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Sprint to Limit Unlimited 4G Mobile Broadband: Will Smartphones be Next?

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October 24, 2011
  • Sprint announced it will replace its unlimited 4G mobile broadband for mobile hotspots and devices with three new tiered data plans.
  • Starting in November, “users of mobile hotspots, USB modems, tablets and notebooks will pay $45 for 3GB of combined 3G and 4G, $60 for 5GB and $90 for 10GB of combined data,” where before only 3G data had limits.
  • “Sprint was already showing signs that it couldn’t keep up the unlimited game forever,” reports GigaOM. “It announced last month that it was doing away with unlimited data for its smartphone hotspot feature and was capping data at 5GB a month.”
  • Some are concerned that this prefaces the end of Sprint’s unlimited data plans for smartphones, a differentiating factor from other providers and a selling point for the Sprint iPhone.

Will $700 Prove too Steep a Price for 4G LTE Tablet?

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September 1, 2011
  • The HTC Jetstream tablet (formerly named Puccini), will be available through AT&T beginning this Sunday.
  • Notable features include: a Snapdragon 1.5 GHz dual core processor, front-facing camera, 8-megapixel rear camera, and HTC scribe stylus pen.
  • The Jetstream runs Android 3.1 Honeycomb on a 10.1-inch screen and will be AT&T’s first tablet with real 4G LTE.
  • According to the company press release: “HTC Jetstream is AT&T’s first tablet to showcase the Android 3.1 OS. The brand new operating system was designed from the ground up for devices with larger screens. It improves on Android favorites with new interactive and resizeable widgets plus improved multi-tasking, browsing, notifications, and customization.”
  • However, the $700 price tag, “discounted” with a 2-year contract (and $35/month data plan), may prove off-putting to some consumers.

Verizon Video: VOD Mobile App Launches for Android this Week

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August 23, 2011
  • Verizon Wireless launches Verizon Video this week — a new version of its video-on-demand application for mobile phones, providing Android users with more than 250 current full-episode TV shows from ABC, NBC, CBS, MTV, Comedy Central, Disney Channel, ESPN, Cartoon Network and others.
  • Premium content is also available including live sports coverage from NFL Mobile, NFL RedZone, NBC’s Sunday Night Football and NFL network.
  • The 4G LTE and select 3G service will cost $10/month or $3 for 24 hours.
  • According to the press release: “Verizon Video updates V CAST Video on select devices and current V CAST Video subscribers will be prompted to update the app the next time it launches. After the upgrade, it will then appear under the name Verizon Video.”
  • The Verizon Video app is powered by RealNetworks.

Verizon to Offer LTE-Supported Laptop and Tablets

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July 28, 2011
  • Verizon began selling the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 this week, the first LTE-supported tablet available in the U.S.
  • A 16GB version of the Honeycomb 3.1 device is offered at $530, while a 32GB model is available for $630 (although InformationWeek was not impressed with the pricing of the data plans). Verizon will also offer the Wi-Fi-only model for $499.
  • Additionally, the wireless provider will begin selling an LTE-ready HP Pavilion Entertainment laptop and will upgrade its Motorola Xoom tablet to LTE in September. InformationWeek reports the new HP laptop “ships with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and it features an 11.6-inch, high-definition HP BrightView LED display at 1366 x 768 pixels. Under the hood, it is powered by a 1.6-GHz AMD dual-core processor, offers 2 GB of RAM, and 320 GB worth of storage with HP’s ProtectSmart hard drive protection.”
  • ETCentric recently reported that Verizon expanded its LTE 4G network to more than 100 markets last week. Verizon claims its customers can expect download speeds between 5 and 12 Mbps and upload speeds between 2 and 5 Mbps.

AT&T Expansion: LTE 4G Network and T-Mobile Acquisition

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May 22, 2011

Last week, reporters toured the AT&T Foundry facility in Plano, Texas and conducted a group interview with Jon Summers, SVP of application and service infrastructure. During the tour, GigaOM was treated to a “real-world situation” demo of AT&T’s Long Term Evolution (LTE) network and was impressed with the results.

According to the GigaOM post: “The speeds provided on the download side were about 28.87 Mbps and were about 10.4 Mbps on the upload side. This compared to speeds of 3.77 on the download side and 1.21 Mbps on the upload for an iPhone that was capable of maxing out on AT&T’s 7.2 Mbps HSPA network. So it’s fast, but sharing those speeds with others on a cell tower will bring them down. For comparison, Verizon has promised customers speeds of 5-12 Mbps on the download side and speeds of up 5 Mbps on the upload side.”

Additionally, AT&T’s spectrum may increase as early as next year. In March, the company announced its plans to acquire T-Mobile for $39 billion ($25 billion in cash and the rest in stock). The deal is presently undergoing a regulatory-approval process. If approved, by next year AT&T could solidify its position as the largest carrier in the U.S. with about 130 million subscribers.

The merger would also help bolster AT&T’s ongoing growth. According to GigaOM, “In the last four quarters, it has reported $125 billion in revenue, and billions of dollars in capital investments in its network.”

Related New York Times article: “AT&T’s LTE 4G Speeds Could Blow Away Verizon” (5/20/11)

Related MobileBeat article: “AT&T to acquire T-Mobile for $39B” (3/20/11)

Related CNET article: “AT&T, T-Mobile customer satisfaction on the decline” (5/17/11)

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