Verizon Wireless on Monday announced a new prepaid plan that offers unlimited talk, text, and 1GB of data for $80. The monthly plan is only being offered on the 3G Samsung Illusion, which can be had for $169.99 and will be available at Best Buy, Target, RadioShack and Walmart. Verizon also announced three different prepaid plans for its Jetpack 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot. The nation’s largest carrier is offering 250MB of data for usage for a week for $15, 3GB of data per month for $60, and 10GB a month for $90. The Verizon Jetpack 4510L will be available for $129.99. Verizon’s press release follows below.

Verizon Wireless Announces New Prepaid Plans

Unlimited Talk, Text and 1 GB of Data Smartphone Plan for $80 per Month; First Prepaid 4G Jetpack Offers a Variety of Mobile Broadband Data Plan OptionsBASKING

RIDGE, N.J., April 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Verizon Wireless today announced the availability of a new prepaid plan beginning May 1, offering unlimited talk and text messaging, as well as 1 GB of data for $80 per month. This monthly plan, available on the prepaid Samsung Illusion™, provides customers with an affordable, flexible option to take advantage of the nation’s largest, most reliable 3G network without the commitment of an annual contract. The Samsung Illusion prepaid package will be available in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com for $169.99. In the coming weeks, the Samsung Illusion prepaid will also be available at Best Buy®, Target®, RadioShack and Walmart.Additionally, starting May 1, customers can purchase a prepaid Verizon Jetpack™ 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot MiFi® 4510L and take advantage of new prepaid Mobile Broadband plans. With the prepaid Jetpack, customers can now create a personal Wi-Fi cloud capable of sharing the high-speed Internet connectivity of the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices simultaneously. Prepaid 4G LTE Mobile Broadband plans are as follows:

• $15 for 250 MB of data weekly
• $60 for 3 GB of data monthly
• $90 for 10 GB of data monthly

The Verizon Jetpack 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot MiFi 4510L prepaid package will be available in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com for $129.99. In the coming weeks, it will also be available at Best Buy, RadioShack and Walmart.

Apple’s new iPad has already seen massive success, selling over 3 million units in less than four days of availability. The tablet features an updated A5X chip, a beautiful Retina display and 4G LTE connectivity. Due to the blazing fast 4G speeds on Apple’s iPad Wi-Fi + 4G models, it is estimated that half of all new iPads sold will be LTE enabled. Analytics firm Localytics has countered previous reports, however, stating that only 6% of all iPad sessions using apps with its tracking software installed connect to the Internet through a cellular network. The firm found that 89.7% of all iPads are Wi-Fi only, while 8.8% were 3G-enabled and 1.5% included 4G. Users with iPads equipped with 3G use cellular data 45% of the time, while users with 4G devices only utilize LTE 36% of the time. Localytics compiled its connectivity report using data collected between March 16th and March 21st, and the company’s infographic can be found after the break.

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Sprint’s first 4G LTE device will be the Sierra Wireless Tri-Network mobile hotspot, SprintFeed reported on Tuesday. The device was originally announced at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, but was overshadowed by the Galaxy Nexus and LG Viper. The Tri-Network hotspot can support up to eight simultaneous data connections using 3G, WiMAX or LTE connectivity. SprintFeed’s sources were able to confirm that the hotspot is scheduled to be released on May 18th, although pricing and data plan information is not yet available.

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Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh announced that they have discovered a means of wirelessly transmitting data thousands of times faster than current standards, PCMag reported on Wednesday. The team is led by Hrvoje Petek, a physics and chemistry professor at the university, who has theoretically found a way to transmit data between devices in the terahertz frequency. Petek’s discovery of “a physical basis for terahertz bandwidth” could potentially be used to leverage the “portion of the electromagnetic spectrum between infrared and microwave light” and transmit data at rates 1,000 times faster than today’s wireless standards, which are limited to the gigahertz frequency. “The ability to modulate light with such a bandwidth could increase the amount of information carried by more than 1,000 times when compared to the volume carried with today’s technologies,” Petek said. “Needless to say, this has been a long-awaited discovery in the field.”

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AT&T wants customers who are still using 2G phones to upgrade to the company’s faster 3G and 4G networks, MarketWatch reported last week. The carrier is in the process of sending notices to customers asking them to upgrade their devices. “Your current, older-model 2G phone might not be able to make or receive calls and you may experience degradation of your wireless service in certain areas,” AT&T said in the letter. Mark Siegel, an AT&T spokesman, said the company is looking to use some of the 2G spectrum for newer technologies. “We’re simply urging them to upgrade to a new device if they want to,” he said. Siegel confirmed that the carrier sent notices to customers in the New York metropolitan area and may soon send them to other customers. He noted, however, that the program was voluntary and only affected a small number of subscribers. He also noted that most 2G phones will continue to work. “We are still supporting the 2G network,” Siegel said, although he did state that customers who continue to use 2G cell phones that operate on AT&T’s 1900-megahertz band will eventually lose service.

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AT&T on Monday announced a new plan that will let developers pay for the data used by their apps and services. The data consumed by apps that make use of this new feature would not apply toward a user’s data cap. The new service was pitched as a way for content providers to ease customers’ growing concerns over wireless data usage, however one public interest group sees the feature as a slap in the face to AT&T subscribers. “This new plan is unfortunate because it shows how fraudulent the AT&T data cap is, and calls into question the whole rationale of the data caps,” Harold Feld, legal director of Public Knowledge, said in a statement. ”Apparently it has nothing to do with network management. It’s a tool to get more revenue from developers and customers.” Read on for more.

“The plan creates two new groups of customers and app developers — those who pay AT&T extra for the privilege of being exempt from the cap and those who don’t,” Feld continued. ”We are disappointed that the FCC has ignored the two requests we have made for the agency to investigate the need for both wireless and landline broadband caps. There is still no rationale for why they are needed, what the network costs are, how they are imposed and how many customers are subject to them.”

AT&T’s smartphone data policies have been called into question lately following a new wave of subscriber complaints. Loyal customers who retained their unlimited data plans after AT&T switched to a tiered system can continue to use an unlimited amount of data each month, but their data speeds are throttled — sometimes to nearly unusable speeds, according to a number of readers who have emailed BGR with tales of woe — if they are among the top 5% of data users in a billing period.

On a number of occasions, subscribers have seen their data speeds slowed after less than 2GB of usage in a single billing period. For the same $30 AT&T is charging unlimited data plan holders each month, however, smartphone users on a tiered data plan can enjoy up to 3GB of full-speed data.

“This is exactly the type of market manipulation we hoped the FCC’s Open Internet rules would prevent,” Feld added. “If the Commission does not believe it has the authority under those rules to investigate this practice, it should do so under its general authority over wireless services.”

A judge in Southern California on Friday awarded $850 to an iPhone user who was throttled on AT&T’s network, according to the Associated Press. Judge Russell Nadel of Ventura Superior Court in Simi Valley found in favor of Matt Spaccarelli, who filed a small claims case against AT&T last month. Spaccarelli argued that the carrier unfairly slowed speeds on his iPhone 4′s unlimited data plan and said his phone was being throttled after using a mere 1.5 gigabytes to 2 gigabytes of data per month, even though AT&T’s 3GB monthly plan costs the same price of $30 per month. Judge Nadel awarded Spaccarelli $85, instead of the $10,000 he requested, for each of the 10 months left on his contract — totaling to $850.

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One week after dismissing Samsung’s first German patent infringement lawsuit against Apple, a German court has also rejected a second suit, reports Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents. Judge Andreas Voss of Germany’s Mannheim Regional Court on Friday addressed Samsung’s argument that certain 3G and UMTS technology in Apple’s iPhones infringes the South Korean company’s patents. The Judge dismissed these claims early Friday morning, however he did not immediately offer an explanation for his decision. Mueller, who attended the pronouncement, says the outcome of Samsung’s suit may be based on the validity of the specific patent in question, in which case Samsung could still prevail in any of its three other 3G/UMTS-related patent complaints it filed against Apple in Mannheim. Samsung originally brought five suits against Apple in Germany, claiming Apple’s mobile devices infringe various 3G/UMTS wireless standards patents it holds.

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More than 50% of all phones sold this year will be capable of running on 4G or 3G data networks, according to a new report from ABI Research. “As the festive cheer of the holiday season dies away, the mood among handset vendors remains quietly confident regarding 2012,” Jake Saunders, vice president of forecasting for ABI Research said. “The outlook will yield growth in the order of 8%, netting 1.67 billion handsets shipped worldwide by the end of 2012. Particularly notable is for the first time, 3G and 4G handset shipments will capture more than 50% of total handsets shipped.” Read on for more.

ABI Research also said Samsung has continued to push its smartphones into emerging markets while Apple is targeting South America and Brazil and seeing more success in China than it has in India. “North America may only represent 15% of feature and smartphone units shipped globally, but due to the high proportion of high-end smartphone sales, it constitutes 40% of total smartphones sold by value. It underscores what is at stake in the patent battles between Apple, Samsung, Motorola, Google, HTC, Microsoft, and even British Telecom,” says Kevin Burden, vice president and practice director, mobile devices.

3G and 4G Handsets Will Capture More than 50% of Handset Sales in 2012

SINGAPORE – January 5, 2012

“As the festive cheer of the holiday season dies away, the mood among handset vendors remains quietly confident regarding 2012,” observes Jake Saunders, vice president of forecasting. “The outlook will yield growth in the order of 8%, netting 1.67 billion handsets shipped worldwide by the end of 2012. Particularly notable is for the first time, 3G and 4G handset shipments will capture more than 50% of total handsets shipped.”
In the second half of 2011, tier one smartphone vendors began redoubling efforts to promote their smartphone line-up to upwardly mobile, aspirational smartphone owners in emerging markets. Samsung, with its varied smartphone segmentation strategy, has been making substantial inroads into the emerging country smartphone market. Apple is expanding sales channels in emerging markets, with greater success in China than it’s having in India, but is also targeting South American markets such as Brazil. HTC is gaining traction in China, but developed markets such as North America and Europe continue to be the mainstay of its “ship into” markets. RIM, despite its weakness in apps-capable smartphone markets, continues to do well in messaging-centric emerging markets such as Indonesia. Nokia hopes to benefit from Windows Phone 7 Lumia series launches in India (Dec-2011) and China (in 1Q-2012).

The North American handset market, driven primarily by smartphones, is proving oblivious to the Euroland debt crisis. North America is estimated to have closed 2011 with 228 million handsets shipped, for a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 14%, the region’s highest YoY growth in more than five years.

“North America may only represent 15% of feature and smartphone units shipped globally, but due to the high proportion of high-end smartphone sales, it constitutes 40% of total smartphones sold by value. It underscores what is at stake in the patent battles between Apple, Samsung, Motorola, Google, HTC, Microsoft, and even British Telecom,” says Kevin Burden, vice president and practice director, mobile devices.

ABI Research’s new study, “Mobile Device Shipment Market Data,” provides critical data on vendor market share, vendor ASPs, and handset shipments.

It is part of the firm’s Smartphones & Mobile Devices Research Service.

Sprint, a carrier that often touts itself as the only carrier with “truly unlimited” data plans, actually throttles its heaviest data users. Speaking at an investor conference on Thursday, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse admitted that Sprint imposes limits the top 1% of data hogs. “For those that want to abuse it, we can knock them off,” Hesse said. The executive explained that Sprint needs to throttle — or slow down the data speeds — of its heaviest users in order to make room for the growing number of smartphone users on its 3G and 4G WiMAX networks. Earlier on Thursday Sprint detailed its first 4G LTE markets, which will roll out in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio during the first half of this year.

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Verizon Wireless was the first major carrier to launch its super fast 4G LTE network in the United States. Being the first comes with its fair share of problems, however. Earlier this week Verizon’s 4G LTE network suffered its third major outage in the month of December. In an interview with GigaOM, Verizon Wireless vice president of Network Engineering Mike Haberman responded with:

Being the pioneers, we’re going to experience some growing pains. These issues we’ve been experiencing are certainly regrettable but they were unforeseeable.

Haberman went on to blame all three outages on the process of replacing old signaling architectures used in 2G and 3G networks while on 4G, known as the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). Ever since April, IMS has caused problems leading to network failures. After fixing various software bugs, users were able to again reconnect to 3G EV-DO and 4G LTE services. However, the IMS glitches returned in December and have caused the company headaches. The first outage on December 7th was caused by the failure of a back-up communications database. The second, last week, was the result of an IMS element not responding properly, while Wednesday’s outage was caused by two IMS elements not communicating properly, Haberman told GigaOM. In a statement released by the company, Verizon says that it will not rest until their 4G LTE network performs at the highest levels that customers have come to expect.

Read [GigaOM] Read [Verizon]

Verizon Wireless users are once again suffering from a widespread 4G LTE and 3G EV-DO data outage. The outage is the third one of the month and only seems to be affecting users with 4G LTE devices. A recording on Verizon’s support line reveals that the company is aware of the issue and working to fix it, but no indication was given as far as when service might be restored. We have received reports stating that service is out across the country, with confirmed outages in parts of New York, New Jersey, North Carolina and other regions.

UPDATE: Verizon Wireless issued BGR the following statement on the outage: “We are investigating reports of some customers experiencing trouble accessing the 4GLTE network. The network itself continues to operate and all customers continue to be able to make calls, send text messages and utilize data services. 3G devices are operating normally.”

Deutsche Telekom recently detailed the breakup terms AT&T agreed to following the deterioration of its planned acquisition of T-Mobile USA. Deutsche Telekom will receive $3 billion in cash and T-Mobile USA will benefit from fresh AWS spectrum as well as a new 7-year 3G roaming deal with AT&T. “As part of the break-up fee, T-Mobile USA will receive a large package of AWS mobile spectrum in 128 Cellular Market Areas (CMAs), including 12 of the top 20 markets (Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Washington, Boston, San Francisco, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Baltimore and Seattle),” Deutsche Telekom said in a statement. “The UMTS roaming agreement for the U.S. in T-Mobile USA’s favor has a term of over seven years and will allow the company to improve its footprint significantly among the U.S. population and offer its customers better broadband coverage for mobile communications services in the future.” The company also said that T-Mobile USA’s 3G network will grow from blanketing 230 million potential customers to covering 280 million people. Deutsche Telekom’s full press release follows below.

AT&T and Deutsche Telekom terminate agreement on the sale of T-Mobile USA

Dec 19, 2011

• Deutsche Telekom receives record high break-up fee
• AT&T will pay Deutsche Telekom USD 3 billion in cash
• T-Mobile USA will receive a large package of Advanced Wireless Solutions (AWS) spectrum and long-term national UMTS roaming agreement
• Deutsche Telekom’s guidance and planned dividend policy remain unchanged

U.S. telecommunications company AT&T Inc. and Deutsche Telekom have terminated the agreement on the sale of T-Mobile USA to AT&T. As a result, AT&T will pay Deutsche Telekom the break-up fee agreed in the contract signed by both companies dated March 20, 2011. This is one of the highest payments ever agreed between two companies for the termination of a purchase agreement. It includes a cash payment of USD 3 billion to Deutsche Telekom, which is expected to be made by the end of this year. In addition, it contains a large package of mobile communications spectrum and a long-term agreement on UMTS roaming within the U.S. for T-Mobile USA.

Both companies are in agreement that the broad opposition by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) and the U.S. telecommunications regulator (FCC) is making it increasingly unlikely that the transaction will close. Both companies are of the opinion that important arguments in support of the transaction have been ignored, such as the significant improvement in high-speed mobile network coverage for the U.S. market, as well as the positive employment effects. In addition there was no indication that either authority would move away from it’s non-supportive stance in return for concessions from the parties in terms of the scope and structure of the transaction.

As part of the break-up fee, T-Mobile USA will receive a large package of AWS mobile spectrum in 128 Cellular Market Areas (CMAs), including 12 of the top 20 markets (Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Washington, Boston, San Francisco, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Baltimore and Seattle).

The UMTS roaming agreement for the U.S. in T-Mobile USA’s favor has a term of over seven years and will allow the company to improve its footprint significantly among the U.S. population and offer its customers better broadband coverage for mobile communications services in the future. Population coverage will increase from 230 million potential customers at present to 280 million. As a result of the agreement with AT&T, coverage will be extended to many regions of the U.S. in which T-Mobile USA previously had neither its own high-speed mobile communications network nor the associated roaming agreements.

The termination of the agreement means Deutsche Telekom will go back to reporting T-Mobile USA as continuing operations in future. Deutsche Telekom’s guidance for the 2011 financial year remains unchanged as a result of this development, with adjusted EBITDA of around EUR 19.1 billion expected. At EUR 6.5 billion, free cash flow is forecasted to remain at the prior-year level or increase slightly. The guidance includes the T-Mobile USA contribution based on the average exchange rate in 2010 of USD 1.33 per euro. The free cash flow forecast does not include the settlement payment of EUR 0.4 billion relating to PTC in Poland or the cash payment of USD 3 billion from the break-up fee to be paid by AT&T.

Deutsche Telekom’s dividend policy also remains unchanged. The annual dividend payments are subject to the necessary board resolutions and other legal requirements.

Even following the termination of the agreement with AT&T, Deutsche Telekom exepects to remain within the communicated ranges for certain financial performance indicators used to assess the financial performance of the company. These are as follows: The ratio of net debt to adjusted EBITDA of the Group is to be between 2 and 2.5, the equity ratio is to be between 25 percent and 35 percent, gearing (ratio of net debt to shareholders’ equity) between 0.8 and 1.2, and liquidity reserves is to cover maturities of at least the next 24 months.

The cash component of the break-up fee directly reduces Deutsche Telekom’s net debt, thereby by strengthening the financial performance indicators affecting the company’s rating.

Deutsche Telekom would like to express its gratitude to AT&T and to Randall Stephenson and his team for the positive cooperation over the past few months. Our working relationship was characterized by fairness and respect at all times.

Want to share your iPhone’s 3G connection with your laptop for a one-time $15 fee? iTether recently launched for iOS devices and it allows you do just that, without any carrier involvement. We would use the software with caution, however. Several wireless providers such as AT&T can detect when subscribers are tethering an unauthorized device and they usually send a warning asking users to stop. iTether is available now for anyone looking for a quick tethering solution to get through the day but, since carriers will likely react negatively to its existence, we don’t expect it to be around in its current form for much longer.

UPDATE: It now looks like Apple has pulled iTether, as most presumed it would. As of approximately 11:40 a.m. Eastern, the app still shows up in the store but attempts to download it are met with Apple’s “This item is temporarily unavailable” error.

[Via Engadget]

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Sprint on Monday announced two new less expensive mobile broadband data plans that will replace the carrier’s existing plans. The changes apply to tablets, mobile hotspot devices, netbooks, notebooks and USB modems. Customers may choose between a $49.99 plan that provides 6GB of 3G or 4G data per month or a $79.99 plan that provides 12GB of data per month. Sprint’s plans offer an additional 1GB of data compared to Verizon Wireless’s competing plans, and it hopes that’s a draw for new customers. In addition to the aforementioned plans, Sprint is also introducing a new $19.99 data plan for tablets that provides 1GB of 3G/4G data per month as well as a new $34.99 plan for tablets and mobile hotspots that provides 3GB of data per month. The full press release from Sprint follows after the break.

Sprint Launches New 3G/4G Mobile Broadband Plans, Delivering More Data at a Lower Price Than Competitors

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), November 14, 2011 – Sprint (NYSE: S) today launched new 3G/4G mobile broadband plans that deliver more data at lower prices than similar plans from national competitors. The new plans are available in all Sprint sales channels.

Customers can choose from 6GB of combined on-network 3G/4G data usage for $49.99 per month or 12GB of 3G/4G data usage for $79.99 per month. The new plans deliver 20 percent more data for the same price as similar plans from Verizon and AT&T.

Sprint		Verizon		AT&T
$49.99 per month/6GB		$50 per month/5GB		$50 per month/5GB
$79.99 per month/12GB		$80 per month/10GB		NA

With an extra 1GB of data vs. Verizon and AT&T’s $50/5GB plans, Sprint customers subscribing to the new $49.99/6GB plan will be able to view approximately 6,667 additional Web pages, 2,000 more photos or 67 extra YouTube videos each month.¹

“Sprint is committed to delivering exceptional value to its customers, and our new 3G/4G Mobile Broadband plans are the latest example of that,” said Will Souder, vice president of pricing for Sprint. “Sprint gives customers more data at lower prices than competitors, so they can do more with their mobile broadband devices on Sprint’s 3G and 4G networks.”

The $49.99/6GB and $79.99/12GB plans are compatible with all Mobile Broadband devices sold by Sprint, including tablets, dedicated mobile hotspot devices, USB modems, netbooks and notebooks.

In addition, Sprint is also launching a new plan available for tablets² and dedicated mobile hotspot devices³ priced at $34.99 per month for 3GB of 3G/4G data usage, along with a new plan for tablets priced at $19.99 per month for 1GB of 3G/4G data usage.

Monthly		3G/4G Data		Tablets		Dedicated		USB/Card/
Price						Mobile Hotspot		Netbook/
						Devices		Notebooks
$19.99		1GB		X
$34.99		3GB		X		X
$49.99		6GB		X		X		X
$79.99		12GB		X		X		X
On-Network Overage Rate: $0.05/MB						Off-Network Overage Rate: $0.25/MB4

The new plans replace all previously available Mobile Broadband plans and are available to new and existing customers.

Sprint provides to customers tools to monitor and manage their mobile broadband data usage and avoid overages:

• Customers who have opted-in for notifications will receive email and/or SMS notifications when their 3G/4G data usage has reached 75 percent of their plan limit or higher.
• Customers are also able to view their data usage by logging into My Sprint at www.sprint.com.
• Customers with devices featuring the SmartView application can use the app to view data usage.
• Tablet users can text “usage” to 1311 to receive a text with their current 3G/4G usage.

About Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 53 million customers at the end of 3Q 2011 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 3 in its 2011 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation’s greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.

¹ These numbers are estimates based on averages of 150kb/Web page, 500kb/photo and 15MB/YouTube video. 1,024kb=1MB. 1,024MB=1GB.

² Casual messaging is included in tablet plans at $0.20/message. Messaging add-on packs also are available. Tablet plans are available in 3G-only version for activation on 3G-only devices. These plans also include casual messaging capabilities with messaging add-on packs available.

³ $34.99 per month/3GB dedicated mobile hotspot device plan is restricted to Sierra Wireless Overdrive Pro 3G/4G mobile hotspot, MiFi 3G/4G mobile hotspot by Novatel Wireless and any future dedicated mobile hotspot devices. 3G-only mobile hotspot plans are available for activation on the 3G ZTE International Hotspot device.

⁴ Off-network data limitation of 100MB or 300MB applies. See www.sprint.com for details.