Hasta La Gadget!

The folks at Verizon have today let it be known that their 4G LTE network will be covering 417 U.S. markets by the end of the day on October 18th, this destroying their year-end goals entirely. With a year-end goal at 400 markets total for 4G LTE in the USA, Verizon was more than happy to show off its greatness in a press conference today. This announcement was accompanied by assurances that the iPhone 5 launch has gone well so far and that their 4G LTE network has not given way to the massive amount of recently activated devices across the nation.

With data use on the rise, especially in the 4G LTE-using environment, it would seem that Verizon would have their network stability well in mind. As it stands, the company is not worried, noting with CNET that they’re fine with the pressure. “We’re not running that close to the edge”, said Nicola Palmer, vice president of network operations for Verizon.

A celebration of the accomplishments Verizon has made with their quick market spread will be held in Marquette, Michigan. This city was the 400th to receive Verizon 4G LTE coverage and a lovely little party is planned – though it’ll likely be friends and family only, of course. This point marks one in which Verizon will start expanding markets almost exclusively, with 2013 being a year of expansion of already-covered markets rather than a blast of new ones.

New cities in this latest addition include the following:

Gadsden, Ala.; Chico/Oroville, Calif.; Owensboro, Ky.; Waterville/Augusta, Maine; Marquette, Mich.; Brainerd and Fergus Falls/Alexandria, Minn.; Hattiesburg and Laurel, Miss.; Columbia, Mo.; Norfolk and North Platte, Neb.; Clovis, N.M.; Jamestown, N.Y.; Bend and Medford/Grants Pass, Ore.; Amarillo and Victoria, Texas; Aberdeen and Walla Walla, Wash; and Morgantown, W. Va.

Extended coverage has been added to the following companies as well:

Tuscaloosa, Ala.; Bakersfield, Fresno and Los Angeles, Calif.; New Haven/Waterbury, Conn.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Albany/Tifton, Athens and Gainesville, Ga.; Hilo and Honolulu, Hawaii; Idaho Falls and Pocatello, Idaho; Bloomington, Decatur/Effingham and Peoria, Ill.; Evansville, Ind.; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Pittsburg/Parsons, Kan.; Detroit, Grand Rapids and Lansing, Mich.; St. Cloud, Minn.; Jackson, Miss.; Joplin and Kansas City, Mo.; Albuquerque and Santa Fe, N.M.; Albany/Schenectady, New York, Rochester and Syracuse, N.Y.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Seattle, Spokane and Tacoma, Wash.; and Casper/Gillette, Wyo.

Verizon 4G LTE coverage blasts past year-end goals is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
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NetZero, a brand left over from from the dialup days that refuses to die, has a trick up its sleeve to encourage you to buy one of its WiMAX data hotspot devices: it gives you 1GB of data every month to give away through Facebook, so you can buy friends with downloads. More »

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that more Americans than ever now own tablets, but if you’d ever wanted some quantifiable data to go along with that homespun wisdom, then the Pew Research Center is glad to help. According to its latest report, 22 percent of US adults now own a tablet of some form. While the iPad remains the dominant player in the space with a 52 percent market share, this figure starkly contrasts the 81 percent share that Pew reported in 2011. As you might expect, Android tablets have made significant inroads and now account for 48 percent of the overall tablet space. Leading the Android charge is the Kindle Fire, which alone accounts for 21 percent of all tablets sold. It’s worth pointing out that Pew’s survey was conducted before the release of either the Nexus 7 or the Kindle Fire HD, which means that even the most recent information is a bit behind the curve. You’ll find a press release after the break that provides a much broader take on Pew’s latest findings in the mobile space, but those who want to go straight to the meat should hit up the source link below.

Continue reading Pew Research finds 22 percent of adults in US own tablets, low-cost Android on the rise

Filed under: Tablets, Mobile, Apple, Amazon

Pew Research finds 22 percent of adults in US own tablets, low-cost Android on the rise originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 17:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The international mobile hotspot rental market just got a lot more interesting. While Xcom Global‘s offerings are still broader, Tep Wireless is expanding in a major way. Previously reserved for European nations, the upstart is now serving a full 50 nations, adding Brazil, the United States, South Africa, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Australia, Bahrain, Israel, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and UAE to its repertoire. For those in need of a refresher, the company enables customers facing an international trip to order their hotspot and get it delivered prior to departure, with a prepaid envelope included to ship it back once they’ve returned.

The company’s made clear that its hotspots will track data usage in real time right on the inbuilt display, and they’re programmed to hop onto different networks as borders are crossed. (If you’re curious, we confirmed that it all works as advertised in a recent jaunt across European borders.) The full pricing chart fo is hosted up after the break, with those needing unlimited buckets able to pay a $6.95-per day surcharge. (It should be noted that the preexisting EU-wide pricing options remain for those sticking to that region.) It’ll probably look a touch pricey to light users and common tourists, but business travelers unwilling to take chances on connectivity when heading overseas will find the rates far more palatable than roaming fees from their home carrier.

Continue reading Tep Wireless expands mobile hotspot rental plan to 50 countries, revamps pricing

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Mobile

Tep Wireless expands mobile hotspot rental plan to 50 countries, revamps pricing originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 06:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It was almost a year ago that we first heard about FreedomPop, a startup built on the manifesto that every American (yes, you) should have access to free wireless broadband. Ten months later, the pay-as-you-go service is launching in beta, with “free” meaning 500MB of data per month. For the time being, the touted 4G service will come courtesy of Clearwire’s WiMAX network, but FreedomPop says it will switch to Sprint’s LTE spectrum sometime in early 2013. In the meantime, though, you can expect speeds anywhere between 4 and 10 Mbps down, and 1 to 2 Mbps up.

To take advantage of the service, you’ll need to either buy or rent some compatible hardware. Your options include the “Freedom Spot” hotspot capable of serving eight devices simultaneously, or the “Freedom Stick,” a USB dongle. Both of these are free, but require that you put down a refundable deposit ($89 for the hotspot and $49 for the stick). As we previously reported, too, the company will be selling $99 iPhone and iPod cases that double as hotspots, though these won’t actually be available for another four to six weeks. The iPhone version, in particular, does triple-duty as a charging case.

If you do venture past that 500MB data cap you’ll pay $10 for every subsequent gigabyte. Packaged deals will also be available. As we had heard, though, FreedomPop is hoping to recoup the costs of that free data by selling premium services, with three to start and more coming later. At launch, these add-ons will include device protection (24/7 customer service and replacement service within 48 hours) and notification alerts if you’re about to hit the data cap. You can also pay for speedier 4G, though the company’s claim of “up to 50 percent faster” performance is a vague one, given that the range of possible speeds is so broad to begin with.

There’s one last piece about how FreedomPop works, and it might help if we drew a comparison to Dropbox, or Zynga, even. As you would in Farmville, you can earn extra Farmville cash free data by following through on certain tasks. Watch a 20-second ad, for instance, and you win three megs of data. Sign up for a Netflix trial and you get 1.2GB added to your coffer. And, similar to Dropbox, if you recommend a friend, you get 10MB for every month that pal stays on with the service. Finally, you can share data with a friend, but it really does have to be a friend: that person’s email address has to be in your contact list.

Continue reading FreedomPop’s pay-as-you-go data service launches in beta, offering 500MB of free WiMAX per month

Filed under: Wireless, Mobile

FreedomPop’s pay-as-you-go data service launches in beta, offering 500MB of free WiMAX per month originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Oct 2012 01:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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