Hasta La Gadget!

Hankering for some fresh T-Mobile devices with LTE connectivity? According to a leaked roadmap courtesy of Mr. Blurrycam and TmoNews, Magenta will satisfy that craving on March 27th with the BlackBerry Z10, Samsung Galaxy Exhibit (in both pre-paid and monthly plan varieties) and the Sonic 2.0 LTE mobile hotspot. An LTE flavor of the Galaxy S III is also penciled in for March 27th, but the roadmap notes it could be available starting April 3rd instead. February’s only just begun, but T-Mobile seems to have its springtime planned out pretty well ahead of time.

Filed under: Mobile, T-Mobile

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Source: TmoNews

AT&T took the wraps off its LTE-toting mobile hotspot dubbed as the AT&T Unite earlier this month, but didn’t specify how much it will cost. Well, today, the carrier is announcing that the AT&T Unite will be available for $0.99 together with a two-year contract on February 8th. Sporting a 2.4-inch touchscreen display, the AT&T Unite promises to connect up to ten Wi-Fi-enabled devices at once. Going in par with AT&T’s blazing LTE speeds is its 10-hour battery life, which should be enough for road warriors. (more…)

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It keeps getting worse for French iPhone owners. The agency for telecommunications ARCEP has just announced that it would meet with the four French telcos to know if and when it should refarm Bouygues Telecom’s 1,800MHz band to bring LTE to the iPhone 5. The three other companies are begging the ARCEP to wait until at least 2014 to start this process, effectively lobbying for slowing down innovation in this industry.

Last July, Bouygues Telecom sent a request to the ARCEP to reuse its old 2G 1,800 MHz band for LTE communications. It would give a head start to the third largest telecommunications company. According to the French law, the ARCEP has up to eight months to reply.

That’s why the agency finally explained what it plans to do in the coming months. On February 7th, the four telcos will have to present their arguments. Bouygues Telecom wanted to reuse its 1,800 MHz band in early 2013. It definitely looks like the ARCEP will miss the mark. Even though it first agreed with Bouygues Telecom, Free now wants to wait as long as possible as the company is already having a hard time laying out its 3G network and meeting ARCEP’s coverage requirements.

Finally, Orange and SFR are acting like spoiled children, begging the ARCEP to wait until the end of 2013 or even 2014 before even thinking about refarming the 1,800 MHz brand. In 2012, the two companies bought the so-called “gold spectrum” in the 800 MHz band for around $1.6 billion (€1.2 billion). This band is effectively useless for the iPhone, many Samsung devices and many other brands as it only works with a few Android handsets, such as the HTC One XL and the Motorola Razr HD. It was overpriced.

All these companies are playing the job card as well. Delaying or refarming the 1,800 MHz band would create hundreds of jobs depending on which company you take side with. It will be a key argument for the ARCEP, even though the four companies are inflating those numbers.

Allowing LTE plans sooner than later would enable the four telecommunication companies to increase the average data plan subscription price. As plan prices have greatly decreased recently, those companies desperately need a new steady influx of money to invest in optical fiber and other infrastructure improvements.

According to Les Échos, the ARCEP won’t make any decision before the end of 2013. Other countries, such as the U.K., have allowed the 1,800 MHz band refarming for LTE — but bureaucracy, lobbying and general slugginess will once again hurt the end customers who won’t get LTE on their iPhone or Galaxy Note II devices any time soon.

The old beer-selling adage that good things come to those who wait also applies to those who’ve yet to sign away a kidney for one of EE’s LTE plans. ThreeUK is announcing that it’s going to bundle LTE into its existing unlimited mobile data packages without any additional charges. The network is planning to launch its own 4G product later in the year, using spectrum it snagged when T-Mobile and Orange were forced to sell off a chunk in order to see their marriage go through. As such, existing ThreeUK customers who own an LTE-ready device can expect to see their mobile internet shoot through the roof as soon as the capacity is switched on.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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It seems that the good people over at T-Mobile have begun to have a better idea when it comes to keeping up with the times, by being ready to bring about LTE connectivity to devices connected on their network. So far, there has been limited testing being conducted on several devices which are available on T-Mobile, such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 that comes with LTE hardware underneath the hood, right out of the box. All it needs is a software update, and you’re good to go. Well, it seems that another device has been added to the list, that would be the Nokia Lumia 810 with its very own LTE-enabling update.

Engadget claims that a T-Mobile representative has confirmed that the Nokia Lumia 810 will be on the receiving end of an update which will bring LTE connectivity to the smartphone, although the fated date as to when that might happen has yet to be confirmed at time of publishing. T-Mobile’s LTE network has barely outgrown its diapers so far, so do remain patient and bide your time.

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