CTIA just concluded, and as expected it was all about wireless broadband. And why not – too much money is tied into the wireless data networks and companies need to figure out how to monetize that.
We talk about Wireless broadband networks – EV-DO, HSDPA, and new applications – in this week’s PodSession. We look at the forthcoming EVDO Rev A and what it means for not only the users but also for the carriers.
The latest version of EV-DO, revision A, promises up download speeds up to 3.1 Mb/s, upload speeds as fast as 1.8 Mb/s, and latency as low as 50ms.
HSDPA is a competing standard for GSM networks. It is capable of download speeds up to 3.6 Mb/s and uploads of 384 Kb/s. HSDPA allows simultaneous voice and data and can downgrade to older UMTS when a newer network is not available. But HSDPA is woefully behind, not just in US but also in Europe.
Also, you Mac lovers, Novatel Wireless is about to introduce a new Express Card version of EVDO modem, probably by next month. This and other juicy stuff in this week’s podsession, which is 22 minutes long, a 10 MB download.
We have a picture of the ExpressCard at:
http://www.evdoinfo.com/Events/CTIA2006/NovatelExpressCard_20060407716/
Hopefully Apple will update OS X so that it will automagically recognize the new Express card. They haven’t updated support beyond the first gen card (that sucks!). Hacking plists isn’t very Mac like.
I just purchased Sprint’s EVDO card (Novatel EX720) and plug it into my macbook pro, which recognized the card immediately and I’m now able to surf the net without having to configure anything.