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Who will offer fastest wireless Internet?

March 23rd, 2010, 4:32 pm by

It’s a big week for mobile Internet, as nearly every wireless company is at the CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas and unveiling plans for cell phone customers in the U.S. But is there anything we should really care about?

More people are moving to smartphones and rely on cellular-based wireless for Internet. The mobile Web needs to speed up, big time.

Currently 3rd-generation (3G) Internet speeds are around 1 megabit per second. The coming 4G technology promises much faster service.  Sprint and T-Mobile announced their upgrades today. Verizon’s is coming tomorrow.

If you’re trying to sort out what mobile service is in your future, here’s what it comes down to:

► T-Mobile: Announced “Rollout the Nation’s Fastest 3G Wireless Network.”
Speeds: Using a technology called HSPA+, T-Mobile  says its mobile Internet will jump to speeds of 21 megabits per second. The announcement Tuesday included a “coming soon” for Los Angeles (and Orange County) users.
Reality: 21 mbps is a theoretical speed. As with every wireless Internet, speed will vary based on “location, device, and overall traffic on the local wireless network,” which T-Mobile does note. How slow? One reviewer seemed impressed when he squeezed 3 mbps out of T-Mobile’s service. Users also must upgrade to a HSPA device (here’s a list) and, ultimately, this is 3G and not 4G technology. However, it’s one of the fastest wireless technologies available today and should be everywhere by end of year.

► Sprint: Expanded its limited 4G wireless Internet to more areas, including North Orange County later this year.
Speeds: Using 4G Wimax technology, Sprint says its mobile Internet is 3 to 6 mbps, which is “up to 10 times faster” than today’s existing 3G speeds of around 600 kilobits per second, says Sprint.
Reality: The same reviewer who tested T-Mobile’s HSPA+ discovered Sprint’s 4G speed was slower, at 2.25 mbps. Other 4G user forums mention how it’s slower than 3G. But there are no caps on usage, and it’s the only 4G service publicly available.

► Verizon: Still waiting to hear Verizon’s update, which is coming Wednesday.
Speeds: Its mobile Internet service using Long Term Evolution technology (LTE) is on track for this year. Peak download of 40 to 50 mbps; upload speed of 20 to 25 mbps.
Reality: Since speed is reliant on environment and other users, Verizon says the average download speed is more like 5 to 12 mbps, while upload speed is 2 to 5 mbps.

► AT&T: Appears to be concentrating on other news this week and announced connected digital photo frames and GPS-enabled dog collars. The company, which is sticking with HSPA for now until it moves to LTE, did express disbelief as to whether LTE is ready for prime time.

More CTIA news:

  • Verizon Wireless smartphone customers can add Skype beginning Thursday. Calls to other Skype users won’t affect available minutes. Read details
  • First Android phone with 4G and 3G service coming from Sprint this summer. The HTC Evo even has its own site: www.sprint.com/evo.  Read details
  • T-Mobile announces first netbook. Read details

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • • • • • • • • | 5 Comments »

Sprint takes lead to get 4G wireless Internet to O.C.

March 23rd, 2010, 8:46 am by

In the race to get faster wireless Internet to Orange County, Sprint took the lead Tuesday by naming our area as one of seven new markets it plans to launch service by the end of the year.

By the end of 2010, Sprint plans to offer 4th-generation wireless service in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Miami, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City and St. Louis. It previously announced that service would also begin this year in Boston, Denver, Kansas City, Houston, Minneapolis, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Specifically, Sprint tells me that 4G service will cover most of North Orange County and down to Irvine. At least that’s the plan through the end of 2010.

But that’s the 4G race report as of Tuesday, 8:22 a.m. The other prime contender is Verizon, which plans to launch its own version of 4G wireless Internet this year. The company hasn’t named Orange County as a target for its Long Term Evolution (LTE) service but last week said that it’s on track to launch 4G in up to 30 unnamed markets. We may hear more from Verizon, being that this week happens to be the CTIA Show, the annual wireless convention in Las Vegas.

Back to Sprint’s big news, the company is indeed the first in the U.S. to offer a fourth-generation of wireless Internet and phone service. Teaming up with Clearwire, Sprint launched its 4G service in September 2008 and it’s currently available in 25 cities nationwide.

Using a technology called Wimax, Sprint says that its wireless speeds are 3 to 6 megabits per second, which is “up to 10 times faster” than today’s existing 3G speeds of around 600 kilobits per second.

What’s the big deal? 4G service allows your phone, laptop or other portable 4G device to stream HD movies, download large files and create a home wireless Internet so you can skip slower DSL, according to Sprint.  Sprint set up a 4G site with more information for customers here: sprint.com/4G

More from the web:

Mobile Broadband: You’re Gonna Pay for the Convenience (GigaOm)

Previous 4G news:

Posted in: Cell phones • Internet • • • • • | 12 Comments »

Verizon Wireless’ 50 Mbps mobile network coming this year

March 19th, 2010, 11:24 am by

With next week’s CTIA Wireless show, there will be plenty of news about what our next cell phone will look like and achieve.

Verizon Wireless wanted to get ahead of the crowd and confirmed today that it is on track to build a 4G wireless network this year. Peak speeds are at 40 to 50 megabits per second download and 20 to 25 mbps upload. These must be ideal results from a lab since Verizon adds that in reality, the service will have average data rates of 5 to 12 mbps down, and 2 to 5 mbps up.

The 50 mbps would get consumers to fiber-optic Internet speeds available from Verizon FiOS and some cable companies outside of Orange County. The more realistic 5 to 12 mbps is akin to today’s DSL and cable Internet speeds. The 3G mobile wireless speeds that many cell phone companies tout today are in the barely 1 mbps range.

Verizon’s expected 4G launch? “Later this year,” said the company.

And where? “Up to 30 markets in 2010.”

And how much? Nothing determined yet, but according to BroadbandReports.com, Verizon is asking people for their input.

With that sort of launch, Orange County has got to be among one of the 30 markets since we often get grouped with Los Angeles. Don’t you think?

Fourth-generation wireless is split between two methods. There is Long Term Evolution, or LTE, which is the 4G of choice for Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. The other 4G is WiMax, backed by Sprint, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and many cable companies just now entering the mobile data market. Corrected, 3/20/10: Cox is going with LTE (thanks L).

If Verizon is able to get something started this year, it will be the first in the nation to offer this type of 4G service.

Faster wireless has been expected after Verizon acquired a huge chunk of wireless spectrum two years ago. Remember that? The U.S. government put local TV broadcast signals into a reserve for police, emergency and other public safety communication and auctioned off the excess spectrum to Verizon and AT&T for $16 billion in March 2008. One big result was last year’s digital TV transition, which forced TV channels to broadcast digital signals only.

Verizon added that it expects full nationwide 4G coverage by 2013.

Related:

Posted in: Cell phones • Internet • • • • • | 7 Comments »

Cox picks Orange County to launch mobile phone service

December 8th, 2009, 12:00 pm by

Cox Cable picks Orange County to launch mobile serviceIf you hate your cell phone service, a new player is coming to Orange County: Cox Cable.

The cable TV provider has been working on wireless service for a while but today it announced that Orange County residents will be one of the first three areas nationwide to get the service.

Very few details are available. Because of competitive reasons, Cox said it is unable to reveal pricing, launch date or types of phones that will be offered. While some local customers are getting the chance to play with mobile service as part of a test group, the full service will launch in 2010 to residents. Cox plans to offer the service to business users in the future.

“Right now, if Cox customers in Orange County are interested in Cox Wireless service they shouldn’t renew their wireless contract because it won’t be long before Cox introduces a better wireless experience in Orange County,” said Lana Ong, a spokesperson with Cox in Orange County.

Previously, the company said it plans to use Sprint’s mobile network to launch the first products. The company is also working on its own 3G wireless and 4G wireless networks. For the next generation of mobile service, or 4G, Cox has joined the Long Term Evolution crowd, which is also the technology of choice for AT&T and Verizon Wireless. See last year’s story on this, at “Cox Cable adding… mobile phone service?” Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Cell phones • Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • • | 34 Comments »

More 4G momentum: Verizon tests service across country

August 14th, 2009, 3:03 pm by

4G mobile Internet Noted: The folks at Verizon successfully tested 4G data calls between Boston and Seattle. The Verizon Tweeters couldn’t keep quiet about it either, as noted by DSLReports.

Verizon is rolling out its faster 4G Internet service for mobile phones using Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology. Rival Sprint is also making 4G news using Wimax technology. It recently added more cities to its 2009 roll out, but excluded everyone in California. 

Side note: Verizon says it will launch 4G service next year in 30 markets, with the whole nation covered by 2013. I’ll cross my fingers that Orange County is among the first batch. 

From the web: 

More 4G coverage on Gadgetress:

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • | 1 Comment »

Orange County left out of Sprint’s 4G wireless service again

August 11th, 2009, 3:42 pm by

4G mobile Internet Sprint just added 17 cities to its list of those that will get 4G wireless service this year and Orange County, Los Angeles, San Diego and all California cities are nowhere to be found. The 4G service, which launched in Baltimore last year, offers wireless data service of speeds above 2 to 4 megabits per second. Most 3G wireless services are in the 1 Mbps range.

The newly announced Sprint 4G markets are Texas heavy but do include two West Coast spots in Oregon.

Those cities are Abilene, Texas; Amarillo, Texas; Austin, Texas; Boise, Idaho; Bellingham, Wash.; Charlotte, N.C.; Corpus Christi, Texas; Greensboro, N.C.; Killeen-Temple, Texas; Lubbock, Texas; Maui, Hawaii; Midland-Odessa, Texas; Raleigh, N.C.; Salem, Ore.; San Antonio, Texas; Waco, Texas; and Wichita Falls, Texas.

Sprint is prepping the Atlanta, Las Vegas and Portland regions for their 4G debut this month. Also expected this year:  Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth,  Honolulu, Philadelphia and Seattle. 

There’s a little more hope for us next year. Sprint plans to launch 4G service in 2010 in Boston, Houston, New York, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. While SF is not Southern California, at least it’s in state. Why leave out the Los Angeles/O.C. area? Maybe Sprint knows something Verizon won’t tell us? Verizon, by the way, is turning on its 4G service this year, including in an unnamed location on the West Coast (Verizon, by the way, won’t budge on telling me where this is).

Earlier stories on 4G service:

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • | 5 Comments »

Faster wireless coming to O.C., L.A. in … 2011?

March 25th, 2009, 1:49 pm by

The future of cellular Internet launched in Baltimore last September when Sprint became the first to get its so-called 4G technology off the ground (See last September’s report “When is Sprint’s 4G Internet coming to O.C.?.”)

But today’s list from Sprint of future 4G cities leaves out the Los Angeles area (OK, let’s face it, L.A. trumps Orange County when it comes to our area’s national identity).

Sprint’s 4G service uses WiMax technology, so users can roam a large area and still be connected to a fast Internet connection. Sprint’s XOHM  service, with download speeds of up to 12 Mbps, is expected to launch this year (2009) in these cities:

  • Atlanta
  • Charlotte
  • Chicago
  • Dallas
  • Fort Worth
  • Honolulu
  • Las Vegas
  • Philadelphia
  • Portland
  • Seattle

And then in these cities in 2010:

  • Boston
  • Houston
  • New York
  • San Francisco
  • Washington, D.C.

What are we? A land of luddites? I guess there’s always the possibility that O.C. will sneak in before the end of 2010 but I haven’t heard back from the company explaining the Southern California snub. So let’s hope that we’re on the list for at list a 2011 launch!

For historical purposes, Sprint was kinder to O.C. for its 3G Internet launch. That service came to the county in December 2006 (see “Sprint launches next-gen Internet“), which was just over a year from the initial launch in San Diego. 

Perhaps competitor Verizon Wireless will take note and launch its 4G service in O.C. sooner! Verizon won’t confirm if O.C. is one of the 25 to 30 cities on the list for a 2010 launch (see the earlier “Forget 3G, Verizon Wireless to offer faster 4G service in 2010“).

Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local cell phone services. Recent headlines:

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • • • • • | 1 Comment »

Forget 3G, Verizon Wireless to offer faster 4G service in 2010

February 18th, 2009, 12:39 pm by

We knew 4G was coming but when? Next year, Verizon Wireless announced today at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, Spain.

The fourth-generation of faster Internet service for cell phones will turn smartphones into powerful Internet machines, with speeds that rival broadband for the home computer. Early tests of Verizon’s technology are hitting 50 to 60 Mbps (!!) Internet speeds. 

Think of it as Wi-Fi everywhere.

That’s faster than pretty much any Internet service consumers can order for home today. Verizon does add that the actual speeds in the U.S. have not been determined. 

But where will the service launch in the U.S.? No details have been released. PC World is reporting that Verizon’s 4G service will launch in 2 cities this year and 25 to 30 next year. I checked with the local Verizon spokesman and doesn’t know yet whether O.C. will be a lucky 2010 recipient.

“We don’t have those details at this point (at least I don’t) but I know we want to roll it out on an aggressive schedule,” said Ken Muche, with Verizon Wireless.

Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens Networks will help Verizon launch its 4G service, a technology called Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks. This is the 4G service of choice for AT&T and Cox Communications. A competing 4G standard is WiMax, backed by Sprint. Sprint launched its service in Baltimore in September with Internet data speeds of 2 to 4 Mbps.

The promise of LTE? Better signal indoors, better quality video, coverage in rural areas, coverage worldwide and ability to connect o consumer electronics, says Verizon.

Verizon’s 4G service has already started appearing in some parts of the United States. Verizon has been testing LTE in Minneapolis, Northern New Jersey and Columbus, Ohio. (In Europe, LTE is being tested in Budapest, Düsseldorf, and Madrid in Europe.) 

And remember the ongoing digital TV transition that has TV stations giving up analog signals in favor of digital? Some of those analog airwaves, which use the 700 MHz spectrum, will be used by Verizon to deploy its 4G service. Verizon will expand its trials this summer after all TV stations switch to digital on June 12.

From the web:

Related on Gadgetress:

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • | 3 Comments »

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