Sprint will sell its 4G WiMAX mobile broadband service to Chicago residents starting on October 6th, when it will officially be announced during a press event. A Friday story from BBR maintains Sprint has been sending out invitations to members of the press for the event, where it will demonstrate the network's speeds in addition to formally launching the network.
Verizon Wireless will debut its next-generation Long Term Evolution (LTE) 4G data network in trials in the metropolitan Boston and Seattle areas before year's end, according recent according to recent comments by carrier president Denny Strigl. Beyond that, the carrier plans to bring the ultra high-speed wireless data network standard to as many as 30 markets, Strigl said. By the end of 2013, Verizon hopes to offer the service in all of its markets.
Wireless provider Sprint on Tuesday announced that it will launch its WiMAX mobile broadband service concurrently in Atlanta, GA, Portland, OR and Las Vegas, NV starting in August. Sprint says the new generation network will allow users to access data between three and five times faster than current 3G networks, with peak download speeds faster than 10Mbps, and averages of between 3 and 6Mbps.
Clearwire had a two-pronged launch on Tuesday with news both of its CLEAR WiMAX service reaching Las Vegas as well as the availability of the Samsung Mondi for its network and othe device news. The 4G-level service debuts on the 21st and will give the desert city typical download speeds between 3Mbps and 6Mbps, rendering it suited to video streaming and other broadband tasks on the road. Plans start at $20 for fixed service at home or $30 for mobile use anywhere in CLEAR's coverage areas. The company also has a $45 fixed-and-mobile plan for those who need two connections as well as a $10 day pass for visitors.
Clearwire on Tuesday officially released its 4G WiMAX wireless broadband network in Atlanta, making it the largest city in the US to offer the service. The service, CLEAR, is available to about three million people in a 1,200-square mile area, offering users DSL-like cable speeds wherever they are, wirelessly. Running on a WiMAX radio system from Motorola, the service is said to deliver realistic download speeds between 4 and 6Mbps, with burst speeds greater than 15Mbps. In comparison, existing 3G networks provide download speeds between 1 and 1.7Mbps.
Samsung today inadvertently showed its hand by revealing details of the SWD-M100 Mondi, its first dedicated WiMAX device for the US, in its RSS feed [since pulled]. The hardware resembles a counterpart to Nokia's N810 and centers on a large, full touchscreen with a slide-out directional pad and QWERTY keypad. Little else is revealed by Samsung itself, though a conspicuous front camera points to video chat while a Windows key points to either Windows Mobile or a desktop Windows OS as standard.
Wireless provider Sprint Nextel will offer handsets that can switch from the existing CDMA network to the WiMAX mobile broadband network currently being built up across the United States by Sprint's recent partner, Clearwire. Apart from the handsets, Sprint will carry other WiMAX products and services, including the first hybrid CDMA/mobile WiMAX modem. All will be branded as Sprint 4G, replacing the existing Xohm brand name for the existing high-speed mobile broadband gear.
Despite a series of conflicting news releases, Vodafone has confirmed that there will not be a pay-as-you-go version of the iPhone 3G available in New Zealand. NZMac.com first spotted the confusion in statements from Vodafone and Apple New Zealand which announced both contract and prepaid versions of the iPhone in various press releases. Vodafone cleared things up this morning, saying only the contract versions will be available in New Zealand and Portugal beginning in July 11.
Case-Mate today unveiled the Naked Case for the iPhone and iPod touch, giving users a hard transparent case that covers the entire iPhone, but still allows for interaction with the screen. Case-Mate says the case uses an electrostatic membrane on the screen portion to pass electrical pulses through to the touch screen, protecting the screen, while not inhibiting its usefulness. The Naked Case is available for $35.
