Filed under: Wireless

XOHM is live in Baltimore, and Laptop Magazine has sent a few (slightly dazed-looking) staffers on an impromptu tour of the “Charm City” to get a feel for Sprint’s new WiMAX service. Overall, they found performance to be quite good, clocking in at 3.05 Mbps down and 2.4 Mbps up. That compares very favorably to Verizon’s EV-DO network, which delivered 1.43 Mbps down and 0.54 Mbps up in the same locations. Sprint’s network also beats Clearwire’s WiMAX down in Reno both in speed and in connectivity; testers in the Biggest Little City in the World couldn’t get a signal while in a car, but those in Baltimore could, albeit at half the speed as when stationary. So, it certainly sounds like a good solution for those who need a high-speed connection on the go — so long as they’re only going to places within Baltimore, of course.

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Filed under: Laptops

AT&T has freely supported Panasonic’s WWAN-enabled Toughbook 19 / 30 on its mobile broadband network for nearly a year now, and for those worried that the two may break things off when Gobi entered the picture can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Qualcomm’s hybrid-3G technology (which goes from EV-DO to HSPA with the flip of a software switch), has just been certified for use on the carrier’s nationwide network, and sure enough, Panny has decided to offer it on “all” new Toughbook machines. Gobified Toughbooks should be on store shelves this October, though we’re not sure just how costly the option will be.

Read - AT&T certifies Gobi technology
Read - Panasonic offers Gobi on Toughbooks

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Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

So there’s good news and bad news, and we’re not even giving you the option of choosing which you’d prefer to hear first (hint: it’s the good). Sprint has dropped the price of its Phone-as-Modem plan (capped at 5GB monthly) to just $15 per month. Now, the rest of the story. First off, you must own a Power Vision phone with connection capabilities to a laptop. Next — unlike the old PAM plan which ran $49.99 / month all by itself — this “attachable plan” requires you to have another data plan already on your account. For instance, the BlackBerry Personal Pack ($30 / month) or the Worldwide Data Plan ($70 / month). In the end, it looks as if tethering in and of itself got cheaper, but those newfound strings that are reportedly attached will likely cause some frustration.

[Via phonescoop]

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Filed under: Transportation, Wireless

Wait, wait. Something that was promised for next year is arriving… this year? Be still our hearts! Chrysler will reportedly offer up its in-car EV-DO solution (dubbed Uconnect Web) starting on August 25th, and owners of 2009 Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles (along with a few “earlier models”) will be able to have the $499 box retrofitted into their rides. Apparently the auto maker isn’t planning to install the units directly at the factory, so those who want it will be forced to pay an additional $35 to $50 installation charge, a $35 activation fee and a $29 monthly subscription fee. The service is said to provide download speeds between 400Kbps and 800Kbps with uploads hovering around 400Kbps, and provider Autonet Mobile has promised that you’ll “never lose the connection.” That’s a pretty bold claim — thankfully we’ll be able to test it out in just a few weeks.

[Via CrunchGear, image courtesy of Flickr]

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Filed under: Cellphones

With LTE a few years out yet, Alltel needs something to get it over the 3.5G hump — and seeing how it’s presently a CDMA carrier, you can pretty much guess where this is going. Sure enough, Verizon’s newest partner in crime has announced that the rollout of its EV-DO Rev. A upgrade is now underway, promising a bump in downlink speeds from 400-700kbps on the existing Rev. 0 network to somewhere between 600kbps and 1.4Mbps. Uplink speeds are where Rev. A really shines, though, blazing as much as ten times faster than it did before — 800kbps on a good day with bursts of up to 1.8Mbps. Two data cards are being offered to take advantage of the service — one from Huawei and one from UTStarcom — while compatible handsets currently include the HTC PPC6800 and Touch. The rollout is targeted for “select markets” right now — Charlotte, New Orleans, Phoenix and Tampa among a total of 18 — with overall EV-DO coverage continuing to expand as well; Alltel’s targeting 82 percent of its footprint to be upgraded by year’s end.

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Filed under: Cellphones

With LTE a few years out yet, Alltel needs something to get it over the 3.5G hump — and seeing how it’s presently a CDMA carrier, you can pretty much guess where this is going. Sure enough, Verizon’s newest partner in crime has announced that the rollout of its EV-DO Rev. A upgrade is now underway, promising a bump in downlink speeds from 400-700kbps on the existing Rev. 0 network to somewhere between 600kbps and 1.4Mbps. Uplink speeds are where Rev. A really shines, though, blazing as much as ten times faster than it did before — 800kbps on a good day with bursts of up to 1.8Mbps. Two data cards are being offered to take advantage of the service — one from Huawei and one from UTStarcom — while compatible handsets currently include the HTC PPC6800 and Touch. The rollout is targeted for “select markets” right now — Charlotte, New Orleans, Phoenix and Tampa among a total of 18 — with overall EV-DO coverage continuing to expand as well; Alltel’s targeting 82 percent of its footprint to be upgraded by year’s end.

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Filed under: Cellphones

We already got a somewhat vague peek at the 3G-less Blackberry 9000, but it looks like there are actually two upcoming models of RIM’s new hotness on the board — the EDGE version we know about, codenamed Niagara, and an EV-DO edition codenamed Javelin, slated for Verizon. Boy Genius managed to unearth quite a bit more information on these two, and unsurprisingly, they’re basically the same as the 9000 we’ve already seen. Both have a 480 x 320 half-VGA screen, GPS functionality and 3.2 megapixel camera, but only the EDGE-based Niagara gets Wi-Fi. Of course, there aren’t any ship dates or prices in the offing yet, but hopefully we’ll know more soon.

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Filed under: Handhelds, Tablet PCs, Wireless

Ah, after long last, HTC’s first UMPC, the Shift, is finally making its debut in the US. The early results are in: the keyboard and the Sprint EV-DO are good, but the $1,500 price tag might be a bit heavy to swallow — especially considering our European counterparts are paying about $400 less, and we also get to tack on another $60 per month for the 3G.

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Filed under: Laptops, Wireless

It’s not all just cellphones at Mobile World Congress — HP and Qualcomm have just announced plans to ship laptops with Qualcomm’s Gobi dual-3G chipset that supports both EV-DO and HSPA. That means you won’t be locked into a carrier when you buy a laptop with an integrated WWAN modem — and hardcore road warriors with multiple subscriptions will even be able to switch on the fly to the network with better coverage. HP says Gobi (officially the MDM1000 chip, but that’s no fun) will be available on a range of laptops from ultraportables to high-performance models later this year, but there’s no word on pricing just yet — let’s hope it falls into the “might as well” range, eh?

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Filed under: Transportation, Wireless

The press release is pretty low on facts, but Autonet Mobile, the quirky car-centric ISP / EV-DO MNVO, has just announced that it will now allow customers to download music, movies and games to its routers and access them from any WiFi device. Of course, Autonet’s EV-DO / WiFi routers don’t have any built-in storage that we know of, so it looks like you’re pretty much just downloading all this stuff to your laptop — which isn’t exactly press release-worthy, so we’re assuming they forget to mention something that would actually make this interesting, like a content partnership or network storage. It’s either that or CES PR fever is starting to hit a couple days early, but we’ll optimistically read “passengers can access their personalized stored content via the unit’s simple user interface” as meaning something substantial — at least until we see this thing in action next week.

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Filed under: Cellphones

We’ve had plenty of face time with this little guy already, but Verizon Wireless has finally fessed up to a precise release date and price point for its EV-DO BlackBerry Pearl 8130. The phone is available for pre-order at $200 with a 2 year contract and an automatic $100 online discount, and will ship out on November 8th. Let’s see if that’s good enough to beat Sprint’s version to market.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Although we’re sure some of you are dead set on using one carrier, Qualcomm is making sure the indecisive (or well-traveled) ones out there are covered, too. The firm’s Gobi chip promises to play nice with both EV-DO and HSPA (but not WiMAX) networks, which should mean that a number of laptops will soon boast multi-carrier WWAN support right out of the box. The introduction of the two-faced device gives users the ability to switch operators or choose the one with the best coverage in a given area without having to lug around two laptops or laptop-connect cards. You’ll also appreciate the fact that these things are actually immediately available, and according to Qualcomm, they should appear in various lappies in mid-2008.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Laptops

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Wireless

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Wireless, Networking

While Kyocera’s old KR1 EV-DO router should still get the basic job done just fine, those looking for a few new features may want to consider the company’s just-announced KR2 model, which brings the router up to date with some of the latest and greatest specs. Chief among those is support for 802.11n WiFi, as well as support for an expanded range of EV-DO devices, including various PCMCIA cards, ExpressCards, and USB devices. Otherwise you’ll get the usual four Ethernet ports to connect the odd non-WiFi device, an “industry leading” firewall, over the air updates, and a fail-over capability that’ll automatically kick the EV-DO into gear if your DSL or cable connection drops out. No word on what it’ll cost, but it’s apparently “coming soon.”

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Wireless

Users of previous-generation USB modems from Sprint and Verizon — the gargantuan USB720 comes immediately to mind — know that they’re a little on the portly side (and that’s being kind). If you’re going to have this huge mass hanging off the side of your lappie, it’d be nice if you could at least pack some additional functionality into it, right? Novatel appears to have heard both complaints, offering up the new USB727 in a significantly more attractive package that’s nearly an inch shorter and half an inch narrower than its predecessor. Oh, and the “additional functionality” comes in the form of an integrated microSD slot supporting cards up to 4GB, making you feel a little less bad about having an unsightly black object protrude from your PC’s otherwise clean lines. Naturally, the USB727 supports both networks’ EV-DO Rev. A airwaves, promising downlink speeds in the range of 600kbps to 1.4Mbps and downlink at a brisk 350 to 500kbps (that’s Sprint’s claim, anyway; Verizon says 500 to 800kbps). Verizon customers can pick it up online immediately for $100 after rebate on a two-year contract while Sprint gets it next month for “as low as” $80 on contract.

Read - Verizon USB727
Read - Sprint USB727 (press release)

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!