Sunday, November 21, 2010

Sprint 4G Launches In Sacramento, California

If you live in the Sacramento area and haven't already figured it out, Sprint 4G launched on November 15th. This makes the 62nd market to have the Wimax technology. So everybody with an Epic, Evo, and Overdrive, turn on 4G and start experiencing the Wimax! (Sprint)

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Samsung Galaxy Tab Available for Preorder by Sprint Premier Customers

For the next three days, Sprint will be taking preorders for their version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab. The seven inch tablet is expected to be a major iPad competitor, and has been announced for T-Mobile and Verizon, too. The Galaxy Tab features a seven inch capacitive touchscreen, dual cameras, and Android 2.2. The tablet also has support from Google and features the Android Market and Google apps, something that some other tablets have failed to get. The tablet has already been reviewed by a few sites, such as Engadget, with one of the major complains being that some of the apps don't scale properly for the different screen size of the Galaxy Tab. Pricing is $400 with a new two year contract, and the smallest data plan is $29 a month for 2 GB of data. Oh, and for all you 4G fans out there, this is a 3G only device, so sadly no Wimax.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

ZTE Peel Creates a Mobile Hotspot On Your iPod Touch

For Sprint fans that like the idea of carrying aaround an Apple device that is internet connected, but don't like the idea of being tied to AT&T's network, now have another option for their devices. The ZTE Peel is a case that is used for your iPod Touch that has a Mifi-like device built into the case. The case has a power button near the top of the case, and will run you $79 with a new two--year contract. The monthly charge for the case is $29, but unlike a normal Mifi, you can only connect two Wifi devices to the ZTE Peel at a time. So for road warriers that like their iPod Touch, the ZTE Peel is a device to consider, but a Mifi or Overdrive might better suit your needs if you want to connect more than two devices to your mobile hotspot, especially if you wannt the ability to access the Wimax network. (Sprint)

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

T-Mobile Claiming It Has the Fastest 4G Network

T-Mobile recently started an ad campaign claiming that they have the nation's largest 4G network. Although this sounds horribly familiar to Verizon making ads about it having the largest 3G network, their ads weren't false and actually made sense. T-Mobile currently operates a 3G network based on the HSPA+ standard, which T-Mobile claims is a 4G network as far as consumers are concerned, along with LTE and WiMax. Yet this is not true. Although WiMax and LTE aren't technically considered 4G networks at this point, they are based on a 4G standard, while HSPA+ is just another evolution of 3G. T-Mobile claims the consumers won't notice the difference, because they don't know enough about 4G networks and standards yet. But calling a 3G standard 4G is just false advertising and further confuses the consumers. Once T-Mobile finally does release a network based on 4G standards, what are they going to call it? I'm sorry, but false advertising is not going to help you in the long run, T-Mobile.

Sprint 4G Launched In Five New Markets, Including New York City

Sprint has finally launched WiMax in New York City, along with Hartford, New Haven, New Brunswick, Trenton, and Tampa. For everybody out there with 4G devices, this means you can finally get a taste of 4G speeds in all these locations. The addition of these five markets brings the total number of markets with 4G coverage to 61, which is a good number considering that no other wireless carrier has publicly launched a 4G network yet. (Sprint)

Friday, October 29, 2010

Sprint Plans to Phase Out iDen

Sprint has plans to end its iconic push to talk network within the next few years, according to CEO Dan Hesse. Although the service is popular with customers looking for the very best push to talk service, the network technology used for the service is aging rapidly and doesn't work well for data transfers, which are quickly becoming the most important thing in mobile phones. Although they won't be ending the service right away, as time goes on it should be easier to end it with the amount of customers that have been leaving the iDEN network. Sprint plans to get customers to use the more popular CDMA network. When they eventually shut down the iDEN network, they will use the spectrum for other services. (Engadget)

Sprint Announces Third Quarter Results

Sprint has announced another quarter of results recently. Sprint kept up the customer increases, adding a total of 644,000 customers last quarter. 354,000 postpaid subscribers were added to the network, which are valued customers because they sign new two-year contracts. Sprint also did well in the prepaid department, gaining a total of 471,000 prepaid subscribers. A whopping 1.2 million of those customers are new to the CDMA network, but the total number of additions was dragged down by 700,000 prepaid customers leaving the iDen network. Although Sprint is gaining customers again, they lost an average of thirty cents per share this past quarter. The strong customer gains are good news, but the loss might be troubling to Sprint investors. (Sprint)