on September 2nd.

USB 3.0

If you’re into transferring a lot of media between devices, then the launch of USB 3.0 is right up your alley. Unlike USB 2.0, which transfers data at a rate of 480 Mbps, USB 3.0 boasts a whopping transfer speed of 4.8 Gbps. That’s not just good for moving HD video around, it’s also perfect for large back-up operations to an external hard drive. According to Stacey Higginbotham at GigaOM, USB 3.0 will start shipping to device-makers this year, with consumer availability soon to follow.

WiMAX

I know, I know, it’s cool to be down on WiMAX these days, but I’m still excited for it to spread to more cities (including my own Philadelphia) this year. Partly I’m excited about the higher speeds for mobile broadband, but partly I’m excited because of the different pricing options compared to existing 3G services. For example, my employer is unlikely to subsidize mobile broadband at $60 per month, but a $10 day pass is a good bet for reimbursement. Perfect for conferences, and other places where Wi-Fi tends to be lacking. Even an unlimited mobile contract is said to be only $50 per month. (See pricing coverage from Paul Kapustka at Sidecut Reports) That’s a better price and a faster connection.

Upstream Channel Bonding

And while we’re on the subject of broadband speeds, here’s an obscure one: upstream channel bonding. Channel bonding is what’s making it possible for cable operators to offer peak DOCSIS 3.0 speedsof 50-100 Mbps in some markets. To date we’ve only seen downstream channel bonding in the US, but upstream channel bonding is on its way. Karl Bode at Broadband Reports wrote earlier this month that Comcast is exploring upstream DOCSIS 3.0 trials this year, with upstream speeds maxing out at 120 Mbps.

To entice customers to sign up for the service, the cable provider is offering a “Fast Pack Metro” bundle deal which offers the 2go service along with 12 MBps home Internet for $49.99 per month for a full year. At the end of that period, the rate jumps to $73/month, which is still quite competitive considering.

Better yet, where Clearwire does not have service yet, Comcast is allowing those subscribing to the 2go service to add mobile 3G data nationwide for an extra $20 month. This part of the service is offered through Sprint, which owns a portion of Clearwire.

Adding WiMAX service to its portfolio gives Comcast a stake in the ever-more-competitive mobile data industry. With speeds of between 5 to 10 MBps possible, it gives the standard a leg up on LTE, which is the mobile data standard that most cellular providers have chosen.

While LTE rollouts are expected to begin in force in 2010 and beyond, WiMAX is already available in several major metropolitan markets. It will be interesting to watch over the next one to two years whether or not WiMAX can continue to be one step ahead of its competitor.

LTE’s promise of high-speed, two-way wireless data promises an “all-IP” mode of communications in which voice calls are handled via VoIP. It’s also designed to handle video well, and to permit roaming through multiple systems–from cellular to Wi-Fi and satellite.

LTE is considered by many to be the obvious successor to current-generation 3G technologies, based on WCDMA, HSDPA, HSUPA and HSPA, in part because it updates UMTS technology to provide significantly faster data rates for both uploading and downloading, while preserving backwards compatibility with existing handsets based on older standards. Verizon Wireless, has already said that it will support LTE as its 4G technology of choice, abandoning its current CDMA based network.

Speed, theoretically superior to WiMAX, would give LTE an edge for bandwidth-hungry applications such as live TV and video downloads. LTE handsets are also expected to embrace automatic roaming to non-cellular systems, such as Wi-Fi and satellite.

It’s true that WiMAX, unlike LTE, is available today–but it’s only in the early stages of rollout. (Sprint-backed Clearwire, the only company to roll out WiMAX in the U.. to date, offers service only in scattered areas in sixteen states.) Analysts express doubts that phone manufacturers, networking companies, app developers, operators,  and carriers will ever make WiMAX a popular replacement for 2G or 2.75G facilities and services.

Still, WiMAX may endure–Clearwire has vowed to build a nationwide network. But the leisurely pace of its rollout indicates extra caution about the necessary investments. And Clearwire is controlled by Sprint, widely considered the weakest of the major U.S wireless carriers.

Whether they bet on LTE, WiMAX, or some combination of the two, major carriers, hardware companies, and other telecommunications players cannot postpone decisions about their 4G plans–even though it’s not yet clear how the competing technologies will sort themselves out. Investing mammoth amounts of money on building out what may be a temporary technology is high risk–especially during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression–but they can’t leave the market open to their competitors.

The matter of superiority, WiMAX vs. LTE, is mind-boggling to industry observers, even if it might not be to a genius, or to electrical and wireless engineers. Innovation advocates might see LTE as a natural evolution of technology. Yet some technology writers have described it as unusual, in the logical sequence of technological advancement. At least, the adoption of LTE shows that the best decision, in the acceleration of wireless-connectivity technology, is not to wait for the economic recession to hit rock bottom or reverse.

The CTIA Wireless trade show in Las Vegas last month made the industry’s 4G road map a bit clearer. Most players, including Motorola and Verizon, said that they would go straight to LTE without touching WiMAX. Nokia, went further: According to a Financial Times report, Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia’s head of sales and manufacturing, compared WiMAX’s prospects to those of Betamax.

Worldwide, LTE’s prospects look promising. Some observers say that China will go directly to LTE, bypassing WiMAX. Major Chinese telecommunications players, including China Mobile and Huawei, are believed to be working hard to step up to LTE in a year or two.

My home, Pakistan, would also benefit from LTE. Currently, almost all the mobile operators, including the formerly state-owned landline monopoly Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL), have flooded the consumer market with phones, cameras, music players, and USB modems that use a form of connectivity that’s similar to WiMAX but slower. These devices in Pakistan offer Internet connectivity of 300-kbs. Companies such as Wateen Telecom of the United Arab Emirates have tried to offer WiMAX, but without much success;  but hardly succeeded; PTCL has tried a package of cellular connectivity, satellite TV,  and broadband Internet that is also far from a success so far. China Mobile is one of the five major mobile operators in Pakistan, and other Chinese companies such as ZTE and Huawei are major players, so Pakistan’s 4G future will likely mirror that of China.

Countries such as Sweden and Finland, which are small but well-developed and technology-rich can benefit from this transitional period of wireless technologies, during which 3G, WiMAX, and LTE will coexists. Examples could be Sweden, with rich file-sharing experience, and Finland, with Nokia having early experimentation on real time interactive videos. Next in line are rapidly developing countries, including China, India, and Pakistan.

The U.S., a traditional leader in innovation and technological advancement, may struggle to adopt 4G as rapidly as other countries. Why? One reason is the difficulty of ramping up LTE during a period of recession. Another is the indecisiveness of U.S. industry heavyweights about next-generation standards. But even if the U.S.’s 4G future is somewhat murky, wireless connectivity is bound to evolve towards higher speed, great traffic capacity and more reliable connections.

Dell adds Wimax to notebooks.

Free iPhone apps make money.

Will Pre multitasking work well?

An AT&T app for iPhone.

South Carolina goes after Craigslist.

The prehistory of today’s Internet.

Windows 7′s XP compatibility: incompatible!

Rock Band’s Lennon, Harrison guitars.

Swedish NASA hacker is indicted.

Gizmodo tests WiMax, likes it.

Cisco flips for the Flip.

Hacker compromises Mac in seconds.

New features in Silverlight 3.

Sirius founder: Sirius is doomed.

New iPhone clues in beta?

Steve Ballmer’s still courting Yahoo.

Random rumor: OLED Macs, iPhones.

Dell’s Adamo notebook on sale.

iPhone tethering seems to work.

Sprint roadmap: Pre, other phones.

Mobile Firefox now in beta.