3G network
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T-Mobile to incentivize select 2G subscribers with upgrade offers during five-city US pilot
Growing tired of that EDGE-only device on T-Mobile? The carrier wants you to upgrade just as badly as you do, and may be willing to kick some extra incentives your way to help motivate the switch. In an attempt to clear devices from its 2G network, T-Mobile reportedly launched a pilot this month, targeting 5,000 select customers each in Boston, DC, Los Angeles, Miami and New York City with discount offers that vary slightly by market, and may include a waived upgrade fee, up to $100 (Boston) or $50 (NYC, DC) off any phone, or, exclusively for folks in Miami, the option to swap their device for a Samsung t259, t359 Smile or Gravity TXT for free with no new contract to sign. According to TmoNews, customers may receive a targeted offer if they're Classic or Legacy subscribers with 1,000 or more monthly minutes on a 2G device (the iPhone is not included). If the pilot is successful, T-Mobile may roll out the offer to customers in additional cities, as part of the carrier's refarming effort to grow HSPA+ network capacity. A full offer breakdown is available at the source link below.
Verizon 3G network goes down nationwide, everybody panic! (update: back up for some)
Is your Droid not finding its way to the internet mothership? Don't worry, it's not your hardware, it's your carrier's wireless connection -- or the lack thereof, to be more precise. We've heard from a bunch of folks this morning that Verizon's 3G network is experiencing a slight bout of disconnectedness, causing a great deal of grief and discombobulation around the country. Just sit tight, we're sure engineers are engineering solutions as we type this, and will update you as soon as things have been rectified. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Update: Some parts of the country are reporting their 3G service has been restored, though it's not yet certain that all troubles have been ironed out. Our own Droids seem to be working fine now, how about yours?
Netgear partners with Ericsson for a 3G-receiving, WiFi-emanating router
Had enough of dealing with oligopolistic wired broadband suppliers? Well, with Netgear's brand spanking new MBRN3300E you can just ride off into the 3G sunset and say goodbye to those pesky wires. Like the majority of wireless routers today, it comes with 802.11n WiFi and a built-in firewall, but what sets it apart is the integrated 3G modem provided by Ericsson. With it, you can suckle down broadband straight from the ether and transport it throughout your home, whether you live in New York City or some remote part of Minnesota. Netgear is announcing it with immediate availability, and there will be optional car charger and battery pack accessories to maximize the mobility of the unit. Okay, it'll never be as small and portable as a MiFi router, but it's always good to have options, right? Full PR after the break.
Verizon goes after Sprint's 'most dependable 3G network' ad claim
Looks like Verizon's addicted to the sweet taste of success: following its victory over AT&T regarding the Map For That ads, Big Red's complaining to the The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus about Sprint's "America's most dependable 3G network" tagline. Verizon says that a recent Nielsen survey shows its network drops fewer calls than Sprint's, and for now the bureaucrats agree -- the board's asked Sprint to stop airing the ads. For its part, Sprint says one study doesn't tell the whole tale, and it's going to keep showing the ads while it appeals to the National Advertising Review Board. In other news, Verizon's lawyers were seen heading to the local BMW dealership late last night, following a run-in with Sprint's attorneys at the Mercedes-Benz showroom.
China Unicom to start selling the iPhone in October
Hong Kong-based China Unicom released details today concerning its August announcement of a three-year deal to sell the iPhone. Sales of the iPhone will begin in October, dovetailing with its October 1st 3G network launch, and will be priced at approximately 5000 Yuan, or around US$730. The iPhone will be sold in both Apple retail stores and through Unicom's own network of stores, and plans for the iPhone will range from 126 Yuan to 886 Yuan, or about US$18 to US$130. There will also be a handset subsidy, depending on the chosen plan above 126 Yuan, which maxes out at 4253 Yuan, or about US$623. China Unicom competes heavily with the larger China Telecom, which is believed to be in negotiations to distribute the Palm Pre. Details here (in Chinese.)
New York Times calls iPhone the 'Hummer of cellphones'
Why? Because the iPhone sucks up network bandwidth on a rather massive scale. The article, available online, tells a story most iPhone users already know. AT&T was unprepared for the massive assault on the 3G network from phones that stream audio and video, and surf the web at a rate far higher than other smartphones. The piece quotes AT&T Wireless exec John Donovan saying "It's been a challenging year for us. Overnight we're seeing a radical shift in how people are using their phones... There's just no parallel for the demand." That won't make AT&T customers any happier. A recent survey by Pricegrabber found that 34% of those that responded say they aren't buying an iPhone because it is on AT&T. Many current customers say they'd like to be anywhere but AT&T with their iPhone, but it's likely that a mass migration to Verizon or some other carrier might cause the same problems there. One issue is that AT&T just isn't communicating very well with customers who are paying a boatload of money for data and text messaging. AT&T could easily (but not happily) drop rates a bit, or eliminate or reduce the high charges for texting. They could apologize to customers for the flood of dropped calls and lack of 3G service in big cities like New York or San Francisco. Instead, there is stoic silence. No guidance on tethering or MMS release dates, nor communication of any kind really. AT&T already has a pretty big PR problem, and they seem determined to make it worse. I contacted AT&T today about tethering and MMS, especially since the New York Times article says AT&T is 'postponing tethering.' The response, from Michael Coe at AT&T, says they have never specified a date for tethering, and when I asked again about MMS there was simply no reply. Update: AT&T has just responded with an MMS date. Quoting Brad Mays of AT&T Wireless:The date is September 25th, which does indeed fall a few days past the official end of summer. It was important to give our customers a positive experience from day one. We support more iPhone customers than any other carrier in the world so we took the time necessary to make sure our network is ready to handle what we expect will be a record volume of MMS traffic. We truly appreciate our customers' patience and hope they'll understand our desire to get it right from the start. The service will be enabled with a software update on the launch date. Customers can obtain the update from iTunes, just like all other iPhone updates. As for tethering, by its nature, this function could exponentially increase traffic on the network, and we need to ensure that some of our current upgrades are in place before we can deliver the expanded functionality with the excellent performance that customers expect. We expect to offer tethering in the future.
List of cities that are in AT&T's 3G coverage
That fancy iPhone 3G won't feel much speedier than your first gen iPhone if you aren't in an area that is covered by AT&T's high-speed 3G network. Luckily, AT&T has a list of cities (yes, if you're not in a metropolitan area chances are you'll be using EDGE more often than not) that have 3G coverage.AT&T doesn't offer up a map of the US with their 3G coverage highlighted, so I took the liberty of using their 'Coverage Viewer' and my copy of Acorn to whip up a full US map with AT&T's 3G coverage in deep blue. Check it out here (the map isn't perfect, I know, but it does give you a good idea of the extent of AT&T's 3G network).Update: I've added another map that only shows AT&T's data coverage. 3G is the deepest blue, while EDGE is slightly lighter (and more widespread).%Gallery-24855%
