Cell Phone, 4g | featured news

The number of users with mobile devices is expected to climb to 5.2 billion in 2017 from 4.3 billion in 2012 and traffic across high-speed 4G networks will grow 40-fold during that time, according to a five-year forecast for mobile traffic data compiled by Cisco Systems and released today.

The first two phones to run on AT&T's new high-speed data network will go on sale Sunday. The phones are the HTC Vivid and the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket. Both are big touchscreen smartphones that run Google Inc.'s Android software. They'll cost $200 and $250 respectively, with a two-year service contract requirement.

The next iPhone will include lots of goodies, but support for next-generation 4G wireless networks still isn’t one of them, Sterne Agee & Leach analyst Shaw Wu wrote in a note to investors Tuesday. The new iPhone will get a dual core processor, a “slightly larger” display, and a thinner bezel. No 4G, though.

AT&T has announced the first cities that will get its 4G LTE service. These cities, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta and San Antonio, will see AT&T's version of LTE this summer. Verizon's LTE service, which launched in real (non-beta testing) form late last year, though sans handsets, has vowed to get its LTE service into 175 markets...

Verizon Wireless said its high-speed 4G data network was suffering an outage, a black eye for the carrier that prides itself on the quality and stability of its network.

A next-generation wireless smartphone network can stream video, blaze through the Net ... and steer your car into a ditch? Super-fast “fourth generation” networks carry data at speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second. But the new network from LightSquared may take the high-flying GPS network to zero Gbps -- potentially preventing air-traffic control towers from keeping track of aircraft, the military from accurately relaying locations or ambulances from showing up at the right house after a 911 call.

To the average consumer, the intricacies of the wireless technologies used by cellphones and other mobile devices are confusing. Fortunately, cell phone carriers have made it easier on us by inventing the “G,” a nebulous standard that makes people think they understand what they’re getting when they sign up for that two-year contract. The bad news: The carriers themselves typically don’t care about what a 3G or 4G network should actually be. And now, as proof of concept, AT&T has re-branded their existing 3G network as a 4G network.

One day, we'll all have phones that pull data from networks that are labeled "4G." But right now, there are plenty of reasons you may want to avoid it.

T-Mobile and Sprint are at odds over what counts as 4G. And the one organization that sets an official definition says none of them deliver speeds that qualify.

Clearwire on Monday unveiled Rover, a pay-as-you-go 4G mobile broadband service aimed at tech-savvy "digitally addicted" customers looking for high-speed mobile broadband without a contract. Non-contract, unlimited service plans will run $50 per month ...