After all of my recent bitching and moaning about telecommunications services and the gizmos they sell, I’m extremely pleased to turn to the Clear 4G+ mifi review. This is, quite simply, the best-designed gizmo I’ve used in a long time. And I say this in a year when I bought a Retina display iPod touch.

Clear is deploying WiMax service for their 4G coverage, which makes them the odd man out in the 4G footrace. AT&T and T-Mobile are both using LTE (which, confusingly, will be deployed on their existing GSM and CDMA networks, so they will not be compatible), while T-Mobile is ramping up HSPA+ on its GSM network. In other words: it’s a highly fragmented market, and when you buy a device, you’re also committing to that carrier.

The Clear service is available under substantially similar terms from Comcast and Sprint, both investors in Clear—but I’ve been a customer of both, and suffice to say, that was good enough reason to buy from Clear. You’ll get different equipment from each provider, even though they all use the same network. Based on my experience, the equipment is another damn good reason to be a Clear customer.

A mifi device picks up a cellular signal and connects it to a wireless router, all in one box. Essentially, when I throw my mifi in my backpack, I become my own hotspot. Most carriers now offer one, nearly all of them on contract—Virgin Mobile being an exception—and almostall of them with stringent restrictions on how much data you can use each month. WiMax is an exception.

This screenshot indicates why a data cap doesn’t work for me. This is my usage in one evening; total data usage since I received the device five days ago is a hair shy of nine gigabytes. So I’m approximately using in one day what AT&T will sell me for a month’s usage. Notably, WiMax is fast enough that I’m using it as a replacement for both home Internet service and roaming hotspots—which isn’t possible on any other service at the moment.

The “+” in the “4G+” refers to roaming on Sprint’s 3G network when you’re outside of Clear’s 4G coverage. It also can kick in when you wander into a nook or cranny of a building where one signal is available but not the other; admin settings let you turn off either 4G or 3G, or set 4G to preferred. Clear’s plan includes 5 gigs a month of 3G data, which means that I’ll be cutting back on podcast downloads and streaming media when I’m outside 4G range—a good idea anyway, as 3G ain’t the fastest pipe.

The mifi has an LCD screen showing crucial connection data; you may note that the screenshot above looks very similar. That’s because it includes a web server which displays the LCD information live in a browser, which works perfectly on an iPod touch. With the mifi in my backpack, I can check to make sure I’m on 4G before catching up on the next Netflix episode of Doctor Who.

Battery life is an issue; I get about 3 hours off of a charge. But in a winning move, the included charger is also a USB cable, so I can power it off of wall sockets, my laptop, or any portable gizmo which can provide USB power. In a second winning move, the mifi uses a standard battery size, so purchasing a few third-party extras and tossing them in my bag is easy (online; these aren’t stocked at CVS). Plug the mifi into laptop USB power, and a disk will mount in case you want to install Mac or Windows USB drivers, after which you can power down the wifi antenna if you want to lock up for security’s sake. The thing even includes a microSD slot—for reasons I can’t quite fathom.

4G speeds have been phenomenal by cellular standards, and decently fast by home wireless standards. It regularly kicks the ass of Starbucks wifi by 3:1, and by far more when it’s crowded. Spot check from my iPod: 1.56 Mbps down, 0.84 Mbps up, 363ms ping latency. (Which was happening while my MacBook was sharing the connection and downloading podcasts.)

Pricing: extremely decent. $55 a month for unlimited 4G and capped 3G service; $9 a month for modem lease. I’m on a contract, but the cancellation fee is only $40—compare that to the $350 outright purchase price of the mifi, and it’s quite a deal. Beyond that, though, this is the first mobile gizmo I’ve used in years that I can see myself using for two years straight.

Clear 4G+ mifi

I have minor quibbles, but I didn’t think ahead to creating a 4.75 ‘bucks graphic. I wish there were a more obvious alarm when 3G kicks in, especially when using lots of bandwidth. Clear doesn’t shut off the 3G when you exceed 5 gigs, it just sends you a honking large bill. If and when I get close to my monthly allotment (which isn’t directly measurable, unfortunately, but the mifi does have a lifetime counter), I’ll shut off the 3G entirely just in case. But this could be a bit more elegant.

Clear 4G service (to date)

I’ve yet to kick the tires on 3G roaming, but will probably do so next week. Very happy with their 4G coverage; I’ll be in at least five cities in the next two months, and 4G is in four of them. (Notable exception: New York City.) $55 ain’t schlect, but it’s very competitive with home Internet costs, and highly competitive when used to replace home and mobile Internet costs. Worst offenses: no online meter of 3G usage, and no way to tell them, AFAIK, to turn off the service when I hit my cap. Makes me nervous… but I’ve used all of 20 megs so far when out of 4G range in DC, so I’m not too concerned.