Hasta La Gadget!

Sometimes, you have to wonder if these CEO types are being paid the big bucks just because they can believe their own outlandish claims. Latest to try and push the boundaries of credulity is Verizon’s Ivan Seidenberg, who told an investor conference that he sees the company’s newly unveiled 4G offering as becoming a “modest substitute” for premium home entertainment services as offered by cable and online streaming companies. He concedes that for now VZW’s new LTE network will be viewed as an addition, rather than a replacement, to our connected world, but, over time, Seidenberg expects that its presence will be enough to convince more people to cut the cord. Perhaps those who’ll find the $50 per 5GB levy easiest to swallow will be people with no cord at all — the folks in rural areas for whom wired broadband isn’t yet an option. As to the rest of us, we’ll just wait until the economics start to look a tiny bit more appealing.

Update: Speaking of economics, Fierce Wireless has another disclosure from the same conference. On the topic of LTE smartphone plans, Ivan said Verizon is still undecided on pricing, but he sees 10GB a month as the “floor of what people will do,” going on to say that Verizon must “hold firm as best we can until the entire environment is mature enough.” Listen to the webcast of his speech at the link below.

Verizon CEO: 4G can be a ‘substitute’ for home internet and cable, will accelerate cord cutting originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re aware of a few third-party products that pull off this trick by connecting to your cellphone via Bluetooth, but Verizon’s throwing weight behind its own system called Home Phone Connect that’ll connect your home phone into its wireless network. The system — which seems to be available only to residents of New York and Connecticut at the moment — includes some sort of base station that connects to Verizon’s network on one end and your existing landline on the other; T-Mobile’s now-defunct @Home service was similar, but used your internet connection to route the calls rather than the cellular airwaves. Subscribers pay $9.99 to add the landline to a Verizon family plan or $19.99 to grant it unlimited domestic minutes, which seems poised to cut into Verizon’s legacy landline business just as much (if not more) than the unique Hub unit that got killed off a while back. Hard to say when (or even if) Home Phone Connect will go national, but these trials are often set up to test the pricing model just as much as they are the underlying technology — so the question becomes, would you pay $10 more on your Verizon Wireless bill to use your old-school Slimline?

Verizon trials Home Phone Connect, turns your landline into a cellphone originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Dec 2010 09:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here we go: Verizon’s LTE network is launching on Dec. 5 in 38 markets and 60 airports—going nationwide by 2013—with two USB sticks from LG and Pantech supplying the superfast goodness. But just how fast is it? More »

So as you probably know, today’s the day that Verizon comes clean with all the details on the commercial launch of its LTE network, having scheduled a press conference for noon Eastern Time. We already know many of the details, but we’re crossing our fingers for some juicy extras in the event, namely any hints of information on when we’ll see LTE-enabled handsets in the marketplace like the rumored HTC Mecha and that unnamed LG. Oh… and some solid plan pricing details would be nice, too. Follow the break for our liveblog!

Continue reading Verizon’s LTE network announcement event live at 12:00 ET!

Verizon’s LTE network announcement event live at 12:00 ET! originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 11:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, Verizon’s holding a press conference tomorrow, but unless they’ve got a secret LTE smartphone or tablet (we can only hope) we’ve got a fairly good idea what the company will say. We’re hearing Verizon will flip the switch on its LTE network on December 5th, unveil a pair of hot new USB modems to take advantage of those supposedly stellar speeds, and launch the SIM cards required to make LTE function in the first place. The gadgets include the LG VL600 thumbstick we’ve seen before, but also this marvelous-looking Pantech UML290 key, which has not only a slick swiveling case but also a dual-jointed USB port beneath. We doubt we’re going to have any trouble getting this one plugged into even the slimmest of port-abhorring slimline computing machines. See where one of the SIM cards goes in the gallery below.

Update: The populace has spoken, and “sexy” is no more. Shall we call them “transforming” modems, then? They most certainly are.

[Thanks, Anonymous and JT]

Verizon launching LTE on December 5th, two transforming 4G USB modems hitch a wild ride originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 20:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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