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AT&T commits to LTE-Advanced deployment in 2013, Hesse and Mead unfazed
This should come as no surprise, but following Sprint and Verizon's previous commitment to an LTE-Advanced future, one who breathes could justifiably assume that AT&T might have something to say on the matter. Well, that time has come. Speaking at the LTE North America conference in Dallas, the CEO of AT&T Labs, Krish Prabhu, has confirmed that Ma Bell intends to begin the deployment of its LTE-Advanced network in 2013. Sadly, he didn't elaborate any further, (which leaves a pretty wide target, if you ask us). Still, with the potential for improved capacity, coverage and stupid fast speeds, we're not exactly complaining. As for that target year of 2013, bring it on.
Multi-gigabit wireless broadband within our grasp, capped data plans laugh in our face
Bring it on, LTE-Advanced. In case you've been looking for ways to eat up your capped data plan any faster, a researcher from Samsung proclaims that speeds up to 5.5gbps (yes, with a g) might be reachable within the next five years -- as long as all the stars align, that is. Jerry Pi demonstrated the idea, which involves the use of millimeter wave spectrum that lies between 3GHz and 300GHz. If -- and that's a big if -- the spectrum can be secured, the next hurdle will be the engineering challenge of deploying a wireless broadband network at such high frequencies; even tiny oxygen molecules, let alone walls and trees, would easily break up a signal at that range. Pi mentions that he and his fellow researchers are working on a few ideas to get around these obstacles, and outlines everything in significant detail in his 100+ slide presentation, which can be accessed below. Don't get us wrong: the idea of broadband data speeds hitting 5.5gbps makes us salivate, but it would definitely need to come with an unlimited plan. Just sayin'.
Sprint's LTE getting Advanced in 2013, WiMAX's inferiority complex intensifies
Sprint just started building out its LTE network, but being the eager beavers that they are, the folks in Overland Park are already talking about taking the Now Network to the next level. Iyad Tarazi, Sprint's VP of network development and engineering, said that Sprint will be rolling out an LTE-Advanced network in the first half of 2013. (As a brief refresher, LTE-Advanced is a true 4G technology that can make regular LTE speeds look positively pedestrian in comparison.) Tarazi added that we would see 12 LTE devices in 2012 and that over 250 million people will have access to Sprint-flavored LTE by the end of 2013 -- with voice over LTE service coming in the first quarter of that year. For those (hundreds?) of you worried about the fate of of WiMAX, well, don't. Apparently, the out-of-favor 4G network will continue to be supported for several more years due to Sprint's agreement with Clearwire. So, it appears Sprint's really making a run at Verizon's LTE hegemony. Good luck Mr. Hesse, you're probably going to need it.
Nokia Siemens makes multi-carrier HSPA+ hurtle at 336Mbps
It's easy to shrug off technical achievements like this while real-world data speeds still lag so far behind. Nevertheless, the adrenalin junkies at Nokia Siemens Services insist their latest HSPA+ platform will be commercially available to carriers by the end of next year and, to prove it actually works, they've been demoing at PT Expo Comm in Beijing. The technology uses the latest 3GPP standardization to hog eight 42Mbps frequency channels at the same time, delivering a peak throughput of 336Mbps. Sure, it doesn't come close to the 1Gbps speeds we've seen from Ericsson with LTE-Advanced, but if it gets here first we'll have it. [Thanks, Alan]
Shocker: Verizon director admits to LTE-Advanced future
AT&T took to the stage to announce its LTE network will go live on Sunday, which means today's the perfect day for its fiercest rival to one-up the news. Verizon's director of network technology Praveen Atreya, dropped the rather unsurprising news that the next natural step in the company's data evolution chain will be LTE-Advanced. Don't get your hopes up so fast, though: Atreya says it's still too early in the game to test the new tech or figure out its potential speeds (spoiler: they'll be disgustingly fast), so we're likely not going to see any widescale deployment for at least the next few years. Still, we're always looking forward to the next best thing, so learning that Big Red is following Clearwire's lead in adopting the technology is reassuring, to say the least.
Mobile Miscellany: week of August 22, 2011
This week was packed with news on the mobile front, so it was easy to miss a few stories here and there. Here's some of the other stuff that happened in the wide world of wireless for the week of August 15, 2011: Phone Releases Fido launched the Samsung Galaxy Q, also known as the Gravity Smart in the US, on Thursday. [via MobileSyrup] The BlackBerry Curve 9360 can already be purchased on Telus for $50 with a three-year contract, and the Torch 9860 will be available on August 30th. [via IntoMobile and CrackBerry] SouthernLINC Wireless announced the immediate availability of the Motorola Titanium, offered for $150 with a two-year commitment. T-Mobile released the Samsung Gravity TXT, a basic messaging phone that's on sale for $10. [via UnwiredView] Cricket has begun offering a new messaging phone called the Samsung Comment, which offers a full QWERTY keyboard, stereo bluetooth, a microSD slot and 1.3MP camera. It can be had for $90 with no commitment required. [via PhoneScoop] Other news The government of South Korea, in reaction to Google's planned acquisition of Motorola, now intends to form a consortium of local companies that will work together in building a brand new mobile operating system. [via IntoMobile] Randall Milch, Chief Counsel for Verizon, is so frustrated with the patent wars going on that this week he filed an appeal to President Obama, asking for him to provide assistance in the matter. [via PhoneScoop] The Motorola PRO is expected to debut in the UK in mid-September, though pre-orders are already taking place at select authorized resellers. [via UnwiredView] Leaked posters indicate the BlackBerry Torch 9850 will be offered by Verizon and screenshots show the same phone going to US Cellular, though we're still unsure of the release date or pricing. [via CrackBerry(1) and (2)] Last week we reported on the rumored Sony Ericsson Nozumi, a smartphone that will likely feature a 1.4GHz single-core Qualcomm S2 CPU, Adreno 205 GPU, and 4.3-inch display with 1280 x 720 resolution. At the time, it was assumed to be only selling in Japan; however, there's a good possibility the Nozumi will end up available globally instead. [via XperiaBlog] Pantech's LTE phone on Verizon may actually end up being called the Breakout (rather than the "Apache"), according to a leaked screenshot. When released, it'll feature a 1GHz CPU with 512MB of RAM, dual cameras, and will be preloaded with Gingerbread. Not much to write home about at this stage in the game, considering these are incredibly similar to the specs of the LG Revolution. However, it would be the first 4G phone on Big Red that has a 4-inch display. [via AndroidCentral] T-Mobile may be planning to throw a data pay-per-use feature onto any smartphone that currently has its internet access blocked. If this happens, it will affect current customers as well as new ones. [via TmoNews] Dish has petitioned the FCC for permission to use 40MHz of allocated spectrum to begin building out an LTE-Advanced network. [via PhoneScoop]
Sprint in alleged talks to acquire Clearwire, cablers huddle 'round for some LTE pie
'Tis the season for patent disputes and wireless industry takeovers, or so a recent glut of moves would indicate. Shedding a little light on Clearwire's recently announced allegiance to LTE, Bloomberg is reporting that the company's currently in talks to sell its business to Sprint, and perhaps secure the funding it so desperately needs for a network build out. According to several insider sources, the third place wireless carrier's considering a joint investment (amongst other options) with Comcast, Cablevision and Cox, that would give the cablers a bundled high-speed, wireless broadband competitive advantage, and Sprint an LTE boost in its battle against AT&T and Verizon's rival 4G networks. None of the players in this rumored takeover have yet to comment on the purported transaction, although the business gossip has had quite an uplifting effect on Clearwire's shares. While we can't speculate as to the veracity of the claim, we know one thing for sure -- that LTE network's not gonna build itself.
Clearwire adding 120Mbps 'LTE Advanced-ready' technology to its holdings, restates commitment to WiMAX
Is it really fall? We can't say for certain that this is what Dan Hesse was referring to when he told us face-to-face that something spectacular would be coming our way a bit later in the year, but Clearwire definitely just announced its intent to add "LTE Advanced-ready" technology to its 4G network. In what'll likely go down as the most shocking mobile news this side of the proposed T-Mobile / AT&T merger, America's biggest WiMAX fan has finally caved to the realities of the next-gen wireless war: LTE's winning, and it's picking up all sorts of steam. Verizon Wireless has been building out LTE at a breakneck pace, and soon enough, Ma Bell (and presumably, T-Mob) will be following suit. According to the bizarrely worded release, Clearwire will be leveraging "deep spectrum resources and an all-IP network to meet long-term mobile broadband demands." Translation? An "unmatched LTE network" capable of serving current and future wholesale / retail customers. We're told that the initial LTE rollout will target "high-demand areas of current 4G markets," taking advantage of existing 4G infrastructure in order to reduce expenditures. For those curious about transmission rates, you can look forward to download speeds exceeding 120Mbps (or so it says). In a telling quote, Dr. John Saw, Clearwire's Chief Technology Officer, confesses: "This is the future of mobile broadband. Our extensive trial has clearly shown that our 'LTE Advanced-ready' network design, which leverages our deep spectrum with wide channels, can achieve far greater speeds and capacity than any other network that exists today. Clearwire is the only carrier with the unencumbered spectrum portfolio required to achieve this level of speed and capacity in the United States. In addition, the 2.5GHz spectrum band in which we operate is widely allocated worldwide for 4G deployments, enabling a potentially robust, cost effective and global ecosystem that could serve billions of devices. And, since we currently support millions of customers in the 2.5 GHz band, we know that our LTE network won't present harmful interference issues with GPS or other sensitive spectrum bands." No doubt, that closer there is a direct shot at the dilemmas faced by LightSquared -- a company that Sprint curiously just inked a partnership deal with. It's hard to envision how this unholy love triangle's going to play out, but the company's making it quite clear that its LTE network will be "LTE-Advanced-ready," enabling it to have a leg-up on the laggards here in the States. The dirty little secret in all of this is that Clearwire's still waiting on "additional funding" to fully implement its LTE desires, which involve the use of multicarrier, or multichannel, wideband radios that will be carrier aggregation capable. As you'd likely expect, the company closed with a restatement of its support to the existing WiMAX network, but it's practically a guarantee that you've seen the last expansion effort on that one. In case you've been looking the other way, Clearwire hasn't produced plans for a new WiMAX market in all of 2011. Now you know why.
Ericsson takes LTE-Advanced next-level, notches 1Gbps downloads in testing
Smirking as you pull down borderline-criminal speeds on your Droid Charge? Ericsson's doing you (at least) one better. The Swedish company is pushing out-of-this-stratosphere speeds to its testing van using upcoming LTE-Advanced technology; it managed to hit download speeds that exceed our paltry LTE limit by a factor of ten -- that's 1Gbps, folks. Not only is Ericsson cranking up the speed, it's also endeavoring to make the new network more efficient by offering 8x8 MIMO (Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output) functionality, which enables data to be retrieved and sent faster regardless of network congestion. Of course, these test results are taking advantage of 60MHz available bandwidth, as opposed to the global max of 20MHz and the US standard of 10 . If we'd like to see speeds of such magnitude, we'll have to come across more spectrum somewhere, and soon; Ericsson hopes to have the first phases of LTE-Advanced ready to bump up our network speeds by 2013. At that point, "faux G" will take on a whole new meaning, won't it? Full PR and video after the break.
NTT DoCoMo begins lightning fast LTE-Advanced field tests
LTE may only just be launching in countries like the US and Sweden, but NTT DoCoMo recently announced that it's starting to field test the better, faster, stronger LTE-Advanced. The Japanese carrier is experimenting with the new technology in the cities of Yokosuka and Sagamihara and gathering data to evaluate performance in indoor vs. outdoor environments. LTE-Advanced is backwards-compatible with NTT DoCoMo's existing LTE network, but reaches speeds up to 1Gbps down and 200Mbps up. No word on when the carrier plans to make the new technology available to its customers.
Korean researchers demonstrate LTE-Advanced in a custom RV, score 600Mbps downloads
We're just giddy like kids on the way to Disney World at the prospect of LTE and WiMAX sweeping like wildfire across the country, yet someone always has to come along and be a downer by showing off something even cooler. Those kids are the players at Korea's Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, the same folks who brought us a Body Area Network back in 2006 and this creepy looking koala. Now they're working on LTE-Advanced, the real true 4G that delivers 600Mbps downloads. That's six times what you can ever hope to expect from LTE and 40 times faster than 3G -- enough to download a 700MB file in 9.3 seconds or stream 3D HD footage on the go, a feat those crazy cats did in their rolling man cave shown above. Sadly we have no pictures of the thing on the outside, but we're seeing antennas. Lots of antennas. [Thanks, Andy]
ITU capitulates, admits that the term '4G' could apply to LTE, WiMAX, and 'evolved 3G technologies'
Though it's standing firm on the definition of its original 4G specification -- IMT-Advanced -- which only WiMAX 2 and LTE-Advanced are currently capable of meeting, the ITU is easing off its earlier rhetoric, admitting that the term "4G" realistically could apply "to the forerunners of these technologies, LTE and WiMAX, and to other evolved 3G technologies providing a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed." The whole dust-up started when carriers around the world deploying LTE and WiMAX networks (ahem, Sprint and Verizon) were throwing the "4G" term around very, very loosely -- and to their credit, the networks are indisputably a generation beyond CDMA2000 and UMTS / HSPA, so if anything, we'd fault the ITU for leaving today's modern networks without a generation to call their own. The "evolved 3G technologies" verbiage in the ITU's statement would seemingly even leave room for T-Mobile USA's claim that its 21Mbps HSPA+ network constitutes 4G... so yeah, score one for marketing campaigns. Of course, none of these carriers had ever planned to bow to the ITU's recommendations anyway, so the ruling has little practical relevance -- just know that the true 4G speeds are still a few years off. [Thanks, Nate]
ITU lays down law: WiMAX 2, LTE-Advanced are 4G, everyone else is a buster
Fleshing out what constitutes a 3G versus a 4G wireless technology is like trying to objectively quantify whether Coke or Pepsi is the superior beverage -- but for what it's worth, the UN's ITU is widely recognized as the closest thing we have to a final word (on the Gs, that is, not the colas). They've just issued a press release stating that of six technologies nominated for IMT-Advanced (the formal name for 4G) certification, just two have emerged victorious: 802.16m WiMAX 2 -- also known as WirelessMAN-Advanced -- and LTE-Advanced. That would leave Sprint, Verizon, and everyone else currently deploying WiMAX and LTE technically false in advertising their latest-generation services as "4G," though with so many technologies crowding the 3G space, we can't necessarily blame them; heck, even EDGE and CDMA2000 without EV-DO technically qualify as 3G in the eyes of the ITU, so yeah, the situation is really just as muddled as ever. For what it's worth, neither 802.16m nor LTE-Advanced are live anywhere in the world -- and they aren't expected to be for some time -- so whether you like it or not, the UN says you're still living a 3G existence no matter where you're located. So close! Follow the break for the ITU's release.
Europe sinks €18 million into LTE Advanced development
If your LTE modem's feeling a bit sluggish, well... first of all, we hate you for having access to that kind of network and equipment already. Secondly, you're insane. Thirdly, though, you're in luck -- because the European Union has just agreed to shell out some €18 million (about $25.4 million) toward development of LTE Advanced, the next logical step in the world's wide-area wireless roadmap. Negotiations for claiming the funds will start next month, while research is expected to commence in January of next year -- in other words, this labor isn't going to bear fruit for a while yet, but that's quite alright considering we don't exactly have a plethora of plain-vanilla LTE networks commercially available at the moment.
LTE, WiMAX vie for ITU's love and affection
The International Telecommunication Union's wireless division is getting ready to seal the deal on formal approval of its own official standard for 4G communication, officially dubbed IMT-Advanced, and the usual suspects are in the running to take the top prize. The folks behind LTE are submitting a modified version, LTE-Advanced (get it? because the ITU standard is IMT-Advanced!), while the WiMAX camp will come storming in with 802.16m. Pundits are looking at the standardization process as a clutch opportunity for the two to make nice and combine into a unified 4G force, but considering their relatively divergent development paths thus far, it seems like a pretty remote possibility -- not to mention the metal-on-metal clashing of corporate egos that'd undoubtedly tie things up into oblivion. [Via dailywireless.org]
