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Sierra Wireless adds 2-in-1 HSPA+ AirCards to a lineup already fraught with action and danger
Sierra Wireless has just announced five new AirCard data cards and USB modems, including devices supporting HSPA+ frequencies. The AirCard 503, AirCard USB 308, and AirCard USB 309 all support peak download speeds of 21Mbps, with the former being a 2-in-1 PC card / ExpressCard device and the latter two being basically the same USB modem (except the first one supports 850MHz, 1900MHz, and 2100MHz frequencies, while AirCard USB 309 limits you to 900MHz and 2100MHz bands). If the raw excitement and glamor of HSPA+ speeds are more than you (or your budget) can handle, the company is also introducing a couple plain ol' HSPA cards with respectable peak downloads of 7.2Mbps and peak uploads of 5.76Mbps. The AirCard USB 301 supports 850MHz and 2100 MHz bands, while the AirCard USB 302 does its thing in the 900MHz and 2100MHz range. Scheduled to begin shipping in the fourth quarter of this year for prices to be announced. PR after the break.
Nokia Siemens completes first CSoHSPA call, promises better battery life
If you've never heard of CSoHSPA, we can't say we blame you, but the concept is surprisingly simple, the benefits are pretty clear, and odds are good the technology's coming to a network near you. Short for Circuit Switched over HSPA, the standard -- part of 3GPP Release 7 which covers HSPA+ -- seeks to improve handset battery life and significantly boost network capacity (something many carriers desperately need) by moving voice from the traditional circuit switched voice channel found on legacy GSM networks to packet data. This means that all forms of connectivity your phone exchanges with the network get treated as the same payloads of bytes -- the same concept employed by any VoIP system and the strategy employed by LTE, WiMAX, and some EV-DO networks -- so the old-school voice channel can be repurposed for pure data. Long story short, phones end up running longer on a charge, networks end up with more capacity, and everyone sleeps a little easier. Nokia Siemens and Finnish carrier Elisa have just completed the world's first CSoHSPA call, which is a nice landmark on the road to wide-scale HSPA+ deployment; the technology is essentially a software upgrade for a lot of existing infrastructure, so we'd expect this to get rolled out all over the place as long as handsets support it in kind.
AT&T likely skipping 14.4Mbps, moving straight to HSPA+
While it puts the finishing touches on its nascent 7.2Mbps upgrades and starts certifying devices to use it, AT&T has revealed a juicy tidbit: that's probably the end of the line for old-guard HSPA on the country's largest GSM network. Before LTE, though, AT&T plans on upgrading to HSPA+ which should bring 21Mbps speeds out of the gate; straight-up HSPA is theoretically capable of moving to 14.4Mbps, but AT&T says that it's had technical difficulties in maxing it out and HSPA+ equipment is now ready for implementation anyhow. Simultaneously, the company says it's adding additional carriers at cells on a case-by-case basis to help with white-hot demand and is upgrading its backhaul network to handle the blazing speeds promised by the newer standards. We'll see.[Via Phone Scoop]
