Hasta La Gadget!

Qualcomm’s been doing very well lately, and most of those chips it builds are for mobile devices that demand a lot of data to serve their owners’ needs — and as more and more folks jump on the smartphone bandwagon, the demand for data will continue to grow exponentially. Today at Qualcomm’s What’s Next in Mobile event in Santa Clara, California, the company told us more about its plan to help build a network that’ll be able to serve up the data all its SoC’s need. The goal is to give us 1000 times the capacity of what we currently have. One of the key parts, as Qualcomm sees it, is small cell base stations in homes, offices and retail spaces working in tandem with the large cell towers that currently adorn so many roofs and mountain tops — the same thing ex-FCC head honcho Julian Genachowski talked about last year.

You see, macrocells (read: towers) can blanket wide areas in signal, but they struggle to penetrate the innards of buildings, which is where small cells come in handy. For those who aren’t familiar, small cell base stations like femtocells and picocells have been around for years, helping to boost cell signal in small areas by hooking into a local wired network. Until now, these small cells have served as a small-scale supplement to macro networks, but Qualcomm CTO Matt Grob sees them comprising a much bigger chunk of the network of the future. According to him, there are a few issues with using them in an expanded role, however.

Filed under: Mobile

Comments

Opera introduced a new approach to pay-as-you-go mobile data today, but unless you currently live in Malaysia, you’ll only be able to read of the latest advancement. Known as the Opera Web Pass, the service is geared to those without data plans and allows users to purchase short term access from their local carrier. In its current form, mobile providers are given the flexibility to determine which subscriptions to offer, such as an hour or day of internet use, or even quick access to individual apps like Facebook or Google+. Naturally, the service could also be a great value for travelers. For its part, Opera insists that Web Pass should be extremely easy for carriers to implement with their servers. For the time being, however, Opera Web Pass is currently only available to subscribers of DiGi Telecommunications, which partnered with the Norwegian company to develop and test its service. If you’re curious to learn a bit more, feel free to hit up the source links below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

Opera Web Pass goes live in Malaysia, provides short-term mobile data access on demand originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Nov 2012 04:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechCrunch  |  Opera (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments

T-Mobile silently killed off its $10 per month 200MB data plans, a leaked document reveals. A company spokesperson verified the news with Fierce Wireless. This decision is most likely due to the growing demand for mobile data as smartphone applications continue to evolve. Grandfathered customers will not be affected by this new policy, but will need to pay full price for a device and sign up for a “Value” plan when upgrading in order to maintain their existing service plan. T-Mobile now requires its smartphone customers to have a minimum data plan of 2GB or higher, which starts at $20 per month. While this change may make sense for most smartphone users, existing customers who are light on data and heavy on savings might have a different perspective when it’s time to buy a new phone. Check out an extreme closeup of T-Mobile’s document after the break.

Continue reading T-Mobile drops 200MB smartphone data plan, 2GB now the new standard

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, T-Mobile

T-Mobile drops 200MB smartphone data plan, 2GB now the new standard originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 16:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Phone Scoop, Fierce Wireless  |  TmoNews  | Email this | Comments

Traveling is great — nay, amazing. And travel that requires a passport can be even more fulfilling for those willing to open their minds to new cultures (and, perhaps, deal with entirely too much security screening). But here’s the thing — travel is a lot better, generally speaking, with an internet connection within arm’s reach. Things are never more likely to go awry than when you leave your comfort zone (or, you know, home nation), and we here at Engadget have been investigating the best methods for maintaining a connection whilst abroad for the better part of our lives. To date, you’ve got a smattering of options: rent a MiFi from XCom Global, pick up a rental SIM from iPhoneTrip, pray that you can find a shop that rents data SIMs upon your arrival or pony up for whatever absurd roaming fees that your home operator deems fit.

All of the above options have their pros and cons, but the good news here is that your choices are expanding. As the market for ubiquitous connections continues to grow, another player has recently entered the market. Tep Wireless began as a hotspot rental service that mainly looked after those traversing the United Kingdom, but recently, it expanded its coverage umbrella to include some 38 countries across Europe and 50 nations total. This here editor recently had the opportunity to cross through four of those on a single journey, with a Tep hotspot in hand the entire way. Care to see how things turned out? Let’s reconvene after the break.

Continue reading Tep Wireless review: another great option for international mobile hotspot rentals

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Tep Wireless review: another great option for international mobile hotspot rentals originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Oct 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Tep Wireless  | Email this | Comments

Verizon customers received an unexpected bonus when they opted for the latest iPhone, but in an unfortunate case of carrier Karma, the necessary sacrifice was their mobile data. An update has been issued to fix a Verizon-specific bug which, “under certain circumstances,” used cellular data when connected to WiFi. To plug the potential leak, you’ll need to head to the About screen in the phone’s Settings, General menu, where you should find a update prompt. Install, then — importantly — reboot, and if “Verizon 13.1” shows as your carrier in that same About tab, you know you’re safe. We’d also recommend checking your data allowance with crossed fingers — for what use is LTE if you’ve already hit your monthly cap?

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Apple, Verizon

Verizon iPhone 5 update fixes mobile data use on WiFi bug originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Oct 2012 06:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink 9to5Mac  |  Apple  | Email this | Comments