Tmo News says T-Mobile is set to make a alter to their lowest data program by removing the throttling and returning to overage charges. Previously their policy has been to ratchet service down to slow, dial-up speed when users went over their monthly allotment.
This represents a significant shift in T-Mobile’s information policy even if it only affects the lowest cost providing, says Tmo News.
T-Mobile’s information strategy provides you up to two GB of monthly high-speed mobile broadband access via the T-Mobile wireless network, for frequent access for surfing or e-mail. Also includes unlimited Web access via Wi-Fi at T-Mobile HotSpots (available in thousands of locations nationwide—coffee shops, airports, hotels, etc.). If the monthly 2 GB limit is exceeded, data speeds could be decreased.
T-Mobile notes that the 200MB feature has exceeded T-Mobile’s expectations so “in order to remain competitive” and continue to supply the rate program it will be grandfathered as of August 13th.
An overage charge of $ .10 per MB will be assessed upon exceeding the 200MB limit with a maximum overage charge of $ 30 allowed on the Classic Plans versus a maximum overage charge of $ 35 on Value plans. Customers will obtain a warning when they hit 180MB along with a 200MB alerting them to change the data strategy to a greater offering or incur overage charges.
During a conference call with analysts, Clayton said the business’s long-term plans could contain further acquisitions, partnerships and the divestiture of nonstrategic assets. He replaced Dish chairman Charlie Ergen as CEO in June.
“With Charlie Ergen’s recent asset acquisitions, I believe that Dish will have a important role in the evolving globe of wireless communications,” Clayton said.
Ergen has spent billions of dollars acquiring the assets of defunk satellite providers ICO and TerreStar, both of which present 20 MHz of spectrum on the two GHz MSS band. Analysts have wondered no matter whether Ergen planned to resell the spectrum or leverage the asset to launch mobile broadband service via a partnership with a wireless carrier.
Dish may be leaning toward the latter, says the Denver Post. Clayton says the company “is systematically creating the creating blocks that will aid shape the future of our firm and the wireless industry.”
“We will maintain our options open,” he added.
Dish reported Tuesday that it lost 135,000 net subscribers in the second quarter, ending June with 14.1 million. The firm blamed subscriber declines on the sluggish economy and aggressive marketing and promotions from competitors.
When asked if DISH would reveal its method as soon as the Sprint announcement on October 7, DISH cautioned that they “wouldn’t expect anything in the near term.”
Therefore it seems that with LightSquared now left hanging, and the stock rates of Sprint, MetroPCS and Leap all suffering badly following their Q2 outcomes, DISH is in an increasingly powerful position, and could want to take far more time to obtain the greatest probable terms for the partnerships required for its wireless technique.
LightSquared outlined their answer to the problem of interference with GPS receivers. Early test results indicated that one of LightSquared’s 10MHz blocks of frequencies poses interference to numerous GPS receivers. LightSquared planned to use that block for their initial launch of its nationwide wireless broadband network.
Now LightSquared says they’ll use another 10MHz block of the spectrum, located further away from the GPS frequenciese. In its original strategy, LightSquared planned to move into this other frequency block, controlled by Inmarsat, as its company grew over the subsequent two to three years.
Bottom line: Verizon and AT&T want spectrum and would most likely be willing pay top dollar for spectrum owned by Dish Networks. The 19 MHz of AWS spectrum owned by cable operators (still unused) would be an additional alternative on that brief list.
Dish Networks and DirecTV might need some type of “wireless cable” partnership. Sprint would be the obvious choice because the firm doesn’t have a competing cable offering, such as FiOS or Uverse, and the company supplies virtual operator services.
Nokia will exit Symbian and low-finish telephone businesses in North America, says the Wall Street Journal. The company will put all its muscle into Windows Phone in the United States and Canada, reports Ina Fried.
In an interview with AllThingsD, the head of Nokia’s U.S. subsidiary said that the business will also focus exclusively on sales by way of conventional wireless carriers.
“When we launch Windows Phones we will basically be out of the Symbian company, the S40 business, and so on., ” Nokia President Chris Weber stated in the interview. “It will be Windows Phone and the accessories about that. The reality is if we are not profitable with Windows Telephone, it does not matter what we do (elsewhere).”
Lightning in Dublin knocked out Amazon and Microsoft Data Centers, reports Data Center Expertise. Amazon said that lightning struck a transformer near its data center, causing an explosion and fire that knocked out utility service and left it unable to start its generators. Microsoft said that the Dublin data center’s utility power was similarly struck by lightning with power restored at 03:10 AM PST Monday and the information center “has returned to normal operating conditions.”
Microsoft’s video offers “a deeper look at how Microsoft utilizes secure, dependable, scalable and effective very best practices to deliver over 200 cloud services to much more than a billion clients and 20 million businesses in over 70 countries.”
Originally developed to residence the printing presses for the Sears Catalog, the creating was converted to telecom use in 1999, and these days it is the nerve center for Chicago’s commodity markets, housing information centers for monetary firms attracted by the peering and connectivity providers among the 70 tenants.
3 electric power feeds offer the developing with a lot more than 100 megawatts of power.
Some 39% say they haven’t taken any precautions to avoid someone from misusing information on their cell phone if it were lost or stolen. That compares to 30% of BlackBerry owners and 26% of iPhone owners who say the very same:
Much more than six in ten BlackBerry owners (62%) and iPhone owners (61%) say their mobile phones are protected via password, compared with 49% of Android owners who say the identical. A lot more than one-third of on the web adults (36%) say they have dropped their mobile telephone in a toilet or know a person who has accomplished so.
Geographic study from mobile ad network Jumptap shows California, Texas and Florida skew toward Android, although New England and Midwest states, including Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, swing toward iOS. Jumptap’s U.S. mobile map also shows that BlackBerry is dominant in a handful of states, including New York.
Verizon has come a long techniques in eight months – but its LTE growth could hit a brick wall when it runs out of capacity. Sprint, in contrast, has spectrum to burn.
According to Cisco’s Visual Networking Index, North American mobile data visitors will grow 20-fold from 2010 to 2015, a compound annual growth rate of 82%. Mobile data targeted traffic in 2015 will be equivalent to 2x the volume of the entire North American Web in 2005, says Cisco.
There’s not considerably spectrum accessible for LTE. It could be years until new spectrum in the television band comes available. Tiny 10-15 MHz slices among 2-three GHz may also become available. Meanwhile, it’s crunch time.
Lets’ assessment the current spectrum available to carriers in the United States:
AT&T Mobility:
The 2nd largest carrier in the United States plans to piece together 700 MHz licenses for LTE service, but their spectrum footprint is not nationwide. Presently AT&T’s LTE service is only obtainable in 4 metropolitan areas. They won smaller A & B licenses (5MHz x 2) for LTE in the 700MHz band. That means their LTE service is much more regional and nearby. They don’t have blanket, nationwide coverage on 700 MHz because only the “C Block” provided that – and Verizon grabbed that. AT&T plans to use HSPA on the AWS band (1.7/2.1 GHz) that it at present is not using. AT&T plans to gang their (5MHz x two) AWS frequencies together with their 700 MHz frequencies. AT&T also hopes to make use of any unused T-Mobile AWS frequencies for double fun using HSPA+. AT&T likes to call their HSPA+ G” even when they use 5MHz wide channels. Bottom line: AT&T has unused AWS frequences and spotty 700 MHz frequencies. Their present headroom for expansion seems limited possibly 10-30 Mhz.
T-Mobile USA:
T-Mobile, the 4th largest carrier in the US, is employing most of their AWS spectrum already. They use PCS frequencies (1.9 GHz) mostly for voice and their AWS frequencies (1.7/two.1 GHz) mostly for HSPA+. AT&T says its proposed merger with T-Mobile will enable them to offer much more 4G in far more locations. But T-Mobile is already deploying HSPA+ which gangs two AWS bands together for double the spectrum (10MHz x 2). They don’t have much spectrum to spare. A merger with AT&T would mostly save funds on towers and could even be regressive if HSPA+ is expanded. Bottom line: T-Mobile has very small unused AWS frequences and no LTE plans. Their spectrum headroom is about nill.
Verizon Wireless:
The number 1 carrier in the United States paid almost $ 10 billion for 20 MHz (10MHz x 2) of nationwide 700 MHz coverage. Their coast-to-coast LTE service has been widely praised for superior performance. Verizon’s pioneering good results with LTE has a downside, nonetheless – exactly where do they go from here. Verizon has extremely small AWS spectrum and will most likely have to wait until further spectrum is obtainable prior to it can expand their LTE service.
Sprint-Nextel:
The 3rd largest carrier in the United States was widely derided for purchasing Nextel 6-7 years ago. Whilst the deal was a disaster on the books, the firm acquired huge chunks of 2.6 GHz spectrum and Nextel’s 800 MHz spectrum. Right now Sprint-Nextel owns about half of Clearwire and some 150 MHz in the 4G globe band at 2.6 GHz. Bottom line: Sprint-Nextel has no spectrum worries. Their spectrum headroom is practically unlimited.
Prepaid providers, such as Leap Wireless , MetroPCS and U.S. Cellular also own AWS spectrum. They would most likely be bought by Verizon if the AT&T/T-Mobile deal goes via since Verizon has a lot more cash.
T-Mobile and Verizon may have the most need to have for spectrum. T-Mobile could merge with AT&T, but it wouldn’t add new spectrum, they’ll just manage it far more efficiently. If AT&T expands HSPA+ rather than move to LTE it could really be a step backward. The Verizon/AT&T duopoly could maintain costs artificially high, lowering the want for spectrum.
Verizon’s 700 MHz LTE service has been a huge success. Their 700 MHz towers cover 2-3 times the radius of PCS at 1.9 GHz. That’s 9 times the possible subscribers per tower. Verizon’s LTE service on 700 MHz will soon reach capacity.
T-Mobile has activated their AWS spectrum for HSPA+ service, nationwide. AT&T and Verizon, in contrast, paid a lot more than $ four billion for their AWS spectrum. Spectrum that remains untouched.
Verizon Wireless spent $ 2.8 billion for (currently unused) AWS frequencies and $ 9.36B for 700 Mhz — but at least they are making use of their 700MHz frequencies.
Cable operators spent $ two.four billion for (at present unused) AWS frequencies. Comcast and Time Warner then invested billions in Clear’s Mobile WiMAX frequencies at 2.6 GHz, which they are now employing rather of their AWS spectrum. Cable operators are sitting on $ two.4B in AWS spectrum – just speculating the cost will appreciate. Buyers be damned.
By deduction, it appears like there could be a huge fight over two spectrum bands:
Dish Network’s 2.1 GHz spectrum for terrestrial LTE totals 20-40 MHz. Verizon doesn’t like to be a wholesale virtual operator. Dish may possibly get an offer they can’t refuse.
Cable’s unused AWS frequencies. Cable operators spent $ two.four billion for AWS frequencies they are currently sitting on. Do I hear $ five billion?
Will Charlie Ergen turn down a suitcase of income from Verizon? Will cable operators get in bed with a mobile operator? Will the marriage in between AT&T and T-Mobile be declared legal?
Flash Player has usually been Adobe’s answer for fancy graphics on the Internet. It’s a browser plug-in installed nearly universally on computers and enables animated games and streaming video on different browsers. But Apple barred Flash outright on its iPhone and iPads and the proprietary extensions had been frequently sluggish.
HTML-five is the new HTML standard that incorporates HTML, CSS and JavaScript. It’s supported by Opera, Mozilla, Apple, Google, and Microsoft.
Adobe’s Edge item is designed about HTML-five, for playing on Android, Apple, BlackBerry Playbook, HP webOS and other smartphone mobile devices, as properly as Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari and World wide web Explorer 9 browsers.
HTML5 lets people add animation with CSS control by means of JavaScript. For example, when a person loads a Internet page developed with Edge, text and graphics elements can gradually slide into view. Here are some samples.
This version of Edge focuses primarily on adding rich motion design:.
Produce new compositions with Edge’s drawing and text tools.
Import well-known web graphics such as SVG, PNG, JPG or GIF files.
Easily choreograph animation with the timeline editor.
Energize existing HTML files with motion, although preserving the integrity of CSS-based HTML layouts.
Copy and paste transitions, invert them, and pick from over 25 built-in easing effects for added creativity.
Edge features support for Canvas, an HTML5 normal for 2D drawing surface for graphics, in particular combined with SVG animation. Adobe aims to make it simpler, controlling how events take place by using a timeline that triggers different actions. As new versions arrive, far more characteristics will be added, and Adobe plans to start selling the completed version of Edge in 2012.
Ian Hickson, editor of the HTML5 specification, expects the specification to reach the Candidate Recommendation stage for the duration of 2012, according to Wikipedia.
E-Pub3, the newest version of the cross-platform e-book standard, also supports HTML-five, and is likely to result in a lot more multi-media ebooks as properly as internet pages.
Regulators across Europe are auctioning spectrum this year in the the 800MHz Digital Dividend spectrum and at the two.6GHz frequency. Norway, Finland and Sweden auctioned their spectrum in 2007, 2008 and 2009 respectively, although Germany, Denmark, and Austria held auctions in 2010. France, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland and Belgium are all expected to have spectrum auctions this year.
The Digital Divide Spectrum is the spectrum freed up by the transition to digital tv, given that it requirements less spectrum. In Europe, it is from 174 to 230 MHz (VHF) and from 470 to 862 MHz (UHF). Even so, the location and size of digital dividend vary among countries. Most carriers program to use LTE on the new spectrum.
The auction raised €1.65 billion (US$ 2.37 billion), above the minimum needed but brief of the €2 billion ($ two.87 billion) the Spanish government had hoped for. Vodafone España won 60MHz of spectrum in the 800MHz and two.6GHz bands, for which it will pay €518 million,
and says it will launch LTE in rural as properly as urban locations.
The operator, also recognized as Vodafone Spain, is paying €518 million (US$ 744 million) for 20MHz (two x 10MHz) in the 800MHz band, which will become accessible in 2014 when the switch from analog to digital Television is completed in Spain, and 40MHz (2 x 20MHz) in the 2.6GHz band, which is offered quickly.
Vodafone Spain, which has 17.35 million buyers, says it has also been given permission to “re-farm” some of its 900MHz spectrum, which was initially issued for GSM services, for 3G and, as a result, intends to extend its 3G services into rural locations prior to the finish of this year.
Meanwhile, France launched their LTE spectrum process earlier this month. Operators have until September to submit their bids. Greater-finish two.6GHz spectrum will be divided into four lots and awarded in October, whilst the desirable 800MHz band will be split into 14 lots before being allocated in 2012.
Bidders in the 800MHz band will be obliged to cover 98 per cent of the population within 12 years.
The UK’s analogue tv signals are being switched off, region by region, among 2008 and 2012. In principle, this indicates that all 368MHz may well be obtainable for new uses, but it was previously decided by the Government that 256MHz of the 368MHz need to be employed for digital terrestrial tv (DTT). This digital broadcasting will be provided by six multiplexes, every single of which can carry a number of television channels and some other services.
This decision allowed digital terrestrial tv to expand its coverage – to match that of analogue, at 98.5% of the population and its capacity – to about 10 times that of analogue in most of the nation, and around 5 times elsewhere.
At the same time, digital switchover will allow the remaining spectrum – 112MHz – to be released for new uses. It is this 112MHz that forms the core of the ‘digital dividend’.
The U.S. 700MHz auctions in 2008 raised a total of $ 19.6 billion dollars, with the 10 MHz “D-block” spectrum remaining unsold. AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless accounted for $ 16.3 billion of the $ 19.6 billion of the 700 MHz bids.
Europe left 50 MHz in the middle of the 2.6 GHz spectrum, thinking that unpaired WiMAX would most likely use that space. But CEPT carriers lobbied against it.
Now, with unpaired LTE (TD-LTE) finding powerful support from China and India, the market might be shifting again. The prospective of TD-LTE to save spectrum — especially when utilizing subsequent generation LTE Advanced with 20 MHz channels — is significant. Carriers could coordinate their approach to LTE for global roaming — or lock out competitors.
But two of the largest mobile carriers in the world, China Mobile (600 million subs) and Bharti Airtel (208 million subs), are TD-LTE supporters. Their support may support make the unpaired frequency band a lot more competitive.
Developers can write their app when and deploy it to six significant mobile platforms and app stores, including iOS, Android, BlackBerry, webOS, Bada and Symbian.
The open source code is downloaded approximately 40,000 times each and every month, more than 600,000 times in total. Today’s major release puts the focus on accessing native device APIs, which is new ground for the internet, says the organization. The plugin development procedure has also been simplified.
“Most of these new enhancements come from our community,” mentioned Brian LeRoux, Senior Software program Engineer at Nitobi and PhoneGap evangelist. A team of senior software program engineers at IBM has been a main benefit. Other contributors contain Adobe, which integrated PhoneGap into Dreamweaver so that developers can package apps with PhoneGap and launch iOS and Android emulators directly from within Dreamweaver. Other people include Alcatel-Lucent, Sabre, Cisco, Logitech and Time Warner.
In related news, Alibaba is launching its mobile platform, Aliyun, for China on the K-Touch W700 handset later this month. The Aliyun platform focuses on cloud-based, internet applications but is also “fully compatible” with Google Android apps. Alibaba will complement each handset with 100 GB of information storage on its AliCloud service. China, the world’s largest mobile phone marketplace, has almost 907 million mobile subscribers, according to statistics supplied by the 3 leading telcos in June.
With this agreement, LightSquared can total its 4G-LTE deployment a lot more than one year ahead of the FCC mandate to cover 260 million Americans by 2015, and Lightsquared won’t have to build and run the network. That’s Sprint’s job.
A 3G nationwide roaming agreement with Sprint will enable LightSquared’s wholesale consumers to offer combined 4G/3G data services as soon as LightSquared launches its first 4G markets in 2012.
Sprint receives approximately $ 4.5 billion in 4G-LTE and satellite purchase credits from LightSquared offering Sprint with a price-successful alternative for LTE services, if Sprint chooses to incorporate L-Band into their 4G offering.
The 4G-LTE network will now be deployed very first in major U.S. markets in 2H 2012 and early 2013 giving LightSquared’s wholesale clients considerable selling opportunities in the largest markets for wireless broadband services.
LightSquared is also executing plans to make LTE services available in underserved rural markets via announced offers with Open Range, Cellular South and SI Wireless.
LightSquared says they now have all of the components in place to operate an integrated 4G-LTE wireless broadband and satellite network.
LightSquared has come under fire for possible GPS interference troubles, and mentioned it would launch 4G LTE services “only when there is a comprehensive solution in location.”
LightSquared has now moved their 1.6 GHz service to a 10 MHz slice of spectrum further from GPS. They’re making use of frequencies they acquired from a joint agreement from Inmarsat. Lightsquared says it resolves the GPS interference issue for 99.5% of all commercial GPS devices. But Inmarsat might have current users on that spectrum, so when that spectrum slice can in fact be used has still not been created quite clear by either Inmarsat or Lightsquared. Not to mention the FCC.
Sprint made no mention of the Clear network. Sprint owns about half of the nationwide WiMAX network, which now covers about 130 million individuals. Sprint, an early supporter of WiMax, might now have an LTE selection on 1.6 GHz. Most observers think Sprint will soon drop the other shoe and announce LTE on their two.6 GHz spectrum, as well.
Sprint has already pledged $ five billion to upgrade its network over the next 3 to five years. Sprint’s Network Vision brings together Nextel’s 800 MHz service, Sprint’s 1.9 MHz PCS cellular service, and Clearwire’s two.6GHz 4G service on 1 tower. Lightsquared would likely be a portion of this “Network Vision” as nicely. It ought to lower Sprint’s operational costs, particularly when Nextel’s 800 MHz iDEN service moves to Sprint’s push-to-speak CDMA. Sprint’s tower density is pretty high since it relies on PCS frequencies.
An LTE switchout has often been an selection for partner Clearwire given that its inception. The incremental price for an LTE swapout isn’t considerably and dual mode (WiMAX/LTE) client support is now offered.
Venture Beat says the deal suggests Sprint will likely move broadband customers to LightSquared 4G from its current Clearwire-backed WiMax 4G. But that wouldn’t make sense. Lightsquared’s narrow 10 MHz of LTE spectrum is still in dispute over availability and interference issues and their spectrum is restricted.
Charlie Ergen’s two GHz satellite phone networks, TerreStar and ICO/DBSD, could also be a tenant for terrestrial LTE service. Ergen’s two GHz band wouldn’t have the interference issues.
Verizon’s LTE service at 700MHz utilizes two 10 MHz channels and gives much better coverage, and AT&T is piecing together a 700 MHz LTE network employing two adjoining spectrum bands to generate comparable bandwidth. Verizon’s 4G network now reaches 160 million possible consumers, pulling ahead of Clearwire’s 130 million. Clearwire reported 4.86 million total wholesale subs in the very first quarter.
The deal is not about quick speed. Lightsquared’s LTE service – if it is approved – will likely be restrained with restricted spectrum, coverage and GPS interference issues.
The service could be useful, nonetheless, for initial responders and public service agencies. Like the still-born AT&T/TerreStar phone (above), a Lightsquared/Sprint phone could provide (inexpensive) cellular service in urban areas and switch to satellite service when out of service locations.
LightSquared says it will support existing Push To Speak kit, which utilizes the 2 GHz TerreStar 1 satellite, from TerreStar (now owned by Charlie Ergen) until at least 2014, but will replace all the customer kit “at no cost”, with devices using its new bird, SkyTerra 1 on Lightsquared’s 1.6 GHz service.
Lightsquared’s terrestrial 1.6 GHz service might have more range then Sprint’s 2.6 GHz service, but not if Lightsquared has to lower its energy. Lightsquared’s LTE service seems unlikely to offer quicker speeds or less expensive rates than AT&T or Verizon.
In an effort to make satellite telephone businesses far more solvent, the FCC allowed Lightsquared to use their frequencies terrestrially. This spurred LightSquared backer Harbinger Partners to propose a nationwide terrestrial LTE network employing their “free” frequencies. Despite the fact that Lightsquared didn’t have to obtain their spectrum, they still had to create a terrestrial network.
Verizon spent nearly $ 10 billion on their 700 MHz spectrum — excluding the costs to build their network. Lightsquared’s space segment cost some thing like $ 1 billion for two high capacity satellites with ground controllers, but developing and operating a terrestrial network from scratch can cost well over $ 10 billion. At 1.6 GHz, that’s a lot of towers. Sprint already had them in location. Sprint also supplies Virtual Network Operator services for organizations like Virgin Mobile. A Sprint/Lightsquared deal seems to offer you some thing for each parties.
Sprint nonetheless owns half of Clearwire. Sprint has about twice the spectrum in the two.6GHz band then AT&T and Verizon currently use in total. Sprint is widely expected to partition off part some of that spectrum and provide LTE. But what flavor of LTE?
Clearwire’s “LTE 2X” trials in Phoenix use paired, 20×20 MHz blocks, twice the size Verizon’s LTE. But the economies of scale developing about TD-LTE might be compelling for Sprint. Operators going with TD-LTE include China Mobile, Vivid Wireless in Australia, Yota, in Russia, Global Mobile in Taiwan and Packet 1 in Malaysia. India and China will most likely be dominated by TD-LTE, so equipment will soon be commoditized.
Separately, Sprint reported a second quarter loss of $ 847 million, or 28 cents a share, on revenue of $ 8.three billion. Sprint added 1.1 million net wireless subscribers, but the bulk of them were prepaid. Sprint ended the quarter with 52 million consumers. Overall, Sprint still wound up losing 101,000 net postpaid subscribers. Sprint shares had been down roughly 18% to $ 4.25, reports Marketplace Watch. The stock has lost a lot more than 1-quarter of its value over the past two months.
The Lightsquared satellite was often some thing of a Trojan Horse for Harbinger. Neither Sprint’s two.6 GHz LTE/WiMAX method nor TerreStar’s anticipated two GHz LTE method pose any GPS interference difficulty. But without terrestrial use of 1.6 GHz, Lightsquared’s $ 300 million satellite platform looks like a white elephant.
Ancillary Terrestrial Component tied the entire thing together. Without FCC authorization for ATC, the suitcase of money Lightsquared promised Sprint might be an illusion.
IEEE 802.22 is a new regular for Wireless Regional Location Networks, and utilizes VHF and UHF Television bands to present broadband wireless access up to 100 km from the transmitter. It incorporates advanced cognitive radio capabilities such as dynamic spectrum access, incumbent database access, accurate geolocation techniques, spectrum sensing, regulatory domain dependent policies, spectrum etiquette, and coexistence for optimal use of the obtainable spectrum.
According to the IEEE, every node can deliver up to 22 Mbps per channel without interfering with reception of existing Television broadcast stations. This technologies is particularly beneficial for serving less densely populated places, such as rural places, and creating countries where most vacant Tv channels can be located.
The IEEE provides every Base Station (BS) with a GPS receiver which would enable its position to be reported. This data would be sent back to centralized servers (in the USA these would be managed by the FCC, which would respond with the info about obtainable free Television channels and guard bands in the region of the BS.
Other white space proposals would enable local spectrum sensing only, where the BS would decide by itself which channels are available for communication. Additional info on the standard can be identified at the IEEE 802.22 WG page.
A proposal by U.S. Residence of Representatives Republicans to totally free up television spectrum for mobile broadband would eliminate net neutrality guidelines on new spectrum auctions and make it challenging for innovators to use unlicensed spectrum going forward, reports Personal computer World
Both businesses stated commercial launches would lower their unit costs. They were mistaken. After Congress rebelled at billions in corporate welfare for two of America’s greatest aerospace companies, the two programs were joined in a shotgun marriage forming the United Launch Alliance in December 2006.
NASA would develop a new capsule and a pair of rockets. Very first, the Ares I rocket to take astronauts up to low Earth orbit, where the station is. And then a bigger rocket, Ares V, to support a return to the moon by 2020. Orion was originally developed as the crew compartment for the Constellation program and Earth orbit missions.
The new program was known as Constellation. But after President Obama took office, he ordered a evaluation. A panel of professionals mentioned in spite of the billions already spent, Constellation had been under-funded, was behind schedule and couldn’t reach its objectives without a lot more income.
He said a smarter plan was to forget about a rocket for routine flights to the station — NASA really should turn that work over to commercial organizations. The Commercial Orbital Transportation Services would create space taxis and NASA would just buy rides. The proposal acted on the findings of the 2009 Augustine Commission and built on the good results of the Commercial Resupply Services that outsourced American cargo delivery to the International Space Station.
NASA is designing a large new rocket — the Space Launch Method or SLS, to carry a crew capsule out beyond the station, to go exploring new places in deep space. It’s a Shuttle-Derived heavy launch vehicle getting designed by NASA, following the cancellation of the Constellation Program, to replace the Space Shuttle right after its retirement.
But clearly the age of commercial space has arrived.
The BigBand MSP-based advertising resolution can help operators increase advertising revenues by supporting distinct markets via the preparation and splicing of local ads into national program feeds. BigBand lately announced that its advertising solutions supported over 1 billion ad transactions in the last year for North American cable operators.
BigBand says their MSP-based advertising resolution enables service providers to maximize advertising revenues whilst minimizing operational costs. The remedy includes the preparation and transcoding of ad assets, ad splicing into linear Tv streams, event reporting to traffic and billing systems, and management using BigBand’s Video Management System software. The BigBand Switched Video Analysis (SVA) – operators can accurately measure and monitor their content viewership, identify trends and use their media budgets to acquire the most proper contents for their subscriber.
With Intel’s Sandy Bridge Core i5 and i7 processors, high-speed Thunderbolt I/O technologies, and all-flash storage, Apple claims the new $ 999 MacBook Air has up to twice the performance of the prior generation. It is available for order today and in stores tomorrow.
The 11.6-inch MacBook Air features:
1.6 GHz, 64 GB SSD, two GB RAM: $ 999
1.6 GHz, 128 GB SSD, 4 GB RAM: $ 1199
The 13.3-inch MacBook Air capabilities:
1.7 GHz, 128 GB SSD, four GB RAM: $ 1299
1.7 GHz, 256 GB SSD, 4 GB RAM: $ 1599
The Mac OS X Lion, also accessible right now, characteristics an iPad-like Launchpad for the apps you purchase from the Mac App Store. New characteristics incorporate rubber-band scrolling, page and image zoom, and full-screen swiping. Mission Control brings together full-screen apps, Dashboard, Exposé, and Spaces in 1 new feature that provides you a bird’s-eye view of everything on your program. Mac OS X Lion is accessible as an upgrade to Mac OS X version 10.6.6 Snow Leopard from the Mac App Shop for $ 29.99 (US). Lion is about the size of an HD movie from the iTunes Store. Walt Mossberg likes it.
Apple also introduced a New Mac Mini. It is 7.7-inches square and 1.four-inches thin and comes in three various configurations with a option to use 1 the latest dual-core Intel Core i5 or Intel Core i7 processors, AMD Radeon HD 6630M discrete graphics, or a quad-core Intel Core i7 powered server configuration.
2. GHz, dual 500 GB hard drives, four GB RAM: $ 999
It comes preloaded with OS X Lion and doesn’t have an optical disc drive. It can include up to 8 GBs of memory, a faster 7200-RPM hard drive and a 256GB solid-state drive. It comes with Thunderbolt I/O technology for expansion possibilities never prior to available to Mac mini users. It starts at $ 599.
Apple also upgraded its Cinema Display to new ‘Apple Thunderbolt Display’ with Gig Ethernet, Firewire 800, USB two. and access to more Thunderbolt accessories, all over one cable. With two channels of 10-Gbps throughput in each directions, Apple says it is up to 20 times faster than USB two..
The 27-inch, 2560 x 1440 resolution, LED backlit monitor runs $ 999 and has built-in FaceTime HD camera, 2.1 speaker system, integrated MagSafe charger for Mac laptops, 3 USB two. ports, one FireWire 800 port, one Gigabit Ethernet port, and one Thunderbolt port for daisy-chaining up to five further Thunderbolt items.
By the time the 1 billion milestone is reached they estimate that Chinese mobile penetration will stand at 74 percent, up from 67 percent in Q2 2011, suggesting that the market place will still have a lot of room for future growth.
According to Wireless Intelligence the market shares of the three Chinese mobile operators will stay largely unchanged:
China Mobile – market place-leader – will see its share slip slightly from 68 percent to 66 percent.
China Unicom – the second-largest player – will see its market place share unchanged at 20 percent.
China Telecom – the third-placed mobile provider will improve two percentage points to 14 percent.
The 3 operators are rolling-out distinct versions of 3G technology: TD-SCDMA at China Mobile WCDMA at Unicom and CDMA EV-DO Rev. A at China Telecom. China’s Ministry of Business and Information Technologies (MIIT) reported that 714,000 3G towers have been built in the past year – 214,000 for China Mobile, 274,000 for Unicom and 226,000 for China Telecom.
The number of Chinese subscribers connected to 3G networks is expected to account for a quarter of the country’s total at the 1 billion point, up from 18 percent in Q2 2011.
Southeast Asia’s initial 4G operator, Packet One Networks, launched its WiMAX service in Malaysia in August 2008 and is now preparing to transition to LTE.
Packet 1 expects to start a transition to a full LTE network in 2013. Greenpacket, a leading developer of 4G systems, is testing a dual-mode 4G WiMAX/LTE remedy from Sequans for dual-mode WiMAX/LTE, and hopes to launch a total ecosystem of 4G networking solutions and devices by the end of 2011.
“As Southeast Asia’s leading 4G operator, initial for WiMAX and now for dual-mode WiMAX and LTE, P1 has 3 years of encounter operating an end-to-end 4G network,” said Michael Lai, P1 CEO.
Greenpacket is testing Sequans’ system-on-chip technologies to develop LTE reference styles, including a dual-mode WiMAX/LTE reference style for operator consumers primarily in Asia, CALA and Middle East, according to James Wang, Senior Vice President of at Greenpacket. “We intend to provide our solutions to early adopters of LTE such as P1 in support of its LTE/WiMAX coexistence method.”
P1 was the 1st significant-scale commercial 4G WiMAX deployment in Southeast Asia, and the initial big-scale deployment of an 802.16e two.3GHz WiMAX network outside Korea. P1 is 1 of nine Malaysian organizations allocated 2.6GHz spectrum.
“The economies of scale brought by China Mobile, with its subscriber base of over 600 million will see rapid development of the entire TD-LTE ecosystem,” stated P1 chief executive officer Michael Lai at the signing ceremony this week. China Mobile is among the 1st operators to have adopted the TD-LTE technologies and it is one of the founders of the global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI).
Clearwire-USA is one of the 20 members of the Global TD-LTE Initiative. Other people consist of Aero2-Poland, Belltell-Philippines, Bharti Airtel-India, China Mobile-China, Datame-Finland, E-Plus – Germany, FarEastone-Taiwan, FITEL-Taiwan, Korea Telecom-Korea, Omantel-Oman, Nextwave-USA, P1-Malaysia, Smoltelecom-Russia, SoftBank-Japan, Tatung Infocomm-Taiwan, Vividwireless-Australia, Vodafone-UK, Voentelecom-Russia and Woosh-New Zealand.
The fix is in. It’s circumstantial evidence that Clearwire and Sprint might go with the most recent shiny factor TD-LTE. Paired spectrum at two.6 GHz would be a real spectrum hog when moving to subsequent generation LTE-Advanced with 20MHz x 2 channels (utilizing FD-LTE). LTE Advanced consists of support for relay node which extends coverage by utilizing the LTE channel for selfbackhaul. Handy for satphone frequencies, too.
T-Mobile is cutting the cost of its smartphone plans. Its mid-tier plan–which consists of unlimited telephone calls, text messages, and data is dropping by $ 20 to $ 59.99 a month. In comparison, Sprint’s comparable program–which consists of unlimited data, text, and calls to other cell phones–costs $ 69.99 a month.
T-Mobile is also dropping overage fees on its data plans. While technically capped for high-speed data, the plans are “unlimited” in the sense that you’ll then only be dropped to a slower speed. The pricing on the plans is also very competitive.
T-Mobile gangs two 5MHz HSPA channels together for double the speed of AT&T’s similar HSPA service. Both AT&T and T-Mobile call their HSPA+ service G”, although most industry observers say only LTE and WiMAX have the proper juice to be known as G”.
T-Mobile’s “unlimited” strategy is second only to Sprint, which delivers completely unlimited high-speed information. The new plans come right after Verizon Wireless created the switch to a tiered data plan model, one thing rival AT&T did last year. Verizon Wireless’ lowest-end plan costs $ 30 and has its cap at 2 gigabytes.
Sprint could support LTE the same way other CDMA carriers support LTE. Not too much mystery there.
Carrying terrestrial satellite signals would be yet another likely technique. Dish Networks lately purchesed both ICO and TerreStar, the two bankrupt two GHz satellite phone providers. If Lightsquared’s 1.6 GHz launch becomes problematic due to GPS interference, then they may well utilize Charlie’s 2GHz spectrum — on Sprint towers.
Dish doesn’t want to be a cellular operator. Dish tipped their hand when it told the FCC it was opposed to AT&T’s proposed merger with T-Mobile USA. It stated it “would harm competition and buyers by, amongst other issues, potentially discouraging Dish Network from entering the market to present mobile broadband.”
Sprint could be the operating organization of choice for both Dish Networks and Lightsquared.
Would Dish Network grow to be a partner with LightSquared? Why not. LightSquared is now proposing to use just a 10-MHz swathe of its spectrum to prevent interference with GPS signals (though the GPS community remains unconvinced). That doesn’t seem like a very good organization model. Dish, on the other hand, has 20 MHz of nationwide satphone frequencies. One company (Sprint) could operate them both.
On the 2.6 GHz band, Sprint may well go with TD-LTE. Dividing the Clearwire spectrum is less difficult making use of unpaired channels. The Chinese and Indian mobile markets – committed to TD-LTE – will guarantee commodity pricing for infrastructure and handsets. Sprint would be all set for 20 MHz-wide channels using LTE-Advanced. And they still have Nextel’s 800 MHz frequencies in their pocket.
Sprint could supply a telephone like China Mobile’s TD-LTE iPhone — with unlimited LTE service. It doesn’t seem like rocket science.
Why didn’t a Sprint/T-Mobile deal take place? Cash. Estimates then placed T-Mobile’s value at among $ 15 billion and $ 20 billion. But just a couple of weeks right after talks with Sprint, AT&T blew away any deal. It made an offer you Deutsche Telekom couldn’t refuse: $ 39 billion. Sprint, with its marketplace cap of just $ 16 billion and its heavy debt load of $ 18 billion, simply didn’t have the money to compete with AT&T.
Verizon’s LTE network has now past Sprint’s Wimax network with more markets. T-Mobile USA has covered nearly its entire footprint with an upgraded hspa+ network it also calls 4G, while AT&T and only announced 4 LTE cities.
Sprint’s Network Vision infrastructure upgrade allows it to run different wireless technologies, including CDMA, or LTE and WiMax. Sprint is widely rumored to be working on a deal with LightSquared, but the two companies haven’t announced anything officially. LightSquared plans to run an LTE network in the 1600Mhz band, but it has been under heavy fire for having its network interfere with GPS signals.
Hesse, meanwhile, said it was “an issue of economics” as to why Sprint doesn’t take over Clearwire and handle the rollout of the network itself. Sprint doesn’t want Clearwire’s debt-and-cash burn to hurt its own balance sheet, and has preferred to keep it a separate company.
Michael Koploy an analyst, at Software Advice, a POS software research firm based in Austin Texas, has been analyzing how individuals and companies can take advantage of mobile payment technology.
Find Innovative Ways to Integrate NFC With the University
Create NFC Purchasing Habits at Hip Food Venues
Integrate NFC into High-End Supermarkets
Attract the NFC Crowd in Merchant Neighborhoods
Sprint and American Express signed an agreement which will enable some of its smartphone users to access the credit card giant’s mobile payment service called Serve. Serve unifies multiple payment options into a single account that can be funded from a bank account, debit, credit or charge card, or by receiving money from another Serve account.
The competing Google Wallet will let you tap, pay and save using your phone and NFC chips which transmit data to special NFC readers for a financial transaction. It is currently being field tested in Portland and will be released soon, says Google. Sprint’s Nexus S 4G and Nexus S from T-Mobile incorporate the NFC chip.
The Momentum laptop card will sell for $ 49.99 with a two-year contract. It has a slot for a MicroSD card that can hold up to 32GB of data. Elevate 4G hot-spot device will cost $ 69.99 with a two-year contract. It has a color 1.77-inch LCD display that shows the Wi-Fi network name and security key. It can be used for up to five hours and connect up to five devices. Like the Momentum, it has a slot to allow for a 32GB memory card.
AT&T is playing catch up to Verizon and Sprint Nextel in the 4G game. Both have true “4G” phones, using LTE and WiMAX, respectively.
In January, AT&T followed T-Mobile USA’s footsteps and rebranded their 3G HSPA+ network, with the 4G title. T-Mobile generally offers faster speed on their HSPA+ network, however, because they gang two AWS band channels together.
Next year Verizon plans to deliver voice calls over LTE, using Voice over LTE (VoLTE) for video chatting and Skype. Currently, only the LG Revolution supports VoLTE. Unfortunately, while a VoLGA solution supports seamless call handover to/from the existing GSM/3G networks, it doesn’t support voice fallback on Verizon’s CDMA network. It also appears that there will be no handover between the LTE networks run by AT&T and Verizon, even though they use the same basic technology.
That means that there “could be some risk” of carcinogenicity, so additional research into the long-term, heavy use of mobile phones needs to be conducted. In the USA, the FCC has set a limit of 1.6 W/kg, averaged over a volume of 1 gram of tissue, for the head. In Europe, the limit is 2 W/kg, averaged over a volume of 10 grams of tissue.
The parent of a student at Mount Tabor Middle School has sued Portland Public Schools, writes Corey Pein in this weeks Willamette Week newspaper. The lawsuit claims that the public school’s use of Wi-Fi is “genotoxic, carcinogenic, neurotoxic and otherwise…harmful” to his daughter.
Yes, this is the same kind of Wi-Fi that provides wireless Internet connections in public buildings, coffee shops and homes across America.
There’s virtually no scientific basis for the belief that Wi-Fi is a health threat. But the federal civil suit against PPS is the latest expression of anxiety by a growing community of Wi-Fi-phobic and self-diagnosed “electrosensitive” individuals who believe a laundry list of physical ailments can be traced to the proliferation of consumer electronics.
Last year in Santa Fe, N.M., a man sued his neighbor over her use of an iPhone, claiming it interfered with his digestion. Earlier this year in Portland, a group of neighborhood activists monkey-wrenched Clearwire’s plans to install new towers to expand its 4G wireless Internet service, citing health concerns.
Wi-Fi fears have spawned a cottage industry around the sale of protective amulets and field-disruptors.
FCC Registered Antenna Structures in the Portland Area from Willamette Week
There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call The Twilight Zone. — Rod Serling
DAVIES: Now apart from the fun stuff like games or being able to scan a barcode in a grocery store with your iPhone, you talk about some applications which might fundamentally alter some of the important occupations, some of the ways we relate to each other. And you write about what Abilene Christian University in Texas has done with iPhones. Tell us about that.
Mr. CHEN:Abilene Christian University has a really interesting iPhone program where for about two years, I think, they’ve been handing out free iPhones to every incoming freshman.
They have teachers get in front of the classroom, and instead of lecturing students , they say, OK, so here’s the topic we’re going to discuss today. Take out your iPhones and go ahead and search on the Web or search Wikipedia and let’s have a conversation about where we want to take this discussion and look for good information on how you can contribute to this.
DAVIES: OK. Let’s talk about some other areas where you see iPhone and iPhone applications as potentially transformative. Medicine, what are we seeing there?
Mr. CHEN:Personal health monitoring I think is going to be a pretty big thing in the next few years. And something I mentioned in the book is a group of researchers who are working on a digital contact lens that communicates with a smartphone, potentially.
What’s interesting about the eye is that the eye is like the little door into the body. And you can collect information about, say, cholesterol or glucose levels, blood pressure and transfer this information to the smartphone.
DAVIES: You’re talking about a contact lens that has electronics in it that you insert in your eyes?
Mr. CHEN: Right. A digital contact lens with wireless transmitters that transmits information to the smartphone application. This is still in development and it’s a little bit far away, I think. And they’re currently testing it on rabbits.
DAVIES: How might law enforcement be changed by this technology?
Moris is an application that enables police officers to scan fingerprints of suspects and also scan their eyeballs and cross-reference that information with the database that they have back at the police station. Made by BI2 Technologies, the scanner is attached to an iPhone.
Cloud-based processing can now provide supercomputer power to mobile devices.
There are now over 10,000 medical apps in the App Store; a big jump from the 1,544 apps last year. Houston Neal narrowed it down to a list of the 70 best apps on his “Best Medical iPhone Apps for Doctors and Med Students” website.
Microwave chips aren’t just for communications anymore. They enable new sensor applications.
Amazon’s new cloud application, Elastic Beanstalk, manages cloud applications automatically. Developers simply upload their application and Elastic Beanstalk automatically handles the deployment details of capacity provisioning, load balancing and auto-scaling.
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