Items tagged with 3G
It's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease, and after Sprint announced a new "All In" unlimited plan that would restrict streaming video to 600Kbps, customers collectively made a squeak that Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure heard "loud and clear." As a result, Sprint has backpedaled on its streaming video cap and announced that it's removed it altogether. "At Sprint, we strive to provide customers a great experience when using our network," said Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure. "We heard you loud and clear, and we are removing the 600 kbps limitation on streaming video." That's a win for consumers, though Claure left the door open to throttling speeds. "During certain times, like other wireless carriers,...
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Sprint is bringing out the big guns to promote its new All-In “unlimited” calling, texting, and data plans. The third-player U.S. wireless carrier has brought out none other than David Beckham to pitch All-In, but there are a lot of “gotchas” that you must take into consideration before you start jumping up and down for joy. For starters, at $80 per month with an included smartphone lease, All-In is actually $10 a month more expensive for iPhone users that were on Sprint’s old iPhone for Life program. But by upping unlimited plan pricing $10 (CEO Marcelo Claure is a man of his word), Sprint is hoping that it will garner more attention from potential customers by expanding the number of handsets...
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This week, Broadcom announced that it would exit the LTE modem market and shut down its LTE research division. The move comes less than a year after Broadcom bought Renesas' (formerly known as NEC) LTE modem -- and that purchase was supposed to give Broadcom a leg up in modem design after its own in-house LTE product had failed to ship. With Broadcom gone, Qualcomm is, for all intents and purposes, the Emperor of LTE mountain. The market shift has happened quickly -- look at where revenue share sat in 2009, when 4G was still on the horizon and 3G modems were the norm. Qualcomm is still the leading provider, no question, but ST-Ericsson, Texas Instruments, MediaTek, and Infineon all have...
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Intel has announced a new partnership with mobile SoC developer Rockchip, with plans to bring new Android products to China beginning in the first half of 2015. The partnership will use Intel's SoFIA platform with an integrated 3G radio and Atom processor initially, though Intel does plan to deliver a follow-up version of that platform with LTE connectivity later next year. The idea behind the partnership, according to Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, is to leverage Rockchip's market penetration and channel sales and combine them with Intel's own CPU technology. When asked, Krzanich indicated that Rockchip would provide certain supplementary technology, possibly including the GPU, and said that Intel...
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Securing patents is an important part of doing business in today's corporate world. Lenovo understands this, hence why it just agreed to purchase a portfolio of mobile technology patents from Unwired Planet for $100 million dollars in cash, the two companies announced. The deal also gives Lenovo a term-based license to Unwired Planet's patent portfolio. In total, Lenovo gains access to 21 patent families owned by Unwired Planet, the most important of which are for certain 3G and LTE mobile technologies. "This investment is an extension of Lenovo's existing intellectual property portfolio," said Jay Clemens, General Counsel of Lenovo. "It will serve the company well as we grow and develop our...
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Technology development company MagnaCom thinks it has a new wireless approach that could revolutionize wireless communication. That's the bottom-line takeaway from the company's presentation (in-person demonstrations will be given at CES in January). With a sheaf of freshly minted patents and an impressive pitch, MagnaCom is claiming that its use of WAve Modulation (WAM) instead of the current QAM (Quadrature Modulation) will provide the bandwidth next-generation content networks desperately need. WAM vs. QAM To understand what MagnaCom is claiming, we need to first talk about the current system. All existing cellular technology is based on QAM. In QAM, data streams are amplitude modulated --...
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Google has enjoyed plenty of success with its Nexus 7 tablet. Now, it appears the company is looking to expand its tablet offerings with the addition of a 3G model that could launch in approximately six weeks. According to reports on the Web, Google and Asus are already in the process of building a 3G-enabled version of the Nexus 7. The report claims Asus is ramping up manufacturing in preparation for a launch in about six weeks, which would indicate a mid-October release. At this point, it appears the Nexus 7 with 3G connectivity would have the same specs as the original version of the tablet with the addition of the cellular radio. When or if, Asus and Google are planning a 4G LTE-equipped...
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Most phone carriers these days are doing everything they can to hop off the unlimited data bandwagon. Both AT&T and Verizon have rolled out penalties for refusing to upgrade to their new shared plans; AT&T won't let you use FaceTime unless you've got a shared data plan, while Verizon is forcing customers to switch over if they want to keep their discounted phone upgrades. Now here comes T-Mobile -- moving in exactly the opposite direction. Starting next month, T-Mobile will offer Unlimited data plans, as opposed to Unlimited* data plans. The asterisk denotes the invisible limitations on these services. In T-Mobile's case, the existing restrictions are actually pretty good -- the company...
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Six weeks ago, Verizon launched its new "Share Everything" data plans, declaring that everyone would henceforth use these plans or be banned from upgrading their phones at a discount, and unveiled a suite of options that range from $50 for 1GB to $100 for 10GB (not counting per-device fees). Unlimited talk and text is now baked into the per-device base fee, which means that users with minimal data needs could actually benefit from a swap. Now, the company has admitted that its usage plans stretch higher, though these plans are usually offered on customer support lines or in the event of overages. Verizon will sell you 12GB of data for $110, 14GB for $120, 16GB for $130, 18GB for $140, and 20GB...
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It's been quite awhile since anyone had much good to say to say about RIM's chances of surviving the next 12 months as an independent company, but a new interview with CEO Thorsten Heins has me hopeful. Unlike Heins' widely-publicized op/ed in the Globe and Mail a week ago, in which he sounded like a beleagured ship captain reasurring everyone that no, we haven't struck an iceberg, here he comes off as well-grounded. More importantly, he offers the best, most-concise explanation for RIM's current situation that anyone in the company has had to date. Where RIM Went Wrong The problem is actually quite simple. Back in 2007-2009, RIM was busy selling like gangbusters in the US and had focused most...
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A joint study between Microsoft Research and Purdue University has taken a look at how smartphone applications handle power consumption and come to some damning conclusions where energy efficiency is concerned. This is an issue that's become more important as smartphone specs have skyrocketed without a similar increase in battery life. The paper only considers devices running Android and Windows Mobile, but this isn't a problem that's unique to that platform; Apple's iPhone 4S suffered from battery life issues for months after release, while the new iPad is ~10% heavier than the old thanks to the need for a heavier battery to power the device's screen. The new iPad's battery holds 67% more power...
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Sprint announced a new USB modem called the Sprint 3G/4G Plug-in Connect USB that features a compact design and provides access to Sprint’s 3G and 4G networks in one click. The modem requires no software installation and you won’t have to wait for an application to load to use the connection; the Sprint 3G/4G Plug-in Connect USB works just like an Ethernet cable. The Sprint 3G/4G Plug-in Connect USB is available for free with a contract and after a rebate. Customers can also opt to purchase the modem and use a pay-as-you-go plan. Day, week, and monthly passes are available. Sprint 3G/4G Plug-in-Connect USB Available to Sprint Customers March 11 Available beginning March 11, Sprint...
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Several months ago, AT&T notified customers that it would begin throttling network speeds for users who exceeded a certain threshold, with the definitive throttle point defined as an imprecise "the top 5% of mobile data users." The company has issued a statement clarifying this policy after irate customers with unlimited data plans demanded to know what the cap was and how the company determined who should and shouldn't be throttled. The magic number is 3GB, which conveniently happens to be the maximum amount of tiered bandwidth AT&T will sell you. "Our unlimited plan customers have told us they want more clarity around how the program works and what they can expect," AT&T said. "For...
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For as long as WiFi hotspots have been around, you’d think they would have run their course by now. Instead, they’re shaping up to be the next big thing in mobile wireless. Wireless carriers have been using WiFi deployments to offload data usage from their 3G and 4G networks when customers are in range, and there are plenty of developments emerging to make that process work better with stronger security and less interference to the user experience. The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) announced that its latest effort to that end, Next Generation Hotspots (NGH), has enjoyed successful trials with carriers including AT&T, BT, China Mobile, DOCOMO InterTouch, NTT DOCOMO, Orange,...
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