Hasta La Gadget!

The feds simply aren’t backing down from their incessant warnings of a wireless broadband spectrum crunch the likes of which the world has never seen, and they’ve seemingly found a great vehicle — the iPad — to help spread the message just a little further (and at a higher volume) than before. This time around, it’s the Omnibus Broadband Initiative’s director of scenario planning Phil Bellaria who’s sounding the alarm, saying that the iPad foretells “even greater demand for mobile broadband on the horizon” and asking that the people with the money and the power (the carriers and the FCC, respectively) do what it takes to make sure that the nation’s broadband infrastructure and policy are appropriately managed in light of that. Perhaps most provocative is his statement that “reaching an always-on wireless broadband future means that the spectrum can no longer remain attached solely to uses deemed valuable decades ago,” possibly a veiled reference to the FCC’s ongoing spat with TV broadcasters over the future of over-the-air broadcasts. Free TV or an iPad with a fast, functional browsing experience — if it came down to it, which would you prefer?

Government warns of wireless network congestion again, rides iPad to push its spectrum agenda originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Will Apple’s new iPad tablet create network mayhem? Two Federal Communications Commission officials have some concerns, and are likening the possible logjam to traffic issues that confronted AOL in the 1990s.

“Apple’s iPad announcement has set off a new round of reports of networks unburdened by a data flow they were not built to handle,” Phil Bellaria, director of scenario planning for broadband, and John Leibovitz, deputy chief of the FCC’s wireless telecom bureau, wrote in a Monday blog post. “These problems are reminiscent of the congestion dialup users experienced following AOL’s 1996 decision to allow unlimited Internet use.”

The increased use of smartphones, 3G netbooks, and in the coming months, the iPad “demonstrate that wireless broadband will be a hugely important part of the broadband ecosystem as we move ahead,” they wrote.

AOL solved its problem by upgrading modems and servers, and wireless providers can do the same, but only if they have adequate spectrum, Bellaria and Leibovitz wrote.

Recall, if you will, Dell’s aluminum-clad E6500: a mobile workhorse that some rank as highly, if not higher than Lenovo’s venerable ThinkPad line (albeit with one slight hiccup in its service history). Well, the company has quite rightly decided that it’s time to freshen things up with a new model, so let us all say a big howareya to the E6510. Code-named Margaux and bearing the product code PP30LA, this machine’s journey through the FCC reveals Compal as its manufacturer, Intel and Windows as the major hardware and software providers (no surprises there), and a seemingly unaltered touchpad from the previous generation. The battery label seems to indicate a cool 6,700mAh of juice, while connectivity is taken care of with WiFi, WWAN and a UWB/Bluetooth combo card, with the latter two likely being optional extras. All in all, it’s looking like a competent new outing from Dell, now let’s just jack that Core i5 in there and start selling these babies.

Update: The E6410, aka Rothschild, aka PP27LA, has also slinked its way through the American certification committee, though it appears to bear a smaller maximum battery capacity of 4,600 mAh and no UWB option when compared to its larger-screened brother. Skip past the break for a visual of its internal arrangement.

Continue reading Dell E6510 / Margaux strolls through the FCC (Update: E6410 too)

Dell E6510 / Margaux strolls through the FCC (Update: E6410 too) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 04:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Before the Nexus One and the HD2, there was the Toshiba TG01, sprinting along with a 1GHz Snapdragon in its belly and a 4.1-inch front end. Alas, that phone was hamstrung by a resistive touchscreen and a poorly thought-out skin atop an even worse OS (WinMo 6.1), but even by today’s standards its hardware spec is top notch. Color us intrigued, then, to find its successor finally making its FCC debut — with Bluetooth, GPS and WiFi (802.11b/g) connectivity in tow and a case outline suggesting some earlier leaked shots might still be accurate. It’s a quad-band GSM handset, though from the tests we’ve seen it appears to sadly lack 3G frequencies for the US. The marketing name has also been confirmed as the TG02 and with MWC 2010 fast approaching, who’s to say we’re not going to have a brand new Toshiba handset to fawn over? Go past the break for more.

Continue reading Toshiba TG02 lives, drops by the FCC

Toshiba TG02 lives, drops by the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon might be getting picked on for introducing its whopper $350 “advanced device” ETF, but the FCC has decided that it wants answers from everyone on concerns that “there is no standard framework for structuring and applying ETFs throughout the wireless industry.” The commission has sent letters (via fancy certified mail, in case you’re wondering) to all of the other biggies — AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile — along with Google, asking a series of questions probing how each carrier’s ETFs are determined and applied. Google gets roped in for its nasty equipment recovery fee, but all of the recipients share a common dubious distinction: the frickin’ FCC — a bureaucracy filled to the brim with lawyers and… well, bureaucrats — can’t figure out terms that everyday customers are expected to understand. Of course, most customers don’t have the distinction of being able to send a certified letter to their carrier probing fees and require a prompt and complete response, so we’re happy to see the feds get to the bottom of this. Sure, ETFs may ultimately prove to be completely justified in their current form considering the expense that carriers put up to subsidize hot hardware, it’s true — but regardless, it’s in everyone’s best interest to make sure they’re spelled out in ways even FCC commissioners (and Engadget editors) can appreciate.

FCC expands ETF inquiry, fires off letters to AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Google originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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