May 15 - 8:10pm EDT   Sprint and Samsung on Thursday announced that the two companies are set to take advantage of the former company's recently finalized WiMax network in Baltimore and Washington later this year. Samsung's Express Card E100 and Q1 Ultra Premium Mobile PC have both been used to test the network heavily, and are expected to launch with Sprint's XOHM service. The announcement follows the company's April 2008 tests of interoperability of different vendors' devices. [full story]

May 15 - 2:05pm EDT   Alltel will use Long Term Evolution (LTE) for its next-generation phone network, according to statements made during a conference call discussing the provider's latest financial results. Company chief Scott Ford explained that the technology is Alltel's pick and that LTE will have a "significant" installed base for the company's cellular network within the next three to five years. Ford doesn't say when Alltel will start its rollout, but notes that there is no short-term budget and that nothing will be underway until at least 2009. [full story]

May 14 - 8:45am EDT   AT&T's cellular Internet access will be more than five times faster in 2009 than it is this year, the company's mobility chief Ralph de la Vega said today at Morgan Stanley's annual Communications Conference. The executive says that the company's HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) network will be improved from the theoretical peak downloads of 3.6 megabits per second common across most of the network today to about 20 megabits per second in 2009. [full story]

May 12 - 7:55am EDT   Sprint this morning reported its results for the first quarter of 2008 and has revealed continued severe losses in its cellular business. The carrier says its net revenue declined nine percent year-over-year to $9.3 billion and that it lost a total 1.09 million wireless customers in the most recent period. The company says the poor results were "expected" but that it's continuing to rework its strategy, including more focused advertising, cost reductions, and larger strategic decisions. Its news last week of a team-up with Clearwire for nationwide WiMAX also points to a turnaround, according to the company. [full story]

May 7 - 8:00am EDT   Sprint and Clearwire today announced the unification of their two WiMAX Internet services into a single company that they hope will drive the 4G wireless standard. Simply titled Clearwire, the business will share the services of both the old Clearwire and Sprint's Xohm network in a single national WiMAX provider and is said to help promote the concept of an open wireless standard that allows any device and software to run; the combined build-out of the two should cover between 120 and 140 million Americans by the end of 2010, the involved companies say. [full story]

May 6 - 6:25pm EDT   Sprint is nearing closure on a $12 billion joint venture with Clearwire, backed by industry giants such as Intel, Google, Time Warner, and Comcast, among others. The Wall Street Journal reveals that Sprint would merge its wireless broadband services with Clearwire, after raising a total of $3.2 billion from the aforementioned technology and wireless firms, of which the final approval was given Tuesday. The announcement could come as soon as Wednesday, according to insiders. [full story]

May 5 - 4:30pm EDT   Sprint is strongly considering selling off its Nextel division after just three years folded into the company, the Wall Street Journal says while crediting anonymous sources. One of Nextel's founders, Morgan O'Brien, is purportedly creating a group of investors that would buy out the push-to-talk group and restore its place as a separate company. Other private companies are also an option, as is a spin-off similar to the landline Internet provider Embarq. [full story]

May 5 - 10:10am EDT   Wins by Cox Communications during the recent 700MHz auction will let the company set up its own wireless data network, Cable Digital News says. The cable provider successfully obtained licenses in the frequency range that essentially overlap its existing markets, allowing it to switch on a wide-area broadband service that can handle all of its customers. The service is most likely to be based on 700MHz WiMAX and operate on platform-agnostic level that doesn't require locked devices. [full story]

May 2 - 8:45pm EDT   Comcast is reportedly placing its chips on WiMax to help it stand out amongst competitors in the cellular and satellite industries, and that the service could launch as soon as next week. According to CNN Money, the communications giant is currently in talks with Sprint, Clearwire, Intel, and Google to provide a nationwide mobile broadband partner network which would allow it to compete on even ground with companies such as AT&T, Verizon, EchoStar, and DirecTV. [full story]

April 28 - 3:55pm EDT   The WiMAX Edition of Nokia's N810 Internet tablet may already have a price, an online listing suggests. Retailer Buy.com is selling the system for a price of $456, a reduction from a supposed list price of $479. Nokia has not formally announced the cost of the N810 WiMAX, and has in fact declined to assign a release date beyond a rough estimate of "summer." This is meant to coincide with the official launch of Sprint's Xohm WiMAX service. [full story]

April 23 - 3:50pm EDT   Cable provider Comcast is devoting significant resources to developing a wireless service of its own, information sent to GigaOM says. The company currently offers a rebranded Sprint service in select areas but is now said to be readying a dedicated division with at least one cellular veteran at the helm: Dave Williams has already jumped to Comcast as its new Chief Technology Officer from Telefonica in Europe and already has experience with Cingular (now AT&T) and the former SBC. [full story]

April 21 - 8:25am EDT   Acer started its week today by announcing a special version of its Aspire 5920 notebook for Intel's WiMAX technology. The modified 15.4-inch system will let the computer connect at broadband speeds within a few miles of an access point rather than the 300 feet or less of the best Wi-Fi hotspots. Other changes are unavailable, though the current model runs on a 2.5GHz Core 2 Duo and includes a 320GB hard disk, a Blu-ray drive, and GeForce 8600M GS video. [full story]

April 19 - 3:00pm EDT   ASUS today broke out of its normal schedule to firm up the US launch schedule for the Eee PC 900. The 8.9-inch update to the design will ship on May 12th and will come in the same trim levels as its international counterparts. Every updated Eee will come with 1GB of memory, an unspecified Intel processor (initially believed to be the Celeron M), and a 1.3-megapixel camera. The company will ship both a Windows XP version with 12GB of storage and a version using the original Linux OS with 20GB of storage. Variants should also be available in black or white. [full story]

April 16 - 9:10am EDT   ASUS has officially released the Eee PC 900, the larger, 8.9-inch version of its popular micro notebook. The larger-screened system not only ups the screen resolution from 800x480 to 1024x600 but represents ASUS' fastest and most feature-laden version. Onboard memory is doubled to 1GB of RAM, while storage is also significantly increased: while all editions ship with 4GB of flash storage soldered inside the system, a Windows XP model adds 8GB more (for a total of 12GB) while a Linux version uses its less expensive OS to allow for 16GB more, or 20GB. A sharper 1.3-megapixel webcam is also part of the 900 series. [full story]

April 3 - 5:00pm EDT   Slingshot on Thursday announced it will offer pay-as-you go wireless broadband Internet access. Customers will be able to pick up CDs from retailers or download a free program and set up an account, and won't have to go through credit checks or sign any contracts, like they do with traditional Internet providers. A slingshot.com email address will be included with each packet of time purchased, though it is unclear exactly how time will be sold. For frequent users, the option of buying and loading up a recharge card is offered. What is likely is that some kind of adapter for notebook cards or USB modems will be required to sign on from remote locations. [full story]