MetroPCS Launches First LTE Network in U.S.

MetroPCS became the first 4G LTE carrier in the U.S. Tuesday with the launch of the Samsung Craft phone and a 4G network in Las Vegas. But the nation's fifth-largest carrier's path to 4G is unique. Rather than advertising screaming, cable-modem-like Internet speeds, it's looking to use 4G to advance its mission of "wireless for all" - providing decent connectivity to lots of people at very low monthly rates.
"We're creating a platform for the future, for the next 10 years and beyond," said Ed Chao, MetroPCS's senior vice president for engineering and network operations.
Metro's initial 4G offering looks a heck of a lot like 3G. The company is charging $55 or $60 per month to use a $299 feature phone that surfs the Web, streams TV programs, and downloads music at 3G-like speeds. This is all new for MetroPCS, and it brings it up to par with the 3G services on other carriers.
(For more on the Samsung Craft and its 4G services, read PCMag's hands on.)
MetroPCS, you see, never had 3G. It experimented with 3G in Dallas and Detroit, but decided not to build it out. It has been growing steadily and charging low using an old 2G, CDMA 1X network, which is fine for voice and texting, but has limited capacity and dialup-like Internet speeds. The carrier is also squeezed for wireless spectrum in some of its cities, and it wants to grow.
MetroPCS currently has about 7.6 million subscribers, and its network covers about a third of the U.S. population.
A Different Approach to 4G
MetroPCS's take on 4G is very different from its competitors'. Verizon Wireless will introduce LTE later this year with PC modems, not phones, and it hasn't shown much interest in voice over 4G in the near term. Sprint has two 4G WiMAX phones on the market, but it also isnt' looking at WiMAX as a replacement for 3G voice, at least for now. AT&T, T-Mobile, and Cricket are all holding back on LTE until prices drop.
"We are on track to deliver a live [LTE] network covering about 100 million people by the end of this year in 25-30 major metro areas," Verizon Wireless spokesman Jeff Nelson said. "We expect … laptop connectivity at first, with consumer handsets to follow around mid-year 2011."
MetroPCS has no plans to use 4G to provide Internet hotspots or PC modems. MetroPCS just doesn't see the value in competing with DSL; PCs tend to use massive amounts of data, and MetroPCS is focused on keeping rates low and plans unlimited.
"Cards and dongles are the most commodity-like segment of the market," MetroPCS CEO Roger Linquist said. "We see our opportunity in handsets."
Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint are also all looking at 4G as additional networks, on new spectrum. Only MetroPCS seems to be looking at 4G as a replacement for its existing network as soon as possible. That may take five or 10 years, but it wants to "refarm" its spectrum, moving its 2G customers over to 4G where you can get faster speeds and far more voice calls in the same airspace.
"We want to get off of CDMA quickly," Chao said.
To that end, MetroPCS is moving aggressively towards VOLTE - voice-over-LTE, a new standard that's just now being finalized. VOLTE phones may also be able to do voice-over-Wi-Fi, so when MetroPCS brings them out in late 2011, it will be able to use Wi-Fi hotspots to supplement its network.
The Samsung Craft will be MetroPCS's only 4G phone in 2010, but many more devices are coming next year. Android smartphones from "multiple manufacturers" are at the top of the list; sources tell me that Kyocera, Huawei, and Samsung are all interested in providing devices.
For a while, though, 4G will be a bit of an odd experience. While the new 4G phones will physically support 3G, MetroPCS doesn't have any 3G roaming agreements. That means that if you can't find 4G or Wi-fi, speeds will drop to 2G.
Keeping 4G Cheap
It's hard to square MetroPCS's position as the first LTE carrier with its focus on low costs. Not only is it first to market, it's doing a lot of unusual things with LTE. Verizon and AT&T are introducing LTE on the 700-MHz band; MetroPCS is doing 1700 MHz. MetroPCS is also using an unusual range of channel sizes for LTE, from very narrow 1.4-MHz channels up to 10 MHz; Verizon and AT&T are only looking at 10 MHz and above.
At Cricket's Capital Market Days last month, Cricket's senior vice president for engineering and technical operations, Colin Holland, said that MetroPCS's top low-cost competitor was putting off LTE for another year and a half because the equipment and handsets were simply too expensive for now. Cricket wants affordable base stations and $150 phones, he said, and that's just not going to happen until the end of 2011 at the earliest.
But MetroPCS has several tricks to lower LTE costs, Chao said. The company came into LTE so early that rather than paying high early-adopter prices, it's paying low beta-tester, "beachhead customer" prices. LTE equipment manufacturers needed a test customer on which to try out its skills, and MetroPCS volunteered. That created intense competition for MetroPCS's business, which meant low prices.
"We were the only girl at the dance," Chao said. "So all those economics you learn in B-school just went out the window."
By running LTE in an existing band, MetroPCS also saves buckets of money, Chao said. Here's the key: it doesn't need to put up any new antennas. That means no negotiations with local governments or land owners, no big construction projects, and no new Internet feeds to new cell sites. Where it does choose to put up new antennas - for instance, in Philadelphia, where their LTE cells will have to be tiny to make up for very limited spectrum - it uses a technology called DAS (distributed antenna systems), which has a bunch of cheap, small, dumb antennas connected via a very long tether to one central base station.
LTE has slightly different propagation characteristics than CDMA, but MetroPCS has been having very good results running a network in the exact same footprint as its 2G network, Chao said.
The lack of new cell sites is also letting MetroPCS build its network very quickly. It will have at least some 4G coverage in all of its markets by the end of the year, Chao said, and MetroPCS will spend 2011 filling in gaps.
"We're very pleased to see the portfolio that we're seeing here for 2011," Linquist said. "It's a beginning. It's not an endpoint. It's a beginning."

Clearwire Rover: Pay As You Go WiMax By the Day, Week, or Month

Clearwire just launched Rover, a no-contract service that offers unlimited WiMax goodness for $5 a day, $20 a week, or $50 a month, along with two new WiMax modems. Yep, get ready to start topping up your 4G.
The service is launching in all of Clearwire's WiMax markets with two modems: a $99 USB stick called, um, the Rover Stick, and a $150 puck called, uh, the Rover Puck. The latter of the two can service as a WiMax hotspot for up to eight devices—it has Wi-Fi b/g/n and can simultaneously run 2 SSIDs—though neither have any 3G connectivity.

Here, for your reference, is a map of Clearwire's coverage.
Users will be able to buy new service in some retail stores, like Best Buy, or online, in $20 and $50 increments. Rover, they explain, is "designed for digitally addicted youth who refuse to settle for long-term contracts." Don't you call me an addict, Clearwire. [Rover via Slashgear]

Clearwire Introduces Rover: Instant Gratification to the Internet Addicted
Nation's First Pay-As-You-Go 4G Mobile Broadband Service
Unlimited Usage for Just $5/day, $20/week, $50/month
Redefines "Friends with Benefits" with Rover Puck(TM)
Rover Stick(TM) Available for Those With Commitment Issues
KIRKLAND, Wash., Aug 30, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ:CLWR) today unveiled Rover(TM): the nation's first pay-as-you-go 4G mobile broadband service for tech-savvy Gen Y customers. The Rover brand is designed for digitally addicted youth who refuse to settle for long-term contracts, overpriced internet service, or speeds slower than what they've become accustomed to at home.
Rover is available in all of Clearwire's 49 4G markets across the U.S. at rover.com. Rover is also available at CLEAR stores, Best Buy stores and select independent wireless dealers in Houston and St. Louis.
"Simple, commitment-free wireless services are wildly popular with the Gen Y crowd, and Rover provides them with the first pay-as-you-go unlimited mobile internet offering at 4G speeds," said Mike Sievert, chief commercial officer for Clearwire. "We've built Rover from the ground up with products, pricing and features designed specifically to serve a younger market who knows how you get connected is just as important as where. Expanding our offers to meet this underserved segment is an important new business opportunity for Clearwire as we continue to extend our leadership in mobile broadband."
"The opportunity for pay-as-you-go mobile broadband should not be underestimated," said Carrie MacGillvray, program manager and wireless analyst at IDC. "Prepaid – or pay-as-you-go – data provides an option for consumers to experiment with the power of mobile broadband without being saddled with a two-year commitment. A prepaid mobile broadband service can offer consumers the ability to access and share Internet service, at home or on the go, in an affordable way."
PUCKS AND STICKS
Friends with Benefits
Rover's flagship device is the Rover Puck: an ergonomically designed portable Wi-Fi hotspot that lets you share broadband access, or "Puck", with up to eight devices at home, out on the town or nearly anywhere the feeling strikes you. The Rover Puck can easily slip into a purse or backpack and serve as an on-the-go broadband access point for devices such as laptops, netbooks, the iPad(TM), the iPod touch(R), smartphones, PSP(R) systems, game consoles, and Wi-Fi enabled digital cameras, among others. Users have the option to connect up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices simultaneously.
The Rover Puck features mobile download speeds of three to six mbps, with bursts over 10 mbps (up to 4x faster than conventional 3G), using Clearwire's 4G network. The Rover Puck is available today for $149.99 (plus tax).
Going Solo
The Rover Stick(TM) is a personal 4G USB modem that connects any notebook, laptop or desktop to the Rover 4G Service. The Rover Stick is compatible with MacBook(R) and MacBook(R) Pro laptops using Mac OS X, as well as netbooks and notebooks running Windows(R) XP, Windows Vista(R) and Windows(R) 7. Offering the same super-fast internet speed as the Rover Puck, the Rover Stick is available today for $99.99 (plus tax).
No Commitment Issues
New users receive two free days of service to ensure Rover's metro-focused 4G coverage fits their mobile lifestyle. Rover has a 14-day no-hassle return policy for any device purchases made on rover.com or in CLEAR stores.
Rover is priced at $5/day, $20/week, or $50/month for unlimited 4G internet usage. Depending on the retail channel, customers will be able to purchase a Rover Re-Up PIN code or physical Rover Re-Up card in $20 or $50 denominations. Rover Re-Up is available online at rover.com, at all retail outlets carrying the Rover Puck or Rover Stick, as well as at Rover Re-Up specific retail locations. Rover does not require a credit card to activate service and is designed to bring broadband internet to a new audience.
GENERATION Y
The Rover brand is designed for a demographic that has grown up in a wireless world. They manage their life through the internet, and their devices signify status. Rover provides products and service to meet their need for all things internet.
"Rover's target audience has never known life without internet. They love their devices and they want as much speed and capacity as possible, without the limits and commitments of most mobile options," said Seth Cummings, GM, Rover. "Rover offers iconic devices along with straight-forward pricing, and plans where unlimited truly means unlimited. It is not in Rover's DNA to be constraining, confusing or complex."
MARKETING CAMPAIGN
Launch campaign
Rover's initial communications will showcase the dramatic ways in which 4G mobile broadband can change human behavior in previously unimagined ways. More information is available at www.evology.com.
Life @ 4G
Rover.com invites users to experience "Life @ 4G." Rover-sponsored athletes and music artists will be profiled, showing how Rover influences their careers and lives as they live Life @ 4G. Sporting a Rover wingsuit, base jumper JT Holmes, who travels up to 150 mph during freefall proximity flying, lives life with the Rover Puck and no strings attached.
Rover Activity Badges
Rover believes in loyalty, and will introduce a badging system that rewards users for participating in Rover activities. For example, the "Trendsetter" badge recognizes early adopters of Rover in each market, and the "Friends with Benefits" badge acknowledges users who refer friends to the Rover service. Badges have become wildly popular on location-based apps and are expected to resonate with the youth consumer and motivate usage.
THE BIG PICTURE
4G Network of Networks
Rover is the newest brand connected to the Clearwire 4G network, joining brands which include CLEAR(R), Sprint 4G, Comcast High-Speed 2Go, Time Warner Cable Roadrunner 4G, Best Buy Connect and Cbeyond. Today, the Clearwire 4G "network of networks" is available in select cities throughout the United States, where approximately 56 million people live.
Detailed coverage maps of service availability can be found at www.rover.com/coverage.
For press, broadcast and bloggers: Video footage can be linked from www.youtube.com/rover4g. Product and brand images and company logos can be downloaded from the Clearwire Newsroom at www.clearwire.com/newsroom. To subscribe to Rover RSS news feed, click here.
For more information about Rover, visit www.rover.com. Clearwire company information is available at http://www.clearwire.com.

Nokia sells wireless modem business to Renesas in bid to refocus

Nokia just announced a $200M-ish deal to sell its wireless modem business to Japan's Renesas Electronics Corporation. The deal is part of a broader alliance to develop HSPA+ and LTE modem technologies while working together to research future radio technologies. Per the agreement, Nokia will transfer its wireless modem technologies for LTE, HSPA and GSM standards, "certain" related patents (interesting in light of the Apple lawsuits), and about 1,100 Nokia R&D staff to Renesas, the majority of whom are located in Finland, India, the UK, and Denmark -- assuming regulatory approval of course, something the two expect to receive by the end of the year. Why now? Well, according to Kai Oistamo, Executive Vice President at Nokia, "The alliance enables us to continue to focus on our own core businesses, connecting people to what matters to them with our mobile products and solutions." Sounds like somebody's slimming down in preparation for a fight.

P.S. Though the 'Shop above only shows a Nokia USB modem, the agreement goes much deeper to cover the modem technologies used inside billions of Nokia handsets. So yeah, this is a fairly significant change of direction for Nokia.

http://adf.ly/3oO4

LTE Continues to Gain Momentum, Says GSA

More mobile network operators are placing their bets on the same next-generation mobile networking technology to offer users faster connections, according to a report from the Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA).

There are now 80 firm LTE (Long-Term Evolution) network deployments in 33 countries. That is an increase of 16 network deployments since April 7, according to the GSA. There are also another 30 networks that are in the planning stages. That number has increased by six operators since April, Alan Hadden, president at the GSA, said.

Up to 22 LTE networks will be used to offer commercial services by the end of 2010 and 45 or more networks will be launched by the end of 2012, the GSA said.

Several factors will decide when LTE is launched.

For Finnish operator Elisa, the most pressing matter is the availability of LTE terminal devices, it said last week.

Neighboring Swedish-Finnish operator TeliaSonera is expanding its range of modems, after launching the first commercial LTE service last year with limited availability of LTE-only modems from Samsung. It will offer a dual-mode modem, which supports LTE and 3G, by the end of the month.

Radio spectrum is also needed, and recent auctions in Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany are positive signs, according to Hadden. The auction in Germany is particularly interesting, he said, because it was the first to auction off so-called digital dividend spectrum from the reallocation of analog television frequencies freed up by the move to more spectrally efficient digital television transmissions.

Digital dividend spectrum is typically below 1GHz. These frequencies carry further and require less infrastructure to provide wide mobile coverage than the higher-frequency bands usually allocated to 3G networks, meaning that mobile broadband can be provided in rural areas at lower cost, according to industry organization GSM Association.

So Long, Unlimited Data: Verizon Wants Tiered 4G Plans

Yesterday, Verizon Wireless big boss Lowell McAdam told investors that when 4G hits, unlimited data plans won't make sense anymore. Instead, buying "buckets" of data—where you'd purchase a set number of monthly megabytes—is the model of the future.

Just to be clear: segmented data plans like that might be ideal for Verizon Wireless, but they're the opposite for consumers who'll have to shell out overage fees. Especially when McAdam also conceded that the cost of carrying 1MB of data over LTE will be half to a third that of 3G data transfer.

Some brighter news came out of the talk: Verizon's expecting three to five 4G handsets on their network in the first half of 2011, with calls originating from LTE phones being carried over VoIP by 2012.

But the main message: a shift in networks means a shift in billing policy. I guess tiered data plans have been inevitable for some time now. I just didn't know it would be quite this depressing to see them looming on the near horizon. [Financial Times via Engadget]

AT&T cries foul over T-Mobile's 'HSPA+ is 4G' talk

By Ross Miller

No matter how much T-Mobile wants to pretend, HSPA+ is not on the same upload / download pay grade as LTE and WiMAX. Still, that isn't stopping the company from calling its new technology rollout "4G speeds," much to the dismay of another major HSPA+ supporter, AT&T. Cue Ma Bell spokesman Seth Bloom, who recently told Fierce Wireless, "I think that companies need to be careful that they're not misleading customers by labeling HSPA+ as a 4G technology." Of course, AT&T itself is rolling out that technology as an intermediate step between current 3G and LTE, and we know they want to reserve the 4G nomenclature for the latter's unveiling. Hey guys, can we just label it 3.95G and call it day?

AT&T's Super-fast HSPA+ Network Will Cover 250 Million People By the End of the Year

We're told that AT&T President and CEO John Stankey announced in New York today that their next gen 3G network—HSPA+, not 4G LTE—should cover around 250m people by the end of the year, pending their software rollout. What does this mean? If you've got a compatible device (you probably don't, right now) AT&T says this'll double your 3G speeds as compared to their HSPA 7.2Mbps network, which is already fairly peppy.

T-Mobile's HSPA+ network, which the company says will cover around 185m people by the end of the year, is stupidly fast, so if AT&T's even comes close, well, this is awesome news.

First Verizon Wireless 4G Phone Could Appear Mid-2011

Nokia was rumored to be building it, but according to the WSJ Verizon Wireless' first 4G handset will debut mid-2011, running on the LTE network that's launching end of this year after Boston and Seattle guinea pigged the service.

According to the WSJ, Verizon Wireless' first LTE phones will use dual chipsets so they'll still be compatible with the current CDMA network. This will come months, even a year, after Sprint's first WiMax phone, which Palm is supposedly building. [WSJ]

Beceem's BCS500 4G modem splices WiMAX and LTE into one chip, sampling later this year

When we were told market research pointed to WiMAX and LTE standards for 4G connectivity coexisting, we didn't expect they'd do it quite so closely. Beceem, the maker of the WiMAX chips inside "every device in Clearwire's network," is working on a 4G modem that can handle both WiMAX and LTE, with the added extra of being able to move seamlessly between the two networks in order to find the best signal possible. The mashup of the two standards makes sense in light of all the equivocation from Clearwire and Sprint on the subject of which one they'd prefer, and would be a more than welcome simplification of our collective 4G future. Anyhow, the latest development is that Beceem and Motorola are working to pair the BCS500 to the latter's WiMAX 4G infrastructure, with the first dual-mode chips set to start sampling "later this year" and hit mass production in early 2011.

PR Newswire

NSN and Ericsson Reaches Record Speed Data LTE

The first data calls with the speed of 100Mbps LTE downlink data to a USB wireless modem has been reached grade 3. 100MBp number is the maximum speed for the terminal LTE (long term evolution) grade 3. This speed is a new achievement, after Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) and LG Electronics completed the full LTE interoperability testing first 2100MHz frequency band.

In this 100Mbps LTE test, a call is made with NSN LTE radio equipment. This includes Multiradio Flexi Base Station, elements Evolved Packet Core network and software in accordance with the standard USB modem pre-LTE commercial from LG Electronics (LG).

These data calls are also part of the Advanced NSN interoperability testing and Motorola in the frequency band 2100 MHz and 2600 MHz in the center of R & D LTE NSN in Oulu, Finland, and Ulm, Germany.

Terminal 3 class itself is expected to become the first commercial LTE terminal which is used widely by the end of 2010. In LTE, the user devices are grouped based on the potential speed uplink and downlink data.

Samsung Netbook World's First LTE

Thanks to technology, these last few years our world has changed dramatically. Some time ago, huge notebook with berfisik become something common. But netbook is now sought by many people. But the netbooks could become the world's first laptop to be integrated with LTE?

Samsung presented the answer to the Mobile World Congress in Spain. Korean companies are not only showing off smart phone, but it is also demonstrating the world's first netbook, the LTE-enabled. N150 is fitted with a modem chipset LTE Kalmia Samsung's own. And also can be fitted to the 3D feature can switch between networks. In addition to the new connection option, the device remains a N150 netbook, with a 10.1 screen, Atom processor, RAM 1 or 2 GB, and completeness of the netbook general.

Samsung has not announced when they will launch its LTE netbook that. Just mention that the N150 will be launched when there is market demand, which translates as "where LTE is installed."

LG M13 LTE modem hands-on

We've just busted through LG's glass wall that protected its M13 LTE modem, but alas we're still no closer to deciphering how good or portable this little 4G connect-a-gadget is. The first thing to note is that although it looks like a big stand with an embedded LG mobile handset, that's all for looks and in fact it's just a big chunky modem -- make of that "styling" what you will. Gallery below gives you some closer shots of the device, which was a plastic prototype glued to the table, as well as LG's Vd13 USB dongle. Go enjoy!

Samsung and TeliaSonera bringing LTE to vikings in 2010

Scandinavian folks tend to be a pretty cheerful bunch during the summer, and now Swedes and Norwegians will have reason to smile through the cold dark winters as well, with Samsung announcing an agreement to provide TeliaSonera with "mobile broadband devices for commercial service next year." This agreement relates to Sammy's Kalmia 4G USB modem and adds to the Swedish operator's LTE push, which already counts Ericsson and Huawei among the contracted hardware providers. So that's 100Mbps mobile broadband, coming to a snow-covered nation near you within the next dozen months or so. All we would ask of our viking friends now is that they remember their world-conquering ways of the past and start spreading that goodness globally. Come on, it's our right! Full press release after the break.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/22/samsung-and-teliasonera-bringing-lte-to-vikings-in-2010?icid=sphere_blogsmith_inpage_engadget

Samsung boasts of first commercial LTE modem for cellphones

We can't say that we're absolutely certain that Samsung's not fibbing a little with its latest claim, particularly since NXP rolled out a multi-mode LTE / HSPA / etc. cellular modem way back in June of last year. Whatever the case, we're just stoked to see yet another big player drinking the LTE Kool-Aid, with Sammy developing what it calls the "first LTE modem that complies with the latest standards of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)." The modem, which is being labeled the Kalmia for now, supports download rates of up to 100Mbps and upload speeds around 50Mbps within the 20MHz frequency band. In other words, if your future handset is equipped with this chipset, you could theoretically stream four HD movies with no buffering. Now, if only Samsung would announce a new mobile to go along with this, we'd really have reason to carouse.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/02/samsung-boasts-of-first-commercial-lte-modem-for-cellphones/

Samsung lance la 4G-LTE en Suède et Novège

4G/LTE, soit le rêve de n’importe quel Geek sur terre… Et si vous souhaitez profiter de la folie de la 4G, et bien, il vous faudra bouger dans l’un des pays qui prend en charge la 4G, notamment dans les pays de l’Europe du nord (Suède, Norvège…)

En effet, Samsung vient d’annoncer la mise en place d’un contrat avec TeliaSonera (un opérateur de téléphonie), afin de proposer à ses utilisateurs, la possibilité de profiter de la 4G dès l’année prochaine, via le modem GT-B3710 (une clé USB)…



Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the leading mobile phone and equipment provider, today announced a contract with TeliaSonera to provide Long Term Evolution (LTE) devices. LTE technology is one of the most anticipated technologies for 4thgeneration (4G) mobile service in the telecommunications industry. According to the contract between Samsung and TeliaSonera, a leading telecommunication service provider in the Nordic and Baltic countries and the emerging markets of Eurasia head-quartered in Sweden, Samsung will provide mobile broadband devices for commercial service in Sweden and Norway next year.

“We are very pleased to work together with TeliaSonera for this historic step forward in the modern telecommunications industry. With TeliaSonera’s initiation of LTE service, we hope more consumers to enjoy advanced mobile broadband service much earlier than expected,” said JK Shin, executive vice president and head of the Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. “Samsung is committed to providing the best and the latest LTE devices to TeliaSonera and will fully support the commercial service in Sweden and Norway next year.”

“The 4G modems from Samsung will play a very important part of our 4G launch in Sweden and Norway,” says Kenneth Karlberg, President and Head of Mobility Services, TeliaSonera. “We look forward to sharing Samsung’s world leading mobile experience and that we together will offer our customers a whole new way of enjoying mobility services.”

The Samsung LTE device (Model name: GT-B3710) is expected to be the world’s first LTE device. The device is a USB stick that can be connected to a laptop computer, or other portable devices. The USB stick incorporates Samsung’s in-house developed LTE modem chip, branded Kalmia, and supports 2.6GHz band for LTE service.

With this contract, Samsung has again demonstrated its leadership in advanced mobile technology within the mobile industry and telecommunication standardization communities. Samsung’s LTE solution is fully compliant with the latest 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) LTE Release 8 (Rel- standard. Based on its number of contributions, Samsung ranks as one of the top companies within the 3GPP, the association that specified the LTE standard. Samsung also has four seats on the wireless networking standardization working group executive board.

Related Links:
Samsung

Modem Internet LTE Tested First Try

Technology Long Term Evolution (LTE) was already prepared to be used commercially for end users. One of the players, Alcatel, even introduced and tested its first Internet-capable modem LTE.

Nokia Internet Modem is RD-3, the product name, claimed to be used in the LTE technology that was developed various network vendors and telecom operators.

According Menp Jani, Project Manager of LTE / SAE Interoperability & Trials Nokia, it has a commitment to support industry activities in preparation for LTE technology to be released commercially in 2010.

Nokia itself, as reported by Cellular News, a founder member of the LTE / SAE Trial Initiative (LSTI). Their mission is to conduct interoperability testing to a number of network vendors, in collaboration with equipment manufacturers, and ready to support operators in their LTE development activities.

In addition, the Nokia Internet Modem RD-3 is claimed is support with GSM / EDGE, WCDMA / HSPA, LTE and various frequencies.

Samsung claims First commercial LTE Modem development

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., announced that it has developed the first Long Term Evolution (LTE) modem that complies with the latest standards of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), which were released in March 2009. Utilizing Release 8 of the 3GPP, this LTE modem is a significant upgrade from the previous standard that was released in December 2008.

The modem, branded the Kalmia, supports download speed up to 100Mbps and upload speed of 50Mbps within the 20MHz frequency bandwidth. Users of a mobile device equipped with the LTE chipset can download a high-definition movie file (800MB) in one minute at speeds of 100Mbps, while simultaneously streaming four high-definition movies with no buffering.

Samsung also announced it has successfully developed a 3G baseband modem based on the Release 7 standard with an HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) Evolution platform.

This modem, branded the Broom, allows download speeds of up to 28Mbps and upload speeds of 11.5 Mbps. This makes the Release 7 more than twice as fast as the Release 6 HSPA Service, which had a maximum download speed of 14.4Mbps.

Separately, Samsung Electronics has also developed the mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16e) modem chip, a product that is already resonating in the mobile market. The company has already adopted the modem into commercial WiBro handsets in Korea. With this new modem, Samsung has delivered WiMAX and LTE model solutions, which are the two major wireless mobile communications systems for the next generation. The company has also demonstrated a full lineup of modems from 2G/3G to modems for the next generation of mobile telecommunication systems with its HSDPA Evolution modems.

Samsung is also strengthening its position as a leader in mobile telecommunication system standards. Samsung currently holds the most chairman seats within the IEEE 802.16 Working Group, a WiMAX standardization association, and also chairs the WiMAX Forum, an affiliate organization. Additionally, Samsung is highly influential in securing many leading positions in other organizations such as the Technology Working Group.

At 3GPP, an association that specifies standards for LTE, Samsung ranks in the top group according to its number of contributions and has four seats in the wireless networking standardization working group executive board. Samsung has also served as the chair for two years in the steering committee of LSTI (LTE/SAE Trial Initiative), an organization that works closely with LTE. The company is also actively participating in various programs for NGMN (Next Generation Mobile Networks), a business association of global and leading mobile operators.

http://3g4g.blogspot.com/2009/09/samsung-claims-first-commercial-lte.html

Nokia completes LTE modem as 4G network rollouts approach

Finnish wireless giant Nokia announced that it has completed trials with the "first ever Long Term Evolution (LTE) capable Internet Modem."

The product upon which the trials were conducted was the Nokia Internet Modem RD-3, a development tool by no means intended for consumer use. The company says it will be used with network vendors as well as measurement equipment manufacturers and operators. The RD-3 is interoperable with GSM/EDGE and WCDMA/HSPA and supports multiple LTE frequency bands with a theoretical peak of 100 Mbps downstream.

"Nokia is a founding member in the LTE/SAE Trial Initiative (LSTI) and carries out interoperability testing with a number of network vendors, collaborates with measurement equipment manufacturers and is ready to support operators with their LTE deployment activities. The Nokia Internet Modem RD-3 is used in all these activities," said Jani Mäenpää, Project Manager of Nokia's LTE/SAE Interoperability and Trials.

Unfortunately, Mäenpää did not disclose which development network the hardware has been tested upon, and Scandanavia currently sees much more LTE action than much of the world. Sweden's TeliaSonera unveiled its first LTE cell site in May, and at the Broadband World Forum today, Norwegian wireless company Telenor said it has secured 2.6 GHz LTE licenses in both Norway and Sweden and it intends to launch networks next year in both countries.

All of this is a big loss for WiMAX, which grew 74% in the second quarter of this year, according to ABI Research. Nokia is a former advocate of the WiMAX 4G standard, but it switched its plans to focus on LTE development for high speed 4G wireless.

"There will be no WiMAX spectrum that is not accessible to LTE," said Telenor's head of network technology strategies, Knut Erik Walter. "LTE is for sure going to lead. HSPA is sufficient until we get to LTE. This is our best way forward."

http://www.betanews.com/article/Nokia-completes-LTE-modem-as-4G-network-rollouts-approach/1252444641