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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 »

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 »

Best wireless call quality locally? No big surprise here

February 19th, 2010, 12:48 pm by

Verizon Wireless dominated every region for tops in wireless call quality, according to the latest J.D. Power and Associates study. That’s not too much of a surprise based on reader comments, my personal experience and other reports.

Only in “North Central” America, which includes Illinois and Ohio, Verizon came in second to U.S. Cellular.

Here in “The West,” which includes Orange County, Verizon Wireless was a notch above T-Mobile and Sprint. AT&T came in last. See chart on right.

The study, based on responses from 24,345 wireless users, measured dropped calls, interference, failed calls, and delayed notification of voicemail and text messages. The study looked at problems per 100 calls.

Verizon, which has a local headquarters in Irvine, has been upgrading and adding new cell sites in Orange County. But so has AT&T. But AT&T users, especially iPhone owners, haven’t been quiet about their discontent with AT&T’s service.

Still, the report notes that call quality performance overall has declined in the past six months as more consumers switch to smartphones. The reason? The volume of new subscribers using wireless networks because they can now go online anytime has taxed existing technology.

“…It is crucial for wireless carriers to enhance existing network speed and capacity, as well as to develop and upgrade to next-generation technologies,” said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates, in a statement.

For example, 13 out of every 100 calls had quality issues, compared to 11 out of every 100 six months ago. Some big reasons: The number of dropped calls has increased to 6 for every 100 calls, from 4 dropped calls six months ago. Interestingly, the report says that smartphone customers are three times more likely to experience dropped calls than other mobile users.

Read the report HERE.

Recent Verizon Wireless news:

Posted in: Cell phones • • • | 6 Comments »

Verizon teams with Skype for cheap-to-free mobile calls

February 16th, 2010, 10:06 am by

Any convert to Skype knows that the free Internet phone service can help shave the monthly phone bill, especially for international calls. Now Verizon is making Skype available to certain smartphones so its customers can use the free-ish calling service to make calls nationwide and around the globe.

The Voice-over-Internet-Protocol service begins in March and is limited to Verizon customers with data plans and one of nine smart phones. Those phones are the BlackBerry Storm 9530, Storm2 9550, Curve 8330, Curve 8530, 8830 World Edition and Tour 9630 smartphones, the DROID by Motorola, DROID ERIS by HTC and the Motorola DEVOUR.

Verizon customers can sign up to be notified when the service is ready at verizonwireless.com/skypemobile or at Skype’s site, skype.com/mobile/reminder.

For the unfamiliar, Skype is often used to make phone calls on a computer. Anyone can download the free software and begin making calls for free to other Skype users. To call a regular non-Skype number, users can subscribe to Skype Out — $2.95/month for unlimited calls in U.S., prices vary for international calls. Skype is also handy for video chats and instant messaging.

Skype on a cell phone does expand the possibilities of saving money. You finally may be able to get rid of the home telephone. Or even go with a lower cell phone plan since Skype minutes don’t use up mobile minutes. However, Skype Mobile users must subscribe to a Verizon data plan, which could add another $30 or more a month.

Verizon isn’t the only one offering VoIP, points out AT&T. While the company’s iPhone had a little spat with Skype and other VoIP providers last year, AT&T says that several months ago, it told Apple it had no objection to its approval of a VoIP app on the iPhone. In fact, AT&T says it doesn’t prohibit or block VoIP calls on its 2G, 3G or Wi-Fi networks. The Skype iPhone app is available HERE.

Skype is also available for phones with the Symbian operating system, the Sony Playstation Portable and a handful of Nokia phones. Skype Lite, with fewer features, is also available for several Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson phones.

More on cell phone services:

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

Verizon adds paperless coupons for phone, FiOS TV users

February 3rd, 2010, 5:04 pm by

Cellfire coupons on a mobile phoneNoted: Coupons are a pain to remember to use but they do tend to save some money. Today, Verizon teamed up with Cellfire to make using coupons easier for customers with wireless or FiOS TV service. Those customers can sign up at vzspendsmart.com.

Of course, anyone can sign up for the same deals at Cellfire.com. There are two options for redeeming coupons: Pick out deals online and add them to your grocery store loyalty/club card. Or keep the whole process digital and just show the clerk the image on your phone. Unfortunately, the latter isn’t available for most offers here in Orange County. Participants seem to be only grocery stores and Sears.

Verizon doesn’t say whether its customers will get any extra special deals. And it looks like the answer is no. More on the FiOS TV widget HERE.

Fry's coupons from CellfireScanning the site, I noticed Fry’s had coupons! I haven’t been to the electronics store in a long time and didn’t realize it even offered coupons.

The only deal? Just $0.50 off Progresso Soup. Soup? Then I realized, this isn’t Fry’s Electronics. Rather, it was some grocery store named Fry’s Food with a very, very similar logo:

frysvfrys

>>This just in from reader Mike in Yorba Linda (updated 5:41 p.m.): Fry’s Electronics was started by the sons of the Fry’s Grocery store founder, using some of daddy’s money. Hence the similarity. I often go to Arizona, where Fry’s Grocery Stores are common. The signage is nearly identical. As a tech geek, I was somewhat disappointed the first time I went in one. See the link for more info. (Thanks Mike for doing the reporting I didn’t feel like doing.)

Want some real deals? Check out the Register’s Deals blog at ocregister.com/ocdeals. Recent finds:

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • • • • • • | Comments Off

Free calls to Haiti, where to watch benefit concert

January 22nd, 2010, 5:13 pm by

Hope for Haiti NowWith all the rain in Orange County this week, it’s hard to believe that the devastating earthquake in Haiti was just last week.  Donations continued to pour in this week via text messages, plus there’s tonight’s “Hope for Haiti Now” benefit concert for the country.

Here’s a round up of what local TV and wireless services are doing:

Cox Communications: Waiving fees on international long-distance calls to Haiti (country code 509) through Feb. 28. This is retroactive to Jan. 12. The Cox Foundation also donated $250,000 to relief efforts. See press release.

Time Warner Cable: Waiving fees on international long-distance calls to Haiti through end of February, retroactive to Jan. 12. This applies only to direct-dial calls and not calls made through an operator. See press release.

AT&T: Waived fees on calls to Haiti numbers. Also letting customers watch  tonight’s “Hope for Haiti Now” telethon on their phones, U-verse TV or web. To watch on a phone, go to AT&T Mobile TV on MTV’s MediaFlo channel. U-verse subscribers can tune in to the major networks and MTV for the performance. Online, the event will be streamed at entertainment.att.net. Wireless customers can also donate $10 to Red Cross International Relief Fund by texting the word “HAITI” to 90999.

Sprint: Waiving texting fees to Haiti through Jan. 31. Customers donated $3.1 million to the effort, as of Jan. 19, by texting “HAITI” to 90999.

T-Mobile: Waiving international long-distance fees through Jan. 31 and dropping fee to text “HAITI” at 90999 to donate $10. Customers donated $3 million, as of Jan. 19. T-Mobile and its parent company have  also donated $250,000 to the effort.

Verizon: Waiving international long-distance calling fees plus offering a live broadcast of the relief concert to mobile users who have access to VCAST Video on their phones. See press release. Verizon users can also text the word “HAITI” to 90999. So far, the company has collected $4.84 million in text donations. Verizon also has a page dedicated to the Haiti relief effort with information on several organizations accepting donations. Click HERE.

Tonight’s benefit concert includes singers Madonna, Jay-Z, George Clooney and Haiti native Wyclef Jean. It airs at 8 p.m. tonight on the following channels:

ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1, CMT, PBS, TNT, Showtime, Comedy Central, Bravo, E! Entertainment, National Geographic Channel, Oxygen, G4, CENTRIC, Current TV, Fuse, MLB Network, EPIX, Palladia, SoapNet, Style, Discovery Health, Planet Green, CNN en Español, HBO Latino and Canadian networks, including CBC Television, CTV, Global Television and MuchMusic.

Posted in: news • • • • • • • • • • • | Comments Off

Latest trend in mobile phone service: Unlimited plans

January 18th, 2010, 8:59 am by

mobilephoneNew unlimited wireless plans begin today from the nation’s largest mobile providers: Verizon Wireless and AT&T.

Instead of the usual “unlimited” calling to people on the same network, these two companies will now offer unlimited calls to any phone number nationwide.

Rivals T-Mobile and Sprint already offer something similar. Sprint began offering “Any Mobile Anytime” in September allowing subscribers to the plan to call any number outside the Sprint network, as long as it was a mobile phone. T-Mobile unveiled a more complete version of unlimited plans last year.

Mobile phone services have evolved greatly in the past few years. From T-Mobile launching its “Fave 5″ — allowing users to call any five numbers as much as they want — to allowing customers to call any number any time. The mobile carriers are being forced to evolve due to competition from prepaid companies like MetroPCS and Boost Mobile and upcoming competition from cable TV companies like Cox.

It looks like consumers can look forward to the end of overage fees and minute counting.

But how much are they? And what’s the catch? Most still require a two-year contract and, of course, the price is much higher than it used to be. I’ve compiled a chart of the big four mobile services so it’s easier to see how much everything costs.

Unlimited plans Verizon AT&T T-Mobile Sprint
Talk $69.99 $69.99 $59.99
Talk/Text $89.99 $89.99 $69.99
Family Talk (2 lines) $119.99 $119.99 $99.99
Family Talk/Text (2 lines) $149.99 $149.99 $119.99
3G smartphone voice/data $99.99 $99.99 $89.99
3G smartphone voice/data/text $119.99 $119.99 $99.99 $99.99*
Family smartphone voice/data (2 lines) $179.99 $159.99
Family smartphone voice/data/text (2 lines) $209.99 $179.99 $189.99*

*Sprint’s plan includes unlimited calls to mobile numbers only, not all numbers.

I’ll review the prepaid companies unlimited offerings in a later post.

Previously on unlimited plans:

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • • | 27 Comments »

Verizon improves cell coverage in Foothill Ranch, Mission Viejo

January 15th, 2010, 10:43 am by

UPDATE: Verizon just told me about 4 more new cell sites in Orange County. The 4 sites were new as of November. See below...

Verizon Wireless logoMaybe it’s because AT&T just announced 6 areas in Orange County where it boosted cell reception with a new cell site. I also heard from Verizon Wireless about its recent upgrades.

For Verizon Wireless customers who live, work or drive near a neighborhood in Foothill Ranch and Mission Viejo, check your signal. It should be better after the company added two new cell sites in those cities.

The locations of the new cell sites are:

  • Foothill Ranch: 25931 Towne Centre, Foothill Ranch, which improves coverage in the City of Foothill Ranch, along both Portola Pkwy and the 241 Tool Rd.
  • Mission Viejo: Near Santiago & Live Oak Canyon. The new site provides new coverage along the terrain challenged Live Oak Canyon Road.

UPDATE: From November, Verizon said these four cell sites in Orange County are also new:

  • Anaheim Hills: Auburn – Near Cannon Rd & Via Escola. Improves coverage in the terrain area of Anaheim Hills and helps improve the handoff between MTX51 and MTX55 along Cannon Street
  • Orange: South Culver – 241 Toll Road. This site provides new coverage along 241 Toll Rd from north of the 133 & 241 interchange up to North Culver site to the north.
  • Orange: North Culver – 241 Toll Road, Orange . This site provides new coverage along 241 Toll Rd from south of the 261 and 241 interchange to the new South Culver site to the South.
  • Orange: Bronson – 1235 W. Town & Country Rd. This site improves coverage along the Garden Grove Freeway including the Mall and Medical Centers located nearby.
Eight other new Verizon sites outside of Orange County, as of January 2010, are:
  • Simi Valley: Santa Lucia – 2691 Tapo Cyn Rd, Simi Valley -Enhances coverage in the area around Tapo Cyn Rd and Alamo St
  • Victorville : Roy Rogers – 15182 El Evado Rd, Victorville – Improves coverage around the intersection of Mojave Dr and Elvado Rd
  • Wildomar: The Farm – 24240 Bundy Cyn, Wildomar -Improves coverage along Bundy Canyon Rd as well as improving coverage to the community of “The Farm.”
  • Los Angeles: Wadena – 4344 Winchester Ave, Los Angeles -Strengthens coverage along Huntington Drive as well as improving coverage for the nearby residential neighborhood
  • City of Industry: Valinda – 15920 Amar Rd, City of Industry – Improves coverage along Temple Ave and Amar Rd as well as the Industry Hills Recreation Center and Workman High School
  • San Bernardino: Cable Air – 1837 W. 11th St, San Bernardino -Improves the Cable Airport and surrounding areas
  • Highland: Patton – 3398 Highland Ave, Highland – Improves coverage in a residential neighborhood in Woodland Hills including Woodland Hills Country Club
  • Fontana: Via Larga – 11660 Sierra Ave, Fontana – Improves coverage to Sierra Ave in Fontana

Any spots in Orange County where Verizon really needs to add a cell tower to improve coverage? Leave a comment below to let them know.

More on mobile coverage around Orange County:

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • • • • • • • • • | 14 Comments »

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