wi-max

A project between Intel and Korea Telecom is aiming to turn South Korea into the first country with nationwide WiMax coverage.

The two companies announced today the expansion of their effort to roll out WiMax-based high-speed Internet service throughout South Korea.

Currently available in Seoul, Inchon, and Suwon, the expanded service will reach five new cities as of tomorrow--Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, Daejeon, and Ulsan--and also cover the expressways of Gyeongbu, Jungbu, Honam, and Yeongdong.

The expanded service, dubbed a "mobile wonderland" by Korea Telecom, will offer a "3W" network, so named because it will consist of … Read more

In what's sure to be a growing trend in laptops, Toshiba is rolling out WiMax connectivity in several of its fall laptop models, including the Satellite M645, the Satellite A665, the Portege R705, and the Satellite E205. The new WiMAX-ready configurations will go on sale starting September 26.

Though 4G wireless broadband isn't available in all U.S. cities yet, at 54 cities and counting, it's on the rise. It's currently soft-launching here in New York City, a place where good mobile Internet can be extremely handy. However, the costs of 3G and 4G wireless Internet … Read more

Sprint customers in San Francisco who have a 4G-enabled device woke up to a pleasant surprise today as the carrier began a few public tests of its WiMAX-based 4G network there. So those who have the HTC Evo 4G, the Samsung Epic 4G, or the Sprint Overdrive might finally see the 4G bars light up in certain parts of the city.

We did detect some 4G activity here in our CNET office on Second St., though we found that speeds varied. Running the Speedtest.net app, we found that indoor speeds often averaged around 500kbps downstream and 1.2Mbps upstream. … Read more

MetroPCS launched the nation's first Long Term Evolution 4G wireless broadband network today in Las Vegas along with the first-ever commercial LTE handset.

Like all MetroPCS services, the new 4G wireless broadband service is prepaid and it doesn't require a contract. For $55 a month, users get unlimited talk, text, and data. And for an additional $5 a month, they also get 18 channels of streaming video.

The prepaid wireless operator is launching the new service with the first LTE handset: the Samsung Craft.

But before you get too excited, there are some important caveats. For now, the … Read more

The WiMax 2 high-speed wireless technology, which is expected to boost download speeds for mobile devices, is set to become a standard by early next year, according to an industry group.

On Monday, the WiMax Forum said that 802.16m, the key technology within WiMax 2, is expected to be standardized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in November. Formal approval by the IEEE Standards Association is scheduled for the first quarter of 2011, with device certification coming in late 2011.

The 802.16m update should help WiMax 2 deliver download speeds of up to 120Mbps and … Read more

Clearwire announced plans Thursday to start trial testing 4G LTE technology this fall. The move will not only allow the company to showcase the capabilities of the technology but also allow it to "examine a variety of potential future technology combinations."

The tests will be conducted through early 2011 in the Phoenix area.

With this move, Clearwire is shooting to be a major player in 4G technology--specifically both WiMax and LTE. Until recently, Clearwire had been restricted, via a deal with Intel, from using any 4G technology other than WiMax. But that deal is dead and Clearwire, with … Read more

The move to 4G and the longevity of 3G will kick off a rise in the number of devices shipped with baseband cellular modems to more than 2 billion annually in another four years, according to a report released Thursday by In-Stat.

Devices with baseband modems--wireless chipsets that enable the connection to cell towers--include traditional mobile phones, smartphones, Netbooks, notebooks, tablets, and e-readers. Though Wi-Fi will continue to be a practical technology for short-range connections, baseband devices will still offer greater coverage by tapping into cellular networks, according to In-Stat.

As the current onslaught of mobile devices taxes existing 3G … Read more

Sprint has been busy sending out invitations to an exclusive event next month in New York, which will put its new HTC EVO 4G front and center and will feature remarks from Sprint CEO, Dan Hesse.

It's hard for me to imagine the carrier sending out invitations specifically referencing the phone if it didn't plan to advance the conversation, especially as we get closer to the "summer" release time frame mentioned by Sprint as this year's CTIA unveiling.

As I've mentioned here before, the rumored release dates for the Evo 4G are June 6 … Read more

A number of mobile industry players including Intel, Motorola, and Samsung have launched an effort to push for devices and equipment based on the upcoming WiMax 2 high-speed wireless standard.

The WiMax 2 Collaboration Initiative, announced Sunday, aims to speed up industrywide adoption of the next WiMax release, which is based on the IEEE 802.16m standard and due for finalization in the second half of this year.

WiMax 2 will maintain backward compatibility with the earlier WiMax standard, based on IEEE 802.16e, while increasing peak transmission rates to more than 300Mbps, increasing Internet telephony capacity and lowering latency, … Read more