US Cellular Adding 30 Markets to LTE Footprint

US Cellular announced a significant expansion of its LTE 4G network. On Monday, November 5, 30 more markets will have access to its faster mobile broadband service. U.S. Cellular didn't name the specific cities and towns to be covered, but they fall in the states of Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia. U.S. Cellular said that the markets of Rockford, Ill., Medford, Ore., Yakima, Wash., and Knoxville, Tenn., will follow shortly thereafter, pushing the total number of new markets to more than 30. 

AT&T launches two new 4G LTE markets

AT&T* has turned on its 4G LTE network in Ft. Myers, Knoxville and Knox County, including parts of surrounding Anderson and Blount Counties and parts of Loudon, Roane and Sevier Counties, bringing customers the latest generation of wireless network technology. Watch here to see several of the benefits AT&T 4G LTE provides, including:

Faster speeds. LTE technology is capable of delivering speeds faster than many other mobile Internet technologies. Customers can stream, download, upload and game faster than ever before.

Cool new devices. AT&T offers several LTE-compatible devices, including new AT&T 4G LTE smartphones and tablets, such as the Samsung Galaxy S III, Motorola ATRIX ™ HD, HTC One™ X, Nokia Lumia 900, Samsung Galaxy Note™, and Pantech Element™ tablet.

Faster response time. LTE technology offers lower latency, or the processing time it takes to move data through a network, such as how long it takes to start downloading a webpage or file once you've sent the request. Lower latency helps to improve services like mobile gaming, two-way video calling and telemedicine.

More efficient use of spectrum. Wireless spectrum is a finite resource, and LTE uses spectrum more efficiently than other technologies, creating more space to carry data traffic and services and to deliver a better network experience.

"We continue to see demand for mobile Internet skyrocket, and our 4G LTE network in Ft. Myers responds to what customers want from their mobile experience — more, faster, on the best devices," said AT&T Florida President Marshall Criser, lll.

"I'm proud to say that Ft. Myers is among the communities enjoying this cutting-edge technology," said Jennifer Berg, Marketing and Communications Director for the Ft. Myers Regional Partnership, "AT&T's investment in Ft. Myers builds on our reputation as a strong region for business investment."

AT&T's 4G Network

AT&T's innovation and investment has resulted in the nation's largest 4G network, covering more than 285 million people with ultra-fast speeds and a more consistent user experience. That's coverage in 3,000 more 4G cities and towns than Verizon. Our 4G LTE network delivered faster average download speeds than any of our competitors in PCWorld's most recent 13-market speed tests.

**Limited 4G LTE availability in select markets. Deployment ongoing. 4G LTE device and data plan required. LTE is a trademark of ETSI. 4G speeds not available everywhere. Learn more about 4G LTE at http://3gstore.com/coverage

Hurricane Sandy knocks out 25 percent of cell towers in 10 states

According to Julius Genahowski Hurricane Sandy has knocked out cellular towers affecting 10 states. The FCC chief believes that the towers battery back-ups have been spent and it’s possible that more will go down. The FCC recommends avoiding non-essential calls and try to use social media or email to prevent overloaded networks. Also stated during the call land line phone outages were much less severe, so if you’ve still got a landline phone it would be best to use that for now. Towers affected by Hurricane Sandy should be coming back online when power is restored to any areas impacted by the storm.

3Gstore Helps Customer in Sandy's Way

Just got this review on ResellerRatings

The pre-sales support and post-sales technical support from 3Gstore.com is among the best I have ever received from any company. I bought some expensive networking hardware that I may have been able to save $5 buying elsewhere back in March and never configured it. With Hurricane Sandy knocking on my door today I called support and they spent several hours configuring it all for me and walking me through everything. There's no way you're getting that kind of support from most places if they can provide it all all without paying several hundred dollars or more. I got the level of service I would expect from an on-site consultant within a minute of placing the call. I didn't have to wait for someone to be available and I didn't have to pay extra for the support.

Within two minutes of configuring everything, hurricane Sandy knocked out our cable modem and the failover equipment worked exactly the way support helped me configure it. There is no way I will ever consider buying mobile routers anywhere else. 

Doran, please be safe and thanks for being a 3Gstore.com customer!

Cellular Dual Diversity MiMo for 4G LTE

Cellular antennas have played an important rule for a lot of consumers that live in areas with poor or no cellular signal. Carriers are now aggressively rolling out 4G LTE like Verizon Wireless, which already offer LTE in over 400 markets and other carriers like AT&T and Sprint trying to catch up. Unlike 3G connectivity, 4G LTE service takes advantage of MiMo (Multiple-input/Multiple-output) allowing you to use separate antennas for send and receive if your device supports dual antennas.

What is MiMo Dual Diversity?

MiMo technology can offer increased data throughput on both the downlink and uplink without requiring additional bandwidth or transmit power. Rather than having twice the transmit power MiMo allows the device to spread the transmit power across the antennas to achieve diversity gain to improve link reliability. To take advantage of MiMo in a 4G LTE area you’ll need an embedded solution, which allows you to insert a SIM card directly into a router to provide connectivity.

Continue reading - More on embedded routers with dual diversity MiMo

Preparing for Hurricane Sandy

Wireless consumers residing in Sandy’s projected path are also encouraged to use the following tips to prepare for a hurricane, severe flood or other natural disasters:

Keep your wireless phone and backup batteries fully charged, and be aware that an interruption of wireline and commercial power could affect wireless calls.

If possible, get extra batteries and charge them.

In times of commercial power outages, a car adapter for your wireless phone should enable you to recharge the battery.

Keep phones and necessary accessories in a sealed plastic bag to avoid water damage.

Load family and emergency numbers into your wireless phone.

Use your camera phone to take digital pictures or video of your property and valuables before the storm hits, so you have "before" pictures in the event of any storm damage.

Wireless networks sometimes experience heavy traffic during emergency events, so rather than call, remember to send a text message.

Congrats to 3Gstore Customer Mike C. For Writing Review of a Verizon Novatel USB727 - Refurbished, Like New No Contract Upgrade

Congrats to Mike C. of Battle Creek, Michigan who just won a $25.00 Restaurant.com gift code for writing a review for Verizon Novatel USB727 - Refurbished, Like New No Contract Upgrade at 3Gstore.com! Every week we randomly pick one product review from the previous week and award the writer a $25.00 gift code. We appreciate ALL the reviews our customers write, whether they are positive or negative - honest reviews like Mike C.\'s help other customers decide if the product is right for them. After you purchase a product from 3Gstore.com, we encourage you to log in and 3Gstore.com and leave a review letting people know how the product worked for you - you'll be helping others, and you'll automatically be entered to win a restaurant.com gift code!.

got it right away and lok and works great!!

T-Mobile’s Galaxy Note II Has “Hidden” LTE

When T-Mobile’s Galaxy Note II passed through the halls of the FCC with LTE support, it gave us hope that the Note II would be future proofed for the company’s eventual LTE rollout.

T-Mobile’s hardware is discovered to essentially be the same as AT&T’s own model. One of the most interesting things about the Galaxy Note 2 on T-Mobile is that its the same hardware as the AT&T Note 2 with LTE.

The Galaxy Note II features a Qualcomm 9215M chipset which provides the hardware capability to support both HSPA+42 and LTE.

T-Mobile plans to reach more than 200 million Americans with LTE by the end of 2013.

Clearwire slows down on LTE goal

Virtually all major carriers have adapted 4G LTE and Clearwire announced their plan to convert to LTE a few months ago. Originally they stated that they’d have 5,000 cell sites upgraded by the mid part of 2013, but now they plan to scale that number back to 2,000 sites. This is a direct result of the recent Sprint acquisition by Softbank and rumors circulating that Sprint will acquire Clearwire now. Last week Sprint purchased more Clearwire stock giving them majority control with a 53 percent voting stake in the company. Clearwire CEO Erik Prusch stated in a conference call "We want to make sure our LTE network is built in conjunction or alignment with Sprint introducing devices capable of using it.”

Telecom-Industry Subscriber reports

Telecommunications companies have begun releasing their earnings reports for the latest quarter.

Oct. 18: Verizon Communications Inc.'s wireless division added a net 1.5 million devices to contract-based plans in the third quarter, more than it has in many years. Analysts were expecting it to add about 900,000. Including non-contract devices, overall additions were the strongest in four years.  

Wednesday: AT&T Inc. says it added a net 151,000 new customers on contract-based plans from July through September, the lowest number for that period since at least 2003. 

— Thursday: Sprint Nextel Corp.

— Oct. 30: MetroPCS Communications Inc.

— Nov. 7: Leap Wireless International Inc.

— Nov. 8: T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG; Windstream Corp.

Note: T-Mobile and MetroPCS have reached a deal to combine their cellphone businesses, but they will report separately until the deal is completed.