Headline Feeds|
Anxieties Besiege FCC's Broadband Game Plan March 17, 2010 
The Federal Communication Commission's national broadband plan, formally unveiled this week, certainly has lofty goals: Provide greater access to broadband, increase broadband speeds, help establish a national emergency network, help improve the economy and ensure the U.S. leads the way in digital technology.
|
Verizon Tips Its 4G Handset Hand March 11, 2010 
Verizon will have the first handset running on its Long-Term Evolution 4G network by the middle of next year -- about six months ahead of schedule -- according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. The development of LTE means faster cellular data transfers than the 3G networks now in widespread use by U.S. carriers, though exactly when LTE will become common has long been a source of uncertainty.
|
|
A Mac-Friendly Fix for Wimpy WiFi February 15, 2010 
Tired of "dead spots" in your WiFi coverage? How about a wireless Internet connection with crawling performance? hField Technologies has a solution it calls "Wi-Fire," and the Mac version of its software has recently been overhauled. Wi-Fire is a gadget that plugs into the USB port of a computer and, according to hField, increases the range and speed of WiFi connections.
|
AT&T Signs On Ericsson and Alcatel as 4G Network Builders February 10, 2010 
AT&T has picked Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent to build its new 4G high-speed wireless network. It is a significant win for the two companies, which are developing a similar network for Verizon, as it solidifies their hold on this particular piece of the wireless infrastructure market. For consumers, an LTE network with a specific delivery date can only be considered a win as well.
|
|
Apple Lets VoIP iPhone Apps Use 3G Connections January 29, 2010 
Apple is allowing iPhone owners to use Internet calling services over cellular networks. Several companies offering Voice over Internet Protocol -- or VoIP -- services said this week that Apple now allows their applications to work on the iPhone. VoIP calling has been available on the iPhone, but only over WiFi connections, which don't have the range of 3G cellular networks.
|
Can AT&T Bear the Burden of Another Apple Gadget? January 29, 2010 
Before Wednesday, if the rumors were to be believed, Apple was not only on the brink of jettisoning its exclusive U.S. arrangement with AT&T for the iPhone, but that it would also roll out its tablet device with support from multiple carriers. That, of course, didn't happen. AT&T is still the exclusive carrier for the iPhone, and no indication was given that the situation would change soon.
|
|
VoFi Is Coming - Are You Ready? January 28, 2010 
In case you missed it, seven long years of wrangling have come to an end: 802.11n has now been officially ratified by the IEEE. Super-fast WiFi is here. The 802.11n standard ushers in increased network throughput and range that will change wireless access, services and applications. With this final blessing, any hesitancy that existed within many organizations around 802.11n deployment has been removed.
|
Google Voice Sneaks Back Onto iPhone January 26, 2010 
Google on Tuesday launched a new version of Google Voice for the iPhone, half a year after Apple kicked the application off the iTunes App Store. However, the latest version of Google Voice is a browser app leveraging HTML 5 and accessible through the iPhone's Safari browser, not an app that's downloadable from the App Store.
|
|
Nokia Headbutts Android With Free Nav App January 21, 2010 
Harried by shrinking sales and the increasing popularity of Android smartphones, Nokia on Thursday announced that it is now offering a new version of its Ovi Maps mobile navigation app for free. The offering makes detailed maps available for more than 180 countries; it also has turn-by-turn voice navigation for 74 countries in 46 languages. Traffic information is available for more than 10 countries.
|
Can magicJack Pull Off Its Bill-Shrinking Trick? January 09, 2010 
The company behind the magicJack, the cheap Internet phone gadget that's been heavily promoted on TV, has made a new version of the device that allows free calls from cellphones in the home, in a fashion that's sure to draw protest from cellular carriers. The new magicJack uses, without permission, radio frequencies for which cellular carriers have paid billions of dollars for exclusive licenses.
|
|
Things You Can Do in a Ford Besides Drive January 08, 2010 
Twitter, Pandora Internet radio and other popular smartphone apps are hitting the road, thanks to Ford Motor Company's Thursday announcement of forthcoming dashboard technologies that will soon be available in a wider, more affordable range of its cars.
|
Palm Pumps Up Pre and Pixi, Latches Onto Verizon January 08, 2010 
One year after first showing the world its Pre smartphone, Palm on Thursday announced a new generation of the device at the Consumer Electronics Show. It also unveiled an upgrade to its Pixi, a smaller smartphone that relies on the same webOS software as the Pre. These, the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus, will debut on Verizon's network Jan. 25.
|
|
AT&T, T-Mobile Roll Out Dueling 3G Upgrades January 06, 2010 
AT&T and T-Mobile both announced on Tuesday that they have upgraded their 3G networks with technology enabling faster speeds. Specifically, the carriers have both deployed
HSPA 7.2 technology at their cell sites across the United States. That technology will improve consistency in accessing data sessions, AT&T said, as well as increase network efficiency.
|
Throw Less Spectrum at It January 06, 2010 
"Throw more money at it." That's an old suggestion for trying to solve problems big and small, but it's a solution that rarely works, because it doesn't address the root cause of the problem in question. Despite knowing that it's bad advice, the FCC has recently come up with a corollary to it: Throw more spectrum at it.
|
|
Hackers Jimmy GSM Cellphone Encryption December 29, 2009 
Hackers have once again demonstrated that the GSM standard, the most widely used mobile phone standard in the world, can be hacked. The GSM Association has acknowledged the technology's flaw, but it said the weakness is not a serious threat and that hackers have not been able to create a practical attack capability that can be used on live, commercial GSM networks.
|
AT&T Gives New Yorkers the Bronx Cheer December 28, 2009 
Let's say you spent the holiday weekend pouting that you didn't find an iPhone under your Christmas tree in your New York City residence. However, if you then tried to buy the Apple smarthpone yourself through AT&T's Web site, you might have thought you were permanently on Santa's "naughty" list.
|
See More Articles in Wireless Networking Section >>
