Items tagged with LTE
It appears that Huawei, along with China Mobile, have taken away my last excuse for not climbing the world's highest peak, Mount Everest. Has my gym membership, equipment and flight been covered? Nope. But the phone coverage has been! As a slightly beefy tech geek Canadian that happens to hate the cold, I kid about even considering the adventure. To those who do tackle it head-on, though, there will be LTE wireless waiting for you at the top. Just imagine the possibilities... streaming Netflix, ordering a pizza, and of course, having a go at some chat roulette. Obviously, I'm making light of a great accomplishment here, because Mount Everest is no joke. The fact of the matter is, ascending...
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We haven’t learned many specifics yet about the upcoming Motorola Moto X smartphone other than the fact that handsets sold in the U.S. will be manufactured in Texas and that some aspects (likely the back plate color and maybe some text engraving, and hopefully some specs options) of the device will be customizable, but a leaked photo indicated that Rogers will have an exclusive on the Moto X in Canada. Further, the phone will run on Roger’s LTE Max network and be available in Q3. The Rogers version, at least, will reportedly run Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) and feature a 4.7-inch full HD display, NVIDIA Tegra 4i chip, and 16MP/5MP rear- and front-facing cameras. Mysterious Moto handset...
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It wasn't just lip service when T-Mobile re-branded itself as the "Un-carrier," the wireless outfit is making an honest-to-goodness effort to get on par with and perhaps one day surpass the competition. For that happen, fleshing out its 4G LTE network is paramount, and T-Mobile is working on doing just that. In fact, T-Mobile just spent $308 million in cash acquiring 10MHz of Advanced Wireless Spectrum (AWS) from U.S. Cellular. The acquired spectrum covers a total of 32 million people in 29 markets in the Mississippi Valley region, including St. Louis, Nashville, Kansas City, Memphis, Lexington, Little Rock-North Little Rock, Birmingham, New Orleans, and Louisville. T-Mobile says the additional...
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When it comes to wireless Internet, fast enough never truly is. And while it took a good amount of time to graduate from 3G to 4G, the next leap may happen sooner than any of us expected. SK Telecom has this week launched the world's first commercial LTE-Advance network, and Samsung has launched a new Galaxy S4 smartphone to fully take advantage of the speed. Just a couple of years after LTE was launched, LTE-A promises speeds of up to 150 Mbps, which is two times faster than that of LTE, and 10 times faster than 3G network. For instance, LTE-A users can download an 800MB movie in just 43 seconds. With the commercialization of LTE-A, the company expects to further improve customer satisfaction...
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Rural broadband is becoming a serious issue, and it's not just the government taking notice. Private for-profit companies are as well, with Dish Network and nTelos being the latest two. Following last month's announcement of their intent to co-develop a fixed wireless broadband service, Dish and nTelos have now deployed broadband service in rural Virginia using wireless spectrum in the 2.5 GHz range. Broadband service speeds at the initial test sites are ranging from 20 Mbps to more than 50 Mbps. As part of the demonstration, nTelos and DISH have activated two wireless tower test sites in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Waynesboro and Afton, Va. Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent have provided equipment...
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T-Mobile + MetroPCS. That's a thing now, remember? And it seems that the former is well ahead of schedule when it comes to integrating networks with the latter. A release shot out this week from T-Mobile makes clear that just six weeks after the combination was locked down, it's already working to migrate MetroPCS customers onto T-Mobile's HSPA+ and LTE networks. The good news? It's moving "ahead of schedule." This means that T-Mobile users will have access to an LTE network in the near future. The company is making HSPA+ and LTE compatible devices available to MetroPCS customers as well as allowing them to bring their own unlocked compatible HSPA+ or LTE phone, providing them the opportunity...
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These days, being an LTE modem just isn't enough. Obviously, any LTE modem worth its salt needs an LCD screen, too. Such is the life of AT&T's Beam, a Sierra Wireless-sourced LTE modem that plugs into a laptop's USB port and shots vital signs on the embedded display. Beginning May 10th, customers can pick-up the AT&T Beam from AT&T stores and online for $19.99 with a two-year commitment. The AT&T Beam is a USB modem with an on-device LCD screen, giving customers access to helpful information - such as network indicator, signal strength, and data usage - with just a glance. The AT&T Beam includes an expandable memory slot that supports microSD cards up to 32 GB in size, too....
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Nvidia announced today that Phil Carmack, the head of Tegra development since the project's inception, has left Team Green to take a position as CEO "of one of our [Nvidia's] partner companies." He'll be succeeded by Deepu Talla. Talla joined Nvidia earlier this year, after more than a decade at Texas Instruments, as general manager of its OMAP product line. TI effectively pulled the plug on OMAP last year and has been winding down the business unit. OMAP 5 products exist, technically, but none have shipped and no handhelds are currently expected to come to market. Talla's greatest challenge will be continuing the strong momentum of Tegra 2 and Tegra 3. Earlier this year, Nvidia was rumored to...
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As carrier networks gravitate more and more towards data (and less towards pure voice services), Sprint has announced a bolstering that'll position it to serve its future customers -- folks who will no doubt be clamoring for plenty of IP-based information. The operator this week launched Sprint Data Link and Static IP networking services over the Sprint 4G LTE network. Both products are compatible with 3G as well as 4G, and include upgrades that make it easier for businesses and government agencies to deploy, manage and extend an enterprise network to modems, tablets and handsets. Sprint Data Link enables business networks to reach beyond the limits of a corporate enterprise WAN. Sprint Data...
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Samsung has done an exceptional job the past few years building interest and recognition for their Galaxy-branded smartphones. The fervor isn’t quite on the level of Apple's iPhone launches, but if the attendance of their “Samsung Unpacked” event at Radio City Music Hall and the buzz on-line for today’s introduction is any indicator, Samsung has tapped into something big and earned a cult following, very much like Apple has over the years. And the sales figures back this up, of course, all of which show Samsung dominating the Android-based smartphone market. When a company is clearly on top, people tend to scrutinize every move a little (or lot) more closely, depending...
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Samsung has done an exceptional job the past few years building interest and recognition for their Galaxy-branded smartphones. The fervor isn’t quite on the level of Apple's iPhone launches, but if the attendance of their “Samsung Unpacked” event at Radio City Music Hall and the buzz on-line for today’s introduction is any indicator, Samsung has tapped into something big and earned a cult following, very much like Apple has over the years. And the sales figures back this up, of course, all of which show Samsung dominating the Android-based smartphone market. When a company is clearly on top, people tend to scrutinize every move a little (or lot) more closely, depending...
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Sprint lost a lot (a lot!) of time in the 4G war by selecting WiMAX while everyone else waited for LTE to become the de facto choice of carriers. Now, the carrier's trying to right the ship, and it's slowly but surely introducing a swath of new LTE markets. This week, it introduced one of its largest chunks to date, as it looks to drop LTE coverage over 21 new markets. Sprint's network holes have become glaringly obvious of late, and it's clearly on a lower level (along with T-Mobile) in the coverage game. Adding LTE, however, could help the customer bleeding that has been happening in recent quarters. The new LTE markets include Los Angeles, Contra Costa County, Calif., Charlotte, N.C., Norfolk,...
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Most people assume that a smaller version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 will be coming along shortly, but until now all we’ve really had to go on is some leaked photos and specs and the rumor mill. However, Techtastic spotted a tell-tale snippet of user agent code on Samsung’s website that further points to the Galaxy S4 Mini becoming a Real Thing. All it is, really, is this: “GT-I9190". That’s just a model number, but it certainly appears to be the successor of the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini, which is “GT-I8190”. The code also appears to confirm that the device’s screen resolution will be 960x540. The site reports that it discovered another model number, the...
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Plans, plans, plans. You know how they go. Years back, AT&T mentioned (and re-mentioned, and re-mentioned) that shared data plans were in the cards, but it took an eternity to see that come to fruition. Now, a similar tale is playing out in regard to HD Voice. Way back in 2011, AT&T confirmed that it was pondering the addition of HD Voice (along the lines of Voice over LTE), and now that T-Mobile and Sprint are actually offering it, the carrier suddenly feels the pressure to double-back on those plans and re-state them for those who have shorter memories. AT&T senior VP Kris Rinne has once again confirmed that HD Voice is on the carrier's roadmap, stating: "HD Voice is part of our...
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Windows 8 with LTE? Yep, that's a thing. AT&T and Samsung have just announced the launch of the ATIV Smart PC Pro as well as the Series 9 Premium Ultrabook, both featuring built-in AT&T LTE support. Each is shipping now, with the Series 9 Premium Ultrabook boasting Windows 8, a 1920x1080 Full HD display (13") and an sleek Ultrabook frame, while the ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T has an 11.6" panel. The ATIV Smart PC Pro comes with a detachable keyboard, 10-point touch capability and the Samsung proprietary S Pen, while the Ultrabook arrives with a Core i5 CPU, 4GB of RAM and up to 8 hours of battery life. As for pricing? The Smart PC Pro will sell for $1600, while the Ultrabook goes for $1900....
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T-Mobile is working on an LTE network, and although the carrier isn’t announcing its first launch cities yet, users of the OpenSignal app have deduced that T-Mobile is testing its network in nine U.S. cities: Seattle, Denver, Las Vegas, New Orleans, New York, San Diego, Kansas City, and San Jose/the Bay Area. (You can split hairs about whether San Jose and “the Bay Area” are different cities or not.) OpenSignal reports that the network is delivering average download and upload speeds (not peak speeds, mind you) of 25Mbps and 8Mbps, respectively, with an average latency of 40ms. The group has found that a limited number of devices are being used on the network, but they include...
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According to research conducted by RootMetrics, AT&T has the fastest pure LTE speed of any of the major carriers, clocking in average download and upload speeds of 18.6Mbps and 9.0Mbps. Number two Verizon delivered 14.3Mbps and 8.5Mbps, respectively, with Sprint a distant third at 10.3Mbps and 4.4Mbps. T-Mobile doesn’t offer 4G, but its non-LTE speeds are the best of the group at 7.3Mbps down and 1.5Mbps up; AT&T is a strong second in that category, actually, with 4.3Mbps and 1.1Mbps. A few of AT&T's 4G devices Verizon has been the frontrunner in terms of rolling out 4G LTE networks, which it has done at a blistering pace. For instance, RootMetrics found Verizon’s LTE...
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If there's one industry that could stand to be disrupted, it's probably the pay-TV industry, but if there's another, it's the home broadband industry. Not surprisingly, these two are often joined at the hip, offered in "bundles" by the same ISP. FreedomPop has set out to rearrange the equation, and the latest from the company is a pretty big promise: "free home broadband." This week, the company announced the public availability of its new Burst home router device, offering 100 percent free high-speed Internet in the home or small office. FreedomPop's new home broadband device provides speeds faster than typical DSL and comparable with most major cable providers. The Burst wireless modem router...
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10 million is certainly no small number, and selling 10 million of anything is no small feat. And that's what LG is celebrating this weekend. Shortly after Mobile World Congress concluded, LG announced that it surpassed the 10 million mark in terms of sales with regard to its LTE smartphone lineup. For a technology that's only been on the consumer market for a couple of years, that's a pretty impressive statistics. Last year, LG launched popular LTE smartphones in significant markets such as the United States, Japan, Germany and South Korea. In recent weeks, the company began a global rollout of its LG Optimus G in an additional 50 countries. According to Strategic Analytics, global shipments...
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NVIDIA has not been shy about claiming that its new Tegra 4 processor is the mobile chip to beat, and indeed, looking at the numbers, it’s hard to disagree. At least one person takes issue with that claim, however, and he happens to be the Senior VP of Product Management (Raj Talluri) for NVIDIA competitor Qualcomm, maker of the Snapdragon series of mobile processors. ZTE Grand Memo 2, packing the Snapdragon 800 According to The Verge, Talluri claims that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 can easily defeat the Tegra 4. The chip, he noted, has some impressive highlights, including having an LTE modem on-die and the ability to handle Ultra HD content, and the rest of the specs are no less impressive;...
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It's a subtle movement, but an important one. Americans are slowly but surely growing tired of the same 'ole politics involving conventional two-year mobile contracts. New flagship phones are hitting the market every six months, but users have to wait 24 months for a discount. And, of course, getting out early results in major sticker shock. Hence, the rebooting of the prepaid / off-contract franchise. What was once small business is now raking in far more customers, and all the while, both the handsets and technologies are improving. Boost Mobile has been offering no-contract wireless to U.S. residents for years now, and Virgin Mobile much the same. Now, the two are taking a major leap forward...
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Since NVIDIA announced its Tegra 4i chip with LTE integration at CES, we haven’t heard a whole lot of Tegra 4 news, but that’s changing; ZTE announced that it’s partnering with NVIDIA to release Tegra 4-based “super phones” in China, with models hitting the market by the middle of the year. ZTE says that the Tegra 4 chip will be a quad-core ARM Cortex A15 processor and offer 72 custom NVIDIA GeForce cores; certain models will also include the optional NVIDIA i500 modem which will enable worldwide 4G LTE voice and data support and fast networking, and ZTE is planning a phone based on the i500 LTE chipset, as well. ZTE Grand Era with Tegra 3 "We’re proud to continue...
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