Sprint expands 4G LTE to 225 million and 41 new cities

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), April 29, 2014 - Sprint (NYSE:S) today announced that its all-new network offers 4G LTE service in 41 more cities. Sprint 4G LTE now covers more than 225 million people and remains on track to cover 250 million by mid-year. Sprint Spark™, an enhanced LTE service delivering peak wireless speeds of 60Mbps, is available in six new cities, and is expected to cover 100 million people by year-end. 

4G LTE data speeds are now available to more customers in such locations as Long Island, N.Y., Minneapolis, and Phoenix. Customers in Newark, N.J.; Oakland, Calif.; Orlando, Fla.; Tacoma, Wash.; Waukegan, Ill.; and West Palm Beach, Fla. will also now benefit from even faster data speeds with the availability of Sprint Spark. 

“We’re making great progress on Network Vision and customers are pleased with the faster data speeds and crystal clear voice calls,” said John Saw, chief network officer at Sprint. “Today our network is delivering significantly better service. Furthermore, it’s a strong foundation for tomorrow – a time will ultimately come when customer demands for bandwidth, and technology changes with 4G and beyond, will require the kind of platform we now have in place.”

Sprint Spark is an enhanced LTE service that’s built for data and designed to deliver peak wireless speeds of 60Mbps today on capable devices, with the potential for speeds three times as fast by late next year.1 Sprint offers 14 Sprint Spark-enabled devices, including the recently launched Samsung Galaxy S® 5 and HTC One (M8). With its unique combination of network technologies, spectrum capacity and tri-band devices, Sprint Spark is designed to greatly improve the performance of video and other bandwidth-intensive applications. It enables stutter-free video chat on-the-go and mobile gaming that leaves lag behind. 

Sprint’s all-new network also includes HD Voice in many cities today, with nationwide availability expected by mid-year. HD Voice is a new Sprint standard for crystal-clear voice calls. It provides a fuller, more natural-sounding voice, plus noise-cancelling technology that virtually eliminates background noise from places like a busy road or crowded restaurant. 

Sprint 4G LTE is available in 443 cities. Sprint Spark is available in the following 24 cities: Austin, Texas; Baltimore; Chicago; Dallas; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Fort Worth, Texas; Houston; Jacksonville, Fla.; Kansas City, Kan./Mo.; Los Angeles; Miami; New York; Newark, N.J.; Oakland, Calif.; Orlando, Fla.; Philadelphia; Provo, Utah; Salt Lake City; San Antonio; Tacoma, Wash.; Tampa, Fla.; Trenton, N.J.; Waukegan, Ill.; and West Palm Beach, Fla. 

Embedded Cradlepoint Router for Sprint 4G LTE

FCC provides email for Net Neutrality Complaints

Last week the FCC took a lot of heat regarding their stance on the latest Net Neutrality rules to be discussed on May 15th. In Tom Wheelers original statement they didn’t plan to place any rules for interconnection feuds between ISP’s and content providers like Netflix. This would mean ISP’s can control service levels by forcing content companies to pay for specific interconnection services that primarily benefit the ISP by increasing revenue. After the news there was backlash by the public and Tom Wheeler has been releasing updated statements indicating the public misunderstood what he was trying to acheive.

Today they’ve decided to let customers voice their opinions by emailing the agency about their views on the proposed Net Neutrality rules. Users are able to email their opinions to openinternet@fcc.gov In addition to the email there is also a petition called “We the people Net Neutrality” that you can sign, which would require government review if 100,000 signatures are reached by May 24, 2014 here - http://1.usa.gov/1mHh7S0

Congrats to 3Gstore Customer Michael G. For Writing Review of a 5 Years CradleCare Premier 24x7 (CBR400/450/MBR1200B)

Congrats to Michael G. of Dallas, Oregon who just won a $25.00 Restaurant.com gift code for writing a review for 5 Years CradleCare Premier 24x7 (CBR400/450/MBR1200B) 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 Michael G.\'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!.

I haven't tried to use it yet....so, I don't know how reliable it is.....

Are You a Mobile Addict?

According to Flurry (a site that assists in app development and analytics), someone who opens apps on their mobile device 60 or more times a day is considered a "mobile addict." They posted their findings earlier this week from data they've gathered over the past year. In that 1 year,  they tracked more than 500,000 apps on more than 1.3 billion mobile devices worldwide. Those who qualify as mobile addicts totaled 176 million as of March 2014, which is up 123% from the 79 million addicts reported last March. Of course, we must attribute some of that increase to the number of people who have joined Flurry in this past year.

Not only did Flurry test the total number of users, but they also broke down the results by what they consider "Regular users" - those who launch apps less than 16 times a day - and "Super users" - those launching mobile apps between 16 and 60 times per day. In addition, they separated male users from female users, as well as their age groups.

Here's a break down of some of those results:

• Regular users - grew from 639 million in 2013, to 784 million
• Super users -grew from 283 million in 2013 to 440 million
• Women - 52%
• Men - 48%

Younger device users aged 13-24 were also more likely to be mobile addicts than those aged 25-34 and those 55 and older. Yet device users between 35-54 also over-indexed as mobile addicts despite their numbers in the overall mobile consumer population.

Flurry also offered up some interesting data about significant identifiers for mobile addicts. "On the female side, the following personas over-indexed as mobile addicts: Moms, Parenting & Education, Gamers, and Sports Fans, in that order. For males, the following personas over-indexed as mobile addicts: Auto Enthusiasts, Parenting and Education, Gamers, and Catalog Shoppers," Flurry said. With that data in mind, Flurry has deducted that most of the mobile addicts among us are "teens, college students (skewing females), and middle-aged parents." So, where do you fall in?

FCC new Net Neutrality rules are around the corner

Over the past few months the new FCC boss Tom Wheeler has been investigating Net Neutrality guidelines and is preparing a draft for an FCC meeting on May 15. Reports indicate that the agency may try the same rules used before, but cite them under a different part of the law. However, groups supporting Net Neutrality worry that the rules won’t hold up in court just like current laws being referenced. The FCC does have the ability to write in some new rules under Section 706 of the Communication Act, which is designed help with the deployment of advanced telecommunications to all Americans. Sources tell the Wall Street Journal that ISP’s won’t be able to block websites outright, but there isn’t a rule in place for interconnection feuds between the ISP and content providers like Netflix. 

Unless there are additional rules written for interconnections between content providers and ISP’s consumers could still see a broken Internet unless content providers cough up extra money for priority access. The FCC thinks that it’s okay for traffic preferential treatment as long as other websites aren’t blocked or discriminated against. This view means we could soon see specific content get priority access over other sites making it harder for companies to enter the content space if they can’t pay the transit fees for “preferred access”. Now we must wait until May 15th to see what develops on the new regulations, but it’s clear that we may soon see the Internet move towards a premium TV model where you’ll end up paying more to access various content across the web.

Congrats to 3Gstore Customer Charles M. For Writing Review of a Cellphone-Mate 3-Watt Verizon 4G LTE Direct Connect Amplifier - CM700V-32 [700Vmhz ONLY]

Congrats to Charles M. of Chandler, Arizona who just won a $25.00 Restaurant.com gift code for writing a review for Cellphone-Mate 3-Watt Verizon 4G LTE Direct Connect Amplifier - CM700V-32 [700Vmhz ONLY] 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 Charles M.\'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!.

Did a good job on increasing the RSSI, but nothing for SINR.

VMWare's Disaster Recovery Service in the Cloud

While the VMware vCloud Hybrid Service (vCHS) Disaster Recovery (DR) has been available since May 2013, it is just now gaining more notoriety. This service provides VMware’s enterprise users a public cloud option that integrates directly with their existing virtual deployments.

Recently, Matthew Lodge, VP of Cloud Services Product Marketing and Management at VMware, talked to the IT site Datamation. In their discussion of vCHS, Lodge said that anything that is running on a VMware vSphere host can be replicated, regardless of what kind of storage the customer has -- vSAN or anything else. The vCHS offers what they refer to as ‘continuous replication to enable DR.’ Per Lodge, "It's a replication rather than a back-up, and it's continuous as in the data is continuously copied from the protected site to vCHS. The VM state is captured at intervals, the Recovery Point Objective (RPO) interval, to ensure all VMs are consistent in the DR set."

The DR solution is continuous, but it is not a fully active to the point that it could be used to load balance VM workloads. Lodge states that vCHS-DR is designed for what is known as ‘active-passive DR.’ "It doesn't support active-active, though today many apps contain code to allow active-active configurations," Lodge said. "In that situation, you'd run the same VM at vCHS as you ran on-prem, and you would do state sharing between the two (built into the app) across the network."

Even though the vCHS is a remote cloud service, Lodge added that additional network acceleration hardware may be beneficial to some users due to the the data intensity that a DR operation can include. While it’s not a necessity, this hardware can help compress data and manage bandwidth and transfers. At this time, DR data stream is delta-compressed with only changes from the last set of updates being sent to vCHS.

For an existing VMware customer, there are just a few steps you’ll need to take to get this service. First, you need to download the vCloud Hybrid Service – Disaster Recovery replication virtual appliance from VMware.com. The virtual appliance is then installed into the VMware vCenter applications where the administrator will select the DR icon and perform the configuration. Lodge says, "To do that, the customer enters the API URL for the vCHS site to which they want to replicate, identifies the VMs to be protected, sets any VM-specific options, and selects the recovery point objective (15 mins - 24 hours). They then monitor from the vCenter console, and/or from the vCHS console."

ATT considers taking a pass over 600Mhz spectrum rules

 
Unlike previous FCC spectrum auctions the FCC is now considering a policy for next year’s 600Mhz spectrum auction. Their plan is to restrict a portion of the frequency band for smaller competitors to ensure AT&T and Verizon don’t grab all the 600Mhz spectrum and squat on it, which prevents smaller companies from entering the wireless market. This policy comes after the last few spectrum auctions where Verizon and AT&T gobbled up the majority of spectrum for sale and still haven’t used a lot of the spectrum they have available now. AT&T was the first carrier to complain to the FCC in a letter stating the following:

"AT&T has never declined to participate in a major spectrum auction and certainly did not intend to do so here, where capital contributions will be needed across the wireless industry for a successful outcome. But if the restrictions as proposed are adopted, AT&T will need to seriously consider whether its capital and resources are directed toward other spectrum opportunities that will better enable AT&T to continue to support high quality LTE network deployments to serve its customers."

From this statement it sounds like AT&T is only interested in the auction if they can buy the entire 600Mhz spectrum band. Just like the 700Mhz auctions a few years ago the 600Mhz bands are highly desirable because they have better in building penetration and require fewer cell towers for coverage in rural areas. This is why both T-Mobile and Sprint are less than successful in rural areas where their 1700/1900/2100/2500Mhz bands don’t cover as large an area. Verizon and AT&T’s 700Mhz requires substantially less towers in a rural setting to cover the same space and if Sprint or T-Mobile could snatch up the 600Mhz spectrum we could see them start to offer better rural coverage.

Wilson Sleek 4G SmarTech III Cradle Amplifier (460107) Now Available - FCC Approved

In anticipation of the upcoming FCC changes*, which will require cellular amplifiers to meet certain criteria (including only being sold in kits) and to be registered with the cell provider, Wilson Electronics has released a new FCC-approved version of their popular Sleek 4G cradle amplifier: the SmarTech III Sleek 4G Cradle Amplifier (460107). The Sleek 4G supports 700mhz/800mhz/1700mhz/1900mhz/2100mhz networks (which includes most 2G, 3G, and 4G providers in the US) and includes everything you need to boost the signal to a single phone or hotspot in a vehicle (a home/office accessory kit is available for use indoors).

The 460107 kit includes (clockwise from left): manual, Sleek cradle amplifier, 4" magnetic mount antenna w/ 12' cable, USB cable and cigarette lighter power supply, and mount

Features & Benefits:

• Stronger cell signal indoors
• Fewer dropped calls & lost connections
• Faster data downloads
• Clearer voice calls
• Longer battery life for cellular devices
• FCC certified to 2014 technical specs
• Boosts voice, 3G, and 4G data signals for all major North American cell carriers
• All needed components included in package
• Optional home accessory kit sold separately
• DIY installation

 

installation diagram (not to scale. representative graphic only - appearance of actual components may vary)

The new Sleek 4G is available now at 3Gstore at an introductory price of $148.99 (MSRP $179.99). See the full specs and order the Wilson Sleek 4G SmarTech III (460107)

*It is important to note that users of currently available amplifiers that do not meet the upcoming new FCC regulations DO NOT need to worry - all amplifiers sold before the switchover date (May 1) will be “grandfathered in.”

Wilson MobilePro 45db SmarTech III Repeater Kit (460113) Now Available - FCC Approved

In anticipation of the upcoming FCC changes*, which will require cellular amplifiers to meet certain criteria (including only being sold in kits) and to be registered with the cell provider, Wilson Electronics has released a new FCC-approved version of their popular MobilePro amplifier: the MobilePro SmarTech III Repeater Kit (460113). The MobilePro works for 800/1900mhz cellular networks, which includes most voice and 3G providers in the US and includes accessories for use both at home or in a vehicle. The MobilePro can boost the signal for multiple phones/modems at the same time, as long as they are within about 5 feet of the amplifier.

The 460113 kit includes both AC and DC power supplies as well as a window mount for the magnetic mount antenna so the kit can be used in a vehicle or at home

Features & Benefits:

• Installs in minutes
• FCC certified to 2014 technical specs
• Boosts voice & 3G data signals for all major North American cell carriers
• All needed components included in package
• DIY installation
• Extends cellular signal range
• Fewer dropped calls & lost connections
• Faster data downloads
• Clearer voice calls
• Longer battery life for cellular devices

The new MobilePro is available now at 3Gstore at an introductory price of $178.99 (MSRP $199.99). See the full specs and order the Wilson MobilePro SmarTech III (460113)

*It is important to note that users of currently available amplifiers that do not meet the upcoming new FCC regulations DO NOT need to worry - all amplifiers sold before the switchover date (May 1) will be “grandfathered in.”

OpenSSL Heartbleed Vulnerability discovered

 

On April 7th there was a serious security flaw discovered with OpenSSL and the problem is being called “Heartbleed”. Some major companies have been affected by the security flaw including Google, AWS and Rackspace, which plan to release patches quickly to fix the issue. Any company that uses OpenSSL to terminate SSL connections could find themselves facing issues with Heartbleed. To be proactive to the growing news we’ve received statements from Peplink to inform customers that their routing platforms aren’t affected by the Heartbleed OpenSSL Flaw: 

Peplink/Pepwave Statement: 

“On April 7th, a serious security issue called "Heartbleed" in OpenSSL was made public. We have since reviewed our products and online services for the impact. 

Peplink has verified and confirmed that all of our products are not affected by this vulnerability - including Balance, MAX, FusionHub, AP One/Pro, Surf, Device Connector families. 

As for the online services, they are either unaffected or we have been able to apply mitigation to fully resolve the issue. 

There is no customer action required on your part. 

Thank you for your attention. 

The Peplink Team“

3Gstore.com Statement:

We have ran internal tests to check for the OpenSSL security vulnerability and passed the check. 3Gstore remains PCI Compliant and is unaffacted by the security flaw! When you shop with 3Gstore you can ensure that your data is safe and you'll experience a smooth transaction and speedy delivery of equipment.

Cradlepoint Statement: 

In response to the critical security vulnerability discovered in the OpenSSL cryptography software library (CVE-2014-0160), nicknamed “Heartbleed,” CradlePoint has taken steps to incorporate the OpenSSL version 1.0.1g into its latest firmware and Enterprise Cloud Manager. The purpose of this email is to inform you of the vulnerabilities and the steps necessary to remediate this issue.

If exploited, this vulnerability could allow attackers to monitor all information passed between a user and a web service or decrypt past traffic they’ve collected. More details can be found here: http://heartbleed.com. 

Affected Products

 

CradlePoint recommends immediately upgrading products to the upcoming firmware versions (available 4/14/14) in order to mitigate this vulnerability. The following are affected products (with firmware versions 4.2.0 and later): 

• AER 2100
• ARC MBR1400
• MBR1400
• MBR1200B
• ARC CBA750B
• CBA750B
• COR IBR600
• COR IBR650
• CBR400
• CBR450
• MBR95 
  
  

WAN INTERFACES

 

On WAN interfaces routers were only exposed to risk under the following conditions:

1) Remote access is enabled (setting disabled by default)

2) AND remote administration access control is not enabled (setting disabled by default).

 

LAN INTERFACES

 

On LAN interfaces routers were only exposed under the following conditions:

If the network allows Admin Access, which is the default for the Primary LAN. Guest LAN default settings do not allow Admin Access and are not exposed to this vulnerability. Admin Access can be checked using the Network Settings / WiFi / Local Networks tab, listed for each network in the “Access Control” section. 

PLEASE NOTE: Product firmware is still affected by this bug and CradlePoint recommends firmware upgrades for all affected products.

Products Not Affected

• CBA750 (prior version to CBA750B)
• CTR35
• CTR250
• CTR350
• CTR500
• CX111 (Juniper)
• MBR90
• MBR800
• MBR900
• MBR1000
• MBR1100
• MBR1200 (prior version to CBA1200B
• PHS300
• PHS2000W 
  
  

Firmware Patch Available 4/14/2014

• 5.1.1 – AER 2100, ARC MBR1400, MBR1400, MBR1200B, ARC CBA750B, CBA750B, COR IBR600, COR IBR650
• 5.0.4 – MBR95 
  
  

Download the latest firmware (new versions available 4/14/14).

Sierra Wireless Statement:  
 

This bulletin provides information about the impact of CVE-2014-01601 on AirLink gateways.

 

AirLink gateways running ALEOS are not affected by the issue described in CVE-2014-0160. Known as 'Heartbleed'.
Update: You can use this website to check any server to see if they were inpacted by Heartbleed - http://filippo.io/Heartbleed/

3Gstore Contact Info - Having Trouble Reaching Us?

UPDATE 4/9/14 2:38PM CST: Our transition is complete and all problems have been resolved. Thanks for your patience!

We are in the process of upgrading our phone system, and during the transition our toll-free number (866-3GSTORE or 866-347-8673) may be unavailable. If you're unable to reach us via our toll-free line, please call us at our local number: 847-462-4004. This number will connect you directly to the main 3Gstore menu, just like the toll-free number. 

As always, you are also welcome to email us (sales at 3Gstore.com or support at 3Gstore.com) or live chat with us on our website!


The transition to our upgraded phone system will be completed shortly and there will be no further issues with the toll-free number.

We look forward to providing you with excellent customer service and technical support!

Sprint to shut down WiMAX network by end of 2015

Sprint was the first official carrier to launch 4G service but opted to go with WiMAX instead of LTE. Unfortunately for Sprint WiMAX ultimately failed due to poor in building coverage and LTE on lower frequency bands took preference by the majority of consumers. Recently Sprint filed a 10G form with the Securities and Exchange Commission stating they’ll shut down 4G WiMAX by the end of 2015. “As a result of the Clearwire Acquisition, we expect to continue to migrate from Clearwire’s wireless broadband technology to LTE technology through the deployment of Network Vision utilizing the 2.5GHz spectrum acquired,” Sprint said in the paperwork, also mentioning they’ll be shutting down 4,300 cell sites that won’t be needed after the switch to 4G LTE. 

Poor Sprint 4G LTE Signal? Get a 4G LTE repeater to boost Sprint reception

DynDNS Free Service Shutdown

 

Dyn, Inc has offered DynDNS for several years and announced on Monday that their free dynamic DNS service will be disabled on May 7th, 2014. Newer customers won’t notice a change because DynDNS has been charging new customers for dynamic hosting for the last year, but grandfathered older customers that had previously signed up for free accounts. Below is a copy of the notice that is going out to long time customers still getting free DynDNS service: 

“Subject: Important info about the future of your Dyn account 

To our Dyn free hostname users: 

For the last 15 years, all of us at Dyn have taken pride in offering you and millions of others a free version of our Dynamic DNS Pro product. What was originally a product built for a small group of users has blossomed into an exciting technology used around the world. 

That is why with mixed emotions we are notifying you that in 30 days, we will be ending our free hostname program. This change in the business will allow us to invest in our customer support teams, Internet infrastructure, and platform security so that we can continue to strive to deliver an exceptional customer experience for our paying customers. 

We would like to invite you to upgrade to VIP status for less than $20 -- a 25% discount good for any package of Remote Access (formerly DynDNS Pro). By doing so, you'll have access to customer support, additional hostnames, and more. 

Here's how you get this done in two easy steps:

- Login to account.dyn.com.

- Click here to add Remote Access to your cart at the 25% off VIP rate. The discount will be applied upon checkout. 

We thank you for your usage of Dyn through the years, and hope to continue to support you through Dyn Remote Access or other products for years to come. Visit our FAQ page or this blog post for more information.” 

DynDNS was one of the most popular services for 3G mobile customers to route to IP Camera systems with a Dynamic public facing IP. Now that most customers have switched to 4G LTE dynamic hosting simply didn’t work because of the private (10.) range assigned to wireless devices. Still, for customers on older 3G accounts this means they’ll need to start spending money on DynDNS to continue using it, or look at a free alternative like noip.com for their routing needs.

Congrats to 3Gstore Customer John I. J. For Writing Review of a Cellphone-Mate 65db Adjustable Gain Wireless Amplifier- CM-EFLEX-65 [800/1900mhz]

Congrats to John I. J. of Grand Bay, Alabama who just won a $25.00 Restaurant.com gift code for writing a review for Cellphone-Mate 65db Adjustable Gain Wireless Amplifier- CM-EFLEX-65 [800/1900mhz] 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 John I. J.\'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!.

Works great! My son says the only thing bad about it is that "it works so good his phone can not decide to go through his cell connection or WiFi!" LOL!

T-Mobile offers top 4G LTE speeds according to RootMetric Study

 

Recently OpenSignal released a study to test the latest LTE speeds by carriers and T-Mobile has taken the lead as the fastest network available. Previously T-Mobile complained to RootMetric stating their study was out of date and the report didn’t show the results after their latest network upgrades. The OpenSignal study confirms that RootMetric’s report was out of date and shows that T-Mobile has the fastest LTE average speeds at 11.5Mbps. This doesn’t change the fact that Verizon and AT&T still have larger LTE footprints, but carriers like T-Mobile are upping the ante by giving customers faster speed and trying to improve coverage across the country. The OpenSignal report was generated from real world data across 103,025 users that use their Android and iOS speed test apps to get overall speed averages.

Want T-Mobile 4G LTE? Get a Rocket 3.0 USB Modem

FireChat App Lets Users Chat WITHOUT an Internet Connection

FireChat is an iPhone app that has been designed for anonymous hyperlocal communication. What makes it so unlike any other messaging platform is that it does not require an Internet connection or even a cellular signal to work.

FireChat takes advantage of the Multipeer Connectivity Framework in iOS 7. This feature allows developers to connect devices to each other using Bluetooth, WiFi, and peer-to-peer connections. Users must be within a maximum of 100 feet of another to use the 'Nearby' feature, but they can also connect with other users around their countries via the Internet in the 'Everyone' chat room.

The app works best when users are within 30 feet of each other. However, the more people using it within close range of one another, the larger and more robust the network becomes. So, while you are of course limited by distance, you'll still be able to chat with your friends or family while camping, or in a crowded concert - no more need to rely on overloaded cell towers. "You may be connected to a person by Bluetooth or WiFi that is less than 30 feet away from you, but chatting with others that are outside that radius because of the network created by all the connections combined," said Jim McGregor, principal at Tirias Research. "The advantage is that you don't worry about cellular or Internet connectivity, but you are limited by distance and the number of people that are logged into the application at the time." This type of connectivity is also called a "mesh network," where all the devices in a network relay data to the others. "We thought that FireChat would provide a great example of what's possible with P2P mesh networks," stated Christophe Daligault, head of sales and marketing at FireChat developer Open Garden. "This demonstrates that you don't need the Internet for everything."

FireChat users not only can chat, but share photos with either one person or a group. No need to log into using Facebook or your email. Just create a unique username. The app was created with privacy in mind as well so you don't even need a password! "Many apps provide great person-to-person communications," Daligault noted. "At the same time, there are growing concerns for privacy and perhaps general Facebook fatigue. So this seems like the best way to bring a new way to communicate to the iPhone."Open Garden also assures users that the app has very little effect on battery life. 

According to Daligault, the app is quickly growing with popularity with around 1.4 sign-ups per second. "FireChat seems to keep on exploding in countries when it hits the sweet spot in terms of density," he said. "It has reached the top 10 amongst social networking apps in more than 80 countries, ahead of Facebook and WhatsApp. Right now it is No. 1 in Spain, for example."

While the developers eventually plan on adding more features, they are currently focusing on removing bugs and getting the word out on how the app works. For now, the app is limited to the iPhone, but they're working on an iPad app, and those interested in an Android version can sign up to be notified.