Hasta La Gadget!

Just when we’re finally basking in the warmth of spring and picking May flowers, US Cellular finds a reason for us to look forward to the cold and dark winter to come. The carrier announced plans to deploy its own LTE network, intent on blanketing two dozen markets (representing 25 percent of its customer base) with blazing-fast 4G service in time for the holiday season. And the party ain’t stopping just because the mistletoe comes down and the decorations are put away; the holiday deployment will only be the first phase, with US Cellular continuing its 4G expansion efforts through 2012. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading US Cellular announces 4G, plans to light up LTE by end of year

US Cellular announces 4G, plans to light up LTE by end of year originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 07 May 2011 13:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  US Cellular  | Email this | Comments

Well, it looks like this week’s other massive outage is now officially behind us — Verizon just issued a brief statement to let us know that its 4G LTE network is now “up and running.” Details on exactly what caused the outage remain light, however, with the company only saying that “network engineers and vendors quickly identified the issue and solved it.” What’s more, while it says that Thunderbolt users should now have “normal service,” those with LTE modems may still have some problems when switching between 3G and 4G modes, although that will apparently “continue to improve.”

Verizon says its LTE network is back ‘up and running’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Is your fancy new phone lacking that certain extra G that makes it special? Worry not, it’s not just your device, Verizon’s entire LTE network seems to be having problems as outages have been reported from across the US. We tested our own Thunderbolt in San Francisco this morning and it was indeed making do with only 3G connectivity. It’s important to note that Verizon’s 3G network seems to be ticking along quite alright, it’s just 4G service that’s down at the moment. Some folks have reported losing both 3G and 4G connectivity, but that’s owing to a documented issue with 3G provisioning on the Thunderbolt — we’ve noted the way to overcome that problem in a previous post. For now, just enjoy your regular-speed mobile internet until the super-fast stuff is fixed and back up.

Update: The Verizon Wireless Twitter account has confirmed the issue, and that the company’s network engineers are “working to resolve quickly.”

Update 2: As of 4:13pm ET Verizon has determined the cause and is “working with major vendors to restore connections.” Still no ETA for a fix.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Verizon’s LTE network takes the night off, leaves a bunch of Thunderbolt users bewildered originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  @VerizonWireless (Twitter)  | Email this | Comments

It started on a quiet Wednesday night, with PlayStation gamers finding their Network unresponsive to their login attempts, and now continues well into its third day. Sony has now finally shed some light on the problems it’s been having with PSN and, to nobody’s surprise, the culprit for its troubles has been identified as “an external intrusion.” The current downtime for PSN is the second of its kind this month, with the Anonymous group of online crusaders claiming responsibility for the first. Sony now intends to keep both PSN and its Qriocity music streaming service offline until it can pinpoint the vulnerability that has been exploited and put a stop to it. Skip past the break for the company’s full statement.

Update: The PlayStation Blog has added an update to its US portal this evening that suggests the service disruption may continue for a good while longer — according to Sony’s Patrick Seybold, the company is “rebuilding our system to further strengthen our network infrastructure,” and working non-stop to do so.

[Thanks, Christian and Joe]

Continue reading PlayStation Network outage caused by ‘external intrusion,’ continues for third day

PlayStation Network outage caused by ‘external intrusion,’ continues for third day originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 23 Apr 2011 10:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  PlayStation Blog  | Email this | Comments

We’ve been hit by a big batch of dismayed tips from PlayStation gamers this morning, who are finding themselves unable to log in to the PlayStation Network (again). Sony’s response has been to acknowledge there’s a problem in the vaguest of terms — “We’re aware certain functions of PlayStation Network are down” — and to promise an update on the situation as soon as it’s available. Alas, that statement was issued over nine hours ago and there’s still no word of either a rectification or an explanation for the outage. The error code provided by the console is, as you can see above, somewhat uninformative as well. So come on, Sony, what is going on with your Network?

Update: PSN is acknowledging on its EU blog that the network outage may be a result of “the possibility of targeted behaviour by an outside party.” Still no ETA for when services will be restored.

Update 2: PSN is now reporting that the network may be offline for “a full day or two.”

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

PlayStation Network down for a long count, what’s up Sony? (update: down for 24+ hours!) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  PlayStation Blog  | Email this | Comments