AllThingsD » 3G

AT&T Shuffles Resources in New York in Push for Faster Data, Fewer Dropped Calls

Ina Fried — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:31:11 +0000

Aiming to improve its service in New York City, AT&T said on Wednesday that it is shifting some of its bandwidth away from older networks and toward its newer 3G and 4G networks.

The company said it is contacting customers on its older 2G network and providing upgrade offers in an effort to get them onto one of the newer networks.

“Dedicating more capacity to our advanced wireless networks will help more of our customers in New York City have a better experience overall,” AT&T regional general manager Tom DeVito said in a statement. “By re-allocating network resources from our 2G network to support our newer, advanced networks, we’re moving capacity to support the voice and mobile internet services our customers want.”

New York and San Francisco, in particular, have long been trouble spots for AT&T customers.

AT&T has been doing a number of things to improve service in those cities and in other areas. Adding cell towers is one option, but doing so typically requires approval at the local level for each new tower. Carriers are also pursuing other new tricks, including the use of smaller cells as well as building up Wi-Fi “hot zones” to help off-load traffic.

Voyager Mobile, a 22-Year-Old's Cellphone Start-Up, Launches After Delay

Ina Fried — Sun, 20 May 2012 18:18:03 +0000

An attack on his Web site pushed things out a few days, but John Mardini says Voyager Mobile is now ready to take orders for cut-rate cellphone service.

Mardini, a 22-year-old entrepreneur and New York University student, is reselling devices and services from Sprint. In fact, Sprint is handling most facets of the business, aside from sales and marketing.

That’s a good thing, since Voyager Mobile consists of about seven employees, mostly family and friends. But though Mardini is only 22, this is his third start-up, having already built up businesses in music equipment and IT services.

Mardini says the goal with Voyager is to offer customers low monthly prices. Voyager is pitching $19 (plus taxes) a month for unlimited talking and texting, and $39 (plus taxes) for talking, texting and Web use.

“I pay so much for my cellphone,” Mardini said in an interview last week. “I was thinking there has to be a better way to make it cheaper for everyone.”

The company was all set to start taking orders on Tuesday, but the Web-site issues forced a few days’ delay.

Things are up and running now, with Voyager offering a range of prepaid devices, including a pair of Android phones at $219 and Samsung’s Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch for $549.

Verizon Unlimited Users' Plans Not Going Away, but Options Likely to Narrow

Ina Fried — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:28:30 +0000

Verizon hasn’t offered unlimited data plans for a while now, but it has lots and lots of customers still on them.

So, naturally, there was much kerfuffle on Wednesday after reports that Verizon was planning to ax plans, even for those grandfathered in. The reports stemmed from comments made by Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo at an investor conference.

Thing is, he didn’t actually say that those on plans would lose them. However, he did suggest that those looking to upgrade to a 4G LTE smartphone would soon be unable to take their plan on to a new phone.

Until now, Verizon has been letting those with unlimited plans move to 4G and keep their plan. Shammo said that will come to an end once the company introduces shared data plans this summer.

“So when you think about our 3G base, a lot of our 3G base is unlimited,” Shammo said. “As they start to migrate into 4G, they will have to come off of unlimited and go into the data share plan.”

But those who have unlimited plans and are okay with keeping their 3G phones are likely to be able to keep their plan. My understanding is that there are Verizon customers on 10-year-old rate plans and, so long as they are happy with their phone, no one will force them to change plans.

In a statement on Thursday, Verizon Wireless didn’t exactly clear things up entirely, but suggested that there will be fair warning before anything changes.

As we have stated publicly, Verizon Wireless has been re-evaluating its data pricing structure for some time, Customers have told us that they want to share data, similar to how they share minutes today. We are working on plans to provide customers with that option later this year.

We will share specific details of the plans and any related policy changes well in advance of their introduction, so customers will have time to evaluate their choices and make the best decisions for their wireless service. It is our goal and commitment to continue to provide customers with the same high value service they have come to expect from Verizon Wireless.

That said, if you have an unlimited plan and think you might want to move to 4G, it’s probably best to do so now.

Update: I got a few more details on how this will be rolled out. First of all, Verizon is saying definitively that customers that are on an unlimited plan and want to keep it with their existing phone can do so.

What will happen is that once shared data plans arrive, unlimited data customers won’t be able to upgrade to a new phone at a discount and keep their unlimited plan. Should they want to, customers could opt to pay the full unsubsidized price for a new phone (3G or 4G) and keep their unlimited data plan.

Apple on Australian 4G: You're Branding It Wrong

John Paczkowski — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:55:00 +0000

Accused of misleading consumers about the 4G capabilities of its latest iPad in Australia, Apple is taking the country’s regulators to the mat. And it’s armed with a controversial argument.

It’s not the iPad that’s been mislabeled. It’s Australia’s 3G networks.

In a brief filed with the Federal Court in Melbourne, Australia, this week, Apple — which last month agreed to notify consumers that its new iPad is not compatible with Australia’s 4G LTE network, and to offer refunds to early purchasers who feel they were misled by its branding — refused to stop marketing the device as “iPad Wi-Fi + 4G.”

Its argument for doing so? Many of Australia’s 3G networks can reasonably be described as 4G under international definitions.

“The iPad with WiFi + 4G is a device which performs in accordance with the descriptor ‘4G’ in terms of data transfer speed,” Apple argued in its brief, according to the Australian, which first reported on the document. “The descriptor ‘4G’ … conveys to consumers in Australia that the iPad with WiFi + 4G will deliver a superior level of service in terms of data transfer speed (consistent with accepted industry and regulatory use of that term), and not that the iPad with WiFi + 4G is compatible with any particular network technology promoted by a particular mobile service provider in Australia.”

In other words: No, the iPad with WiFi + 4G doesn’t support Australia’s true 4G LTE network, but it does support networks that are fast enough to be defined as 4G. So, no harm, no foul.

And as silly as that might sound, it’s technically true. When the International Telecommunications Union, which sets the marketing standards for wireless networks, expanded its definition of 4G service in December of 2010, it said this of the term 4G:

“As the most advanced technologies currently defined for global wireless mobile broadband communications, IMT-Advanced is considered as ’4G,’ although it is recognized that this term, while undefined, may also be applied to the forerunners of these technologies, LTE and WiMax, and to other evolved 3G technologies providing a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed.”

And if that’s the definition, Apple argues, then there’s no reason to change the branding on the “iPad Wi-Fi + 4G” in Australia.

It’s all semantics.

But will a court buy that argument? We’ll find out in May, when the case is expected to be given a full hearing.

(Image courtesy of Someecards)

Verizon: Half of Our First-Quarter Smartphone Sales Were iPhones

John Paczkowski — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:42:03 +0000

Apple’s iPhone continues to sell well at Verizon, though not quite as well as last quarter. Reporting first-quarter earnings largely in line with expectations this morning, Verizon said it sold 6.3 million smartphones.

Of those, 3.2 million were iPhones.

Now, that’s significantly less than the 4.3 million the carrier sold last quarter.

But remember: Last quarter saw record-setting iPhone sales of 37 million for Apple, driven by the launch of the iPhone 4S. So, while sales have certainly slowed, they’re impressive nonetheless.

After all, they represent more than half of Verizon’s smartphone business. And consider this: Verzion sold just 2.1 million 4G LTE-enabled smartphones during the same period — a million less than the iPhone, which is still 3G.

Great App-pectations: When Innovation Leapfrogs Phone Capabilities

Liz Gannes — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 15:00:23 +0000

As comic Louis C.K. would say about technology: Everything is amazing and nobody is happy.

Nowhere is that more true than in the world of smartphone applications, as app developers push the possibilities of how to use our smartphones’ location awareness and reach well beyond what our mobile data plans and battery lives seem to be able to support, especially in densely populated spaces.

It’s kind of sad, because for a while the release of new devices has set off rushes of creativity, with developers using touchscreens and accelerometers and other sensors in ways that seemed to make science fiction real.

With every available power outlet in use, a popular FedEx promotion brought a "human charging station" to the street. Thankfully it didn't enlist homeless people.

We see great stuff like phone cameras being used for everything from detecting heart rates to translating paper menus from one language to another. We watch serendipitous location-sharing tools go from typing in an address five years ago (Dodgeball), to linking with a crowdsourced database three years ago (Foursquare), to ambient awareness this year (Highlight).

The disconnect between app dreams and phone reality was particularly evident at the South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin this past week, where official attendance hit nearly 25,000, up 27 percent from last year. Combined with everyone else in the hip Texas town, including many SXSW partiers without passes, that made for phone network overload.

And when our phones are constantly searching for a signal or tracking our locations, their battery life tends to suck. Literally.

As most did, I had a hard time getting mobile data during all five days I was in Austin, with ongoing weak 3G service on my iPhone 4 on the AT&T network. AT&T wouldn’t give me a comment on its SXSW performance beyond a map of its event service plan, including 220 Wi-Fi hotspots and a couple of “COW” (cellular on wheels) trucks.

Other outlets also reported that bad data access at SXSW 2012 was a problem for many people. (Although not everyone and not every device had issues: Walt Mossberg was pulling down 18 Mbps back in his hotel room on his new Verizon LTE iPad that he was testing.)

Here’s the problem: SXSW has become a place where app developers come in the hopes that they can persuade a dense, social audience of early adopters to try their shiny new way to find what’s going on and where. Hundreds of start-ups lust after the idea of “winning SXSW,” following past examples of Twitter and Foursquare, and, to a lesser extent, GroupMe.

There was much debate, egged on by tech bloggers, about who would be crowned the SXSW winner this year. I think the consensus was that nobody won, although Mophie battery packs for the iPhone and sponsors who brought charging stations should get an honorable mention.

But I’d argue that one of the reasons it was impossible to “win” in 2012 was that these location and communication apps were hindered by poor service and battery life impact.

Foiled again! My repeated attempts to check in on Foursquare distracted me from yet another scintillating panel.

Also, as aged as they are in comparison to the newborn location vampires, Foursquare and Twitter still dominate SXSW. There were 755,373 total tweets with the keyword or hashtag “SXSW” during the Interactive portion of the festival, according to PeopleBrowsr. At one point, I had the 3,702nd concurrent Foursquare check-in at the Austin Convention Center.

“Foursquare’s part of the fabric of SXSW,” said Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley in an onstage interview at the event. I think he’s right.

But then Crowley took it a step further: “Foursquare in Austin at SXSW is like Foursquare of the future. It’s going to be everywhere.”

If that’s the case — and I’m not sure it is — I don’t think the future sounds so great. Because using Foursquare at SXSW was actually a total chafe. It often took four tries to send my Foursquare check-ins to the server. The error messages were constant.

More daring apps like the new Highlight — which constantly tracks users and pings them when they are near people with common friends and interests — had even more problems. One morning when I loaded up Highlight, the app told me that I had been in close proximity to 10 people the night before between 1 am and 2:30 am, over on the other side of the river from where I was staying.

Boring as I am, I was home in bed by then.

When I asked Highlight co-founder Paul Davison why the app messed up, he said Highlight had been experimenting with using mobile cell towers to locate users, because GPS has such an impact on their batteries. The cell tower had apparently retained my location while I was sleeping across town, not having opened the app and sent it an updated location.

(Although, to be honest, I don’t really want to share where I am while I’m sleeping — which is a very different concern.)

Thus, I found that a good SXSW icebreaker question was: “So, have you uninstalled Highlight yet?” In an unscientific but anecdotally significant number of cases, the answer was yes. Why? Almost always: Battery drain.

Davison said Highlight — which only launched in January — is working to improve accuracy and decrease battery impact. He added that he’s hopeful people will overlook these issues.

“For many, the ability to see profiles of the people standing nearby is so new and exciting that they want to try it out now, even if the location precision and battery life is not yet where they’d want it to be,” Davison said.

Foursquare’s response was similarly optimistic. As far as service goes, “things have gotten much better [at SXSW] in the last couple of years and are continuing to improve,” said a spokeswoman. “And battery life should be much better next year with the iPhone 5, iPad HD and new Android handsets launching.”

Everything might be exciting, but if your phone’s dead, you’re not using it. That makes me and many others unhappy.

Because while I’m sure better and more expensive services and devices will be on the market next year, I’m also sure SXSW 2013 will be even more jam-packed.

LG Shows Its Hand in Barcelona (After Already Tipping It)

Ina Fried — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 13:57:32 +0000

After announcing a ton of devices last week, there wasn’t much room for surprise by the time LG made it to Barcelona.

The company introduced four devices last week, as well as plans for a new design theme. However, the company is using the show to display the just-introduced devices, plus three other phones that are part of a new-look design for the company.

Those devices — L3, L5 and L7 — are similar in design, but with different screen sizes and going after different parts of the market, from low-end to midrange. The L3 will sbhip this quarter and runs on the Gingerbread version of Android; the L5 and L7 run Ice Cream Sandwich and are due out next quarter.

Along with those devices, LG has a range of high-end models, including a new 3-D phone with a wider viewing angle; a quad-core phone; and the LG Optimus Vu, with its ginormous screen. Or, as LG likes to put it, a device that is “four times smaller than an ordinary tablet.”

The moves come as LG is trying to deal with increasingly tough competition in the mobile space, particularly among Android makers.

Here’s a picture of the Optimus Vu, by the way, held next to a Nokia Lumia 800:

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Two Joysticks to Beat Smartphones at Games

Katherine Boehret — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:42:28 +0000

Portable gaming devices have plenty of reason to sulk in the corner. The job they once dominated—rescuing people from boredom while on the go—is now done by smartphones and devices like the iPod Touch. Smartphones offer casual games like “Angry Birds” and “Words with Friends” that cost little or nothing to download, and also make phone calls, and send email and text messages.

Sony’s PS Vita is the first portable game to come with two joysticks; on the screen, apps are represented by playful bubblelike icons.

This week I tested the newest gaming device that tries to do many of the things a smartphone does, short of making phone calls: Sony’s PlayStation Vita. It has front- and back-facing cameras; a Web browser; a store for downloading movies, TV shows and games; a music player; and an optional AT&T 3G network connection. This spring, Sony plans to add its own music-streaming service, Facebook, Skype and Foursquare. Netflix, Flickr and Twitter apps are slated to work on the device on Wednesday, when it’s available in stores. All these features are still secondary to the main reason a person might plunk down $299 (3G and Wi-Fi capable) or $249 (Wi-Fi) for this device: gaming.

Sony’s PS Vita is the latest move by a portable-game maker to gain some ground back from smartphones. Nintendo’s 3DS, which I reviewed last March, now has a Netflix app and other smartphone characteristics. The company also plans to add Hulu Plus to the 3DS later this year.

Not surprisingly, I found the PS Vita did best with games and pretty well with the programs over which it seemed to have the most control. Other features seemed like they were added just for the sake of adding them and didn’t work nearly as well.

The PS Vita’s pre-loaded Near app has a whimsical interface that showed 28 people near me who were signed into the PlayStation Network. The PS Store was easy to navigate and clearly displayed details about each downloadable item. But the Web browser can’t play Flash and only partially supports HTML 5, which will make it impossible to see content on many websites.

It lacks an email program, so users are limited to sending things via the PlayStation Network to people using PlayStation. Photos I took with the device could only be sent this way and a workaround of hooking my PS Vita into a PS3 or a PC to offload photos seemed antiquated.

The device’s rear touch pad, lets users control games with fingers on the back.

The PS Vita embraces multi-touch gestures on its responsive, bright screen. A peeling-back gesture reveals the home screen and can be used to close any program. A bubble in the top right can be tapped to see download progress or device notifications, and swipes up, down, left and right help users navigate around screens. Playful bubblelike icons represent all apps.

The design of the PS Vita is obviously related to its predecessor, the PlayStation Portable. It has game controllers that flank the right and left sides of its 5-inch touch-screen, and its top right and left corners double as buttons. At 7.2 inches by 3.3 inches, the PS Vita looks like it could eat an iPod Touch for lunch. Its 3G model weighs twice as much as the iPhone 4S.

This is the first portable gaming device to have two joysticks instead of one. Sony says the “dual analog sticks” offer better gaming. When I played “Uncharted: Golden Abyss,” the right joystick adjusted my vantage point and the left moved my character.

People can control games using their fingers on the screen or—in a novel twist—on the back of the device. A rear touch pad lets fingers operate from where they naturally rest when holding the PS Vita. I played Sony Computer Entertainment America’s $30 “Little Deviants” game by rolling a ball-shaped creature through mazes, controlling where the ball moved with my fingers touching the back of the PS Vita. While playing the $40 EA Sports “FIFA Soccer” game, I used the touch pad to aim and shoot the ball. I found the touch pad so sensitive that it was hard to use, but this might get easier over time.

In the $50 “Uncharted: Golden Abyss” game, I guided the main character up a wall by moving my finger on the touch screen rather than using multidirectional buttons. Likewise, I balanced my character as he walked across a plank of wood using the PS Vita’s built-in motion sensor; aiming a gun works with the motion sensors rather than a joystick.

Plenty of PS Vita games are geared toward the serious gamer, with 21 of the 26 games launching with the PS Vita costing $30 or more. (These can be downloaded through the PlayStation Store or bought as PS Vita Cards at retailers.) “Uncharted: Golden Abyss” comes with a 43-page digital instruction manual, which I had to read to get anywhere in the game. There are 275 PlayStation Portable games playable on the PS Vita and available for download, and pricing for those starts at 99 cents.

(Games for Nintendo’s $170 3DS portable gaming device range from $2 to $40 apiece. The most expensive game you can buy for Apple’s $499 iPad is the $17 “Final Fantasy III” game by Square Enix.)

Wirelessly downloading content from the PS Store only works in Wi-Fi, but the 3G model can download files smaller than 20 megabytes over 3G. I downloaded a demo mode for one game from the PS Store and 26 minutes later, it was on my PS Vita. Downloading a movie was harder: I used a $25 gift card and bought the $14.99 standard-definition (HD wasn’t available) version of the movie “Tower Heist,” but an estimate told me that it would take over 3,000 minutes to download, and I gave up shortly after the download started.

Battery life is estimated at three to five hours for gaming without network features in use. I played in shorter intervals and didn’t have any trouble with battery life.

At times, the PS Vita seemed a bit slow to respond. As I initially set up my PlayStation Network account for use in “Friends,” a built-in social-networking app for interacting with other PS Vita and PlayStation 3 users, I waited several seconds. A polite “Please wait” message appeared far too often.

Gamers will like the PS Vita’s double joysticks, while non-gamers will feel more comfortable with its motion and touch controls. But instead of competing with smartphones, this device should stick to what it knows: games.

Write to Katie at katherine.boehret@wsj.com

Track Changes on an iPad

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:02:59 +0000

You recently reviewed an iPad app that lets you use Microsoft Office programs on an iPad. But does this support the “Track Changes” feature of Office, which I cannot find on any of the office-type apps I’ve tried on the iPad?

Yes, it does. And tracked changes are synchronized with your PC or Mac.

As I noted in the review, the new app, called OnLive Desktop, gives you the complete Windows version of Office on an iPad, via the cloud. So all features in the Windows version, including the tracking of changes, are available.

I am a new Mac user and would like to become a Quicken user. I read your February 2010 critique of Mac Quicken. Is there a new and improved version of Mac Quicken?

Intuit, the maker of the stripped-down Quicken Essentials for Mac I reviewed then, has improved the product. But more important, the company now says its last full version of Quicken for the Mac, called Quicken 2007, will soon be revised so that it runs with Lion, the latest version of the Macintosh operating system.

There was outrage from Mac Quicken users when Intuit earlier had declined to rewrite the full version to work with Lion.

Could you please tell me which smartphone today is a must if my last phone was the iPhone 4? Your review of the iPhone 4S indicated it wasn’t a “must” upgrade for iPhone 4 owners.

Changing to a different phone would only be a “must” for you if you were unhappy with your iPhone, or wanted one of a couple of key features only available on competing phones.

One would be a larger screen. The iPhone screen is 3.5 inches, but some newer Android phones, such as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, now have giant screens as large as 4.65 inches. Personally, I find that too large for comfort, but you might not.

Another important feature is LTE wireless capability. A number of Android phones, such as the Motorola Droid RAZR, support LTE, a fourth-generation wireless technology that is much, much faster at data downloads than 3G, though it also tends to use up your battery faster. No iPhone yet supports LTE.

Write to Walt at mossberg@wsj.com

Grover Is at CES and I Am Missing It

Ina Fried — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:30:36 +0000

As I’ve let slip in more than a few tweets and posts, I am a huge “Sesame Street” fan.

Which is why I can’t believe I am missing lovable, furry Grover. The blue Muppet is making an in-the-fur appearance at CES on Tuesday, in a speech by Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs, and I am already booked.

The chipmaker has worked with Sesame Workshop on an augmented reality application.

Jacobs is also set to show off other tech stuff, including a demo of Windows 8 running on its hardware and working over AT&T’s LTE network and Lenovo’s Android-based television, which is powered by a Qualcomm chip.

But what has me sore is missing the Muppets. If you are still in Vegas, Grover, call me!

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AT&T Lights Up LTE in 11 More Cities, Including L.A., N.Y. and San Francisco

Ina Fried — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:19:35 +0000

AT&T took a big step toward expanding its high-speed LTE network, announcing on Thursday that it has added 11 more areas, including Los Angeles, the New York Metro Area and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Also getting the service are Austin; Chapel Hill, N.C.; Orlando; Phoenix; Raleigh, N.C.; and San Diego, Calif.

That’s in addition to the 15 other markets in which AT&T launched LTE last year. Of course, AT&T still trails Verizon, which has coverage in 190 markets, with service available to more than 200 million people.

Sprint, meanwhile, has much of the country covered with an alternate 4G technology, WiMax. However, Sprint has announced plans to launch an LTE network of its own later this year.

Constrained by spectrum, T-Mobile USA has focused on rolling out ever-faster variants of its 3G network. The company had hoped a merger with AT&T would solve its problems, but is now scrambling for other options since that deal collapsed.

Update, 1 p.m.: In a Twitter posting, Sprint noted on Wednesday that it plans to launch its LTE service in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio by mid-year.

Verizon: Sorry for the 4G Downtime, but It Really Wasn't That Bad

Ina Fried — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:32:28 +0000

In the wake of its third outage this month, Verizon today defended its network performance.

The carrier noted its overall 99 percent uptime, and characterized the outages as the growing pains that come with the territory as it pioneers a new 4G LTE network.

Each of the outages, Verizon said, had distinct causes.

Here’s the full release:

Statement From Verizon Wireless on 4GLTE Network

12/29/2011

In light of recent events, Verizon Wireless shared the following statement about its 4GLTE Network:

The Verizon Wireless 4GLTE Network is BY FAR the largest and the most advanced 4GLTE wireless network in the world. It is available in 190 US markets and covers more than 200 million people, providing the fastest 4G Network in the US.

Being a pioneer comes with growing pains. The recent issues that affected our customers’ 4GLTE service were unforeseen despite careful, diligent planning, deployment and ongoing upgrade programs.

Problems customers experienced affected connectivity to the 4GLTE Network and data service. Several times, we have proactively “moved” 4GLTE customers onto our 3G Network to ensure all would have a data connection. For brief periods, such as on Wednesday (12/28), 4GLTE customers could not connect to the 3G Network as quickly as we would have liked.

Nonetheless, we estimate that 4GLTE connectivity has been available approximately 99 percent of the time this year.

Why have these issues occurred with our 4GLTE Network? Each incident has been different from a technical standpoint. Our engineers have successfully diagnosed those past triggering events, and they have not re-occurred. We also work diligently to rectify technical problems in the Network before they affect any customers.

Our 3G and 1X Networks continue to reliably process calls, texts and data for customers with 3G devices and, when necessary, 4GLTE devices. It continues to perform at the high level that established it as the nation’s largest and most reliable 3G Network.

We are taking a number of steps, working closely with our network suppliers, to ensure the integrity of our 4GLTE Network. We continue to fortify and improve its performance, and our goal is that our 4GLTE Network meets the same high standards that our 3G Network has set for performance and reliability.

Among the numerous measures we have taken or will take are: geographic segmentation, which enables us to isolate, contain and rectify network performance issues, and maintain service to the majority of customers when an issue does develop; and software fixes that we have developed, tested and applied regularly – and will continue to do so. Both will improve performance and reliability.

And finally, we are learning from these issues and applying the same gold standard to our 4GLTE Network that make our 3G Network the nation’s largest and most reliable.

Verizon Wireless is a leader and pioneer in this cutting edge technology that provides very fast wireless data speeds, enabling customers to enjoy the best experience in video and other wireless data usage. Clear unbuffered streaming video, super fast file downloads and wide availability are among the advantages we offer to customers. The capabilities of 4GLTE have exceeded many expectations.

We will not rest until our 4GLTE network performs at the very highest levels that our customers have come to expect from us.

Verizon: 4G Data Service Returning After Overnight Outage

Arik Hesseldahl — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 16:58:07 +0000

Verizon Wireless just confirmed the service outage on its 4G network that numerous customers noticed overnight, in an official statement: “Verizon Wireless 4G LTE service is returning to normal this morning after company engineers worked to resolve an issue with the 4G network during the early morning hours today. Throughout this time, 4G LTE customers were able to make voice calls and send and receive text messages. The 3G data network operated normally.”

Verizon Hit With Second Big Data Outage This Month

Ina Fried — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:26:57 +0000

Verizon Wireless users from various parts of the country are again reporting an outage of the carrier’s main data networks.

In reports on Twitter and the carrier’s support forums, users note getting either no data service or service only on Verizon’s slowest data network.

Two weeks ago, Verizon had a significant outage on its fastest network. That network also went down for a spell back in April.

A Verizon representative was not immediately available for comment. The Verge said that a representative they talked to confirmed the outage, but declined to offer details or provide a time frame when service might be restored.

Sending Music to the Cloud

Walt Mossberg — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 23:47:47 +0000

If I upload my music collection to Apple’s iTunes Match cloud service, is it deleted from my computer? I ask because I wouldn’t want to lose my music if the service was killed or suffered some massive failure.

No. Any songs that currently are stored on your computer’s hard disk remain there, so even if iTunes Match is discontinued, your music is safe. However, you will gain access from the cloud to additional songs that live on other computers or Apple devices you own, but now are also stored in your iTunes Match account.

I am considering buying the 10″ Toshiba Thrive tablet you reviewed a while back. It comes in three memory configurations. Other than the amount of internal memory, do the three models have the same internal hardware?

Yes. A glance at the Thrive website suggests that all other key components, such as the screen, the processor, the ports, the sensors and the cameras are the same. For more, see http://bit.ly/vvy2rM.

I just got an iPad 3G with Verizon. I want an all-in-one printer, but it seems I need a Wi-Fi connection to use a printer. Is something available that would work with my Verizon connection?

There are some iPad apps that claim to print over 3G. Just go to the app store, search on “print,” and study the descriptions.

But it doesn’t matter, because every iPad, including those like yours that come with 3G, also includes Wi-Fi, and can print to compatible printers. The Verizon 3G is an added, alternate connection capability—not a replacement for Wi-Fi. Just make sure when you buy your printer that it’s compatible with Apple’s AirPrint technology. More information is at http://bit.ly/r2A5VG.

Cox Giving Up Completely on Wireless Business

Ina Fried — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:07:00 +0000

Cox Communications, which in May stopped operating its own cellular networks, said this week that it plans to completely exit the cellphone business.

The cable company said that it will stop selling cellular service as of today and will discontinue service to current customers as of March, though it promised to help them transition to other providers. Cox has been reselling 3G service from Sprint to customers in about half of its service areas.

Existing customers will get a $150 credit on their bill for each line of wireless service and keep their phone as well as any deals they had for bundling their phone and cable services.

“Cox is working to make this transition as seamless and easy as possible for our customers,” Executive VP Len Barlik said in a statement.

In making the decision, Cox cited several reasons, including the rapid shift to 4G and its inability to land “iconic devices.”

Wireless Carrier Execs Trade Jabs, but Land No Major Punches

Ina Fried — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:24:43 +0000

Six months ago, the heads of Verizon, AT&T and Sprint shared a stage just hours after AT&T announced its plans to buy T-Mobile USA. That discussion, moderated by Jim Cramer, was a pretty fun hour of theater.

At the fall CTIA show on Tuesday, the same executives were assembled, but things weren’t nearly as fun. First of all, there was no Mr. Boo-ya. More importantly, the executives appeared one after the other, rather than agreeing to again share a stage.

The result was more stump speeches than discourse.

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse, who is also the chairman of the CTIA, kicked things off with a talk largely focused on environmental issues, noting that the industry trade group plans later today to announce new guidelines for product reuse, recycling and packaging.

“We’re making real progress,” Hesse said. He also noted that it was cellphones that transmitted dramatic imagery from the Middle East as governments changed, and wireless phones that helped after natural disasters in the U.S. and around the globe.

Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T Mobility, focused on some of the investments his company has made, including $80 million to open research “foundries” in Palo Alto, Calif.; Plano, Texas; and Israel.

The speeches weren’t totally devoid of zingers. Hesse did note that de la Vega looks a lot like Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth, who was also an actor. Speaking after Hesse, de la Vega noted the observation came from Hesse, “a guy who is the best actor in wireless we have today.”

De la Vega was followed by Verizon Wireless CEO Dan Mead.

Like de la Vega, Mead spoke about his company’s investment in facilities that help network equipment makers, operating system creators and app developers to collaborate. Verizon opened an application center in San Francisco earlier this year, following on the heels of an earlier 4G LTE center in Waltham, Mass.

Mead also spoke about the impact the industry has had on society in the decade since Sept. 11, 2001, when, he said, the wireless business established itself as a key aid to first responders in the aftermath of crises.

“Since that time, we’ve responded to hurricanes and tornadoes and floods, helping people to cope,” Mead said. “We have rescued hikers, boaters and others who have lost their way. We have used our technology for the greater good again and again.”

Although Mead and others talked about the competitiveness of the industry, Tuesday was more lovefest than slugfest.

“Collaboration has played and will continue to play a major role in our success,” Mead said.

3G iPad 2 Hits Mainland China Tomorrow

John Paczkowski — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 14:55:19 +0000

After a long wait, the 3G iPad 2 is headed to mainland China. Come Wednesday, the 3G-equipped tablet, which has so far only been available for purchase in Hong Kong, will arrive at Apple retail stores and authorized resellers in the rest of the country.

Ahead of Possible iPhone Launch, Sprint Tightens Upgrade and Return Policies

Ina Fried — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 12:00:28 +0000

Sprint intends to do away with a program that gave longtime customers the ability to upgrade their phones as often as every year.

The company said last week that it plans to kill off its Sprint Premier program, saying it needs to do so to offer the latest in phones and maintain its unlimited plans.

“In order to continue offering customers one of the best values of affordable unlimited data plans in the industry today, cutting-edge devices at great prices and our ongoing investment in providing great customer service, we had to make the difficult decision that it’s necessary to bring the Sprint Premier Program to a close at this time,” Sprint marketing director Melinda Parks said in a statement.

The move comes ahead of the expected arrival of the first iPhone to run on Sprint’s network. The change is also the second time in less than a year that the company has made its upgrade policy more stringent. Earlier this year, Sprint also added a $10 surcharge for most smartphones.

The company said it will phase out both the gold and silver tiers of the program; gold members eligible for new phones each year have until the end of the year to use their last upgrade.

Also, last Friday the company switched from a 30-day “satisfaction guarantee” to a two-week return policy.

“The new return policy now gives customers the opportunity to try Sprint products and services for 14 days, which is in line with the return policies of some other competitors,” a Sprint representative told AllThingsD.

Typing With the Original iPad

Walt Mossberg — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 00:59:49 +0000

I am looking for a simplified PC for my elderly relative, and was disappointed that you couldn’t recommend the Telekin PC for seniors. Are there any alternatives?

I don’t know of any other entire, multi-function computers aimed at seniors. But there’s a new program that claims to turn a standard Windows PC into an easy-to-use machine for seniors. It’s called Seniorama Pointer 2011. It costs $97 for a five-year license and offers large-type, simplified interfaces for email, Web browsing, photos, games, and Skype video and audio calls.

I haven’t tested it, so I don’t know how well it works. But the website notes that the program has some limitations. For instance, its email program requires a new email address, and its photo program only handles pictures received via email.

I read your review of cases with built-in keyboards for the iPad 2. Are there similar products for the original iPad?

Yes. I haven’t tested them, but if you search the Web or look in stores, you can find some.

For instance, the Zaggmate aluminum keyboard case for the original iPad, which is quite similar to the Logitech keyboard case for the iPad 2 that I tested, is still being sold at zagg.com and elsewhere for $100 or less.

An earlier iPad 1 model of the Kensington keyboard case I reviewed, called the KeyFolio (not the KeyFolio Pro,) can still be found at Kensington.com and elsewhere for $100 or less. And there are others.

We will soon be moving to a rural area where the only opportunities we have for decent Internet service will be cellular data or satellite.

Is there a device that can access the Internet via 3G cellular and wirelessly serve our two laptops simultaneously?

Yes, there are a number of them. Perhaps the most common are small, dedicated mobile hot-spot gadgets sold by the major wireless carriers, such as the Novatel MiFi. These connect to the 3G or 4G cellular networks and then convert that Internet connection into a Wi-Fi signal that can be used by multiple laptops or other devices.

The devices are often inexpensive, but the monthly rates can be stiff, depending on how much data you use.

Another approach is to use a smartphone. Many of these, including the iPhone 4 and Android phones, can be turned into hot spots that act like the dedicated gadgets described above.

However, extra monthly fees apply for this functionality, and they can add up if you use a lot of data.

Write to Walt at mossberg@wsj.com.

China at a Smartphone Inflection Point

John Paczkowski — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 11:00:33 +0000

The billions of dollars China’s wireless carriers invested in 3G network infrastructure a few years back are beginning to pay off — for them and for smartphone manufacturers looking to tap the world’s largest mobile market. Evidently the migration of wireless subscribers from 2G feature phones to 3G smartphones has begun in earnest.

New analysis of the market by Canaccord analyst T. Michael Walkley reveals that China’s wireless carriers posted a 30 percent sequential increase in 3G subscribers from the first quarter of 2011 to the second. In Q1/C2011 there were 61.9 million of them.

And in Q2/C2011? 80.5 million.

Clearly the growth trend here is strong, as the chart at right ably demonstrates. “We believe the 3G smartphone market in China is reaching an inflection point,” Walkley says. “We anticipate … strong growth of 3G subscribers in China will continue, as 3G subscribers account for only 9.1 percent of roughly 883 million Chinese wireless subscribers.”

This, of course, bodes well for any company with a keen interest in China’s smartphone market — especially Apple, which has been particularly vocal about its intentions there. As I’ve noted here before, it’s been estimated that China could represent a revenue opportunity for the iPhone of $8 billion to $9 billion.

Verizon Confirms No New Unlimited Data Plans as of Thursday

Ina Fried — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 18:08:00 +0000

When we said that those seeking an unlimited data plan on Verizon had better hurry, we weren’t kidding.

The company confirmed that, starting Thursday, new customers will have to choose one of several usage-based data pricing plans.

The plans start at $10 for 75MB of data for feature phones, with smartphone plans ranging from $30 for 2GB all the way to an $80 plan that includes 10GB of data each month, far more than typically used these days by even heavy data users.

Those who have an unlimited plan today can keep it through their contract, and Verizon said that existing customers who are no longer under contract can still upgrade to a new smartphone, sign a new two-year agreement and keep their unlimited plan.

Though the all-you-can-eat approach is popular with customers, carriers have been itching to move away from unlimited plans in order to be able to handle an explosion in data use and because a small number of customers have been using an inordinate amount of data, streaming copious amounts of video and performing other data-intensive tasks.

“Unlimited billing on data is simply unsustainable for the industry,” Verizon VP Nicola Palmer said at a conference earlier this year.

The challenge for many consumers, though, is predicting and understanding their data use. Carriers have offered a number of tools, including calculators that predict data use based on planned tasks as well as alerts that let a customer know when he or she is approaching a data limit.

AT&T led the charge away from unlimited plans last year, while T-Mobile has taken a different approach, throttling down the data rate once users hit their limit, but not charging customers overage fees. Sprint, meanwhile, continues to offer a range of unlimited data plans with its phones.

The new pricing lines up with information that had leaked out last month and was confirmed earlier on Tuesday by online wireless industry publication FierceWireless.

Judging E-Readers by Their Book Readability

Katherine Boehret — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 23:39:01 +0000

If you’re heading to the beach this summer and you plan to read an e-book, you won’t want to take your iPad. The screen of Apple’s otherwise enjoyable tablet has a glare that’s accentuated in bright sun, even if you’re under an umbrella and wearing a hat and sunglasses, as I learned last summer.

[ See post to watch video ]

Luckily, alternatives abound, including several devices that use E Ink screen-display technology. These devices offer glare-free, matte surfaces, though the trade-off is a grayscale display with no backlighting.

For the past week, I’ve been doing my summer reading on two E Ink machines: the newest $139 Nook from Barnes & Noble Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.’s latest $114 Kindle with Special Offers (that means sponsored screensavers bring the price down from $139). Both are dedicated e-readers and in lieu of color screens, both use E Ink’s Pearl Display, which has better contrast and sharper text than previous E Ink displays. Their thin, light dimensions make them a no-brainer to toss in a bag for reading on the go. And the Nook and Kindle are both capable of buying and downloading e-books right over WiFi.

The Kindle lets gift givers preregister a device for people who aren’t tech savvy.

But the new Nook has something the Kindle doesn’t: a touch screen. While Amazon’s Kindle has a physical keyboard for inputting text, and directional buttons for painfully sluggish navigation, users of the Nook can make their way around it using screen taps or swipes; its on-screen keyboard appears when needed.

With the Nook, Barnes & Noble proves that a basic grayscale-screen e-reader doesn’t have to feel antiquated.

It has been 10 months since Amazon brought out its last Kindle and the company is likely to introduce a new version of this product in the next three months, as well as a much anticipated iPad competitor. And there’s a very good chance the new Kindle will include a touch screen, so the Nook’s advantage may be short-lived. The current Kindle also comes in a $164 version with a free 3G Internet connection; the new Nook is only available with a WiFi connection.

At least for now, the Nook is in the lead. Even without its touch screen, the Nook has a few other features that the Kindle lacks. Its company-estimated battery life is two months when used for reading an hour a day with WiFi off, or twice as long as Amazon’s Kindle under the same circumstances. It enables lending books to friends directly from the Nook, while Kindle users must initiate lending books from a PC. And library books can be borrowed and read on the Nook (albeit using a side-loading procedure); an Amazon spokeswoman says library books are coming to Kindles later this year.

Still, the Nook isn’t flawless: After I read with it for about 20 minutes one night, its touch screen stopped responding. Thankfully, page turns can also be made using hard buttons on either side of the screen. I could keep reading, but I couldn’t navigate through the rest of the device without access to touch-prompted menus. The biggest problem came in the morning when I tried to use it after the device went into sleep mode overnight. I couldn’t get it out of sleep mode without being able to use the on-screen sliding gesture that unlocks the touch screen.

The Barnes & Noble Nook.

A Barnes & Noble spokeswoman said the company is aware of this touch-screen problem occurring with a small number of devices and that an over-the-air, automatic update will be sent to all Nooks over the next two weeks to fix it. (Users won’t have to do anything except have the Nook in WiFi range to get the update.) In the meantime, my touch screen eventually started working again, but holding the Nook’s power button to restart the device should fix this problem.

Physically, the Nook and Kindle have the same six-inch diagonal screen size. But the Kindle has a longer top-to-bottom design to house its physical keyboard, much like the shape of a novel but only about three-tenths of an inch thick. The Nook’s overall shape is squatter than the Kindle, and it’s slightly lighter—about 7.5 versus 8.5 ounces. Both e-readers are so lightweight that I forgot I had each one in my bag at different times.

I didn’t mind holding these devices while reading for long periods of time. The back of the Nook is slightly thicker on its sides, which makes it easy to hold, and the shape of the Kindle makes it feel well balanced in the hand. I sat on city benches and on pool lounge chairs with both devices, reading glare-free, Caroline Kennedy’s “She Walks in Beauty” with the summer sun above.

On the Nook, a tap of the “n” button below the screen directed me to a Home screen, where I could see my Nook Friends’ activities, like what books they rated, recommended or quoted. The Nook easily imports contacts from Google, or connects to Facebook and Twitter for sharing news about books with friends. Kindle allows sharing of book highlights, ratings and notes to friends through Facebook and Twitter, but the steps for connecting to these networks are buried in layers of Kindle menus.

By tapping the center of the Nook screen while a book is opened, five options are displayed at the bottom of the screen, including Go To, which now tells users how many pages are left in a chapter instead of just telling the number of overall remaining pages in the book.

One big plus for the not-so-tech-savvy book lover: Kindles can ship pre-registered for a user, which is helpful if you’re buying a device for someone who doesn’t have a PC or doesn’t know how to set up an Amazon account on the device.

Newspapers and magazines can be delivered wirelessly to both devices, and Kindle and Nook apps can be installed on various other devices to access reading materials, including Windows PCs, Macs, iPads, Android tablets and smartphones.

If you’re loyal to Amazon, you’ll probably want to hold out a few months for a new Kindle. If you’re looking for an e-reader now, Barnes & Noble’s new Nook has great social networking and a touch screen that makes it a cinch to use.

Write to Katherine Boehret at katherine.boehret@wsj.com

The Fine Print on E-Readers

Here’s how the latest Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook compare:

Amazon Kindle With Special Offers		Barnes & Noble Nook
$114 or $164	Price	$139
WiFi or WiFi + Free 3G	WiFi or 3G	WiFi Only
Yes, 14 days, must do from PC	E-Book Lending	Yes, 14 days, direct from Nook
No*	Library-Book Borrowing	Yes
7.5″ x 4.8″ x 0.335″	Dimensions (HxWxD)	6.5″ x 5.0″ x 0.47″
8.5 oz.	Weight	7.48 oz.
1 month	Battery Life (1 Hour/Day Reading Pace, Wireless Off)	2 months
4GB, or 3,500 books	Memory	2GB, or 1,000 books
No	Expandable Memory	Yes, microSD slot
E Ink Pearl Display	Text Display	E Ink Pearl Display

* Library lending expected later this year.

Apple, Android Owners Diverge on Wi-Fi Usage -- But Why?

John Paczkowski — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 14:05:30 +0000

A new point of differentiation between iOS and Android users: People who own iOS devices tend to use Wi-Fi a hell of a lot more than Android users do.

This news comes from comScore’s new Device Essentials service, which looks at mobile usage worldwide. ComScore says that iPhones and iPads spent far more time connected to Wi-Fi networks than their Android-based rivals. In the United States, 47.5 percent of iPhone data traffic occurred over Wi-Fi networks. For Android phones it was less than half that: 21.7 percent.

In other words, iPhone users consume almost half of their content via Wi-Fi, and Android users consume more than three-quarters of theirs over cellular networks. In tablets, the difference is even more pronounced: 91.9 percent of iPad data traffic occurred over Wi-Fi networks compared to 65.2 percent for Android tablets.

Why the huge difference in network usage patterns? For tablets, the explanation is simple. The iPad is by far the dominant tablet worldwide, generating about 89 percent of tablet traffic in the 13 countries comScore surveyed (97.1 percent in the U.S.!). And tablet usage tends to be an in-home activity.

And for smartphones? It could be that iPhones are more proactive than Android devices in acquiring Wi-Fi signals and pushing their users onto Wi-Fi connections when they are available. It could be that technologies like Apple TV and AirPlay encourage heavier reliance on Wi-Fi among iOS device users. I imagine the prevalence of iPhones on AT&T and that carrier’s tiered data plans likely have something to do with it as well. Beyond that, I’m not sure. And, to be honest, these are just theories. If you’ve got ideas of your own, sound off in the comments.

Cox Abandoning Effort for Own 3G Network; Sticking With Sprint Reseller Deal Instead

Ina Fried — Tue, 24 May 2011 23:33:39 +0000

Cox Communications said on Tuesday that it will soon decommission a 3G wireless network that it has been building, opting instead to focus solely on selling wireless service via a wholesale deal with Sprint.

The move, Cox said, will allow the cable company to reach its goal of offering wireless service to half its customer base this year.

“We believe this approach is good for our customers, allowing us to take the necessary steps to fulfill our promise to deliver a Cox experience that customers expect from us,” Cox said in a statement. “In continuing with our successful wholesale model for 3G wireless services, we will accomplish speed to market while achieving greater operational efficiencies from a wholesale model that continues to improve. We are proud of our initial success with wireless, already nearly doubling our projected subscriber forecast.”

A representative declined to say how many millions Cox had spent on spectrum and network gear or to comment on its future plans for the spectrum it owns. Cox sells its service using the pitch of “unbelievably fair wireless,” offering terms such as cash back for unused minutes.

Cox’s plan was reported earlier on Tuesday by Fierce Wireless.