So, AT&T Mobility is finally set to commercially launch LTE services across five markets this weekend, throwing its hat into the oncoming LTE battle that is currently dominated domestically Verizon Wireless. (Sorry MetroPCS.)
(I only half kid with the use of the term “finally” as I still vividly remember AT&T executive Kris Rinne speaking at a 4G World event a couple of years ago basically saying the carrier was in no hurry to roll out LTE services as its plans for HSPA+ would take care of its mobile broadband needs. This plan was quickly pushed aside following Verizon Wireless’ rapid LTE rollout plans and AT&T Mobility has managed to throw up a LTE network in a relatively short period of time.)

Not sure if I am like the rest of you, but short work weeks are somehow the most awesome and most frustrating things ever invented by the Dalai Lama. As such I both love and hate these four-day work weeks with a passion I usually reserve only for breakfast.

So, word on the street is that AT&T is looking to buy T-Mobile USA so it can either acquire sufficient spectrum assets to remain operational and save T-Mobile USA from imploding or it wants to remove a robust and viable competitor from the market, torture puppies and burn the Constitution.

Natural and manmade disasters are always going to overload wireless networks as frantic people try to contact loved ones, find out what the hell is happening and in today’s society, update their status, comment and upload video to social-media networks. Yesterday’s earthquake along the East Coast once again showed that even if the network can [...]

AT&T Mobility rattled some cages late last week when it announced it would begin reducing data speeds for some customers currently on unlimited data plans. The threshold before getting “reduced” is when data usage puts a consumer among the top 5% of data users. However there is some vaguery (it’s a word now) as to where the threshold is for being in that elite 5%, with AT&T Mobility only noting that “you have to use an extraordinary of data in a single billing period.”

So, now what for Sprint Nextel Corp.? Just after releasing second quarter results that showed improvements in customer metrics at the cost of subsidizing the growing fascination with smartphones, and a spectrum hosting deal that could pay the carrier $9 billion over an 11-year period, the carrier’s stock got hammered by investors.

Innovation centers are popping up throughout the world as wireless operators, infrastructure vendors, device suppliers and even governments aim to further collaborate with applications developers on the next new product, service, device or application. Just this week Verizon Wireless (VZ) and the Federal Communications Commission opened centers in Waltham, Mass., and Washington, D.C., respectively. Verizon [...]

As a child I was enthralled with buffet restaurants. Here was a place where I could get a wide variety of all the salt-drenched food and ice cream I could possibly manage to shove down my pie hole for a single price. Sure, I did not actually have to pay anything since all of my disposable income at that time went towards more important things like candy and bottle rockets, but you get the point. The best part was always sticking my head under the ice cream machine and just letting it run.

I have to admit, it has taken nearly all of my willpower to remain neutral on the subject of LightSquared and how the company is managing to remain a viable option in launching a wholesale LTE network. Here is a company that is using satellite’s as part of their network coverage for a wholesale mobile broadband network using spectrum that seems to be nothing but a headache and a network that it seems the company lacks the financial resources to build.

Not that I am complaining, but the Federal Communications Commission released a 308-page report on the state of competition in the wireless industry and reached no conclusion. While at first glance, that seems like a lot of work for no results, digging further into the report, it makes more sense. The wireless industry ecosystem is [...]