roaming
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FCC proposing data roaming rules, not interested in commonizing carriers
FCC chairman Julius Genachowski briefly mentioned data roaming at CTIA last week, but now he's telling Congress that action is inbound, to ensure rural carriers don't get left behind the rest of the cellular industry. You see, in 2007 the Commission mandated cheap roaming agreements for voice and messaging services to let regional carriers compete, but cellular data is what's important now and those existing agreements won't protect the Tiny Tims of telecom in a world of VoLTE anyhow. So, as he explains in a letter sent to members of the Senate and House, the chairman has come up with a set of rules, which will "incent potential roaming partners to come to the bargaining table to negotiate private commercial deals." "The draft order under consideration eschews a common carriage approach and leaves mobile service providers free to negotiate and determine, on a customer-by-customer basis, the commercially reasonable terms of data roaming agreements," reads another letter. Needless to say, we're looking forward to hearing how the FCC will encourage competition while still letting the big boys negotiate from their multi-billion-dollar spectrum holding positions.
Cricket ties up with LightSquared for LTE roaming agreement
Throwing a little caution to the wind over brewing GPS interference concerns, Cricket -- the CDMA budget carrier that specializes in contract-free plans -- has hooked up with LightSquared to deliver additional LTE service through a roaming agreement that'll supplement its own rollout "over the next few years. " All told, the moves should bring it up to technological speed with archrival MetroPCS, which deployed LTE last year (beating Verizon to market, actually) and currently has a pair of Samsung-sourced handsets on the market to take advantage of it. For LightSquared's part, this is exactly the type of deal they've been looking to ink: the company has expressed no interest in lighting up a retail-facing carrier of its own, instead offering wholesale LTE deals to other carriers -- like, say, Cricket -- who don't necessarily have the spectrum, the time, or the budget to roll out 4G in earnest. Follow the break for LightSquared's press release. [Thanks, Mark]
Sprint losing on-network coverage in parts of Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming
If you're in the magnificent boondocks of North America and you're on Sprint, you're going to have to start to be a little more careful with your voice and data usage -- in fact, if you live in parts of North Dakota, Wyoming, or Montana, you might be forced to consider a carrier change on news that some swaths of on-network footprint are changing to roaming coverage on March 1st. The move is said to be a result of Verizon's divestiture of certain ex-Alltel markets to AT&T, and it means that if you're on Sprint and you use more than 800 voice minutes (or half your plan) in the new roaming areas in a month, the carrier's liable to suspend you; similarly, you won't be able to exceed 300MB of data. Certain device and plan features don't work in roaming areas, either -- Sprint details them on its FAQ page about the change -- so if you live in those parts, you might need to look at moving to greener pastures. [Thanks, Kenneth L.]
Sprint hammers out WiMAX roaming agreements in Taiwan, Jamaica
Most of us our still concerned with getting good 4G coverage domestically, much less internationally, but Sprint's taking things to the next level for globetrotters by hammering out a couple global roaming agreements for users of its WiMAX modems. The carrier has inked new deals with Jamaica's Digicel and Taiwan's Global Mobile that will allow travelers to sign up for 24-hour passes -- but as with any international roaming situation, pricing is the tricky part, and Sprint's yet to announce how that's going to play out here. Devices using the Sprint SmartView Connection Manager software are compatible, meaning the 250U and U600 modems are on board; an exact launch date is yet to be determined, unfortunately, so if you're a subscriber with a trip to either of those countries in the next few days, our deepest condolences. Follow the break for the full press release.
Spain, Portugal vow to kill off roaming fees
The European Union has been trying to put a tight lid on roaming charges between its member nations for some time (just imagine if you paid roaming fees on interstate travel, Americans!), but it's been slow going -- though there are new per-minute caps in place this year, the fact that the concept of roaming exists at all, particularly when only a handful of companies control all of Europe's wireless landscape, is a little crazy. Well, Europeans, we might recommend using your friends in Spain and Portugal as shining examples of how you can live in a roaming-free future, because the friendly neighbors have agreed in principle to eliminate roaming charges as part of a broader plan to improve Spanish-Portuguese trade. Details have yet to be hammered out -- and therefore, affected carriers aren't yet commenting -- but if this works well, we can only hope the love will spread Europe-wide on the double.
T-Mobile says it couldn't reach a 3G roaming deal with AT&T, AT&T says otherwise
There's a pretty hilarious conversation going on between execs at AT&T and T-Mobile USA's lawyers right now in arguments being made with the FCC as the commission debates data roaming policies -- we don't think it means much in practical terms, but it's a good read nonetheless. In brief, T-Mobile casts the first stone by saying that it "has not been able to achieve a 3G roaming agreement with AT&T" despite the fact that AT&T has established agreements with a number of foreign carriers. AT&T wastes no time firing back a response, saying that it isn't aware of any request to establish such an agreement... and here's where it gets good: they politely remind T-Mobile that the two carriers operate on incompatible 3G spectrum, and therefore AT&T doesn't "have a current desire" to set anything up, but if T-Mobile really wants something, they'll be more than happy to amend their current agreement as such. We suspect this is probably all a misunderstanding on several levels -- T-Mobile's initial argument was filed not by a T-Mobile employee, but by one of its lawyers, and it's entirely reasonable to think that the lawyer didn't realize they had no agreement simply because of the incompatibility (AT&T uses 850 / 1900MHz, T-Mobile uses AWS). Drama!
Cricket's 3G data roaming goes live
Regional value brand Cricket has really been upping its smartphone street cred lately -- and as such, data's becoming more of a priority. To that end, they'd announced a new 3G data roaming deal in August... and that deal is now live, instantly expanding Cricket's high-speed footprint from around 92 million individuals up to 280 million. That's a big expansion -- the kind of instant expansion that only a partnership with one of the big guys can net you -- and it should make Cricket a whole lot more appealing now that one of its biggest downsides has been eliminated. Of course, we're sure that spending the majority of your time in roaming territory will still get you into trouble, but it's something. Follow the break for Crickets' press release.
Clearwire starts selling roaming WiMAX Day Passes in US and Japan, unlimited data awaits
Got some Intel-powered WiMAX equipment, a Clear subscription, and a yearning to spend some time in Japan? Then we've got great news for you, sailor! Clearwire has just hooked up with UQ to provide Day Passes over in the land of earthquakes and sushi. These act as one-day roaming permits for your WiMAX needs, furnishing you with unlimited 4G access and costing a measly ¥600 ($7) a pop. So basically, it's the Clear Rover gone international. Clearwire's also talking business with other global partners and the ultimate idea seems to be for it to hook up with all the big WiMAX purveyors and set up an affordable 4G roaming network for its internationally minded customers. The full press release awaits after the break.
Researchers propose 'roaming' charging stations to keep electric cars powered
No, we're not talking about robotic charging stations that roam the highways and recharge your car without even stopping (sadly), but a new system proposed Zafer Sahinoglu and his colleagues at the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories in Cambridge, Massachusetts may just help to fill in some of the gaps on the road. While exact specifics are a bit light, the basic idea is to have a series of "roaming" chargers that would be charged up at night and moved around based on demand -- demand that would be determined by sensors in electric vehicles, which would report their findings back to a central operations center. According to Sahinoglu, you'd only need five charging stations to cover 100 electric cars on a 100-kilometer stretch of highway, so it would seemingly be a quick and relatively inexpensive way to cover a large area -- assuming you can find an efficient way to actually move the chargers around. Look for more details to be announced at the Vehicular Technology Conference in Ottawa next week.
European limits on roaming charges go into effect today
Roaming gouging has been an ongoing issue in Europe for some time -- an issue EU officials have been looking to solve as of late -- and a big step in capping that garbage goes into effect as of today, July 1. Data roaming will now be automatically cut off by law when a user's roaming bill breaks the €50 ($62) mark, though users can call their carrier to set up an alternative cap if they're going to need more (or less). The maximum charges for voice roaming is also falling, with outgoing calls dropping to €0.39 from €0.43 per minute and incoming calls hitting €0.15 from €0.19 previously. It's still not cheap, but considering how easy it is to get from London to Paris to Vienna and back, it's a critical start.
Navoto urges you to wait, buy a Skype GSM adapter instead of paying roaming fees
The Qool SkyQube² was apparently an idea ahead of its time. Four years ago, the small, rounded box promised to bridge the worlds of cheap VoIP telephony and pricy GSM roaming by automatically routing international calls through Skype, but after CES 2007, we never saw the device again. Until now, of course. Skype Journal reports that SkyQube has become the Navoto, and its original creator has built a firm called UGI Telecom to introduce it to market quite soon at an undisclosed price. Near as we can tell, the basic functionality is as complex as ever, requiring a SIM card swap and an always-on PC to do the heavy lifting, while the Navoto itself simply directs landline and 3G calls to SkypeOut. When that glorious day comes that all carriers let you do this on a smartphone, this device will quickly become obsolete, but for now we could see some falling for UGI's ludicrous infomercials (videos after the break) to avoid receiving a gigantic roaming bill. Hit our more coverage links for the photos and diagrams required to understand how it all works.
Is Amazon hiring devs to build a robust web browser for Kindle?
Are you a software dev with a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science, familiarity with current Web standards, and experience with browser engines, Linux on embedded devices, and Java? If so, do we have the job for you. Lab126, the group at Amazon responsible for the Kindle, wants you to help "conceive, design, and bring to market" a new embedded browser on a Linux device. Might this be a sign that the company is ready to start taking web browsing on the e-reader seriously? We don't know, but it sure sparked some interesting discussion over at All Things Digital. As Peter Kafka points out, a decent browser for the thing is pretty much a no-brainer in light of the Apple iPad. On the other hand, the idea of a robust browser on the Kindle has its own complications. What about subscription content like the New York Times -- why would anyone pay for something that's available for free on the web, if you're using the same device to view both? And what about all that new data traffic? Surely AT&T will have something to say about that. Of course, we've been hearing enough scuttlebutt about a mysterious next-gen device being developed at Amazon that perhaps this has nothing to do with the Kindle whatsoever. Who knows? These are all questions that will have to be answered sooner or later, but in the meantime we can say with some certainty that E ink is definitely not the best way to troll 4chan.
T-Mobile relaxes SIM unlock policies
If you're on T-Mobile USA and hop across the pond here and there, good news, as your carrier of choice has decided to reduce some of the restrictions it has on proving unlock info to its customers. In case you've never looked into this before and travel overseas, the benefit here is you'll be able to pick up a local SIM and use it in your phone saving yourself beaucoup dollars in both data and voice -- though of course your home number, unless forwarded, won't work. Currently FlexPay, PostPaid, and prepaid -- provided you've had a balance of at least $10 and have refilled in the last month -- customers can get themselves unlocked after 90 days of service, the new rules will see FlexPay and PostPaid users able to get this sorted in 40 days and prepaid in 60. So, if your account is in good standing -- no past due balances and such -- why not make the call, it is free, and if nothing else makes for super conversation at just about any dinner party we've ever been to.
International Kindle won't let you use terrible web browser overseas
Amazon got the world's attention when it announced a $279 International version of its heralded Kindle, but if you thought you'd be able to roam globally and really put it to AT&T, think again. Wired has noticed that the fine print explains that accessing blogs and the experimental web browser won't be allowed overseas, though even Americans are cautioned against using the Kindle's browser unless smoke signals and morse code have already failed you. In related news, all International Kindles will ship with US power plugs from a US warehouse, so folks in Europe will need to factor in import fees as well as some sort of power adapter. Ah well, at least you guys get universal healthcare.
Clearwire eyes global WiMAX roaming agreement, Kanye blurts out: 'LTE is better!'
Pinky and the Brain were consulted, and you can rest assured they were both highly supportive of Clearwire's latest initiative. Announced today in cooperation with Russia's Yota and Japan's UQ Communications, Clearwire has banged out a memorandum of understanding with the aforesaid WiMAX carriers that "identifies the objectives and activities each operator will perform towards the realization of establishing WiMAX roaming between the [two]." With translators in tow, the trio are hoping to define and institute the necessary processes that'll ensure devices from each carrier works on the other's network, and while American's probably couldn't care less about these two operators in particular, it's the thought that counts. Just imagine -- 4G global roaming at a decent price point. That, friends, is the future.
Bell signs HSPA roaming agreement with AT&T
Networks in the GSMA's technology path have an easier time roaming around the world (whether pricing is easy on the wallet is another story altogether) -- but naturally, you've got to have the roaming agreements in place to make the globetrotting a reality. Up in Canada, Bell's wasting now time getting those deals lined up so that customers are good to go the moment it flips the switch and lights up its brand-spanking-new HSPA network as it makes the transition from CDMA; specifically, it's announced during its second quarter earnings call that it has hooked up with AT&T for a symbiotic relationship that'll let Bell customers roam on AT&T's network and vice versa. Interestingly, the agreement allows Bell's phones to roam both on HSPA and legacy GSM in the States while AT&T customers will be strictly HSPA when they're on Bell, reinforcing two things: one, Bell's likely lined up to be North America's first commercial UMTS network without legacy compatibility, and two, Bell's phones -- at least some of them -- will rock GSM / EDGE for use abroad (we should certainly hope so). [Via MobileSyrup]
Verizon keeps buttering up the feds, supports law requiring it to provide more roaming
Rural and regional carriers have been looking for the FCC to bring down the hammer on compulsory roaming from the big players for years now, and in light of the recent investigations into potential anti-competitive practices, Verizon's throwing yet another bone in an apparent effort to be on its best behavior while the scrutiny continues. This time around, the company is proposing that a law be put in effect requiring it to offer smaller carriers two years of guaranteed roaming contracts in areas where those smaller carriers own spectrum but haven't yet built out their network, with certain situations entitling them to a third year. The regionals weren't happy with the handset exclusivity compromise and they don't appear to be happy with this deal, either -- Leap, owner of Cricket, has already come out and complained that Verizon need roaming contracts "over two decades as it built out its network and acquired competitors" and is only offering a couple years in return, so this battle may be far from over.[Via Phone Scoop]
International iPhone users: bringing your iPhone to the States? Your options are limited.
The iPhone seems like it should be the perfect companion for the international traveler. Not only can it make phone calls in pretty much any country, it can also help keep you entertained on long flights. You can even use it to hold your flight itinerary and other important info like hotel and car reservations. But if you're an international iPhone owner and you were planning on using the device to its fullest potential during your trip to the United States, such as keeping track of e-mail, surfing the Internet, checking weather, getting driving directions, or even making cheap phone calls, then I have some very shocking news for you, delivered courtesy of everyone's favorite telecommunications conglomerate, AT&T. Before a recent vacation to visit with family in the US, I decided that instead of paying for international roaming rates that are tantamount to armed robbery (US$2.42 a minute for phone calls and up to US$19 per megabyte of data -- totally not kidding), I'd instead perform a trick that savvy international travelers have pulled for years: upon arriving in the States, I'd visit an AT&T store, purchase a SIM and pre-paid plan from them, and reap the benefits of far lower charges for voice calls. Though I'd still suffer exorbitant data rates, I was aware beforehand that the lovely folks at AT&T had already discontinued pre-paid data plans for the iPhone. Still, at least I'd be able to make cheaper calls to my family if necessary; or so I thought.
Vodafone murders roaming charges in cold blood -- for the summer, anyway
Who needs cheap roaming when you've got free roaming? It's funny how much crap the GSMA has given the European Union over its law-bound roaming caps for carriers, only to have Vodafone UK turn around and wipe roaming charges off the map altogether. From June 1 through August 31, subscribers who opt into the carrier's Vodafone Passport service pay home rates for voice calls from 35 European countries plus Australia and New Zealand; afterwards, they'll pay 75p to connect, which still seems reasonable if you make a few very long, droning calls (say, boring but obligatory corporate teleconferences). Unfortunately, data roaming's still more expensive than it should be -- but we suppose you could try doing some HSCSD if you were the enterprising type. [Via MobileBurn]
European roaming caps finalized for July 1 enforcement
The EU's latest proposal to cap roaming costs among its member nations on a tiered multi-year plan passed with flying colors before Parliament this week, meaning the deal goes into law effective July 1. There's a lot of push-back on this one from the GSMA -- makes sense, considering they represent carriers -- and concern that affected carriers will respond by simply raising domestic rates to counterbalance the lost revenue, but ultimately, it seems the powers that be are rolling the bones in the hopes that this works out in consumers' best interests. Telecoms commish Viviane Reding says roaming texts could drop in cost by a solid 60 percent, so yeah, we'd say that's a win.
