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Austria gets HSPA+ thanks to mobilkom and Ericsson
The Aussies are laughing all the way to 21Mbps, sure, but where's a denizen of the Old World supposed to get their fix? Austria's mobilkom has officially become the first European carrier to launch HSPA+ service, using Ericsson-sourced equipment to offer peak data rates up to the same 21Mbps offered by Telstra. What's more, Ericsson says they'll hit 28Mbps "in the course of the year," so the only challenge left on the table is getting a whole bunch of devices that can take advantage -- USB sticks and ExpressCards are a forgone conclusion, sure, but where are our blazing handsets with five-minute battery lives? [Via SlashPhone]
Mobilkom I-HSPA tests provide 10.1Mbps speeds, another acronym to remember
Nokia Siemens Networks and Mobilkom Austria are likely celebrating some I-HSPA (Internet High Speed Packet Access) test results that rang in at a respectable 10.1Mbps during a data call. I-HSPA is essentially Nokia Siemens Networks' version of HSPA+, with both touted as bringing a flat architecture to the HSPA network by connecting the base station directly to the internet. Bottom line is when we see this on our doorstep, we're just one step closer to LTE, and its speed in comparison will rekindle warm thoughts of the first time we used HSDPA after struggling with GPRS.
Mobile phones make payments at Coca-Cola machines
In a not too distant future, consumers in the good olD US of A will be able to walk up to vending machines and make Coca-Cola purchases using their cellphone. The same VeriSign Coke apparently intends to use already links the cellular operators and over 100 vending machines across Austria for customers of Mobilkom and ONE wireless. No word on whether or not this is going to use RFID or something, but we think it'd be in their best interests to keep it simple, and rock it SMS style. Now to figure out a use for all the change in our pockets. [Via Slashphone]
