Clear's New Spot; WiMax Strong at 1 Billion Users

If you're new to the mobile scene, you should know that Clearwire, is a company partly owned by Sprint that provides the WiMax network in the United States.  It's not doing well.  But I'm hopeful.  And I'm hopeful that my iSpot will see a lot of milage for years to come.  I am expect another three, maybe four, years before the WiMax network in the US changes for good

Meanwhile, Clear is still trying to capture a piece of the lucrative wireless data market.  And even without my iSpot, which connects only to iOS devices for $25 a month, this new $99 Spot 4G from Clear is in its own right, a pretty compelling deal.  See, I went with my iSpot because I wanted to see if I can live off this $25 a month rate without owning a phone.  I did that for about seven months before I got reapplied for the iPhone and Triumph.

So, my question is you is whether anyone out there is running their home network off an WiMax hotspot like this.  Typically in my area, I am gettting between 4-5 Mbps downstream and about 1Mbps upstream.  

My only issue with these mobile hotspots is that their battery life is pretty limited.  During my iPod touch and iSpot experiment, I typically ration between whatever public hotspot I can find and the iSpot.  It would be terrific if these come with the option for a larger battery.  

I have on some occasion artificially increased the iSpot through external battery sources.  But it really beats the point about mobile if you're forced to carry an extra device.  

But then your mobile needs couple possibly be very different from mine.  You may need mobile connect only for a little while at a time.  Then any Spot from Clear could be what you're looking for.  And unlike the data plans from T-Mobile, Verizon, and ATT, Clear's "unlimited" still means unliimited while competitors are still looking to nickel and meter you to death.

Regardless of the portability issue, I think the death of Wimax chats are premature given the limited LTE rollout by Verizon Wireless in the US and ATT who have yet to even have one LTE market.  Furthermore, the complication in the wireless market generated by the ATT and T-Mobile merger could give Sprint and Clear's WiMax a second look by mobile warriors.  And Sprint is the only major carrier left that still offer truly unlimited data plans.

And to top all this off, there are currently 1 billion users connected to the Internet through WiMax (Wireless Week).  I think we're quite  away off from the WiMax network in the US being taken down for any reason whatsoever.