The iPhone 3GS has been a huge hit for AT&T, and although they aren't saying how many customers they've stolen from other carriers, AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph De La Vega said they had "hundreds of thousands" of pre-orders.
That puts a lot of pressure on AT&T's network (which we reviewed recently), but the carrier is ready for it, AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said. They're doing three major things to improve their coverage and speeds, one of which will have a huge positive effect on coverage in cities like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
That major upgrade is known as "3G on 850 Mhz." In busy cities, some dropped calls and signal problems come because the 1900 Mhz airwaves that AT&T mostly uses for 3G are totally saturated - they're trying to cram too many iPhones into too little space.
Across much of the country, though, AT&T also owns big blocks of spectrum in the older 850 band, which was once used for AT&T and its predecessors' older TDMA service. Verizon Wireless is the other big 850 Mhz carrier. AT&T has been refitting their 850 Mhz equipment for 3G. As 3G 850 comes on throughout the rest of this year, the effect will be like going from having 100 people crammed into a conference room, to having the same population in a spacious ballroom.
Looks like someone has designs on Sonos: Yamaha Electronics has unveiled the MusicCAST2 Network Music System, a completely wireless, multi-room music setup that supports Rhapsody streaming, Internet radio, and NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices.
MusicCAST2 consists of the Network Music Commander (MCX-RC100, $500, pictured)--a compact remote control--along with two Network Music Players (MCX-A300, $400, and pre-amp-equipped MCX-P200, $400) that can live anywhere in the house. The system works with up to 32 Music Commanders and Music Players, and can play MP3, WMA, WAV, FLAC, and iTunes AAC files (without DRM). Meanwhile, the MCX-RC100's 3.5-inch, full-color LCD displays zone and source icons, album art, song titles, and other relevant info. There's also a built-in alarm and sleep timer. Yamaha throws in a charging cradle to keep the whole thing ready to go.
The only downside I see immediately compared with Sonos is the lack of 802.11n support--or at least, Yamaha doesn't mention it. That could be a problem in crowded apartment buildings. To sweeten the deal, Yamaha put together a start-up package called MusicCAST2 Zone Pack 2A, which bundles one MCX-RC100 and two MCX-A300s for $1,200 (a $100 savings). Optional accessories let users hook up iPods, Bluetooth devices, and USB thumb drives. All components are available now.
Clearwire quietly launched their Clear WiMax service in Las Vegas today, but their partner Sprint demurred, keeping the two companies' WiMax systems still separate for now.
"We're acting as two different business sellers and retailers, and we have different products and services," Sprint spokeswoman Stephanie Vinge-Walsh said. "4G is on its way, and we're still on our plan."
The Clearwire/Sprint WiMax network lets PCs get online with tested download speeds as high as 8 megabits/sec, faster than some land-based Internet systems. It is not currently available in any handheld devices, but rumors have suggested the Samsung Mondi handheld computer would come out on Sprint's network for several months now.
Currently, Clear is available in Las Vegas, Portland, OR and Atlanta. Sprint's service, Sprint 4G, is available in Baltimore, MD. For months now, both companies have been saying they'll start coordinating operations this summer. Connecting them makes sense, because Sprint's system is actually run by Clearwire; Sprint is just renting it back from them.
Vinge-Walsh said Sprint's delay is related to the carrier's desire to launch some new devices on their 4G network.
Network Monitor v2.0 is a widget that works with Yahoo Widgets, Vista Gadgets, and on the Mac Dashboard (but not on Google Desktop, unfortunately). Run it on any computer on the network to get information directly from the router.
It helps if you use it on a wireless computer; on desktop wired with Ethernet to the router, the widget only provides send/receive data for the network and Internet, but not on the 2.4-GHz (and/or 5-GHz) Wi-Fi connections.
It will also show you what model router you have, what version of that
model you're running, the firmware version installed, and best of all,
a ticking clock of your router's system up-time.
Insulting as it may be to our film-splicing predecessors, the task of manually uploading a video from a camera to a card reader to a computer to YouTube has become an unbearably burdensome process for some folks.
Eye-Fi has taken that excuse right out of their hands with its automatic-upload wireless memory cards. Today Eye-Fi announced that users can now directly upload their videos to Picasa Web Albums, Photobucket, and SmugMug (in addition to YouTube and Flickr). With a choice of five video-sharing sites and more than 20 photo sites, winging over a Mother's Day video greeting to Mom come Sunday is easier than sending flowers, and only a hair more complicated than a phone call.
The 4GB Eye-Fi Share Video card ($79 list) and the 4GB Eye-Fi Explore Video card ($99 list) can both bypass your home computer entirely to upload videos. Whereas the Share works through trusted wireless networks, the Explore can also upload through hotspot access (over 10,000 Wayport locations in the U.S.). The Explore also automatically geotags your videos with location/time information. Both are on sale nationwide.
If you've been unwilling to subscribe to a service that gives you nationwide access to thousands of Wi-Fi hotspots because $22 a month seemed too steep, good news. Boingo Wireless has cut its price in half for laptop users. $9.95 now gets full access at North American locations on Boingo's virtual network (it doesn't run the hotspots, just gives you unfettered access, but it does own hotspots in several airports and on the Washington State Ferry system). Mobile users with a Wi-Fi phone can get a separate plan for $7.95 a month. There's also a global laptop plan for $59, covering 103,000 hotspots.
Boingo partners include AT&T, Wayport, and T-Mobile, so that covers places like Starbucks and McDonalds, as well as with hotels through services like iBahn.
Have you been waiting on pins and needles, afraid the cost of all future equipment with Wi-Fi inside would skyrocket because Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) was suing just about every company that makes such product for patent infringement? Well, stop worrying.
Actually, you probably knew about this suit only if you liked Wi-Fi routers from Buffalo Technology, the only company that was enjoined from selling products in the U.S. for a short term due to the case. Today, Wi-Fi Networking News wrote that the battle between CSIRO and 14 companies including Microsoft, Dell, Fujitsu, Belkin, D-Link, and Toshiba, to name a few, is over. All companies involved have agreed to pay CSIRO a fee.
You, the consumer, will probably never notice. Chances are CSIRO's fees are minuscule and what's more, it'll pump what it gets back into research--on future wireless technology.
Spanish company FON, which spreads Wi-Fi with inexpensive routers that its community members can use to share Internet connections, this week will start selling its new La Fonera 2.0 router in Europe for €49.95 (though it has yet to appear in the FON online store). No idea what it'll cost in the U.S. (or the U.K. where it's delayed), but it should be available here next month according to the FON Blog.
What's the big deal, besides the nice price? FON is loading the router with firmware that supports plug-ins. One of them is based on OpenWRT to provide mesh networking; that's the same software used in the OLPC X1 laptops to make a mesh for the kids.
Mesh nodes together can share one Internet connection, in theory. The router software will work as a printer server, download torrents or files from MegaUpload or RapidShare, and upload video and pictures to YouTube, Facebook, Picasa, and Flickr. That up-and-down traffic happens from a USB storage device plugged directly into the router without requiring a computer at all.
Naturally, it's touted as a "green" feature, since you don't have to leave your PC on all night. It will even support a Webcam, no PC needed. Fonera 2 will work with Internet connections via Ethernet or a 3G USB dongle; it uses 802.11g, not 11n to connect to Wi-Fi devices.
File this one under rumor, although it's been bouncing around the intertubes pretty heavily over the past 24 hours: Barnes & Noble is reportedly working with Sprint, along with an unnamed hardware manufacturer, to build an e-reader device to go after the Amazon Kindle, according to Computerworld.
The report said that discussions are also ongoing with AT&T, but have ended with Verizon Wireless, apparently without a deal for that carrier.
No one--including B&N, Sprint, AT&T, or the guy selling coffee
on the street corner--is commenting on the record so far. But it makes
sense, now that the Kindle has reinvigorated a stagnant e-book market
with its wireless, over-the-air book purchases and streamlined pricing.
(Unrelated note: I almost wrote "streamlined, iTunes-like pricing," but I can't anymore, now that Apple has gone and screwed that up. How depressing.)
Beginning today in Atlanta, AT&T announced that it will offer a variety of ultra-portable netbooks with
built-in AT&T 3G wireless capabilities starting at $49.99 with the purchase of AT&T "Internet at Home and
On the Go" broadband services.
The company said in a statement that it is also offering similar mini laptop promotional
rates with the purchase of AT&T DataConnect plans in eight AT&T
retail locations in the Philadelphia area.
For some inexplicable reason, AT&T is calling the machines "mini laptops." But the lineup, which consists of the Acer Aspire One, Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and Mini 12, and LG Xenia, should put to rest any ideas that they're somehow different than netbooks. Here's a rundown of the pricing, as per the company statement:
The WiMAX technology Clear is rolling out in select cities--OK, it's in Portland, Oregon so far--is nice and all, but it's not like there are many devices with WiMAX built in. Everything on the planet comes with Wi-Fi these days, however. So Clear is planning to sell a device that bridges that gap.
The Clear Spot Personal Hotspot is a $139 device made by CradlePoint and coming in a few months. The 3-by-5 inch device runs on AC or a Li-ion battery so it can go anywhere within the WiMAX coverage area; mobility is the whole point, after all. It allows up to eight Wi-Fi devices to connect, so each device gets on the Internet using the WiMAX as backhaul, as if it had a WiMAX modem of its own. (The Clear Spot must connect to the also portable Clear USB modem, of course.
Ban the wires! They tangle, they dangle, they're just plain irritating. Today at the CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas, Jabra introduced two audio products that help you cut the cords. The Jabra HALO is a sleek black stereo Bluetooth headset for listening to music or answering calls. If your phone supports A2DP stereo Bluetooth, this lightweight (3 ounce) headset is a perfect option. Zirene Power Bass gives your music some extra oomph. When you get a call, your music fades out, and the company's Noise Blackout technology ensures you'll hear each other perfectly. The HALO folds up for easy storage and even has a corded option for devices that don't offer stereo Bluetooth. It will sell for $129.99 in May.
Second, Jabra is introducing the SP200 speakerphone, a simple one-button device that can clip to your car's visor or can be used in the home for conference calling. It promises excellent call quality and uses DSP technology to reduce background noise. The SP200 goes on sale this month for $59.99.
Last August, American Airlines decided to give inflight Wi-Fi a try on 15 domestic aircraft. The trial was successful enough that the airline has announced plans to expand the service, courtesy of Aircell's Gogo Inflight Internet, to 300 planes by this time in 2011. Gogo turns the inside of the cabin into a hotspot in the air.
American's trial was on 15 767-200 plans that flew between JFK in New York City and San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Miami, each day. The plan is to put the Gogo's system--which uses air-to-ground (ATG) towers sprinkled across the U.S. to talk to tiny EV-DO antennas (pictured) on the plane--in 150 McDonnell Douglas MD-80 planes this year, followed by its 150 Boeing 737-800 planes next year. This will effectively cover almost all of American's domestic fleet; the rest travel over water, which won't work with Gogo.
In advance of the CTIA wireless industry trade show today, Ericsson announced a new broadband module for laptop PCs that can automatically disable a PC when it receives "poison pill" SMS text messages, even while the PC is off.
The Ericsson F3607gw module, available this June, has "wake-on-wireless" capability. That could allow an IT administrator to "send an SMS poison pill to kill and brick a PC," said Jan Backman, Ericsson's director of marketing for mobile broadband modules.
Fortunately, it'll be difficult to send the SMS Of Doom. The system Ericsson is looking at would require three text messages, sent in a particular sequence, containing a machine-specific code, Backman said.
T-Mobile jumped on the 3G USB modem stick bandwagon today with the webConnect USB Laptop Stick. The Huawei Technologies-designed device runs $49.99 with a two year contract, $99.99 with a one-year contract, and $249.99 alone. The stick also has a built-in microSD slot for added storage.
The 3G service will run you $59.99 for up to 5GB of data. Beyond that, you'll be charged $0.20 per MB. WiFi data transfer is free. The card's Connection Manager software will alert users when there is an available WiFi network to switch over to.
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