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Sierra Wireless AirCard 875U now available on AT&T Premier
At long last, the wait for Sierra Wireless' AirCard 875U on AT&T is over, as the USB WWAN modem has just popped up on the firm's Premier webstore. Unsurprisingly, this 2.2-ounce portal to the world connects via USB 2.0 and provides interoperable service between BroadbandConnect and EDGE networks. You'll find all the quad-band GSM and tri-band HSDPA love you could ever need here, and while Windows 2000, XP, and Vista users are all taken care of, it looks like the OS X crowd will have to sit this one out for awhile. So if you're interested in hopping on the 3.6Mbps mobile internet highway, head on over to AT&T Premier with $379.99 (or $149.99 with a new two-year contract) ready to hand over.[Thanks, Jake]
Telus, Sierra Wireless carrying EV-DO Rev A to Canada
If the Canucks out there have been getting a bit jealous at all the Rev A love going around down south, your resentment ends now -- well, sometime this year, anyway. Thanks to Telus and Sierra Wireless, EV-DO Rev A connectvitiy is headed to Canada in the coming months, as interested users will be able to pop the AirCard 595 into their laptop's PCMCIA slot and reportedly reach peak speeds of up to 3.1Mbps downstream and 1.8Mbps upstream. Of course, it is noted that typical speeds will range between 300 to 400Kbps whilst uploading, and 450 to 800Kbps on the downward slope, but you Canadians will probably take what you can get, eh? Unfortunately, there's no set dates for the future rollouts, and "select markets" is all we have to go on for availability, but we do know that Telus will be charging $349.99 for the AirCard 595 sans a contract, or you can lock yourself in for a whopping three years if you've only got $99.99 to spare.
UTStarcom to release PC5750 for Verizon
Verizon sure has tricks up its sleeves, especially when it comes to the Rev A network that it's been holding back from us. The Network is getting all its ducks in a row to have the UTS PC5750 release in February with the device priced at $269.99 full retail, $199.99 on a one year and $149.99 on a two year indentured contract. The device is a Type II PC Card (no luck if you need an ExpressCard) and UTS has increased the memory capacity of the device to 64MB Flash / 32MB RAM, making it the most well-endowed UTStarcom data card to date. [Thanks, HTC Kid]
Cingular debuts Sierra Wireless Aircard 875
If you're still rocking a PCMCIA slot, and haven't filled it yet with some other tantalizing 3G option, Cingular just busted out its first UMTS/HSDPA laptop card, the Sierra Wireless Aircard 875, which might strike your fancy. Built by Sierra Wireless, who has been quite busy on this front of late, the card has theoretical peaks of 3.6Mbps down and 384Kbps up, and Cingular rates the actual speeds at around 400-700 and 100-120 respectively. While there's not much point to the purchase if you don't have Cingular's 3G Broadband Connect service in your area, the card can serve up EDGE data in a pinch. Without contract the 875 will run you $349.99, but with $149.99 off for a 2-year service agreement, and an additional $100 rebate when you sign up for unlimited data service, you might emerge from your local Cingular store relatively unscathed.[Thanks, Josh M.]
Helio to launch EV-DO / WiFi card with Boingo
Word on the street has Helio launching its first data product as soon as tomorrow, which appears from this leaked kiosk mockup to be a Sierra Wireless AirCard 580. That would normally seem plausible enough -- assuming we can forget that the 580 is merely a Rev 0 device -- except for one critical detail: our sources tell us Helio's launch will combine EV-DO data with service through Boingo's network of WiFi hotspots. That leads us to believe that the 580 in the mockup is simply a placeholder for a different, hybrid card, or Helio's going to be assuming that its users are capable of bringing their own WiFi radio -- probably a safe assumption considering the percentage of notebooks that ship with integrated 802.11 these days. The partnership with Boingo makes a lot of sense, seeing how Helio's CEO is Boingo's founder and chairman, but given the ever-increasing ubiquity of EV-DO coverage (particularly anywhere Boingo would have a hotspot), we'll be curious to see Helio's marketing angle on this one.[Thanks, anonymous tipster]
Sprint adds two cards to Rev. A stable
Before we get you too excited, fair warning: there's not an ExpressCard to be found in the bunch. Instead, Sprint's decided to add another two PC Cards to the previously launched Novatel S720, giving them a grand total of three EV-DO Revision A-compliant data cards ahead of their network rollout -- it's just a shame all three devices fit in the same kind of slot. At any rate, we were always told not to look a gift horse in the mouth, so we're going to put a sock in it and thank Sprint for giving us options: first up is the value of the bunch, Pantech's PX-500, which'll clock in for a nice, round $0 on two-year contract. Next, the AirCard 595 from Sierra Wireless will match the S720's pricing, going out the door for $100 after signing on the dotted line. Expect both cards to drop before the end of the year, but until someone can show that the Pantech is demonstrably worse than its stablemates, we're really liking the sound of "free."
Cingular's AirCard 875 takes shape
We got our first glimpse this afternoon at Cingular's branded cut of Sierra Wireless' ridiculously fast (sounding) AirCard 875, capable of 3.6Mbps downtream via HSDPA. We're actually kind of digging the appearance of the antenna, which shouts "Cingular" with its black / orange scheme. We'd caught wind earlier of an October launch, though the mood at the Cingular camp was a little more cautious when we spoke to them today; we'll continue to cross our fingers.
AirCard 875 gets October launch on Cingular
Sure, the AirCard 860's purely theoretical 1.8Mbps of HSDPA throughput is all well and good, but 3.6Mbps (again, purely theoretical) is even better. Sierra Wireless' re-upped model, the 875, has now been announced for release on Cingular next month at $99.99 on contract after rebates. With quad-band EDGE and tri-band HSDPA on board, if you manage to find a place in the world where you're not covered by some form of data, you've got bigger problems than your lack of 'Net access.
Sierra Wireless announces AirCard 597E EV-DO Rev. A ExpressCard
Wouldn't you know it, we just pick our damn selves up a Verizon V640 EV-DO ExpressCard device and Sierra goes and announces the next gen Rev. A version we are gonna just have to plunk down for. Unfortunately Sierra didn't release a photo of their AirCard 597E (so what else is new -- pictured is their current AirCard 595), but there's not a whole lot to be seen; it's all in the specs. The interesting thing will be the ExpressCard34-to-PCMCIA adapter that should come bundled with the device, but we're less worried about how to get it into our boxes and more concerned with getting that full 3.1Mbps / 1.8Mbps of throughput while we're out and about.[Via Slashgear]
Sierra AirCard 875 brings 3.6Mbps HSDPA
We're a bit miffed that this new AirCard from Sierra isn't coming in an ExpressCard form, especially now that good number of the major laptop manufacturers (Dell, Lenovo and Apple to name a few) are sporting ExpressCard slots in their newer models, but HSDPA is HSDPA and we're glad to see it all the same. The device -- a bump to last year's 860 -- supports 3.6Mbps (theoretical) speeds, which is as fast as anybody is doing it right now, and should provide for more than a few WiFi shaming connections to those with the cash and the infrastructure to enjoy it. Along with tri-band HSDPA and UMTS, the 875 can do quad-band EDGE/GPRS, so road warriors beware: you're about to run out of excuses for lost connectivity -- we'd think this one over if we were you. No word on price or initial availability.
