Posted on May 13, 2009, at 1:29 pm .
Image courtesy of Will Park from IntoMobile.
Sprint has announced it plans to launch the Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200 intelligent mobile hotspot device for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year service agreement (excluding taxes).
MiFi allows users to connect to the Internet by bridging WiFi enabled BlackBerrry devices to Sprint’s 3G network - the EVDO Rev A Sprint Mobile Broadband Network. MiFi creates a personal cloud of high-speed Internet connectivity that can be shared among up to five users and a variety of WiFi-enabled devices through its connection to the network. Sprint is calling the service Sprint Mobile Hotspot, and it will be the first in the U.S. to support MiFi’s GPS capabilities, allowing users to take advantage of select location and mapping applications.
Stay tuned because Sprint’s MiFi service will launch the first week of June.
Pricing
Business and consumer customers may choose from the following service plans for the MiFi 2200: $59.99 per month mobile broadband only plan (excluding taxes and surcharges).
or
$149.99 per month Simply Everything Plan + Mobile Broadband (phone plus device connectivity — excluding taxes and surcharges).
Both plans include up to 5 GB per month and 5 cents per megabyte overage for the MiFi 2200. The plan includes unlimited text, picture and video messaging, GPS navigation, email and Web surfing on their phone, plus 5 GB of 3G Internet access on your BlackBerru – for $149.99 per month, a savings of $599 per year vs. comparable Verizon plans. For that same price, customers can use the MiFi 2200 and connect to more devices at once.
Posted on April 7, 2009, at 1:13 pm .
This hasn’t been totally confirmed, but it is almost certainly true. T-Mobile is rolling out additional 3G coverage in such cities as Wichita Falls, Rockford, Springfield, Beaumont and College Station.
See the pic for more details. Is your city on the list?
[Via]
Posted on January 19, 2009, at 10:36 am .
Just after Christmas last month, we posted some internal Rogers documents showcasing the BlackBerry Storm 9520, a GSM Storm variant that will feature 3G HSDPA and Wi-Fi. It appears now that the Storm 9520 is starting to peak out into public copy, as indicated by the image above. The image, sent to us by ‘Rogers Dude’ (but not RogersDude69 for some reason) appears to be part of a marketing package, meaning the Storm 9520 can’t be that far away if its on copy being sent out to stores.
Obviously, we have no release date yet for the BlackBerry Storm 9520, but we’ll see what our friends from Rogers can do.
Posted on December 26, 2008, at 1:37 pm .
While the rest of us were quietly enjoying the Holidays with our family, one lone blogger was out working the streets for the latest in BlackBerry leaks. My boy Troy Brown over at BlackBerry News has uncovered photos of two upcoming Rogers BlackBerry Releases: the BlackBerry Storm 9520 and the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 82xx.
Here’s what’s known about each device so far. Both will feature 3G HSDPA. The BlackBerry Storm 9520 will feature Wi-Fi and the Pearl Flip 82xx will feature asecondary video camera for video calling. Both will be coming to Fido as well. No word yet on eventual release dates, but it looks like we weren’t that far off previously. You can see more slides after the jump!
|via BBNews|
More Rogers 3G roadmap photos
Posted on October 17, 2008, at 8:26 am .
Jinkies, it looks like we weren’t totally sniffing the wrong tree when we pointed to 2009 as a possibility for a touchscreen BlackBerry on Rogers. Both BGR and BlackBerry News have posted today about a previously unseen BlackBerry that is reported to make an appearance at WES 2009: the BlackBerry Magnum.
So what exactly is the BlackBerry Magnum? Apparently only a U.S. HSDPA, BlackBerry Curve 8900 form factor with a BlackBerry Storm-like touchscreen. Which, although exciting, kind of sounds like a souped-up Palm Treo. Anyways, the amount of BlackBerrys RIM is looking to release is making my head spin. We’ll tell you more as we learn it.
(via BBNews, BGR)
Posted on October 16, 2008, at 3:40 pm .
Big news for Canadians came out last week regarding their choice of wireless carriers, as it seems that within a few years, Canada will be a fully GSM country. Both Bell and Telus have announced their intention of launching HSPA GSM service by 2010, with the intention of moving towards an eventual 4G LTE network. Both Bell and Telus plan to layer the upcoming HSPA networks over their CDMA networks, in the hope that the transition to GSM technology will be as painless as possible for their customers.
“Bell’s transition to the global 4G LTE standard with a combined EV-DO and HSPA network path aligns us with more than 30 major carriers worldwide planning a similar move to LTE,” said Stephen Howe, CTO for Bell. “This broad global technology ecosystem will mean a fast, efficient and cost-effective network transition to 4G LTE, and access to the broadest possible range of next-generation phones and data services.”
Bell and Telus’ shift to GSM will likely bring about a major shake up in the Canadian wireless market. With all three carriers having access to the latest and greatest devices, consumers should benefit from the resulting price point war over voice and data services. Post a comment and let us know if you think an all-GSM Canada is a win-win for consumers and carriers not named Rogers.
(via RCR Wireless)
Posted on September 23, 2008, at 12:03 am .
The average BlackBerry user likely doesn’t think much about technology behind the networks that provide their daily communication fix, but it plays an important role in both the cost and coverage of their BlackBerry. The Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) has published an operator case study on Finland’s Elisa network which it says shows significant cost and coverage benefits of deploying 3G services in the 900 MHz spectrum band.
According to Dr. Eetu Prieur, Head of Access Networks for Elisa, “3G coverage with UMTS900 can save 50 to 70% of our mobile network costs versus UMTS2100. And that includes both CAPEX and OPEX.”
While the majority of 3G/HSPA networks operate in the 2100 MHz band, lower frequencies provide a much larger coverage area when compared to 2100 MHz. In Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, carriers use the 900 Mhz band, which cuts the number of cell sites needed to cover rural and suburban areas in half, providing major CAPEX and OPEX savings for 3G deployments. In North America, we rely upon the 850 MHz band, which provides the same coverage and savings benefits.
So what does this all mean? The next time you’re in a rural area reading BBCool on your BlackBerry with 3G coverage, thank low frequency bands like 850/900. Of course, because of the lack of international standardization, if you have a North American Bold, good luck getting the same coverage in, say, rural France (the Charente region is lovely this time of year). Oh well.
Download the GSA 3G report
(via CN)
Posted on September 18, 2008, at 9:21 am .
Good news today for T-Mobile subscribers hoping that one day their carrier will support 3G BlackBerrys. T-Mobile has announced the expansion of its 3G coverage to 13 major markets as well as the signing of backhaul agreements to cope with the increased traffic across its network. T-Mobile’s 3G network is currently available across 13 major metropolitan markets: Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis, New York (including northern New Jersey and Long Island), Phoenix, Portland, San Antonio and San Diego.
T-Mobile also confirmed that it was on track to expand its 3G service to 27 major markets in the United States by the end of 2008, with Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Orlando, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Francisco and Seattle coming by mid-October and n additional six markets — Birmingham, Denver, Detroit, Kansas City, Memphis and Tampa — available before the end of the year. This would expand T-Mobile 3G services to more than two-thirds of T-Mobile’s current data customers, with meaningful expansion to additional customers and markets through 2009.
So what do you think, folks? Do you think 2009 in a reasonable time line to see 3G BlackBerrys like the Bold on T-Mobile? Post a comment and let us know.
(via CN)
Posted on August 27, 2008, at 6:09 am .
Update: Just got talking to a couple of our friends at RIM, who said they weren’t surprised by the results of our test. It turns out that the focus of RIM’s development for the new rendering engine in OS 4.6 was in stability, not performance, and the Waterloo crew is still working on speed optimization. What this means is that future OS updates from RIM will require additional speed tests.
While previous results had been contested, we hope to put the BlackBerry Bold versus iPhone 3G browser debate to bed. Taking some time with our brand-spanking-new Bold and QuicklyBored EIC, Kyle McInnes’ iPhone 3G, we put the two beasts through some browsing hoops to see who can get through the fastest. We tested on Wi-Fi only, 3G-only, both with and without JavaScript enabled. Sadly, our results are pretty conclusive - the iPhone’s browser is faster.
To be fair, it’s not by much - maybe a two to three second delay, depending on the site, but it’s enough to notice the difference. We’re also running on BIS, so don’t have enterprise servers doing a lot of the compression for us. The Bold’s browser is still a huge upgrade for BlackBerry, and definitely more enjoyable than what I was using on the Pearl. While we’re calling this test definitive (we ran a series of five tests using multiple sites each time), your mileage may vary - if you’ve got both devices in hand, take some time to wipe the caches and run a few tests. We’d love to hear if our results match up, and love even more to hear if they don’t.
Click here to see the iPhone 3G and BlackBerry Bold Browser speed test
Posted on August 22, 2008, at 8:49 am .
With RIM’s first HSPA (the BlackBerry Bold’s flavour of 3G) device now available internationally, and so many worries about coverage arising, it’s time to take a look at some subscriber numbers. Last year, 11 million cell phones were running on the 3G technology, but now we’re looking at 50 million handsets cruising on HSPA networks. That substantial increase is supported by 191 service providers and over 740 devices.
“These figures highlight the global success of Mobile Broadband and the fact that we are continuing to see greater and greater economies of scale,” said Rob Conway, CEO and Member of the Board of the GSMA. “This is driving down the cost of devices and equipment and enabling more and more users across the world to enjoy easy access to media-rich services anywhere at anytime.”
This gives us a lot of hope for better connectivity on the BlackBerry Bold and future 3G devices, but by the looks of the BlackBerry Javelin and BlackBerry Kickstart, the 9000 may be the only HSPA BlackBerry until the BlackBerry Thunder in mid-October.
(via cellular-news)
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