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According to T-Mobile’s Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray customers will soon be able to enjoy faster LTE connectivity. In a statement made earlier in the day they plan to launch LTE for 100 million pops by mid-year, with over 200 million covered by the end of 2013. Ray also mentioned that Las Vegas could see 4G LTE within a few weeks. Their rollout plan is aggressive and they’re already behind Verizon, AT&T and Sprint with no current 4G LTE, but that doesn’t deter T-Mobile. Ray said “We’re already giving competitors’ networks a run for their money, and we’ll keep doing it with T-Mobile. Company CEO John Legere went into detail on how they plan to beat the competition and even said AT&T’s network was “crap” in the New York City area.

For years Amtrak has been offering WiFi on some of their trains and are now running into issues with bandwidth. With a lot of Internet activities requiring more bandwidth it’s now time for system upgrades to deal with existing problems in the system. According to Amtrak’s press statement, their plan is to upgrade their cellular powered train WiFi to 4G LTE. "Implementation has already begun on Acela Express and is currently undergoing stabilization and optimization activities," says the company. The equipment Amtrak intends to use hasn’t been announced yet, but we guess it may be based around the Cradlepoint COR IBR600LE series, which are ideal for mobile applications in trains or buses.

Press Release: For many businesses, efficient management of wireless data can be the difference between effectively serving a client and missing a sale.  

From the real estate firm that has 20 brokers on the road using mobile devices to send directions and photos to clients, to the car service that monitors its fleet at multiple locations, to the business owner who uses 500 tablets across their retail stores to highlight new products, wireless data management is a bottom line necessity.

While smartphones and tablets are powerful tools for business, until now, reconciling the expenses and payments for numerous lines could be time consuming.

To simplify the data management process for business, Verizon Wireless will become the first carrier to offer shared data plans for business with the Jan. 24 debut of Share Everything Plan for Small Business, and the Nationwide for Business Data Packages and Plans.

The Share Everything Plan for Small Business gives companies up to 25 lines of unlimited minutes, texts, picture and video messages with a shareable allowance of 30 GB ($225), 40 GB ($300) and 50 GB ($375), plus the monthly per line access cost based on the type of device activated. Additional options for the business customer include data only plans and for those who conduct business with our neighboring countries, a calling plan with minutes to Canada and Mexico.

New and existing customers can choose to move to these plans and add any 4G LTE smartphone, tablet, Jetpacks, netbooks, laptops, 4G LTE USBs, basic/feature phones, Home Phone Connect and other 3G or 4G LTE enabled devices to share the data allowance on their account.

Additional benefits of Share Everything for Small Business include: Mobile Hotspot/Mobile Broadband Connect included at no additional charge on all capable devices. Users can connect their devices and share the connections with others through Wi-Fi, with that data counting towards the monthly allowance. With communications a high priority, personal and corporate email, using Exchange ActiveSync and Lotus Notes Traveler are included on all capable devices.

Verizon offers free usage alerts which are sent at 50 percent, 75 percent, 90 percent, and 100 percent of monthly shared data allowance to ensure a company does not exceed their selected allotment.

For companies with more than 25 lines, Verizon Wireless introduces shareable data packages and plans that are compatible with their existing Nationwide for Business Talk and Talk & Text share plans. For larger business customers with more complex data needs, this solution offers customizable voice and data allowances with each line contributing minutes and data to a pool shared by all lines and devices, with no limit on the number of devices.
The Nationwide for Business Data Packages and Plans also includes Mobile Hotspot and Mobile Broadband Connect and Corporate email via Exchange ActiveSync at no additional cost.

Nationwide for Business offers shareable data starting at $30 for 2 GB per smartphone or tablet and $50 for 5 GB per Jetpack or USB modem. A larger $80 for 10 GB package is also available for heavy data users. Basic phones can share data starting at $20 for 300 MB per device. Nationwide for Business Data Packages and Plans allow a business of any size to create their own shareable data allowance with the simplicity of managing a single account.
Existing business customers who are comfortable with their current price plans do not need to change to the new shared data options

According to T-Mobiles CEO John Legere told Reuters that the networks iPhone launch should happen within the next “three to four months”. Originally they anticipated this could take six to nine months, which gave T-Mobile more time to adjust their HSPA+ network from 1700/2100Mhz to 1900Mhz to support 4G on existing AT&T iPhones. This will allow customers to bring an unlocked AT&T iPhone, or purchase a iPhone outright and enjoy T-Mobile’s 4G network. The window when this goes official is still not the clearest, but it does help T-Mobile build some hype and awareness that consumers will soon have the option to enjoy Apple devices on their network.

Last month Sprint made a $2.1 billion bid for the remaining shares for Clearwire. In a turn of events Dish Network has decided to make a counteroffer in an attempt to acquire Clearwire by bidding $3.30 per share, 11 percent more than Sprint. Many have speculated that Dish wasn’t serious with their 4G goals and were simply trying to drive the price up for competitors, but this move should change some of those opinions. This is the second big move recently by Dish with their AWS-4 spectrum approved back in November of last year. Sprint issued a statement about Dish Network's counter offer:

"Sprint believes its agreement to acquire Clearwire, which offers Clearwire shareholders certain and attractive value, is superior to the highly conditional DISH proposal.

“In contrast, the DISH proposal includes a series of interdependent commercial agreements, debt and equity purchases and spectrum sales, which together with the other conditions required by DISH to complete the transaction, makes the proposal not viable. In addition, the DISH proposal would require Sprint to voluntarily waive rights that it holds as a stockholder of Clearwire and that it possesses through various vendor and customer contracts that significantly predate Sprint’s proposed acquisition of the remainder of Clearwire. Sprint does not intend to waive any of its rights and looks forward to closing the transaction with Clearwire and helping consumers across the country realize the benefits of this combination."

In order to make VoLTE (Voice over long term evolution) cellular radios need to trim back energy consumption by 50%. In initial tests Metrico Wireless found that VoLTE cut the battery life by 50% and only gave about 252 minutes of talk time. ST-Ericsson has released a whitepaper highlighting a variety of design improvements that will help save battery life and address current problems with VoLTE. The major cause for power drains is the inability to operate in dual-mode, where current devices are able to flip between CDMA and LTE coverage as needed. The current problems have pushed back the VoLTE launch from a mid 2013 estimate to well into 2014 as they work to resolve the power consumption issues.

BMW is now offering a LTE WiFi hotspot that snaps directly into a cradle dock pictured above. The device will distribute a WiFi signal so passengers can enjoy LTE Internet on their phones, tablets and other devices. The adapter will not offer any data service to any of the car’s own dashboard infotainment electronics. While this feature is integrated into the vehicle, customers will find a limited WiFi range of about 30’ in real world applications.

If you’re looking for a more flexible WiFi connection in a vehicle we suggest using a Cradlepoint router instead. These routers allow you to create a much larger WiFi network (250’ plus with select models), add an external antenna, Ethernet out for hardwired devices and aren’t limited to the vehicle. Increased WiFi range can be important to mobile warriors like a real estate or insurance agent that need to go into clients homes and still maintain Internet connectivity. It’s nice to see car manufactures trying to get WiFi in their vehicles but our customers have been doing it for years and getting substantially more features and WiFi power.