The WiMAX Forum says that WiMAX will expand coverage to potentially serve a billion people by the end of this year. Last year, the strongest growing areas included the United States (with Clearwire), Japan, Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines. → Read More
In a tweet published today, Sprint spokesperson Stephanie Vinge announced that Colorado’s favourite capital, Denver, will soon receive the honour of becoming Sprint’s 66th market to receive their 4G WiMAX signals.
“And when will it receive the title?” I hear you ask.
“Why, December 19th!” I reply! → Read More
It’s a red-letter day, folks: Gateway just release a $700 NV laptop with WiMAX built-in, namely the Intel 6250 Wi-Fi/WiMax card. Otherwise this is pretty bog-standard for a laptop although it does seem to mirror HP’s sexy styling on their own Envy line. WiMax connectivity comes from carriers across the country and isn’t included in the package. Press release after the jump. → Read More
Lenovo company chief Yang Yuanqing said that soon the majority of Lenovo products would run on the mobile web, meaning a cross of 3G and 4G technologies. Most of their current line comes with 3G built in and their ThinkPad line is just screaming out for mobile web simply because it is aimed at the on-the-go professional.
What think I on this topic? I think Lenovo is unqiuely placed to take advantage of the mobile web, along with Dell and HP. All three are seen as “business” notebook manufacturers, for better or worse, and that’s a low margin business. By adding 3G capabilities out of the box they presumably get a cut from the carriers as they sell more units. → Read More
Sprint, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks (to name a few) continue to bet big on Clearwire’s WiMAX nationwide wireless network. The foursome have just pumped an additional $1.494 billion into Clearwire’s coffer, with another $50 million coming from Intel and $20 million from Eagle River Holdings. CHA-CHING. → Read More
Yesterday, Clearwire announced the expansion of its CLEAR 4G WiMAX Internet Service to 10 new markets, bringing the total number of markets served up to 14 with coverage for over 10 million users. This is good news for all the WiMAX fanboys and girls out there, and especially for those who reside in the Lone Star state. The newly serviced areas include: Boise, Idaho; Bellingham, Wash.; and eight Texas markets, including Abilene, Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Waco and Wichita Falls. → Read More
This is a document that purports to show new Sprint WiMAX-having cities. It’s terribly exciting. → Read More
Do you find yourself out and about in the city enough that you hardly use your broadband at home? Neither do I, since said broadband is usually downloading the latest this-and-that while I’m gone, but it might be nice to have a “second line” of high-speed internet for when I don’t want to compete with 20 other people for a cafe’s wi-fi. Others, in cities where free wireless isn’t quite as plentiful as in Seattle, may find wireless broadband a more compelling option, and pretty soon you’ll be able to get it through Comcast in a few choice areas. I find it interesting that Comcast says they’ll be offering the service, when really they’re doing no such thing. They’re offering Clearwire’s service and splitting the bill. At any rate, if you have Clearwire in your area, chances are you’ll soon be able to get it through Comcast and bundle it with your TV and stuff for a better price. Portland will be the first to see the service, so you Oregonians can do your little victory dance. I’ll wait. The service, called “Comcast High-Speed 2go Metro” because someone thought that was a good idea, will run you $73 a month, but call now and you can get it for $50, a savings of $23(RIP Billy Mays)! You can also throw down an extra $20 to get access to Sprint’s 3G network. Not my style, though. For a blogger, the internet is his leash, and if you’re carrying it around with you, you’re never off. That’s assuming we’re ever really even on. → Read More
The first thought that popped into my head after reading the headline “Kabul Goes Wimax” was, “Wow, Kabul has Wimax, and my T-Mobile BlackBerry can’t even get EDGE.” (Note: I’m about an hour north of New York City, also known as “upstate.”) The embedded video has all you need to know. → Read More
Even though WiMAX is only available in Atlanta, Baltimore, and Portland, Dell is now offering up the wireless broadband as an option on select notebooks. The upgrade only costs $60 for the Studio 15, Studio 17, and Studio XPS line, but don’t forget that there will be a monthly cost from Sprint too. → Read More
AT&T and Verizon might have the lion’s share of the mobile broadband market, but don’t count Sprint and Clearwire’s WiMAX out just yet. The chairman of Clearwire was nailed down for an interview at CTIA where he championed the high bandwidth wireless solution by talking about the low capacity of VZW’s and AT&T’s 3G network. And how WiMAX can even handle the Skype calls despite the application’s inefficiency. → Read More
.The upcoming Samsung Mondi broke a few days ago and was recently spotted at CTIA. The large MID sounds great on paper thanks to some killer specs, most notably being the WiMAX internet connectivity and a 4.3-inch touchscreen. However, the Windows Mobile 6.1 underpinnings with the TouchWIZ OS is somewhat of a turnoff. That being said, this basic video has certainly peeked our interest. This might be a killer mobile platform for suits and bloggers alike when it finally launches. Too bad we don’t have a price or launch date yet though. Video after the jump. → Read More
Samsung just unleashed the powerhouse that is the Mondi. This massive handset comes packing with speedy WiMAX support in a big daddy slider form factor. Winmo 6.1 powers the device and it seems that Samsung has big hopes for the huge device as it’s got just about everything possible in a mobile computing platform. Check it: MS Office, WiFi, BT 2.1, GPS with preloaded maps, 4 GB of internal memory, support for push email, instant messaging support, 3.0 MP camera and camcorder, Opera 9.5 browser, HDMI out, and a huge range of supported video and audio player formats. → Read More
The Samsung SWD-M100 Mondi is the first Wimax device in the U.S. and hopes to pick up where Nokia’s Wimax tablet, now discontinued in the U.S., left off. → Read More
This Sunday, Sprint customers in the Baltimore area will be able to purchase a USB modem that’s capable of handling both 3G and 4G (Wi-Max) wireless signals. That’s a combined total of 7G! The device – called the U300 – is made by Franklin wireless and will cost $149 with a two-year contract and after a $50 mail-in-rebate. It’ll also be available in Baltimore-area Best Buy stores early next year. Customers will be able to purchase a $79.99 per month data plan that includes both 3G and 4G access – 4G, of course, only being available in Baltimore at the moment. Seems like it might not be a bad idea to roll this thing out in markets OTHER than just Baltimore so that people signing up for a 3G data plan don’t blow a fuse once 4G rolls out in their city and they have to go buy yet another device. Remember, though, this new Sprint WiMax initiative is contract-less so if you’re planning to go 4G-only, you might want to just wait until it’s fully available in your area since adding 3G to the mix requires a two-year contract. → Read More
Perhaps it’s a little bit insensitive to post this; We already know the US isn’t getting the Touch HD, so chances are we’ll also be missing out on its WiMax enabled big brother, the Max 4G. It’s like rubbing salt on a fresh wound – but when said salt sports a 3.8″ WVGA screen and WiMax, we just can’t help ourselves. You’ll have to tough it through Google’s often creative translations, but Mobile.mail.ru has gone from top to bottom of this pretty little piece to return with a laundry list of pros and cons. The biggest flaw? The WiMax network in Russia, currently only rolled out in Moscow and St. Petersburg, just isn’t sufficient. With US WiMax currently limited to a handful of major cities, it’d be the same story over here. Beyond the lack of WiMax coverage and a few hardware shortcomings (no 3.5mm headset jack, and a somewhat dismal camera), it looks like the Max 4G is pretty droolworthy. Check out the full (translated) review here. [via WMPowerUser] → Read More
Wireless provider Korean Telecom reportedly signed a “memorandum of understanding” with Apple to combine “WiBro, a third generation-based communications technology, with Apple’s hit products such as the MacBook laptops and iPod media players,” according to Unwired View. → Read More
The promise of Wi-Max is nothing less than high-speed wireless internet practically anywhere you go. Of course, the reality falls short, as it often does, but it still shows itself a worthy successor to normal 3G and wi-fi. This industrious tester zoomed around Baltimore and tested it out in different areas (70% of the city is covered at the moment), finding that speeds were generally on the order of 3-4Mbps, or about 400KB/s. That’s plenty for me, personally, which is good because technical max of 20Mbps probably isn’t going to happen unless you’re perched on the WiMax tower. Right now you can really only hit up the WiMax in Baltimore, but Sprint is working on dropping another $5bn into the rollout of a nation-wide network. Deep pockets! Maybe Sprint can help with the national debt. → Read More
Oh my! Three of the biggest laptop makers out there all announcing 4G/WiMAX/XOHM service. All on the same day, too. It’s almost as if it was planned. Acer has it in their big ones, Toshiba has it in their little ones, and Lenovo has it in just about their entire line. Boy, with all these laptops sucking up the signal, they might want to put those WiMAX points on higher ground! → Read More
Laptop Magazine, the most popular laptop magazine in the Scranton Airport, jetted down to Baltimore where they tested Sprint’s XOHM service in the wild. The results, when compared to Verizon EV-DO were impressive. It took 6 minutes to download a 233MB video while EV-DO tool 24 minutes while web pages loaded in about half the time, consistently, when compared to EV-DO. Their video, live from a Starbucks in Charm City, is kind of unthrilling – it’s just a dongle – but where is EV-DO going once this goes live? → Read More
