Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

T-Mobile has begun to officially launch their 3G service. While we have already seen the reports beginning to come in over the weekend, its always nice to get that ‘official’ word, even if its not telling us anything that we did not already know. Better late than never, huh?

The short, and official story is that they have rolled out the 3G coverage in New York City with support for both voice and data. They are also expecting to have coverage become available “across major metropolitan markets” by the end of 2008, however did not mention exactly what those major areas were. Keep reading if you want to check out the full press release…

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I have to admit that this post is way overdue but better late than never. A full three months after the end of the 2008 CES we would be crazy not to thank our sponsors. Without these three companies we would have gotten nowhere while out in Vegas.

Pentax - We were thankful to be hooked-up with a Pentax K-100D Digital SLR. The pictures were fantastic, storing photos on a SD card made posting extremely convenient, and the zoom lens helped us get some great close-ups even when not up front. Just check out the great photo galleries. Now we are left drooling for the K200D.

Energizer - Energizer? Yup, Energizer. If you learn one lesson after your first trade show, it is that you can never have enough batteries. In the past we have been burned by buying after-market computer batteries but because of the major cost difference between the manufacturer models and OEM models, we continued to search for a high quality solution. This search led me to Energizer and their line of rechargeable computer batteries. Personally I went for the ER-L385X extended battery for my Sony VAIO, and it could not be happier.

Sprint - Last but certainly not least would be Sprint. Without a whole bunch of mobile broadband cards there would have been no way for us to offer our non-stop coverage from up and down the Vegas strip. I think we may have had every single card, all EVDO Rev. A from the Sierra Wireless ExpressCard to the Pantech PCMCIA card.

So, thank you to these sponsors and we hope you, our readers, benefited from them supporting us.

This funky map shows the best 3G and voice network around the country according to Neilson survey.  Where does your major metro area rank?  You’d think the big cities would at least be in the top five right?  Nope.

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Sprint and Sierra wireless have announces the countries smallest USB broadband modem – the Compass 597. The modem measure only 1.2 x 2.4 x 0.4-inches and weighs a mere 0.7-ounces, but don’t be misled by its size, because this tiny little device is packed with features. First, as a US modem, the Compas 597 offers an average 600kbps-1.4mbps down and 350-500kbps up. The Compass 597 also has a GPS feature through Sprint’s Location Service which is available to Sprint broadband subscribers. Sierra Wireless and Sprint also threw in an integrated microSD card slot for memory storage expansion, which has support for up to 32GB cards. 

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Novatel Wireless has announced the Ovation MC990D and MC992D HSPA, two high-speed USB data modems that can deliver high-speed global Internet connectivity anywhere in the world. Both of these USB modems run on HSPA, WCDMA, EDGE and GPRS networks

The MC990D was specifically optimized for HSPA networks in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa on the 900 and 2100 MHz bands, while the MC992D is optimized for HSPA networks in North America on the 850 and 1900 MHz bands.

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China Mobile Communications Corp, the largest network provider in China are ready to begin testing of their 3G network using the TD-SCDMA standard. The test which is set to begin next week will include some 20,000 phones and 5,000 data cards that will be issued throughout Bejing and seven other cities. While there has not been any indication on how long the testing phase will last, China has previously stated that they hoped to have an active 3G network in place before the beginning of the Beijing Olympics, which begins in August.

Beijing has been trying to get the new infrastructure in place since 2001, but the network being as large as it is, needs a mammoth overhaul. Once the government allows the licenses, it will pick carriers to provide the country. The sheer size of China means it is an enormous and significant market, and the change could prove lucrative for a country with some 520 million subscribers.

Read [Wired News]

Rogers has just announced the addition of two new high speed data modems, the Novatel X950D and the MC950D. Both modems are tri-band HSPA and Quad-Band EDGE/GPRS and according to Novatel are made to offer “maximum performance and durability.” The X950D is an ExpressCard modem and the MC950D is a USB modem.

While Rogers has announced the modems they are not yet available, the X950D and the MC950D are both set to be released later this summer, both will retail for $49.99 with a three-year agreement.

Read [Novatel Wireless] Via [EngadgetMobile]

Nortel is bringing in a new optical technology that will speed up telecommunication companies network speeds. The optical technology will improve network speeds up to 40G-bps, four times faster than today’s standard network speed provided by telecommunications company.

Nortel is introducing the new technology to help telecommunications company provide the network speed that users currently demand. This is in the light of the boom in Internet video, high-definition programming and web mobility. With more devices and gadgets connecting to the internet through telecommunications network, Nortel is preparing the companies’ infrastructure for future increase in bandwidth demand. Increasing network speed to 40G-bps will also increase network capacity ten times more than it is right now, up to 100G-bps increase.

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I am not buying into Ericsson’s CMO Johan Bergendahl’s comments regarding the future of WiFi.  Mr. Bergendahl is quoted as saying WiFi hot spots are going the way of the dodo bird, that is, extinct in the near future.  Perhaps in Europe this is readily becoming the case thanks to a densely populated landscape.  But WiFi Hotspots shouldn’t die over this.  Here is why:

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Results of the study conducted by comScore shows that the number of U.S. Internet users accessing the web via mobile broadband increased by 154% in Q4 of 2007 as against the same period in 2006. Mobile internet is predominantly used in the work setting rather for domestic use.

The comScore report looked into the usage and characteristics of mobile broadband users from data collected by the research from Internet access using mobile broadband internet service providers (ISPs). This type of internet access is done using mobile phones subscribed through cellular networks and connected to a user’s PC. The study did not cover Internet access through Wi-Fi access which entirely a different thing from mobile broadband Internet access. Mobile broadband Internet usage is measured in terms of subscriber’s data charges from their respective cellular networks. The study also showed that Verizon and Sprint cellular network providers accounted for majority of the mobile broadband market.

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