On Monday, Starbucks announced that it would switch providers for its ubiquitous Wi-Fi hotspots, replacing T-Mobile with AT&T. Starbucks also announced it will start providing two hours of free Wi-Fi for customers who buy coffee on their Starbucks purchase card as well as cheaper rates monthly (and after that two hour freebie). AT&T’s broadband customers […]
On Monday, BlackBerry users suffered another service outage. As the outage appears to have affected all wireless carriers, it sounds like another software glitch more than a network issue, but one quote from the AP’s article caught my eye:
“[Stuart] Gold . . . plans to ask his company to buy him a backup smart phone […]
iPhone users having problems with AT&T’s EDGE network at the biggest consumer electronics show in the U.S.?
I am shocked. Shocked, I say.
If only there was some sort of planning solution that could help carriers ensure that their networks can support their services . . .
Happy New Year, everyone! Here’s to a great 2008!
While I was home watching the ball drop in Times Square and celebrating the start of 2008 with friends and family, millions of other people were busy text messaging their far-flung friends and families to wish them a happy new year. According to the AP, […]
Verizon Wireless has made a large footprint in the “Open” movement over the last week — first opening its network to outside devices and applications, then announcing its plan to use the LTE (Long Term Evolution) standard instead of UMB (ultramobile broadband), and Tuesday joining Google’s Open Handset Alliance. The company is positioning the OHA […]
Reading the news and analysis about Google’s Android and OHA announcements this week, I was reminded of a good rule of thumb in networking technology and telecom services - “simple wins, cheap wins, open wins.” An Android-based phone has all three - it’s easy to use (it’s Google), inexpensive (no or little embedded software […]
This week’s BusinessWeek had an interesting report on the debate over 4G mobile standards. In my opinion, each of the candidates (WiMAX, LTE and UMB) has its own pros and cons, but which is “the best” depends on the factor you consider most important:
Being nearly ready for deployment (Mobile WiMAX is already being pushed by […]
I was reading Om Malik’s blog yesterday, and came across the results of the annual show survey from CTIA last week. While reading through Om’s “Cliff’s Notes” of the report, one thing that struck me was that Average Revenue per User (ARPU) is just $49.94.
When you consider that your most basic wireless plan runs somewhere […]
On Monday, the Yankee Group issued a press release whose first sentence claims “the hype surrounding Second Life doesn’t match its actual marketplace impact.” As c|net points out, the primary stumbling block isn’t Second Life’s challenging user interface or frustrating lag times, but its PC-centric mindset in a mobile world. Yankee Group goes […]
With AT&T and O2 talking up Wi-Fi for the iPhone and T-Mobile’s new HotSpot@Home service that allows you to make calls on your home’s Wi-Fi network, I’ve been wondering - why are cellular service providers suddenly pushing Wi-Fi/cellular integration? I mean, every call and data connection on Wi-Fi means less revenue for them (although T-Mobile is trying […]
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