WiFi

3 slashes MiFi costs, as vendor warns of poor sales volumes

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:26:39 -0500

Hailed for its innovation at launch, the UK operator 3 has now announced big price cuts to its MiFi (mobile Wi-Fi) offering. The MiFi package, which enables users to share their mobile broadband between multiple devices by creating a personal Wi-Fi network, has been reduced in price by around 33 per cent for one month contracts as well as pay as you go.

This move comes as Novatel, one of the pioneers of MiFi devices, saw its share price crash by nearly 30 per cent when it warned that MiFi sales were likely to be flat or slightly down in Q4, compared to Q3.

Some industry analysts have previously warned that the MiFi device was too expensive and was vulnerable to threats from manufacturing giants such as Huawei. Also, Marvell, which makes the MiFi chipset, has already shown it integrated into a handset, suggesting that the market for dedicated personal WLAN products could be a short lived one, before the capability is incorporated into other units.

Regardless of the likelihood of Chinese vendors entering the market, Novatel's old rival Sierra Wireless recently announced plans to expand into the personal Wi-Fi sector. This promoted Nick Agostino of Research Capital, to comment: "With slower uptake and increasing competition in this category from Huawei and soon Sierra, our concerns for the longevity of the category are raised, as well as near term implications for Novatel."

For more on this story:
Rethink Wireless

Smartphone market driven by OS wars and feature migration

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:06:20 -0400

While iPhone shipments are growing quickly, smartphones based on the Symbian operating system (OS) remain dominant and will continue to grow over the next several years, reports In-Stat. However, Symbian will wane, resulting in a drop in net Symbian-based smartphone shipments in 2014.

Meanwhile, the basis of competition will change from the OS to the functionality and "user experiences" that the phone can provide. The advanced feature sets of smartphones continue to evolve as users demand capabilities such as touch screens, increased camera resolution and Wi-Fi connectivity options. "In-Stat believes new OSs such as Android and Maemo will cut away at Symbian market share," says Allen Nogee, In-Stat analyst. "Although there are relatively few open source OS-based smartphones in the market today, the open source OS momentum is difficult to ignore. After years of hype, it is easy to see that 2010 will be the year of Android." Article

Consumers shun cut-price iPhones as details emerge of next version

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:32:28 -0400

Attempts by European operators to reduce their stocks of existing iPhones by offering cut-price deals have flopped with consumers. Insiders at O2 UK claim the recently launched "free iPhone" deals have proved particularly unpopular because of the need by subscribers to sign a 24-month contract priced at between €35 and €45 per month.

This lack of success has prompted O2, which looks increasingly likely to lose its exclusivity deal for the iPhone sometime this year, to divert most of its advertising budget to promoting the iPhone, as well as redirecting the majority of its handset subsidies so it can offer the iPhone for free.

This panic to shift existing product can only increase as more "details" leak out regarding the specification of the new iPhones, which are rumoured to be announced in June. The latest speculation--Apple has confirmed nothing--claims there will be a high-end model aimed at the US and Europe, and a low-end iPhone which will be marketed to Russia, China, India and Brazil. The high-end device is thought to have video support, a better digital camera and 32Gb of memory; while the cutdown iPhone might not have video or WiFi, and would have less memory.

Other features high on the iPhone watchers' list include a move to 802.11n for WiFi, and an FM transmitter to make redundant the cumbersome accessory necessary for many users to hook-up the iPhone to a car radio.

For more on this story:
Mobile Today, Stuff TV and TechWatch

Smartphone users much prefer Wi-Fi over 3G

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 13:05:33 -0500

More than 80 per cent of smartphone users would prefer accessing the web, sending emails or downloading data using Wi-Fi as opposed to 3G, according to a new study conducted by Devicescape. The company, which openly admits to being a Wi-Fi applications vendor, also claims nearly 85 per cent of those surveyed were in favour of citywide Wi-Fi networks and almost 56 per cent would be willing to pay for the service.

Devicescape believes an increasing number of mobile operators are opting for Wi-Fi because of the increasing popularity of Wi-Fi-enabled smartphones, together with the much greater speeds available and lower costs of Wi-Fi networks. However, the company admits most consumers are increasingly frustrated by the overly complex login procedures required to connect to Wi-Fi hotspots, and would like to be able to roam between 3G and Wi-Fi networks seamlessly.

For more on this story:
softpedia

Related stories:
BT and O2 extend iPhone WiFi deal
Orange ignores femtocells and launches 3G/Wi-Fi UMA service
Mobile broadband: WiFi, 3G--or both?

Bus travellers get free Wi-Fi

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:15:07 -0500

Travellers on the RailAir bus service between London's Heathrow Airport and nearby Reading are now able to enjoy free Wi-Fi Internet access during their journey. Coach operator FirstGroup is deploying Icomera's mobile broadband gateways on all its vehicles, offering passengers the opportunity to access the Internet at download speeds of up to 2Mbit/s.

The new equipment will also offer GPS-based vehicle location capability enabling FirstGroup to track all their vehicles in real time. The RailAir deployment is part of a Wi-Fi initiative currently underway at First based on Icomera's Moovbox technology. The First Berkshire group is fitting Icomera solutions on the Green Line service that runs between Royal Windsor and Victoria Coach Station in Central London. The Icomera Moovbox has also been deployed in South Wales by First Cymru on the Shuttle100 commuter coach service between Cardiff and Swansea.

For more on this story go to Mobile Europe and Silicon.com

French high-speed trains to offer WiFi

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:52:53 -0500

French rail operator SNCF is planning to roll out WiFi services on all its TGV Est trains by the end of 2010. The decision by SNCF to deploy a paid-for WiFi service on its whole Est fleet follows a successful WiFi trial earlier this year. The free trial provided downlink data speeds of 2Mbs and uplink speeds of 512kbs, using a combination of satellite connectivity and WiFi relays on the ground. More than 12,000 passengers logged on the service during the trial period. The network infrastructure will be provided by the OCEA consortium of Alstom, Capgemini, Eutelsat and Orange Business Services. TGV Est provides high speed (up to 320kph) train services to Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland from Paris.

For more on this story go to Silicon.com

Related articles:
Virgin Trains WiFi rollout behind schedule
PointShot Wireless launches train WiFi deployment

Free 3G broadband ... for BT WiFi subscribers that is

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:17:49 -0400

Having only announced last week that it had cut the cost of its Openzone WiFi service by as much as 50 per cent, BT has gone a stage further today by including a free mobile broadband connection for subscribers on the company's most expensive tariffs.

The company claims that its WiFi business continues to exceed its expectations in terms of new subscribers and traffic, with Chris Bruce, general manager of BT Openzone, stating: "Over the last six months we have seen double the use compared with the same period last year." BT also announced that it was making available 2,500 new European WiFi hotspots, which, altogether, makes the dramatic price cuts seem somewhat curious

Regardless of this, BT maintains that business users want the best connection available, albeit fixed, WiFi or 3G broadband. Customers wanting this level of connectivity can subscribe to the company's Business Total Broadband tariff and receive a USB dongle to make a connection to the 3G network (Vodafone in the UK) and 100,000 BT WiFi hotspots.

The combined WiFi/3G package starts from around €26 per month for those signing a two-year contract, although this offer is no longer available after the end of this year.

For more on this story:
- go to the The Telecom and FierceWireless: Europe interview

Related articles:
T-Mobile unveils 3G/WiFi docking station. T-Mobile femtocell story
Nokia and Intel notably absent from US$1bn mobile broadband push. Broadband story

T-Mobile unveils 3G/WiFi docking station (femtocell?)

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:14:07 -0400

In what appears to be an initiative to educate WiFi laptop users into the wonders of 3G mobile broadband, T Mobile has released details of a docking station for its 3G mobile broadband dongles.

Labelled the Mobile Broadband Share Dock, the T-Mobile device allows multiple users (but no more than three at any one time) to connect to the femtocell-like Share Dock using their WiFi-enabled laptops. Users then plug a T-Mobile HSPA dongle into the Share Dock that provides the laptops with the mobile broadband connection.

T-Mobile admitted the dock only worked with its own USB dongles--being SIM-lacked. The company said its Share Dock would be available later this month with the cost dependent upon the user's existing 3G contract.

This move by T-Mobile might be seen as peculiar, but given the huge number of 3G dongles being sold they might (just) have a winner on their hands.

For more on this story:
- go to Reg Hardware

Related articles:
T-Mobile's WiFi vs. femtocell dilemma. T-Mobile story
Orange ignores femtocells and launches 3G/Wi-Fi UMA service. Orange UMA story

BT turns off WiFi access to The Cloud

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:46:12 -0400

In a few days time BT Openzone subscribers will lose coverage at thousands of WiFi hotspots following the breakdown of contract negotiations between BT and The Cloud, a WiFi service provider at numerous train stations, airports and hotels in the UK.

BT defended this move for both home and business broadband subscribers by claiming they still would have access to 3,000 UK hotspots, and 40,000 worldwide. In an email to Openzone customers, BT wrote: "It's a decision we haven't made lightly, and we know this will affect the WiFi coverage you might be used to. But the great news is that the availability of Fi from BT has grown significantly in the past year, and we don't think you'll be too disadvantaged."

This somewhat arrogant approach by BT could well prompt a percentage of its subscriber base to look elsewhere, certainly now that 3G coverage and performance has been greatly improved by the major UK cellular operators and low-cost tariffs and dongles are being promoted aggressively.

In an attempt to attract these potentially dissatisfied Openzone subscribers, The Cloud is offering 30 days free WiFi access if Openzone customers take out a subscription with them.

For more on this story:
- go to The Register

Related articles:
BT and O2 extend iPhone WiFi deal. BT Openzone story
Europe Poised to Overtake US in WiFi Use. European WiFi usage

New laptop bundles announced by Orange - including unlimited downloads

Paul Rasmussen — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:40:49 -0400

As cell phone retailers bicker over who has the most attractive mobile broadband/laptop offer, Orange has trumped the opposition with a new proposition. The company has bundled a trio of HP Compaq laptops and USB HSDPA modems with broadband tariffs targeted to appeal to business users.

Key among these is 'unlimited' HSDPA usage - in reality a download limit of 5GB per month, although there are indications Orange will be lenient about applying this to valued subscribers.

The company would also argue its pricing effectively makes the HP Compaq laptops free. The bundles are based around the Compaq 6735s, 6730s and 6730b, with monthly subscriptions costing €42, €48 and €54 per month respectively. Contracts run for two years for a total expenditure of €1000, €1150 and €1300, again respectively. And, with the 6730b typically costing around €900 on its own, Orange might have a point.

To make sure that this offer catches the attention of business users, Orange has not only embedded the SIM card, but included 500 Wi-Fi minutes per month.

However, the company has failed to announce a launch date for these laptops - 'shortly' was all it was prepared to commit to.

For more on this story:
- go to Mobile Today and VNUnet

Related articles:
T-Mobile joins 'free laptop' parade. T-Mobile story
Vodafone signs with Lenovo for 3G laptop deal. Vodafone story