Clearwire, Sprint, Comcast break Boston's 4G floodgate

Broadband cellular coverage hits Boston today, as Clearwire Corp. and its partners officially launched 4G service in Boston. Clearwire's CLEAR 4G WiMax-based fourth generation (4G) cellular service stretches from Danvers to Norwood, officials said.
One of Clearwire's partners, Comcast Corp., reported it has launched its own 4G service, called High-Speed 2go, riding on Clearwire's local 4G infrastructure. In May, Comcast announced it would begin offering 3G service to customers through Sprint Nextel Corp., and eventually 4G service through Clearwire.
Sprint, the majority investor in Clearwire, also announced its 4G service has officially launched today. Earlier this month, Matt Carter, Sprint’s president of 4G, said in an interview that it would happen within “a few weeks.”

In addition to the 2.5 million people Clearwire (Nasdaq: CLWR) said it now reaches in greater Boston, the Kirkland, Wash.-based company also launched the service in Framingham, Natick, Lowell, Lawrence and Haverhill. With the new launches, CLEAR 4G is now available in 52 markets across the country.

In addition to the Bay State communities getting their first taste of 4G coverage, Clearwire fired up the service in Providence, R.I., and Daytona Beach, Fla., today, and Sprint also turned on coverage in those cities. When a CLEAR 4G user loses the 4G coverage, the modems Clearwire is selling will keep users connected by linking to Sprint’s 3G data network. Sprint is a partner with Clearwire in the 4G deployment, and Sprint’s own 4G offerings will connect through Clearwire’s towers.

To connect to the CLEAR 4G network, Clearwire is selling mobile modems, a home modem and WiMax-embedded laptops. In addition, Clearwire will be selling its access through a service plan called Rover, in which a customer can purchase – with no contract – a single day at $5, a week at $20 or a month at $50 with unlimited usage.

The CLEAR 4G service is expected to run at speeds between 3 Megabits per second and 6 Mbps, with bursts of up to 10 Mbps. In tests of the Sprint Epic 4G phone on the Clearwire-based Sprint 4G service – which is still in test mode – Mass High Tech found 4G speeds running between 2.49 Mbps and 3.08 Mbps when the service was available.

Telstra launches world’s fastest national mobile broadband service

Australian communications giant Telstra has launched the world’s fastest mobile broadband service with the launch of the Telstra Ultimate USB Modem. It has been reported that Australians can now enjoy access to the world’s fastest mobile broadband services, and this comes after the recent launch of the Telstra Ultimate USB Modem, which has been launched across Australia’s capital city as well as associated airports and more than one hundred regional centres.
The new Telstra Ultimate USB Modem is up to twice as fast as the company’s existing fastest Next G modem. It will offer typical download speeds that will range from 1.1Mbps to 20Mbps depending on the area. Two thousand devices were recently launched for Telstra business customers, and this comes prior to the widespread launch of the new modem later this year.
Telstra Business Group Managing Director, Deena Shiff said: “Australians are telling us they can’t afford to be tied to the desk all day and these new speeds mean they can now access mobile broadband at speeds typically reserved for the office.”
She added: “We have been deploying the high-speed capability in the network since December 2009 and now, with the launch of the new Ultimate USB Modem, these new speeds are available to customers across all capital city CBDs and associated airports, selected metropolitan areas and in more than 100 regional locations. These high-speed zones cover approximately 50 per cent of the Australian population and match the areas of highest customer demand and will make the frustration of waiting around for files to download a thing of the past. In other metropolitan and regional areas, the Telstra Ultimate USB Modem offers typical download speeds ranging from 550kbps up to 8Mbps, which is still significantly faster than Telstra’s mobile broadband competitors.”
Source – Telstra

Your Own Hot Spot, and Cheap

Someday, they’ll build wireless Internet into every building, just the way they build in running water, heat and electricity today. Someday, we won’t have to drive around town looking for a coffee shop when we need to check our e-mail.

If you want ubiquitous Internet today, though, you have several choices. They’re all compromised and all expensive.
You could get online using only a smartphone, but you’ll pay at least $80 a month and you’ll have to view the Internet through a shrunken keyhole of a screen. You could equip your laptop with one of those cellular air cards or U.S.B. sticks, which cost $60 a month, but you’d be limited to 5 gigabytes of data transfer a month (and how are you supposed to gauge that?). You could use tethering, in which your laptop uses your cellphone as a glorified Internet antenna — but that adds $20 or $30 to your phone bill, has a fixed data limit and eats through your phone’s battery charge in an hour.
Last year, you could hear minds blowing coast to coast when Novatel introduced a new option: the MiFi. It creates a personal Wi-Fi bubble, a portable, powerful, password-protected wireless hot spot that, because it’s the size of a porky credit card, can go with you everywhere. The MiFi gets its Internet signal from a 3G cellphone network and converts it into a Wi-Fi signal that up to five people can share.
You can just leave the thing in your pocket, your laptop bag or your purse to pump out a fresh Internet signal to everyone within 30 feet, for four hours on a charge of the removable battery. You’re instantly online whenever you fire up your laptop, netbook, Wi-Fi camera, game gadget, iPhone or iPod Touch.
The MiFi released by Virgin Mobile this week ($150) is almost exactly the same thing as the one offered by Verizon and, until recently, Sprint — but there’s a twist that makes it revolutionary all over again.
The Virgin MiFi, like its rivals, is still an amazing gizmo to have on long car rides for the family, on woodsy corporate offsite meetings, at disaster sites, at trade show booths or anywhere you can’t get Wi-Fi. If you live alone, the MiFi could even be your regular home Internet service, too — one that you can take with you when you head out the door. And it’s still insanely useful when you’re stuck on a plane on a runway.
But three things about the Virgin MiFi are very, very different. First, Virgin’s plan is unlimited. You don’t have to sweat through the month, hoping you don’t exceed the standard 5-gigabyte data limit, as you do with the cellular-modem products from Verizon, Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile. (If you exceed 5 gigabytes, you pay steep per-megabyte overage charges, or in T-Mobile’s case, you get your Internet speed slowed down for the rest of the month.)
If you hadn’t noticed, unlimited-data plans are fast disappearing — but here’s Virgin, offering up an unlimited Internet plan as if it never got the memo.
Second, Virgin requires no contract. You can sign up for service only when you need it. In other words, it’s totally O.K. with Virgin if you leave the thing in your drawer all year, and activate it only for, say, the two summer months when you’ll be away. That’s a huge, huge deal in this era when every flavor of Internet service, portable or not, requires a two-year commitment.
Third, the service price for this no-commitment, unlimited, portable hot spot is — are you sitting down? — $40 a month.
That’s no typo. It’s $40 a month. Compare that with the cheapest cellular modems from AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint: $60 a month. T-Mobile also charges $40 a month for its cellular modems. But all four of those big companies require a two-year contract, and come with those scary 5-gigabyte monthly data limits.
(There’s actually another Virgin plan available, too: you can pay $10 for a 100-megabyte chunk of Internet use that expires in 10 days. It’s intended for people who are heading out for the weekend and just want to keep in touch with e-mail without having to fork over a whole month’s worth of money — and without paying $15 or $25 for each night of overpriced hotel Wi-Fi. And speaking of options, Virgin also offers a standard U.S.B. plug-in cellular modem with exactly the same pricing details.)
I’ve pounded my head against the fine print, grilled the product managers and researched the heck out of this, and I simply cannot find the catch.
Is it the speed? No. You’re getting exactly the same 3G speed you’d get on rival cellular modems and MiFi’s. That is, about as fast as a DSL modem. A cell modem doesn’t give you cable-modem speed, but you’ll have no problem watching online videos and, where you have a decent Sprint signal, even doing video chats.

Is it the coverage? Not really; Virgin uses Sprint’s 3G cellular Internet network, which is excellent. You’re getting exactly the same battery life and convenience of Verizon’s MiFi — for two-thirds the monthly price.
(Why would Sprint allow Virgin to use its data network but undercut its own pricing in such a brazen way? Because Sprint is focused on promoting its 4G phones and portable hot spots — even faster Internet, available so far only in a few cities. For example, its Overdrive portable hot spot is $100 after rebate, with a two-year commitment. The service is $60 a month for 5 gigabytes of 3G data and unlimited 4G data.)
That’s not to say that there’s no fine print whatsoever.
First, the Virgin plan doesn’t include roaming off Sprint’s network; the old Sprint MiFi plans did. According to Virgin, that’s not a big deal — the regular Sprint network covers 262 million people, whereas roaming would cover 12 million more — but it means that you might be out of luck in smaller towns.
Second, the Virgin MiFi can’t plug directly into your computer’s U.S.B. port to act as a wired cellular modem, like other carriers’ MiFi units. You can connect to it only wirelessly, if you care. (You can still charge it from your computer’s U.S.B. jack, but very slowly. A wall outlet or car adapter is a much better bet.)
Finally, remember that the Virgin MiFi is still a MiFi, so it’s a bit uncommunicative. It has only a single, illuminated button that serves as the on-off switch and an indicator light that blinks cryptically in different colors. You have to press that button and wait about 20 seconds before you can get online.
But come on: $40 a month? With no commitment or contract?
I did a little survey of broadband Internet prices among my Twitter followers. Turns out $40 a month is not only a great price for cellular (portable) Internet service — it’s among the lowest broadband prices in America, period. In some areas you can pay $35 a month for DSL service. But most people pay $50 to $60 for high-speed Internet, which makes the Virgin deal seem even more incredible.
And unlike those plans, Virgin lets you turn on service only when you want it. You can buy service — as with a prepaid phone —either by calling an 800 number or visiting a Web site. Handily enough, you can get onto the Virgin Web site to re-activate your MiFi, even if you’d previously stopped paying for service.
The MiFi’s portability has always made it an exceptionally flexible and useful little gadget — and Virgin’s prepaid model, unlimited data plan and dirt-cheap pricing just multiply that flexibility. And if Virgin can make money with a plan like this, the mind boggles at just how overpriced the similar offerings from its rivals must really be.

Cell C reveals new broadband pricing

Cell C reveals it’s highly anticipated 21.6 Mbps HSPA+ data pricing which is set to shake up the local broadband market
Cell C CEO Lars Reichelt unveiled the company’s new branding and strategy earlier this month, and it quickly became clear that he is set on taking the battle to Vodacom and MTN.
To date Cell C has failed to compete in the broadband market because it did not have a 3G/HSDPA network, but armed with a brand new 21 Mbps HSPA+ network Reichelt looks ready to shake up the mobile broadband market.
Cell C has launched two broadband offerings which are sure to create a stir in the South African broadband environment.  The two offerings are:

1. For R1,499 you will get a modem capable of speeds of up to 7.2Mbps and 2GB of data every month for a period of 12 months.
2. For R2,999 you will get a modem capable of speeds of up to 21.6Mbps and 5GB of data every month for a period of 12 months.

This means that the two products will cost subscribers R63 per GB on the R1,499 product and R50 per GB on the R2,999 product.
Despite the fact that this pricing is more expensive than what has been communicated with Cell C shops earlier this month, it is still far cheaper than Vodacom and MTN’s current pricing which hovers just below R200 per GB.
Cell C is expected to announce its launch plans later this week.

EU plans investigation of Chinese modems: Sources

The European Union is preparing to investigate whether China is unfairly subsidising makers of wireless modems, the latest move by Europe to defend its high-tech industry in the face of China's growing market share.
The European Commission, the EU's executive, has told member states it wants to investigate the sector and has until mid-September to launch a full study, diplomats say. Such a move would add pressure to already tense EU-China trade relations.

The Commission's desire to investigate follows a complaint by Option, Europe's sole producer of the wireless Internet devices and a supplier of modems to telecoms giants such as Vodafone and Telefonica.
According to Option's complaint, seen by Reuters, China's modem producers receive direct government grants, cheap loans and state-backed R&D as part of China's efforts to shift from a major low-tech exporter into a top player in global telecoms.
"China's government policies are aimed at raising up and supporting domestic companies in the telecommunication and information technology sectors with the express purpose of making them global champions," the complaint says.
China exported about 25 million wireless modems -- used to access the Internet on laptops and handhelds -- worth around 1.25 billion euros ($1.6 billion) in 2009. Its exports made up 90 percent of European modem imports, according to EU estimates.
The Commission has until mid-September to start a 13-month investigation, which could lead to steep import tariffs valid for five years. EU capitals must this week oppose or tacitly approve the Commission plan, according people close to the case.
Tariff hikes and a possible import limit on Chinese modems resulting from the investigation could hurt China's two leading producers, Huawei Technologies and ZTE.
EU member states have in the past given their backing to subsidy complaints, but one EU diplomat said the Chinese subsidies targeted in this complaint could be legal.
Trade assault
If opened, the investigation would represent the first time the EU has rolled out three trade defence instruments at once against one of its trading partners and highlights the EU's willingness to face down exporting powerhouse China, its biggest trade partner after the United States.
In June, the EU started a dual investigation into alleged market dumping by Chinese wireless modem exporters and into whether the EU should resort to emergency safeguards to protect Option from sudden surges in Chinese imports.
A Chinese official in Brussels said China will consult with the EU on the investigation. China's Ministry of Commerce lambasted the June investigations as trade protectionism.
People familiar with the case say Beijing will point to Option's production facilities in China and allege Commission bias to discredit the claim.

Sierra Wireless announces the world’s first dual channel HSPA+ USB modem [42 Mbps is yummy in my tummy]

Sierra Wireless has just announced the world’s first dual channel HSPA+ modem, the AirCard 312U. It’s going to be sold in Australia as the “Telstra Ultimate USB modem“, which is just about the most bad ass name you can call a laptop accessory. Telstra, as far as I’m aware, is the only operator in the world to have a fully operational commercial dual channel HSPA+ network. It’s basically a plain “old” HSPA+ network, which currently maxes out at 21 Mbps, but with the ability to use two channels to double the bandwidth to 42 Mbps. Think of the shotgun modem you used in the late 90s to double your download speed, and you understand the basics of how dual channel HSPA+ works.
Now just because it’s shipping in Australia doesn’t mean Americans will be missing out on the fun. T-Mobile USA, who is currently the only nationwide operator to offer an HSPA+ network, albeit to a limited amount of markets, has said that they plan on rolling out dual channel support in 2011. While the Aussies down under get to enjoy mobile broadband, North America is just going to have to wait. In a few months time Verizon and MetroPCS will both have their respective LTE networks turned on anyway and then you guys can all point at Australia on a map and laugh to your heart’s content.
As for Europe, the only operator that has offered concrete guidance on dual channel HSPA+ rollout is Telefónica Spain, who has committed to supplying 42 Mbps of mobile broadband goodness within the next 3 years. Bit of a stretch, but it’s coming.
Favorite quote from the press release: “Customers using a Telstra Ultimate USB modem in enabled coverage areas will experience real-world download speeds up to 20 Mbps.” How nice of them to tell people outright that their 42 Mbps modem will only give them half the speed during actual use. Thumbs up Telstra!

[PATCH] Add pseudo modem without AT command capabilities

From: Philippe Corbes 

cdc-acm.c : Manage pseudo-modem without AT commands capabilities
  Enable to drive electronic simple gadgets based on microcontrolers.
  The Interface descriptor is like this:
    bInterfaceClass         2 Communications
    bInterfaceSubClass      2 Abstract (modem)
    bInterfaceProtocol      0 None

Signed-off-by: Philippe Corbes 
---

diff --git a/drivers/usb/class/cdc-acm.c b/drivers/usb/class/cdc-acm.c
index 1833b3a..a405b1b 100644
--- a/drivers/usb/class/cdc-acm.c
+++ b/drivers/usb/class/cdc-acm.c
@@ -1599,6 +1599,10 @@ static const struct usb_device_id acm_ids[] = {
        .driver_info = NOT_A_MODEM,
                },

+       /* control interfaces without any protocol set */
+       { USB_INTERFACE_INFO(USB_CLASS_COMM, USB_CDC_SUBCLASS_ACM,
+               USB_CDC_PROTO_NONE) },
+
        /* control interfaces with various AT-command sets */
        { USB_INTERFACE_INFO(USB_CLASS_COMM, USB_CDC_SUBCLASS_ACM,
                USB_CDC_ACM_PROTO_AT_V25TER) },

---
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-usb" in
the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html