News Byte

Pay-As-You-Go Hotspot Provider Karma Says It Will Expand to Sprint Network

Karma, which offers pay-as-you-go mobile hotspot service for $14 per gigabyte, said on Wednesday that it plans to expand next year from Clearwire’s WiMax network to Sprint’s faster LTE network. The carrier — part of a crop of so-called mobile virtual network operators — aims to grow by letting customers earn free data by sharing their hotspot with others nearby.

FreedomPop Makes Its Move Into the Phone Business With Free and Low-Cost Options

At least initially, customers will have to be okay with using a single smartphone option — a two-year-old refurbished WiMax device from HTC.

FreedomPop Raises a Few More Million to Further Disrupt Mobile Broadband

It will use the added $4 million to continue to come up with new ways to turn the mobile broadband market on its head, CEO Stephen Stokols tells AllThingsD.

Sprint’s Chief: iPhone Was Worth the Billions

Dan Hesse also defended the company’s decision to go with WiMax, which even Sprint executives acknowledge turned out to be the Betamax of 4G technologies.

Sprint Product Exec: Launching LTE Devices Before Network Just Makes Sense

At CTIA in New Orleans, Sprint’s Fared Adib talks about several key changes in the company’s business, including its ongoing shift in 4G technologies.

Sprint Says No More WiMax Phones as It Prepares for LTE

The carrier says testing is going well for its new network, which is due to launch in six cities around midyear.

4G or Not 4G: A Guide to Cut Through All the “Fast” Talk

Walt cuts through all the confusion about 4G data networks.

No Matter How You Define 4G, Most U.S. Smartphones Still Aren’t Running on It

Only a third of the smartphones sold in the U.S. supported any of the carriers’ faster networks, though that’s up from 6 percent in 2010.

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

Ma Bell added a bunch more major cities to its fledgling service. It still trails Verizon, but is in a solid No. 2 spot in the LTE race, with Sprint not beginning service until later this year.

Voices

Clearwire Signs Deals With Sprint, Makes Debt Payment

Clearwire Corp. signed a four-year deal with Sprint Nextel Corp. valued at as much as $1.6 billion, giving the wireless-broadband provider breathing room as it builds out a new fourth-generation network.

RIM Forced to Rewrite Its Playbook Again

Verizon Gets Ready to Launch 4G