We've been watching WiMax backer Intel's marketing department drum up deafening hype about the technology for the better part of a decade, initially calling WiMax "the most important thing since the Internet itself." This resulted in a lot of unskeptical but bubbly news reports, starting in 2004, proclaiming that WiMax was a cable and DSL competitor before it had even really left the development gate. Half a decade later finds Clearwire as the only major U.S. player in the Mobile WiMax space, with barely a handful of major launch markets under their belt.

Clearwire's fixed wireless service has traditionally seen poor reviews from our users. Enter the company's Mobile WiMax ambitions, fueled by a new joint-venture with Sprint that's now got corporate backing from such industry giants such as Google, Intel and Comcast. So how are users responding to the freshly-funded Clear Mobile WiMax service, which the company promises to deploy to 80 markets in 18 months?

Not particularly well, according to our latest user reviews and forum comments.

The mobile version of Clearwire's service comes in multiple flavors, all of which offer on average 4Mbps/384kbps connectivity, but with different bandwidth caps. The company has been playing with pricing, currently offering (at least in Portland) a $35 Mobile plan with a 2GB cap (and a whopping $10 each additional gigabyte), a $45 unlimited plan, a $10 day pass, or a $80 a month unlimited nationwide plan.

As expected, Clearwire today announced the launch of their Mobile WiMax network in ten additional markets -- most of them smaller cities and towns in Texas. In addition to Boise, Idaho and Bellingham, Washington, the company launched the service in eight Texas markets, including Abilene, Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Waco and Wichita Falls. According to Clearwire, these launches bring their market total to 14 markets, which potentially reach over 10 million people. Given Sprint is launching their own 4G services via the Clearwire network, they not surprisingly also today announced Mobile WiMax launches in both Boise and Bellingham.

Last week saw another round of doubt about the future of Mobile WiMax, with one analyst claiming that the future of the technology is in doubt. There's also been plenty of doubt about future success for Clearwire, the major Mobile WiMax player in the States. Specifically, we've noted how some don't think the company really has enough cash, something Clearwire CEO Bill Morrow downplays this week in conversations with the Seattle Times. According to Morrow, Clearwire currently has $2.5 billion, enough to bring the technology potentially to 75 million subscribers -- but he's confident he'll get additional funding. With sugar daddies like Comcast, Google and Intel, budgetary issues shouldn't be a problem, assuming deployment goes well and Clearwire holds off looming LTE competitors.

Clearwire announced they're launching their Clear Mobile WiMax service in ten additional markets, as the company tries to keep its promise of deploying Clear to 80 markets over the next eighteen months. The majority of these September 1 launches are in smaller Texas towns, and Information Week notes that Abeline, Lubbock, and Wichita Falls already have WiMax service from a company named Xanadoo.

Nearly half a year after Clearwire launched their Mobile WiMax service in Portland, the company has just four markets officially launched: Portland, Atlanta, Baltimore, and Las Vegas. According to the company, they hope to deploy Clearwire to 80 markets over the next eighteen or so months, meaning they'll seriously need to pick up the pace.

In order to work out early kinks, Clearwire has developed an interesting habit of soft-launching markets before officially announcing service availability, as they did with the Atlanta market early last month. Now users in Las Vegas inform us that the service is up and running and available for order ahead of any officially announcement -- something Clearwire PR (and their service location website) confirms. In addition to their service in Portland (and Xohm-branded service in Baltimore) Clearwire's expected to launch nine additional markets in 2009, including Atlanta, Las Vegas, Dallas and Fort Worth, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, Honolulu and Charlotte.

Clearwire and Cisco have announced a deal that makes Cisco the primary supplier for core infrastructure gear, and has the vendor making new mobile business and mobile WiMAX devices for the CLEAR 4G mobile WiMAX service. Of course the network needs to be built, and the speed at which it is or isn't happening is a concern with Verizon LTE bearing down next year. Clearwire currently only offers service in Baltimore (a la XOHM) and Portland, though nine additional markets are expected to be launched this year. Earlier this week, customers in Atlanta found they were able to order the service ahead of an official summer launch.

Clearwire's new Mobile WiMax service may be garnering all of the buzz, but the company still offers a significant number of customers their fixed pre-WiMax service, for which our user reviews have never been particularly stellar. This week finds the law firm of Tycko and Zavareei trying to organize a class action lawsuit (see press release and complaint) against the carrier for misrepresenting the quality of the connection Clearwire offers, but also for the early termination fees (ETF) of up to $220 the company charges consumers.

Last week, the Sprint Clearwire joint venture announced they'd be deploying the new mobile WiMax service in eight new locations in 2009 (it's currently only offered in Baltimore and Portland). This week, the company announced that they'd found a new CEO: supposed turnaround specialist William T. Morrow. Morrow previously was an executive at Pacific Gas & Electric, and was CEO of Verizon partner Vodafone in Europe. That knowledge should come in handy, considering that Clearwire is now engaged in a race for the 4G crown, and hopes to have Mobile WiMax service seriously deployed before Verizon can get LTE out of the garage.

Clearwire's new "Clear" WiMax service won't officially launch until next Tuesday, when media coverage is sure to bubble over. The mobile version comes in four flavors, all of which offer 4Mbps/384kbps connectivity, but with different bandwidth caps ($30/month for 200MB, $40/month for 2GB and $50/month for unlimited).

With Clearwire on the cusp of fusing with Sprint XOHM to become the "New Clearwire," the old Clearwire has ramped down their marketing efforts for their pre-WiMax service, which around these parts has seen consistently mediocre reviews. The results are showing in their latest earnings report, which indicate the mobile broadband company added just 8,000 subscribers in the third quarter, and added just 121,000 broadband customers in the last year.

Though clearly a little biased, Clearwire CEO Ben Wolff thinks that an FCC approval of the new Clearwire would be "good policy." In addition to a vote on White Space broadband, the FCC today is expected to approve the fusion of Clearwire and Sprint's XOHM mobile WiMax services, in order to create a new national wireless player funded by such heavy hitters as Google, Comcast and Intel. "Everyone understands it’s a pro-competitive deal," Wolff tells Telephony Online. "It creates a new nationwide broadband network. It’s not a partisan issue. It’s just good policy.”

Unstrung reports that Clearwire is showing signs that they'll soon be deploying their mobile WiMax network in Los Angeles. While the company's deployments in Portland, Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Grand Rapids are expected to go live in early 2009, the company so far hasn't said anything about deployment in Los Angeles, but job ads for the company indicate a City Of Angels deployment is imminent. As usual when this kinds of leaks are accurate, Clearwire tells Unstrung "We haven’t announced any additional deployment plans at this time." Of course Clearwire's new super-partnership with Sprint's XOHM is expected to be voted on at the FCC on November 4.

Clearwire has apparently set up four, three-sector towers near the CTIA Fall 2008 trade show in San Francisco this week to demonstrate their mobile WiMax service under no-so-real-world conditions. According to the company, they're seeing average speeds between 2-4Mbps in areas where they're deploying the technology. "We've seen up to 10 megs down," says Clearwire's VP of network deployment, John Storch. Clearwire is using the temporary towers in San Fran to take conference attendees on fifteen minute driving demonstrations of the technology (see pics of the rigged van).

According to a new SEC filing, WiMax broadband provider Clearwire has enough money to survive about twelve months, assuming the company's deal with Sprint to build a national mobile WiMax network goes off without a hitch. Clearwire has stated they need an additional $2 to $2.3 billion to roll out a nationwide mobile WiMax network through 2010 and beyond, though Unstrung says some analysis peg the costs to be much higher. Of course the deal getting delayed is a very real possibility, thanks in part to AT&T's ongoing efforts to scuttle it. Marketwatch explores how AT&T is fighting the creation of the new Clearwire not just for competitive reasons, but to get the FCC to make regulatory rulings that will benefit the nation's largest broadband and wireless phone carrier.

Clearwire expects to have the ink dry on their collaboration with Sprint to operate a national WiMax network (with a $3 billion cash infusions from Intel, Google, Comcast and Time Warner Cable) by the end of the year. Despite protest from the nation's largest broadband provider about how the deal is unfair, Clearwire thinks "that the approval process is on track to permit closing before the end of the year." Of course AT&T (and the politicians who love them) may have something to say about that. Any more delays could prove deadly for the new collaboration. Clearwire is expected to launch their first mobile WiMax market (Portland) in the fourth quarter, with Sprint launching their own WiMax services in Baltimore, DC and Chicago.

Clearwire’s ambitious WiMax plans have gained a lot of media attention in the last year but the company’s real profits right now come from existing wireless broadband networks built using proprietary gear from Motorola. The company has been successful enough in this area to gain over 400,000 subscribers which makes it the largest wireless broadband provider in the world. The numbers are only likely to grow as WiMax testing moves forward. The company is also seeking partners to build out international networks in Europe, Canada, Asia and Latin America.

Clearwire is ramping up the PR hype surrounding their new joint venture with Google, Comcast, Intel and others (aka ultra-mega-uber-Clearwire). According to Unstrung, the company this morning bragged about their spectrum holdings, which will allow the WiMax operator to offer "6 to 15 megabits per second per user," mobile VoIP, and eventually wireless high-definition TV (though they offered no real launch specifics).

The folks behind the new ultra-mega-Clearwire claim that for the rock bottom price of $5 billion, they'll be able to offer mobile WiMax via 140 million POPs in fifty U.S. markets.

Ben Wolff, CEO of the new MEGA-ULTRA-Clearwire (well, that's what I'd name it), tells Unstrung that while the companies wait for regulatory approval, they'll continue their previously planned launches. Sprint will launch their WiMax service in Baltimore, DC and Chicago under the soon to be killed Xohm brand, while Clearwire will launch their first mobile WiMax deployment in Portland "in either the late third quarter or early fourth quarter." Wolff says he has the service in his home now, and sees 3-4Mbps. Price? "I don't think you'll see plans north of $60, lets put it that way," he says.