Clearwire Gets Slammed With WiMAX Throttling Lawsuit

Clearwire is being slammed with a lawsuit today that alleges that the wireless operator has been throttling its WiMAX service. Complaints began in mid-2010 that Clearwire had begun throttling home internet connections to as slow as 256Kbps. And now a group of 15 users have filed a lawsuit accusing Clearwire of not delivering high-speed internet as advertised and charging them termination fees when they walked away.

Customers were not only dissatisfied with the throttled internet speeds but also Clearwire's lack of transparency. The company remained very ambiguous in its explanations, telling some customers that there were monthly usage caps while telling others that the network simply gets congested during certain times of the day.

These complaints along with revelations that Clearwire may run out of cash by mid-2011 has garnered a comparison of Clearwire's situation to a ponzi scheme. The plaintiffs allege that Clearwire is signing up way more subscribers than its network can handle in order to shore up enough cash to eventually build out the network. The case may escalate to a class action lawsuit, accusing Clearwire of violating advertising and fair trade practices.

[via Ars Technica]