LTE

Report says iPhone 6 will feature NFC, wireless charging and more

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

It seems like we have a pretty good idea of what to expect, in terms of appearance, for the iPhone 6. Several reports have pointed to the handset having a larger display and a new iPad-like design, and most of the leaked cases and components we've seen thus far match up with that.

But when it comes to features and functionality of the new iPhone, things aren't so clear. The latest of a number of scattershot reports comes from VentureBeat, which cites sources saying that the device will have built-in support for NFC tech, wireless charging capabilities, and more...

T-Mobile starts rolling out VoLTE in select markets, starting with Seattle

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 15, 2017

Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile USA, the nation's fourth largest wireless carrier, on Thursday announced it's started gradual deployment of Voice Over LTE (VoLTE) technology, starting with Seattle.

The move comes just as rival AT&T last Friday brought both VoLTE and HD Voice technologies to select markets and as Verizon Wireless pledged to roll out VoLTE later this year.

That major U.S. telcos are racing to have VoLTE ready at this particular moment in time may have something to do with Apple's expected launch of the iPhone 6 this Fall, alongside iOS 8 which is said to support making voice calls over high-speed LTE networks out of the box...

Verizon announces VoLTE rollout for later this year, iOS 8 expected to support it

Jake Smith ∙ May 20, 2014

Verizon Wireless has announced the roll out of its Voice over LTE technology - better known as VoLTE - will begin across the US later this year.

The new technology will move Verizon's LTE service past data and will offer an HD Voice experience, using the AMR-wideband standard. "This solution provides the best voice quality available now and allows for future interoperability with others using the standard," Verizon claims.

Verizon launches XLTE service for double the bandwidth in high-traffic locations

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 19, 2014

The nation's top carrier Verizon Wireless on Monday announced it has started utilizing AWS spectrum to bring double-fast fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network in select U.S. markets.

Marketed under the XLTE moniker and launching today, the faster network can be used on XLTE-ready smartphone such as the iPhone 5s, Samsung's Galaxy S5, the HTC One M8, BlackBerry Q10 and many others...

T-Mobile’s Operation Tablet Freedom: 4G LTE iPads at Wi-Fi prices, free data through 2014

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

It is no secret that T-Mobile CEO John Legere is not one to mince words or back down from competition. Thus far, he’s delivered. The Deutsche Telekom-owned carrier, the fourth largest in the United States, has taken aim at rivals once again by unleashing the latest three-phase initiative that solves another customer pain point.

The new Uncarrier moves started yesterday with the announcement of a new Simple Starter Plan that includes unlimited talk and text with 500MB of 4G LTE data with no overage fees, for just $40 per month.

Thursday, T-Mobile made another huge announcement. For a limited time only, the carrier is offering 4G LTE tablets at Wi-Fi-only prices, with its interest-free financing that requires no downpayment and spreads the retail price of the device across 24 monthly installments.

Knowing Apple’s cellular-capable iPads cost $130 more versus their comparable Wi-Fi-only models, that’s a not-to-be-missed $130 savings right off the bat. Also, if you add a tablet to your voice plan, T-Mobile will treat you to up to sixteen gigabytes of free high-speed 4G LTE data through the end of the year...

Hacked T-Mobile carrier update for iPhone offers several features and improvements

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Folks with an iPhone on T-Mobile might be interested to hear that there’s a new hacked carrier update available that promises a number of enhancements. It was created by the same folks who brought us that slew of carrier update hacks for Sprint, Verizon and AT&T iPhone models last summer.

This time around, the developers say that the modded update includes a variety of things like boosted data speeds and signal reception (depending on your location). It also adds several native T-Mobile features to your iPhone like the ability to view account balance, texts sent and other usage info...

Apple: 8GB iPhone 5c is for mid-tier markets where ‘LTE is becoming more established’

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Today's release of a new, cheaper iPhone 5c model with a rather paltry eight gigabytes of storage has prompted many writers to postulate as to why Apple may have limited the handset's distribution to only a few markets, namely the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia and China.

According to Apple itself, that device is meant to target the mid-tier smartphone market where the iPhone has been under lots of pressure from an avalanche of rather affordable and pretty capable Android handsets. Although Apple could have rolled out the 8GB iPhone 5c across all of its markets, they've chosen to go only with a few countries where "LTE is becoming more established"...

T-Mobile plans to have most of its 2G network upgraded to LTE by mid-2015

Cody Lee ∙ Updated August 4, 2016

T-Mobile announced today that it has plans to upgrade its entire 2G/EDGE network to 4G LTE. The carrier, which is the fourth largest in the US, says it hopes to be halfway complete with the upgrade by the end of 2014 and expects to be substantially complete by the middle of next year.

The promise to quickly bring its network up to speed with its competitors should help appease customers, who complain of lower speeds in rural and suburban areas. While T-Mobile currently has LTE in many major US cities, a lot of its coverage map is still made up of EDGE and HSPA...

AT&T’s LTE-Advanced network now live in Chicago

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Folks living in and around Chicago will be happy to hear that AT&T has souped up its network in the Windy City. Using an LTE-Advanced technology called 'carrier aggregation,' the company has bonded two 4G networks together in the area resulting in a big boost in performance.

So essentially, AT&T is taking two, single one-way highways and merging them into one, single two-way highway, allowing for more bandwidth and theoretical download speeds of up to 110 Mbps. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of devices that support the beefier network...

AT&T flips the switch on LTE in dozen new markets

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

The United States wireless carrier AT&T has lit up its fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network in twelve new municipalities around the country. The expansion brings AT&T's LTE to an additional 300,000 people, including the 65,000 residents of Bismark, North Dakota.

With this expansion, nearly 280 million people are covered by AT&T's LTE network in more than 500 U.S. markets. More than half of the carrier's postpaid smartphone customers now use a 4G LTE device. The carrier expects its LTE build out to be "essentially complete" by this summer. The full list of AT&T's new LTE coverage follows right after the break...

AT&T launches international LTE roaming in 13 additional countries

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 24, 2018

AT&T, the nation's second-largest wireless carrier, last December started offering international LTE roaming to customers traveling abroad. The deal initially launched in partnership with Canada's Rogers Communications and later expanded to UK's EE.

Today, the company announced an expansion of LTE roaming agreements in partnership with an additional thirteen carriers around the world, including Australia, France, Japan, Spain and Singapore...

Rumor: iPhone 6’s A8 chip won’t integrate LTE

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 18, 2014

Starting with the iPhone 5, Apple has switched to using a single-chip LTE module which, by the way, costs $10 more than the cellular module in the iPhone 4s.

There has been talk lately of Apple possibly adopting a tightly integrated solution that would combine both LTE modem and a main processor on a single A8 chip, akin to many Android devices.

According to a new report by Fudzilla, this won't happen in the next iPhone generation as Apple is once again looking to turn to its longtime supplier Qualcomm for dedicated LTE chips...