3G Connection Issues Plaguing Verizon Wireless #iPad 2?

Looks like Apple (and Verizon) let a rather nasty bug slip through QA testing as is evident by this 73-page thread (and growing) thread on Apple’s own discussion board. The situation: when users turn off the VZW iPad 2′s data connection and try to reconnect later, they’re met with an ever present “searching” where signal bars should be. So far, the only “fix” that has been found is to turn data on and restart the device — hardly a “fix”.

As usual, both Apple and Verizon are blaming each other — Apple is blaming Verizon’s network and Verizon is blaming the iPad 2 hardware. To us, it looks like nothing more than a nasty software bug. Hopefully Apple and Verizon nip this issue in the butt sooner rather than later and forgo the standard 2-3 week wait that accompanies updates after the issue is publicly addressed.

Any VZW iPad 2 owners care to weigh in?

T-Mobile USA Continues HSPA+ Rollout With 10 New Cities.

T-Mobile USA’s future may be up in the air as we await the various government committees’ decisions regarding an AT&T take over, but that hasn’t stopped T-Mobile’s will to fight. Today, the nation’s fourth largest carrier announced the addition of 10 new cities to T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network:

• Fort Collins-Loveland, Colorado

• Anderson, Indiana

• Ames, Iowa

• Springfield, Illinois

• Lawrence and Manhattan, Kansas

• Battle Creek, Benton Harbor, and Jackson, Michigan

• Wichita Falls, Texas

Also announced today, T-Mobile confirmed their impending release of 42Mbps service in a handful of markets by mid-2011. Said markets include Las Vegas, New York, and Orlando. By late 2011, Chicago and northern New Jersey are scheduled to join the 42Mbps HSPA+ party as well. Guess they’re going out with a bang, huh?

BT Advises UK Infinity Subscribers: “Download All You Want!”

In stark contrast to AT&T’s new bandwidth caps scheduled to hit homes this coming May, BT has informed UK Infinity subscribers that they are doing just the opposite — they are removing any and all bandwidth caps. Specifically, BT Total Broadband and Infinity fiber services (tier 2) will soon be able to download any and all of the world should they so choose. With that truly “unlimited” decree, users will have up to 40Mbps (actual speeds ~33Mbps) download and ~2Mbps upload speeds to play with.

As for the still capped packages, BT’s Option 1 and 2 tiers will feature a 10GB and 40GB cap respectively while Infinity Option 1 will also share a 40GB cap. Overages for these plans are priced at £5 per 5GB.

Finally, users of the unlimited plans will still be subject to bandwidth throttling at peak hours (5pm-midnight) “when the network is busy”.

Sprint To Evaluate WiMax Adoption Later This Year. Possible Switch To LTE In The Cards. #mwc

Could your future Evo 4G 5 run off of LTE instead of WiMAX? That’s a very real possibility according to statements made by Sprint’s Senior Vice President of Networks, Bob Azzi. According to Azzi, Sprint will be evaluating WiMAX adoption and customer movement from 3G to 4G over the next 4-6 months. After this “study time”, Sprint will apparently make an important decision as to whether they should continue along pushing WiMAX or jump ship to LTE.

For the record, Sprint has begun deploying a healthy amount of multi-mode equipment, meaning such a switch wouldn’t be as bad as originally thought. A simple swap of a baseband card and software upgrade is all that’s needed to make complete the deal. Sounds rather exciting to us. Though, early adopters of WiMAX equipment surely can’t be feeling as intrigued as we are.

Starting Today, Verizon Throttling Top 5% Of Data Users And Optimizing Data.

The limitless highways of Verizon’s open network are coming to a close — if you fall in the carrier’s top 5% of data users that is. A new regulation set forth by Verizon (PDF) goes into effect starting today, and brings with it data throttling for heavy data users and lightly touches on a new “data optimizing” service the carrier is currently implementing. What’s worrisome to us is that not only will your data speeds be throttled on the remainder of your current billing cycle if you eclipse the unlisted, unknown, and mysterious data limit (on the unlimited plan mind you), your next billing cycle will be throttled as well.

T-Mobile employs data throttling as opposed to hard caps with extra charges. It’s the lesser of the two evils. In that instance, your data speeds are throttled back to sub-1Mbps throughput which makes the mobile web of 2011 all but useless. As for Verizon’s throttled speed? We’ve reached out to Big Red for an answer and will update you if/when we get a response.

As for the new data optimization features, its nothing more than reducing cache sizes/transmitted video/picture sizes/etc. It appears that VZW is putting the finishing touches on their network and policies before a bazillion iPhones join the ranks of the Android army and launch an all out assault.

Skype: “Windows Bug Brought Down Our Systems”. #skype

Right before Christmas last week — Exactly the same time in which millions of separated individuals were trying to Skype loved ones no less — Skype’s service went down in a glorious explosion of failure. And now, we know why. Hint: Blame Windows…

[Update] AT&T Network Problems Affecting Wisconsin/Illinois/Indiana. #att

AT&T users residing in the mid-west area of the country need not pull their hair out. Your phones are not broken. You did not accidentally change some setting. AT&T’s network is more or less down. A short but clear thread on AT&T’s own user forums highlights the issue as affecting MicroCell towers as well as actual transmission towers. So far, the entire Chicago-land area, parts of Wisconsin, and northern Indiana have been affected. Though there are some people reporting more recently that their service is coming back up in south Chicago and northern Wisconsin.

I can personally attest to the northern Indiana outage. I haven’t been able to do much of anything over AT&T’s cellular connection since 12pm yesterday, December 20th. A call to AT&T resulted in nothing more than a trip through the typical CSR troubleshooting and no actual acknowledgement of any problems even after pressed.

AT&T’s network taking a hit isn’t new. Though previous network problems have elicited some type of official statement, and at the very least, a blip on Twitter. At this point I’d even take a simple text at least giving a heads up that something is wrong.

For now however, all we have is this one thread. If anyone has found out more information or updates as to affected/reinstated areas, drop a line below.

Update

Back up here in South Bend.

[AT&T]

T-Mobile USA-Backed, Long Term HSPA+ Evolution to Reach 650Mbps.

In the grander scheme of next gen 4G-networks-that-really-aren’t-4G, T-Mobile is the odd man out. Though when we consider all of the latest cellular technologies being employed by the big 4 US carriers in regards to speed/bandwidth, they’re all rather similar — claims T-Mobile. Sprint, with their WiMax network and Verizon pushing LTE will beg to differ however, and chop down T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network as nothing more than plain ‘ol 3G, and inferior to the their next-gen networks. But the latest submission to the 3GPP highlighted by Nokia Siemens regarding another speed bump in HSPA+’s upper limits has us excited. How does 650Mbps sound?

Verizon Wireless Acknowledges 3G to LTE Handoff Lag. Promises Fix is in the Works. #vzw4g #lte

Today, December 13th, Verizon Wireless officially came forward and recognized a widespread issue that new users of the week-old LTE modems have been experiencing — hand off lag. More specifically, users of Verizon’s new LTE modems can take up to two minutes when switching from 3G –> LTE even when they’re in a strong LTE signal area — this according to VZW spokesperson, Jeffrey Nelson. For now, the only fix is it unplug the modem and then plug it back in if you don’t want to wait the full two minutes out.

While it is a relatively minor inconvenience, two minutes seems like an awfully long time for something that should be quite simple and quick in 2010. Nonetheless, Verizon Wireless says that a software fix is in the works. On that note, there isn’t any ETA as to when an update will be released, or even as to which particular modem is seeing the hand-off issue. Though, according to Alley Insider, the LG modem is the problem child.

Hopefully VZW can get to the bottom of the problem sooner rather than later. While it’s a minor inconvenience at best, it still something that should be left to run rampant for too long.