Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we’re using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment.

Continue reading IRL: Verizon SCH-LC11 LTE hotspot, Sennheiser CXC 700 headphones and the Xperia Arc

IRL: Verizon SCH-LC11 LTE hotspot, Sennheiser CXC 700 headphones and the Xperia Arc originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Prepaid world, you’re getting called out. Offering what appears to be the lowest unlimited everything plan we’ve seen thus far, Republic Wireless — a division of Bandwidth.com — is ready to roll out its game-changing service next Tuesday. The carrier will be doling out all-you-can-eat talk, text and data for per month. We’re still slim on the nitty gritty details, but we know the new network is so inexpensive because it plans to utilize hybrid Android devices that rely mainly on UMA (the same WiFi-calling tech employed by T-Mobile) and will drop back to cellular roaming on Sprint when you’re not in range of a hotspot. The company’s main site offers nothing more than a teaser for now, but promises that we’ll know all of its secrets no later than November 8th. If you’re pulling your hair out wanting to find out more, we guess the teaser was a success.

Continue reading Republic Wireless to offer unlimited calls, SMS and data for per month

Republic Wireless to offer unlimited calls, SMS and data for per month originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Nov 2011 04:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’d heard rumblings that unlimited data for Sprint’s mobile hotspot plan was going the way of the dodo, but come November folks, it’ll be official. Data sent and received over tethering — not smartphone usage — will now be measured against a 5GB cap. The same applies to mobile broadband subscribers, who will lose “unlimited” WiMax, instead having all their bits counting towards 3GB, 5GB or 10GB buckets (as seen above). Going over your allotment in either plan naturally incurs overages, which could get pricey at 5 cents per MB, and worst of all, existing unlimited plans won’t be grandfathered in. So, start counting down those last few days of limitless bliss, as you weep peeping the full details that await at the source.

[Thanks, Darren]

Sprint to nix ‘unlimited’ from mobile broadband and hotspot plans in November originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 07:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Back in December, I broke the mobile broadband speed limit using Verizon’s just launched 4G network. The only LTE-compatible devices at that time were USB dongles, and they were initially limited to computers running Microsoft Windows. Since then, Verizon has added USB support for Mac computers, but also new MiFi devices that can share the fast 4G signal with multiple devices.

For the past week, I’ve been using one of the new MiFi’s. Novatel Wireless sent me a loaner MiFi 4510L, which Verizon currently sells online for with a two-year data contract. This morning I used the device as my only data connection for my laptop and a tablet. It can share the 4G connection with up to five devices. My laptop was used all morning on the MiFi’s hotspot, while I used the tablet sporadically. Both devices enjoyed super speeds from the 4510L; I felt like I was working at home where I have a fast FiOS connection.

Verizon advertises that the MiFi 4510L should provide downloads 5–12 Mbps and upload speeds of 2–5 Mbps. In repeated tests, the device exceded those claims and performance didn’t vary much. My speedtests routinely showed network latency around 45 milliseconds, downloads at 16 Mbps and uploads just over 5 Mbps, all of which are comparable or better to what I experienced in December.

To give you a real-world example of the speeds, I downloaded the latest Christina Perri album from my Amazon Cloud Storage account in just under two minutes. Every activity I threw at the network and the MiFi — video chats, YouTube HQ viewing, streaming music, browsing and more — offered a comparable experience to my speedy home network.

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The device itself is slightly thicker than the old 3G MiFi I still have for Verizon’s network, but it doesn’t have a noticeably bigger footprint, as you can easily throw the new MiFi in a pocket. The 1500 mAh battery lasted for just over 3.5 hours on the 4G network and can be charged with the included plug or from a computer’s USB port. One upgrade I really like over the prior version is a handy display to show signal strength, battery life and the number of connected devices: A small dot appears for each computer, tablet or mobile device using the MiFi’s wireless connection.

While the MiFi 4510L uses Verizon’s 4G network, it also supports the operator’s 3G or EV-DO data networks; helpful since LTE is only available in 46 markets now. The carrier plans to cover 145 markets before the end of 2011. Since the MiFi 4510L supports both 3G and 4G mobile broadband, it’s future-proof and is prepared to show you 4G speeds if you’re not yet in an LTE coverage area. Using the device at my home office provided standard 3G speeds, just like my old MiFi does.

Should you buy this MiFi? There’s two schools of thought here for people that need mobile broadband. One one hand, some are occasionally using the wireless hotspot functionality that’s becoming prominent on new smartphones. The potential downside here is that using the phone as a hotspot can leave you with a brick. Once the battery runs down you lose both your mobile broadband and your smartphone features. The other camp would rather have a dedicated data device which can offer more monthly bandwidth for the dollar. For those folks, especially in an LTE coverage area, the MiFi 4510L is a great choice.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (subscription req’d):

• Mobile Q1: All Eyes on Tablets, T-Mobile and AT&T
• A Global Mobile Handset Platform Forecast, 2011 – 2015
• In Q4, Data Was Mobile’s Hot Spot

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Apple investigating 3G issues on some Verizon iPad 2s, software fix expected soon originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Apr 2011 14:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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