wimax

Mar

Report: Sprint's LTE Transition Is Already Under Way

A research firm is claiming that Sprint is not only transitioning to LTE, but that the process is already well under way. Supposedly codenamed by Sprint "Project Leapfrog," Gerson Lehrman Group says they have knowledge of Sprint's switch and that it will apparently take place over the course of the next three years.

"Sprint has initiated project leapfrog with Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, and Samsung to upgrade its network to LTE," cited the report. "This three year project is designed to leave Sprint with a competitive, nationwide LTE network while reducing operating costs."

Rumors have been swirling for some time now of the nation's third-largest carrier dumping Wimax and shifting to LTE.

Mar

Which Carrier's Network Is Really The Fastest? One Study Attempts To Answer

Posted by Will Shanklin in AT&T, News, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless

They say "talk is cheap" - and these days it seems like every major US wireless carrier is claiming to have the fastest 4G (of course 4G is a highly debatable marketing term that describes three vastly different networks, but that's fodder for another post altogether). It's relatively easy to tune all of the marketing hype out but, when presented with some solid numbers, it gets easier to pay attention. PC World has tried to give us some raw data to work with in their profiling of the data speeds on the four major providers.

There are, however, a couple of very important things to keep in mind before viewing these results:

PC World measured the best service they could get (whether 3G or 4G) over 260 locations in 13 cities.

Mar

The Four-Gees Comparison: Which Carrier Should You Be Looking To For Your 4G Android Phone?

Posted by David Ruddock in AT&T, Carriers, Editorials, Off-Topic, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless

Last Updated: March 30th, 2011

4G is here - and it seems like all four of America's biggest carriers are more than happy to advertise the fact that they've got it. Sprint was first on the scene - offering their WiMax 4G, and T-Mobile shortly thereafter began its upgrade to HSPA+ technology. Verizon was next, providing mobile broadband LTE via USB dongle for laptops, though its much-awaited debut 4G handset, the Thunderbolt, has yet to hit shelves after numerous delays. Finally, lagging behind in truly characteristic fashion, AT&T has begun to roll out its own HSPA+ network, with plans to offer LTE in the second half of the year.

Feb

Public Beta Of FullHDMI Released, Lets You Mirror Your EVO's Screen On Your HDTV

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Applications, EVO 4G (Supersonic), HTC, Mods, Sprint

Fellow EVO 4G owners, were you envious when Sony Ericsson demoed the Xperia arc's full HDMI capabilities? Fear not - once again, the developer community has come to the rescue!

Android Central Forums user Orrebmas has developed a "limited time" public beta of FullHDMI, an app that lets you output any content on your EVO's display to your HDTV. Yep, that means you can finally get your Angry Birds on in full, 50-inch mode.

Unfortunately, there are a few caveats. First, simply installing an APK file isn't enough; to get FullHDMI up and running, you'll also need to flash a custom kernel.

Feb

[Hands-On] WiMAX Hits CyanogenMod 7 Nightlies - One Moar G, Way Moar Speed

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Mods, News

Last night, Cyanogen revealed on Twitter that WiMAX had officially landed in CM7, via the latest nightly. No small feat, given that the team had to write their own code entirely from scratch. And while CM-based builds with WiMAX have been floating around for a few weeks now, this is the first official release - effectively addressing the last major qualm many EVO owners had with CM.

I have to say, WiMAX in CM7 certainly doesn't fail to impress: I managed to hit 6.5 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload. In 3 tests, I averaged 5470 Kbps download and 1041 Kbps upload - handily beating the roughly 4.5-5 Mbps download I hit on stock-based ROMs.

Jan

Verizon Comparison Charts Show Thunderbolt's LTE Speeds Crush WiMax, HSPA+

Posted by David Ruddock in News, Thunderbolt (Mecha), Verizon Wireless

A couple of leaked Verizon charts popped up on Droid Life this morning, their contents? HTC Thunderbolt propaganda - well, at least in one of them.

If Verizon's estimated LTE speeds aren't just hot air, then Sprint and T-Mobile (and AT&T) should probably be worried right now. Sprint's smartphone plan price hike probably isn't winning them any points, and T-Mobile's 4G handsets aren't exactly new and exciting (G2, myTouch, or a rehashed Vibrant - take your pick).

I don't know where Verizon gets their network speed estimates for T-Mo and Sprint, but they seem pretty forgiving - given the speed ranges shown.

Dec

Sprint Officially Launches 4G (WiMax) In The SF Bay Area For San Francisco, Palo Alto, San Jose, And Oakland

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Epic 4G, EVO 4G (Supersonic), News, Sprint

Earlier this year, on June 16th (which also happens to be my birthday), I stepped out of a train in Mountain View and, to my delight, caught my first ever 4G signal in the Bay Area. It seems I was not alone, and soon many of you were reporting seeing a weak signal, which slowly grew stronger and spread across the Bay.

Fast forward 6 months, and the announcement is finally here - Sprint just unleashed the 4G hounds and is officially supporting San Francisco, Palo Alto, San Jose, and Oakland in full capacity. The new WiMax connection has smaller latency and is over 5 times faster than 3G, although the coverage area still lacks quite a bit.

Dec

More EVO Shift 4G Pics Emerge, Still Looks Like Mutant Offspring Of G2 And EVO 4G

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in EVO Shift 4G (Speedy), HTC, Knight, Sprint

Last Updated: January 4th, 2011

Sprint's current WiMax-capable phones are no slouches, but there's no denying the lineup could use a third phone, if only for the sake of keeping things fresh. The HTC EVO Shift 4G could be just what the doctor prescribed - it looks like the love-child of the T-Mobile G2 and the original EVO 4G. In fact, according to PhoneArena's tipster, the G2 and the Shift 4G share the same processor - an 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7X30 unit - though the latter has inherited the EVO's plastic casing (lame) and HTC Sense UI (also lame). Additionally, the G2's optical trackpad has been moved from under the display to the keyboard.

Dec

Will The FCC's Net Neutrality Order Cost Smartphone Users?

Posted by David Ruddock in Carriers, Editorials, News

In a word: yes. Wireless carriers in the US (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc.) have long been deeply opposed to net neutrality over their so-called "mobile broadband" networks, but today they've been given a power they have long desired to see the FCC put into writing.

If you haven't been following the net neutrality saga, you might want to find out what exactly "net neutrality" is, or what it means.

What is "net neutrality"?

It's a loaded term, to be frank. Net neutrality activists will tell you it means the complete freedom of information from corporate interference by requiring that ISPs (Internet service providers) do not give any preferential (or deferential) treatment to any information transmitted over their networks, unless it is clearly illegal or dangerous.

Dec

Sprint Launches WiMax Network Along The Colorado Front Range And In Bridgeport, Connecticut

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Epic 4G, EVO 4G (Supersonic), News, Sprint

Aspen, loads of snow, and now coverage from Sprint and Clearwire's WiMax network... yeah, Coloradans pretty much have it all. Just over an hour ago, the nation's third largest carrier announced that its 4G network is now live along Colorado's Front Range (which includes such cities as Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, and Greeley) as well as in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Sprint's already got two mighty fine devices - the HTC EVO 4G and the Samsung Epic 4G - on its WiMax network, and if the Shift 4G is as good as it looks, the carrier's subscriber base could be set to increase even more than it already has.