The age of free smartphones moves closer to a reality each and every day.  You may recall where I wrote about my experience with my nearly free Android smartphone.  Just a quick recap… I went to my local Sam’s Club and about an hour later, I walked out with a new Samsung Captivate Android smartphone, through AT&T, and paid a total of $1.03 – that’s $1.03 out the door with my new Android smartphone.

It’s becoming more and more common to see deals like this, and the phone carriers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, etc…) make a killing because they’ll always require a new contract period along with a data package – usually anywhere from $15 – $30 per month depending on who you go with and what package you chose.

Sprint is giving away two free Android Smartphones

Sprint has always been a mobile phone carrier who’s willing to step up their game to compete with the big boys like AT&T and Verizon.

And today Sprint announced two free Android smartphones – the LG Rumor and the LG Optimus.

Both smartphones are completely free with a new contract and data package.

It’s a pretty sweet deal to get free smartphones from these major mobile phone carriers.  Ultimately, if you are in the market for a smartphone anyway, then the 2 year contract and data package are a given – so you mine as well find the places where you can get a free, or at least very inexpensive, smartphone.

We have yet to see the free iPhone yet!  But, AT&T is getting somewhat closer to that being a reality by offering dramatically reduced pricing on existing, or refurbished, iPhone inventory.  Such as the $9 refurbished iPhone 3GS, or even the $.01 refurbished iPhone 3, that AT&T is selling.

Verizon has a reputation for being the most stable wireless phone carrier in the United States. And although companies like Sprint have been aggressively expanding their 4G coverage, Verizon is quickly becoming the dominant player in this hyper competitive market.

Below is the currently list of Verizon 4G LTE enabled cities in the U.S. along with the list of additional cities that will be turned on by the end of 2011:

• Phoenix, Ariz.
• Los Angeles, Calif.
• Oakland, Calif.
• San Diego, Calif.
• San Francisco, Calif.
• San Jose, Calif.
• Denver, Colo.
• Washington, D.C.
• Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
• Jacksonville, Fla.
• Miami, Fla.
• Orlando, Fla.
• Tampa, Fla.
• West Palm Beach, Fla.
• Athens, Ga.
• Atlanta, Ga.
• Chicago, Ill.
• West Lafayette, Ind.
• New Orleans, La.
• Baltimore, Md.
• Boston, Mass.
• Detroit, Mich.
• Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.
• St. Louis, Mo.
• Las Vegas, Nev.
• New York, N.Y.
• Rochester, N.Y.
• Charlotte, N.C.
• Akron, Ohio
• Cincinnati, Ohio
• Cleveland, Ohio
• Columbus, Ohio
• Oklahoma City, Okla.
• Philadelphia, Pa.
• Pittsburgh, Pa.
• Nashville, Tenn.
• Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas
• Houston, Texas
• San Antonio, Texas
• Seattle/Tacoma, Wash.

Additional areas to be covered by Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network in 2011 include:

• Decatur, Ala.
• Huntsville, Ala.*
• Mobile, Ala.*
• Montgomery, Ala.*
• Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Ark.
• Fort Smith, Ark.
• Little Rock, Ark.*
• Tucson, Ariz.
• Bakersfield, Calif.
• Fresno, Calif.
• Modesto, Calif.
• Sacramento, Calif.
• Salinas-Monterey, Calif.
• San Luis Obispo, Calif.
• Santa Barbara, Calif.
• Stockton, Calif.
• Colorado Springs, Colo.*
• Fort Collins, Colo.
• Fairfield, Conn.
• Hartford, Conn.
• New Haven, Conn.
• Daytona Beach, Fla.
• Fort Myers, Fla.
• Gainesville, Fla.*
• Lakeland-Winter Haven, Fla.*
• Pensacola, Fla.*
• Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla.*
• Tallahassee, Fla.*
• Augusta, Ga.*
• Hilo, Hawaii
• Honolulu, Hawaii*
• Kahului-Wailuku, Hawaii*
• Lahaina, Hawaii*
• Davenport, Iowa
• Iowa City, Iowa
• Boise-Nampa, Idaho*
• Bloomington/Normal, Ill.
• Carbondale, Ill.*
• Champaign, Ill.
• Rockford, Ill.
• Springfield, Ill.
• Fort Wayne, Ind.
• Indianapolis, Ind.
• Lafayette, Ind.
• Wichita, Kan.*
• Louisville, Ky.
• Baton Rouge, La.*
• Hammond, La.*
• Springfield, Mass.
• Worcester, Mass.
• Hagerstown, Md.
• Flint, Mich.*
• Grand Rapids, Mich.
• Lansing, Mich.
• Saginaw-Bay City, Mich.
• Starkville, Miss.
• Asheville-Henderson, N.C.
• Fayetteville-Lumberton, N.C.*
• Greensboro-Winston Salem-High Point, N.C.*
• Raleigh-Durham, N.C.*
• Wilmington, N.C.*
• Fargo, N.D.
• Omaha, Neb.
• Albuquerque, N.M.
• Las Cruces, N.M. Santa Fe, N.M.
• Reno, Nev.
• Albany, N.Y.
• Ithaca, N.Y.
• Syracuse, N.Y.
• Dayton-Springfield, Ohio*
• Lima, Ohio
• Toledo, Ohio
• Tulsa, Okla.*
• Portland, Ore.
• Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, Pa.
• Erie, Pa.*
• Harrisburg, Pa.
• Johnstown, Pa.
• Scranton/Wilkes Barre, Pa.
• State College, Pa.*
• Charleston, S.C.*
• Columbia, S.C.*
• Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C.*
• Hilton Head, S.C.*
• Sioux Falls, S.D.*
• Chattanooga, Tenn.*
• Clarksville, Tenn.*
• Cleveland, Tenn.*
• Dyersburg-Union City, Tenn.
• Jackson, Tenn.
• Kingsport-Johnson City, Tenn.-Bristol, Va.*
• Knoxville, Tenn.*
• Memphis, Tenn.*
• Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas*
• Bryan-College Station, Texas*
• El Paso, Texas
• Temple-Killeen, Texas
• Provo-Orem, Utah*
• Salt Lake City-Ogden, Utah*
• Olympia, Wash.*
• Centralia, Wash.*
• Spokane, Wash.
• Charleston, W.Va.*
• Madison, Wis.*
• Milwaukee, Wis.*

* Indicates a metro area previously announced in 2011

via Verizon.com

Sprint announced via email yesterday that Denver, Colorado now has 4G coverage.

With the arrival of Sprint 4G in Denver, Sprint’s count of cities with 4G coverage rises to 74 cities nationwide – a pretty impressive number.

Sprint’s 4G coverage is powered by Clear, and without a doubt, Clear has the best Sprint 4G coverage map where you can view each city on a Google map, and then also view a comprehensible list below the map.

Some recent city launches to note – Sprint is now available in major metro areas such as New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Houston.

In my opinion, and the opinion of top CEO’s like Google’s Eric Schmidt, the future of the web is mobile. The number of people accessing the web through mobile devices is exploding, and not just here in the United States. Countries like China, Japan, and India an seeing explosive growth in mobile web consumption.

Here are 3 tell tale signs that the mobile web is in fact the web of the future:

1) iPad and tablet growth

I don’t really know about the sales forecast for tablets other than the iPad, like Android tablets. But I do know the outlook for the iPad.

Back in April, the iPad was announced. And on that day an entirely new paradigm in mobile computing.

Colin McGranahan, retail analyst at Bernstein Research has said “by any account, the iPad is a runaway success of unprecedented proportion.”  He expects future sales of the iPad to be in the range of 4.5 million per quarter, which is unprecedented for any one particular consumer electronic item.

2) Verizon’s new 4G LTE Network

This might be hard for you to believe, but Verizon has just released their 4G LTE network to 38 cities across the United States.

And when I say “just launched”, I mean it was like yesterday at a news conference where the Verizon 4G network was announced.

Although the Sprint 4G network has expanding rapidly throughout the US, the markets that Sprint has been targeting have been smaller, secondary markets.

Of course, with the exception now of the Sprint 4G in New York City.

The point here is that 4G is a relatively new phenomenon in the world of mobile broadband data access.

4G will redefine the way people access the internet through their mobile device, thus allowing for more robust applications to be made available.

And the more you become reliant upon your mobile devices, the less you’ll find yourself using your laptop and regular computers.

3) Opera mobile browser has 150 million users

Opera just celebrated celebrated 150 million users this week.

It was only back in April that the Opera mobile browser hit 100 million users – so that’s 50 million users in about 8 months.

Now consider the fact that Opera mobile web browser – Opera 4.0 – was first released in 2000. Now that’s over 10 years ago.

So in more than 10 years, it took Opera’s mobile web browser to grow to 100 million users. And then less than one year to grow 50 million new users.

Again, Opera is a tell tale sign that the age of the mobile web is upon us.

What do you think?

What are your thoughts about the future of the mobile web?

I’ve written before about Sprint’s 4G network coming to New York City. And we even covered the news when Sprint 4G was being tested in New York City back in August. Well today, the rumors and small snippets of news comes to an end. Sprint has made their official announcement that their 4G network has finally arrived in New York City.

New York City is a huge market for Sprint’s 4G network to cover due to the population, data devices, and wide spread reach that people in New York have regarding telling other people about Sprint’s 4G network.

The question now is, when will Verizon start flexing their 4G network muscles – and AT&T as well – and start taking a chunk out of Sprint’s aggressive expansion of their 4G network throughout the Unites States.

Sprint 4G Now In 61 markets throughout the United States

Here’s the announcement made by Sprint via their community platform back on November 1st:

Starting today, November 1, 2010 – Sprint 4G – the next generation in wireless service – is available to customers in New York City, Hartford, New Haven, New Brunswick, Trenton and Tampa. With Sprint 4G, wireless customers can experience mobile downloads, video chat capabilities and turbo-charged Web browsing.

Video Series

For a behind-the-scene look into how Sprint got all five boroughs of New York City and parts of New Jersey and Long Island ready for its 4G network, please visit our three-part video series, “Wiring up 4G in NYC.”

The latest installment takes a look at How Sprint plans on making 4G work in some of NYC’s most crowded and  popular spots, including crowded stadiums. How coverage and capacity  supports high-usage applications like video chat, video streaming and or  sending pictures out from the stadium.

Here’s a video about Sprint’s 4G coming to New York City:

via Sprint

Back in August we covered reports of Sprint’s 4G network being spotted in the New York City area which turned out to be Sprint was in the metro NYC testing out their 4G network. Today it’s official however, Sprint has announced the arrival of their 4G mobile data speed to New York City, Hartford, New Haven, New Brunswick, Trenton and Tampa, brining the total of Sprint 4G-enabled cities to 61.

Sprint / Clear 4G speeds will work on any 4G enabled handset, or their Overdrive 4G MiFi mobile hotspot.

Anyone in the NYC, Tampa, or other metros areas…. let us know in the comments what speeds you are getting on your devices – and what device you are using!

via MobileCrunch

One of the hottest topics in the mobile internet and smartphone data arena is Sprint’s 4G coverage areas. Say what you will about Sprint, but they have up to this point been the leader in providing 4G coverage in cities throughout the United States.

I was just checking out the Sprint / Clear 4G coverage map and noticed that Texas currently has more 4G coverage metro areas than other state in the US. Texas has 12 cities that are currently covered under Sprint’s 4G cloud. The next closest is Washington state which has 9 cities with Sprint’s 4G coverage cloud.

Here’s the 12 cities in Texas that have Sprint 4G coverage:

1. Corpus Christi, Texas
2. San Antonio, Texas
3. Houston, Texas
4. Austin, Texas
5. Killeen, Texas
6. Waco, Texas
7. Midland/Odessa, Texas
8. Abilene, Texas
9. Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas
10. Lubbock, Texas
11. Witchita Falls, Texas
12. Amarillo, Texas

The Sprint / Clear 4G map does not show any cities scheduled to receive 4G coverage in the coming year (2011).

And here’s the 9 cities in Washington state that are showing Sprint / Clear 4G coverage:

1. Bellingham, Washington
2. Everett, Washington
3. Kitsap, Washington
4. Seattle, Washington
5. Tacoma, Washington
6. Yakima, Washington
7. Richland, Washington
8. Tri-Cities, Washington
9. Pasco, Washington

What cities are wanting to see Sprint / Clear 4G coverage in?

via Clear.com

So all you need to do is purchase a Sprint 4G Overdrive Mobile Hotspot, and then your iPhone, iPad, or any other mobile device, can instantly turn into a 4G mobile device. So in reality, you’d then have an iPad 4G or an iPhone 4G.

The Spring 4G Overdrive Mobile Hotspot costs $99.99, and of course, 4G speeds would only be available where 4G speed is accessible – currently the Sprint 4G coverage map can show you where.

Sprint just announced the arrival of their 4G network to Minneapolis and Pittsburgh. I believe this now makes 55 markets that Sprint has 4G coverage in, and obviously there are more on the way. Even though I’ve been of the opinion that Verizon and AT&T could easily catch up to Sprint’s 4G coverage area, I’m starting to think that Sprint is doing a great job of positioning themselves for the 4G battle that lays ahead. 55 markets, to include New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, puts Sprint in a pretty good position in the 4G coverage market.

So what do you think about Sprint’s 4G coverage and expansion?

Now that we have the iPhone 4 antenna drama seemingly behind us, it’s time to start focusing on the next iteration of Apple’s iPhone – the iPhone 5. Tentative release dates for the iPhone 5 is July 2011, and this release could be coming directly from Verizon. What’s great about the next version of the iPhone is that it may no longer be restricted to the AT&T.  Verizon is already testing their CDMA network for both the iPhone. The next version of the iPhone will more than likely be called iPhone 5. Unless, of course, we get an iPhone 4G and an iPhone 4GS first. The most popular feature that people would be looking for on the iPhone 5 would be a 4G wireless connection. Although Sprint has been aggressively pursuing the 4G market, I don’t think it will take long for Verizon to trump Sprint in their expansion efforts, which would then allow a 4G enabled iPhone to dominate the mobile phone market.

Thoughts?

One of our readers just sent me a message saying he picked up a Sprint 4G signal in San Jose, California. This is odd because the only 4 cities in California that officially have Sprint’s 4G network are Merced, Visalia, Modesto, and Stockton (see here). And of course, the Sprint 4G coverage in San Francisco that has been coming online over the past month or so. But 4G in San Jose? That’s quite a long ways from San Francisco for 4G coverage to be picked up. What do you think, is Sprint expanding into San Jose covertly?

thanks Valencianathan

Samsung has release an official review / demo video of the Galaxy Tab. The Galaxy Tab is expected to hit the shelves of AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon sometime in October. The price tag is also expected to be in the range of $200 – $300 and maybe even less with carrier subsidies. The Galaxy Tab is obviously shooting directly at the Apple iPad and the explosive market share the iPad has created for tablet devices.

Here’s the official 9 minute plus video by Samsung that demo’s the Samsung Galaxy Tab:

The folks from TechEngadgets have provided an image of their mobile phone verifying Sprint’s WiMAX 4G coverage in Manhattan in the 10001 zip code. By looking at the map location, I’m guessing they were either in or near the New York Penn Station.

People were just reporting also that Sprint’s 4G WiMAX was being found in San Francisco as well.

That leaves the only city left on the major Sprint 4G announcement to be Los Angeles.

Has anyone spotted 4G in the Los Angeles area.

via TechEngadgets

Last week, Sprint released news stating that their 4G WiMAX network would be coming to New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Well just yesterday, people were reporting from San Francisco that they see 4G lighting up on their 4G enabled devices such as the HTC EVO 4G, Samsung’s Epic 4G, and the Sprint Overdrive. Although the speed tests being reported were maxing out at 4mbps (4G should be pushing at least 9 or 10mbps), the 4G sign was lighting up on their devices.

So has anyone from Los Angeles seen 4G activity?

via CNET

As Sprint’s 4G WiMAX continues to expand, now covering 54 cities across the US, so are the mobile products that can leverage the 4G internet speed. Toshiba has announced today that a new lineup of laptops are on the way that are 4G enabled. Toshiba plans to take advantage of the 4G WiMAX network to provide faster data connections for mobile internet users.

Toshiba made the following statement regarding the 4G WiMAX enabled laptops:

“A WiMAX-equipped laptop gives on-the-go consumers the connection speeds they’re used to in the office or at home without the need for additional hardware,” said Carl Pinto, vice president of product development, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. “We are expanding our effort to provide more WiMAX-ready laptops to our line as mobile connectivity becomes even more essential for productivity and digital entertainment.”

Here’s a list of 4G WiMAX enabled laptops that Toshiba plans on introducing:

Satellite A665

Satellite M645

Portégé R705

via Business Wire

Sprint, in conjunction with partner Clearwire, has released their fast 4G wireless internet connection in the metro Orlando area. This will now be the 53rd city that is online with Sprint’s 4G network, and Orlando makes the third city in the state of Florida. The other two cities in Florida with Sprint’s 4G coverage is Daytona Beach and Jacksonville.

If you are in Orlando, and have 4G enabled device, let us know what kinds of speed you are getting.

Clearwire, Sprint’s exclusive 4G carrier, has confirmed with CNET that 4G coverage is about to hit New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The official term they used to describe the 4G coverage in these large metro areas is “operational readiness activities”.

Some people in New York have already reported intermitent 4G activity from Clearwire and you can expect that others from LA and San Francisco will start reported activity as well.

This is a huge step for Sprint as the competition for 4G coverage heats up. Verizon and AT&T will undoubtedly be bringing 4G coverage to these large metro areas. And with Sprint already there, it could help them compete when these larger carriers bring 4G online.

Thoughts?

via CNET

Sprint has just added 4G coverage to Nashville, Tennessee. This makes about a dozen or so new cities that have been brought online with Sprint’s 4G WiMax coverage in the past 2 months.

The big city that this still waiting for 4G is New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

Although ClearWire – Sprint’s exclusive 4G carrier – has made recent statements that 4G is already in New York and coming online intermittently.

So congrats Nashville – let us know what kind of download speeds you’re getting!

WalMart is moving aggressively into the wireless plan market with their own WalMart branded voice and talk plan. The plan will be called Walmart Family Mobile, and will be offered in all Wal Mart Stores starting next week.

WalMart is not new to the wireless plan market. For a long time now WalMart has offered pre-paid voice and text wireless plans. The plans currently offered by WalMart are Common Cents, which operates on the Sprint network, and Straight Talk, which operates on the Verizon network. The new Walmart Family Mobile will operate on the T-Mobile USA network.

What’s unique about Walmart Family Mobile is that the plan is offered as a post paid program which means customers will pay their bill at the end of each month, but does not require a contract so no early termination fees apply.

The WalMart Family Mobile plan features unlimited calling and texting for $45 per month for the first line, and $25 per month for each additional line.

Data (browsing the mobile web, Facebook, email, etc…) is a totally different story however.  Each new line comes with 100MB of data, but more than that will cost you: $10 for an additional 200MB, $25 for an additional 500MB, and $40 for an additional 1GB of data and unused data never expires.

So if you’re a mobile data junkie, then this plan can eat you up fast! Especially if you’re into watching a lot of videos.

via PCWorld

Motorola has launched the Motorola i1, which is the first push-to-talk mobile phone that is running on the Android OS. This is the old school push to talk device running on the advanced Android platform. The reviews have been dismal primarily because of the processing speed when you attempt to run applications and the web, and also because all the protection elements (i.e. battery covers, headphone jack cover, etc…) make it very difficult to manage the device. You can see the video review below from Android Central, but the final assessment is that if you absolutely need a push to talk phone, you might want to consider the Android powered Motorola i1, otherwise you probably need to look at getting a higher end Android handset.

Here’s the video review of the Motorola i1 Android phone:

via AndroidCentral

Clearwire made some recent announcements that lay out the current 4G coverage cities along with the metro areas that are scheduled to come online.

Sprint’s 4G coverage map has, for some reason, been a non-friendly source for tracking the 4G coverage areas. And lists like this seem to be about the most comprehensive at providing the 4G coverage areas.

So here’s what we know so far:

Current Sprint / Clearwire 4G coverage metro areas:

CLEAR 4G service is currently available in 52 markets across the United States, including: Boston, Mass.; Daytona Beach and Jacksonville, Fla.; Providence, R.I.; Wilmington, Del.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Syracuse and Rochester, N.Y.; Atlanta and Milledgeville, Ga.; Baltimore, Md.; Boise, Idaho; Chicago, Ill.; Las Vegas, Nev.; St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo.; Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Reading, Lancaster and York, Pa.; Charlotte, Raleigh, and Greensboro, NC; Honolulu and Maui, Hawaii; Seattle, Tri-Cities, Yakima and Bellingham, Wash.; Salem, Portland and Eugene, Ore.; Merced, Visalia, Modesto and Stockton, Calif.; Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Abilene, Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Killeen/Temple, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Waco and Wichita Falls, Texas; central Washington, D.C.; Richmond, Va.; and Salt Lake City, Utah.

Summer 2010 expansion cities for the Sprint / Clearwire 4G network:

Tampa Bay and Orlando, Fla.; and Nashville, Tenn.

By the end of 2010 Sprint / Clearwire 4G cities:

New York City, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Denver, Minneapolis, Miami, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

I just wrote about how MetroPCS is bringing 4G to Dallas and Las Vegas next month (September).

Well guess who else just so happens to have 4G running in Dallas and Las Vegas?

You guessed it… Sprint’s 4G network is already running in those two metro areas.!

So if I’m not mistaken (which I admit, can happen from time to time), this means the 4G mobile internet wars have official began.

And the battle grounds begin in Dallas and Las Vegas.

This is going to be exciting to watch as two of the mid-size mobile phone carriers battle for 4G dominance.

But just wait until one of the giants shows up for battle – that being Verizon or AT&T – that will be like a nuclear bomb being dropped on both MetroPCS and Sprint.

That’s what I think anyway…

Thoughts?

MetroPCS to bring their 4G LTE network to Dallas and Las Vegas next month (September) according to a Samsung executive.

In a move that will compete directly with Sprint, pre-paid mobile phone provider MetroPCS has announced the arrival of their 4G LTE network.

According to a Samsung vice president Jaebeom Choi with systems research and development, MetroPCS will bring their LTE (4G) network online in Las Vegas and Dallas sometime in September.

There is now an official 4G war Dallas and Las Vegas between Sprint and MetroPCS.

Thoughts?

via BGR,

Verizon is expected to take a much different approach to bringing 4G online than Sprint. Sprint took, and continues to take, a slow reserved roll out of their WiMax 4G coverage. Smaller cities, smaller markets, make it easier I suppose for Sprint to manage and learn how to build their 4G networks. Verizon, however, is rumored to take a much more aggressive approach with their 4G network. Cities such as San Francisco, Dallas/Fort Worth, Atlanta, and yes… New York City, are expected to be up to bat first with Verizon’s 4G network. Verizon’s 4G speed of 12 Mbps is expected to cover three quarters of their current service map by April 2012, and all of the Verizon 3G coverage by 2013.

via Electronista

Blackberry has a new handset on the way.

This time it’s the Blackberry 9670, or the Blackberry Oxford for short (because, you know, you have to give it a name!)

Here’s a quick run down on the specs:

QWERTY flip device with a CDMA radio, Wi-Fi, GPS, 5 megapixel camera, 240×320 external display, 360×400 internal display, and optical trackpad for navigation.

You can see the gallery of leaked images, slides, and specs here.

via BGR

The red-headed step child of the BlackBerry device family is launching relatively soon on Sprint (and probably Verizon), and we have got our hands on a nice overview of the product in case you had any unanswered questions. Quick recap? It’s a clamshell QWERTY flip device with a CDMA radio, Wi-Fi, GPS, 5 megapixel camera, 240×320 external display, 360×400 internal display, and optical trackpad for navigation. If you loved the Pearl Flip but hated the SureType keyboard, this might be a nice compromise, though it’s going to have to sit pretty low on the price scale for it to fly.

By2012, the download speed of 4G will get a significant boost.

WiMAX Forum Vice President Mohammad Shakouri said that 802.16m, a new WiMAX standard, is set to deliver average download speeds of more than 100Mbps to users. Compare this to the current 4G connection where, at a max, mid-town Atlanta clocked a 9.1 Mbps download speed on Sprint’s 4G network. And the 9.1 Mbps was reported as being the fast 4G download in found in the United States.

The WiMAX 2 Forum hopes to see WiMAX 2 handsets on shelves and in customer’s hands by 2012.

via BGR, ComputerWorld

PC Mag took to the streets to test the download speeds of Sprint’s 4G network at various locations throughout the United States. Now granted, the article recapping their test results was published back in June, 2010 so a lot may have changed, but the news is still interesting.

Out of all the places tested in the United States, the location with the fastest 4G download speed was mid-town Atlanta, Georgia. Good ol’ Altanta… where the traffic is thick and the internet is fast!

The speed that was achieved in mid-town Atlanta on Sprint’s 4G network was 9.11 Mbits/sec.

Since this data is from a few months ago (a lifetime with this technology), can anyone update us on locations that are getting faster than 9.1 Mbits/sec via 4G?

via PCMag

Sprint says they are testing 4G coverage in New York City, and people are even reporting occasional 4G connections throughout Manhattan. But the biggest question is this – who will be the first carrier to actually deliver 4G to The Big Apple?

New York City is a huge market with millions of mobile data customers. From the iPhone, iPad, and now the emerging Android tablets, NYC is sure to be one of the highest demand cities for 4G speed.

Yet even though Sprint says they are currently testing their 4G connectivity in New York City, there are two other carriers that have remained relatively silent on the issue – and that this Verizon and AT&T.

Certainly Verizon or AT&T could allocate more resources to bringing 4G to NYC. And I’m wondering if one of them, or both, are secretly working behind the scenes on bringing 4G to the New York metro area.

If this is the case, then Sprint better be pushing hard right now to bring 4G online in New York, or else any day now we could see a new release from Verizon or AT&T that 4G is now online.

Or better yet, we could see a 4G satellite launched that will put the United States under one big 4G cloud. Then the whole “who can bring 4G coverage to New York City” debate will be a moot point.

None of which would be good for Sprint!

Although the reports are sporadic, there are reports nonetheless that 4G is being picked up by various Sprint customers at various locations throughout New York City.

New York City is a major hub of cell phone activity in the United States – perhaps the biggest hub – and Sprint 4G showing up in this market could mean a big boost in Sprint’s customer acquisition and expansion of market place. This is especially true if Sprint can be the first to arrive in the New York market.

Know Your Cell reached out to a Sprint spokesperson for comment and was reassured that 4G service has not yet launched in New York:

We have not launched 4G in NYC yet. As they have been recently, customers may continue to stumble across 4G from time to time in NYC as we work to build, test and optimize the network.

So are we close to seeing 4G arrive in the NYC market, and will Sprint be the first one to arrive on the scene?

This is important (for Sprint anyway).

via Know Your Cell

Sprint continues to expand their 4G coverage network.

However, I’m still dismayed as to why they don’t put NYC in a 4G cloud!?

Anyway, I digress…

A couple of hours ago, Sprint announced the expansion of their 4G data coverage to 5 more cities – and they are:

• Jacksonville, Florida
• Modesto, California
• Grand Rapids, Michigan
• Stockton, California
• Wilmington, Delaware

This brings the total number of cities that are covered by Sprint’s 4G network to something like 58.

You can see a list of the current Sprint 4G coverage areas, but that does not include these new listings.

Another thing I’m totally perplexed over is why Sprint doesn’t provide a nice, clean, simple spreadsheet that tracks their 4G coverage expansion.

You know what, I think I’m going to put one together myself.

Stay tuned as I knock out my own Sprint 4G coverage spreadsheet. And then it will be an easy, one stop shop to track the current and expanding cities that Sprint 4G is covering.