24. January 2012 by admin.

I just got a heads up on this today, and they are not even available yet as they are “In the Lab Testing for Certification(s)”, but these are very interesting products from Ericsson. I have been waiting for an LTE product line from Ericsson as I have been selling and installing Ericsson W25 and W35 3G Mobile Broadband Routers on Sail and Motor Yachts for some years now.

Web Login 192.168.1.1 

Ericsson L13, L21 Web GUI




Ericsson MBR Overview Video




Ericsson MBR Antenna Options Video




Mikael Höök from Ericsson Research discusses the release of LTE-Advanced (LTE release 10). In this new film Mikael looks at the key technology areas surrounding the release and how to introduce it into networks.

—

Alan Spicer

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

WiFiYacht.net

communications @ marinetelecom.net

+1 954 683 3426

Posted in Cellular Voice and Internet | No Comments »

3. August 2011 by admin.

* AT&T Acquisition of T-Mobile USA is an important issue for a lot of 3G/4G Cellular Mobile Customers - including our Marine Telecom customers. It’ll be interesting in the future to see how the “The Lady in Red - T-Mobile” will integrate in advertising with AT&T … because it seems like they are always almost directly bashing AT&T. Maybe that’s part of why AT&T is buying them out. Anyway here is some T-Mobile information about this situation…

http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/articles/more-information-att-acquires-tmobile
2011-08-03 01:31:21
An agreement was announced under which AT&T will acquire T-Mobile USA. The agreement is the first step in a process that, including regulatory approvals, is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months. Until then, we remain a separate company and continue to operate independently.
 
 
 
We know our customers, business partners and others may have many questions.
 
 
 
Here is some more information:
 
 
 
Q:  Will I have to upgrade my T-Mobile 3G/4G device after the acquisition closes?
 
A: T-Mobile has no plans to alter our 3G / 4G network in any way that would make your device obsolete. The deal is expected to close in approximately 12 months.  After that, decisions about the network will be AT&T’s to make. That said, the president and CEO of AT&T Mobility was quoted in the Associated Press saying “there’s nothing for [customers] to worry about… [network changes affecting devices] will be done over time… ”
 
 
 
Q: Will T-Mobile USA’s quality be reduced?
 
A: No. In fact, the combination of AT&T and T-Mobile USA will offer an even stronger service to customers. Until the acquisition is closed, we will work hard to maintain our position as the value leader with America’s largest 4G network.
 
 
 
Q: Should I wait to sign-up with T-Mobile USA or upgrade my phone?
 
A: There is no greater time than now to become a T-Mobile customer or upgrade your service or device. T-Mobile USA offers an industry leading lineup of smartphones, tablets and other mobile broadband devices on America’s Largest 4G Network. The combination of AT&T and T-Mobile USA would mean even stronger service for our customers.
 
 
 
Q: Is T-Mobile USA getting the iPhone?
 
A: T-Mobile USA remains an independent company, as the acquisition is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months. We’ll continue to offer cutting-edge 4G devices like the Samsung Galaxy S 4G, as well as the new Sidekick 4G, the T-Mobile G2x and the G-Slate tablet coming later this spring.
 
 
 
Q: Will my rate plan change because of the acquisition?

A: All customer contracts entered into before the change of ownership will be honored [for their applicable period].
 
 
 
Q: Will my service or bill change due to the AT&T announcement? 

A: No.  While AT&T and T-Mobile have agreed to an acquisition, it will not be finalized for an estimated 12 months.  Until that time, T-Mobile customers will not see any significant changes to their current T-Mobile experience as a result of the pending transaction.  If the acquisition is approved AT&T will honor the terms of each T-Mobile customer’s contract.  
 
 
 
Q: How does the acquisition impact non-contracted customers? 

A: As with all customers, there isn’t an impact to T-Mobile customers who are not on term contracts today.  T-Mobile will continue to offer our great low prices.  If the deal is approved, after it closes, customers can choose whether to stay with AT&T or not.
 
 
 
Q: I have a deposit with T-Mobile as part of the deposit product program.  How do I get my deposit back? 

A: There will be no change to the deposit return process if the acquisition by AT&T is completed.  Deposit customers will continue to receive service under the terms of their T-Mobile contract.
 
 
 
Q: AT&T does not currently offer unlimited data.  Will T-Mobile follow that same course?
 
A: Until the deal closes (assuming it does), which is estimated to take 12 months, T-Mobile and AT&T are completely separate and competing organizations.  T-Mobile will continue to base its decisions on what’s best for its business and customers.
 
 
 
Q: What does this mean for prepaid?
 
If or until the deal closes, which is estimated to take 12 months, T-Mobile and AT&T are completely separate and competing organizations.  T-Mobile will continue to base its decisions on what’s best for its business and customers.
 
 
 
Q: Will T-Mobile’s 4G network rollout plans change as a result of this announcement?
 
A: T-Mobile will continue to expand America’s Largest 4G Network and double its speed in more than two dozen markets, starting with Las Vegas, New York and Orlando this week. We will continue to build on our 4G network advantage this year, providing customers with rich and compelling mobile data experiences. Longer term, T-Mobile’s future network evolution will be determined when we have worked through the regulatory process and have closed the agreement with AT&T.
.

Media Relations
T-Mobile USA
425-383-4002
MediaRelations@T-Mobile.com

—

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom and WiFiYacht.net

Posted in Cellular Voice and Internet | 1 Comment »

12. May 2011 by admin.

Rapid Deployments of LTE (Long Term Evolution) the next technology for the G-men (2G, 3G, 4G) of Cellular … but also reportedly for replacements for Land Mobile Communications for Public Safety and First Responders…

http://kaplowtech.blogspot.com/

This and some public announcements this week spurred some additional thoughts from the WiMAX and LTE discussion of a few weeks ago.   Sometimes the early common wisdom (in this case WiMAX will rule) is incorrect and it is the next wave that captures the world by storm.  Another example (and one that I may take on in a future post) is why Palm was not able to leverage their early success in Personal Digital Assistance (PDAs) and lost the wireless PDA market to RIM (and of course now the rise of iOS and Android-based devices).  But as usual, I digress.

It is amazing that within just a few months, four seemingly separate items clearly identify the trend of wireless communications as well radical changes in usage, deployment, and new business concepts.

U.S. Cellular has announced a rapid deployment of LTE services nationwide.  One that will hit 25% of their customers by the end of the year.  This is another confirmation that major carriers such as Verizon Wireless see LTE as the technology choice.  Even Clearwire (being left in the dust) is now in LTE trials.

Another and less widely known venture, LigthSquared, is deploying a new nationwide LTE infrastructure augmented by a massive satellite (already on-orbit) that services as a big base station in the sky.  The goal is to provide complete nationwide coverage, even when out of range of a terrestrial cell tower.  With a wholesale marking model, I suspect that there will be some interesting mobile application and device vendors that may develop a business model of bundling wireless connectivity (can anyone say Kindle?).

Maybe the death knell for traditional Land Mobile Radio (LMR) systems is this article based around the FCC setting LTE as the standard for public safety networks.  A robust system of LTE base stations could provide a much more interoperable set of public safety voice and data networks.  New devices for first responders could integrate significantly more information, providing maps, building layouts, hazardous material identification, an even personal location information.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/227555/lte_public_safety_network_could_be_reality.html

LTE-based Public Safety Network Could Finally Become Reality
By Brad Reed, NetworkWorld    May 10, 2011 8:03 pm

(the 700 Mhz Band …) “It will give us a public safety broadband network with in-building propagation unlike anything we have today.”

* This link talks about allocations already existing for Public Safety in the 700 Mhz band, and the possibility of more allocation coming. I’ve written before about VHF and UHF propagation - and what I’ve learned from Amateur Radio (VHF goes far outdoors, but UHF penetrates buildings better) from Direct Contacts (Simplex) and VHF / UHF repeaters.

* Also reportedly new services using the broadband capabilities may be deployed along with voice communications using the broadband (as in digital bandwidth or speed) capabilities of LTE.

 * LTE is being touted as the potential killer of most of Land Mobile Radio (two way radio) services … like that song “Video killed the Radio Star” … But then again when Nextel (later Sprint-Nextel) had “Push-to-Talk” on a cellular-like network it was touted as a killer land-mobile-radio-like service. Sooooo, we’ll see what happens.

* I’m trying to keep my ear to the ground and hear if any of this provides any benefits (killer applications, services) for the marine / yachting market.

—

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom and WiFiYacht.net

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954-683-3426

communications @ marinetelecom.net

Posted in Cellular Voice and Internet | 1 Comment »

10. May 2011 by admin.

Hey Alan,
I found this in case anyone ever asks you again. The lady told me I could purchase a prepaid SIM card for unlimited data use for up to one month at a time. The two-month option is no longer applicable. If she is right it is a pretty affordable solution.
The link here is for the page on the website that explains the plan.

http://www2.btcbahamas.com/features/blackberry_pp3/index.php

–
Bill Hudek

—

Alan Spicer - marinetelecom.net and wifiyacht.net

+1 954-683-3426

communications @ marinetelecom.net
 

Posted in Cellular Voice and Internet | 1 Comment »

30. March 2011 by admin.

http://www.cable360.net/ct/45347.html

March 1, 2011
Solving The Slowdown: Ways To Reduce Wireless Network Latency
Until recently, engineers have treated network latency and human-factor latency as two separate phenomena. From an engineering perspective, they have two very different causes, which on the surface may not seem related.
By George Lawton

As underlying wireless network speeds increase, latency — a measure of the limits of back and forth communications — is playing a bigger role in the user experience than is channel capacity. This has implications not just for engineering and for increasing throughput but also for profits.

Major Web companies are discovering that differences in Web page-load time of less than a second can affect usage and revenues. For example, when Google gave users the option of increasing search results from 10 to 30, the load time increased 400 milliseconds (ms) to 900 ms. This half-second delay resulted in a 25-percent drop-off in first-result page searches. Bing found that a two-second slowdown reduced revenues per user by 4.3 percent.

(more at the link above…)

—

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

+1 954-683-3426

communications @ marinetelecom.net

Posted in Cellular Voice and Internet | No Comments »

30. March 2011 by admin.

http://www.cable360.net/ct/45701.html

March 29, 2011
Sprint Will Fight AT&T’s Acquisition of T-Mobile
Sprint Nextel today said it is opposed to AT&T’s proposed $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile USA. According to Sprint, “The wireless industry has sparked unprecedented levels of competition, innovation, job creation and investment for the American economy, all of which could be undone by this transaction. AT&T and Verizon are already by far the largest wireless providers. If approved, the proposed acquisition would create a combined company that would be almost three times the size of Sprint in terms of wireless revenue and would entrench AT&T’s and Verizon’s duopoly control over the wireless market.”

Vonya McCann, Sprint’s SVP/Government Affairs, added, “Sprint urges the United States government to block this anti-competitive acquisition. This transaction will harm consumers and harm competition at a time when this country can least afford it. As the first national carrier to roll out 4G services and handsets and the carrier that brought simple unlimited pricing to the marketplace, Sprint stands ready to compete in a truly dynamic marketplace. So on behalf of our customers, our industry and our country, Sprint will fight this attempt by AT&T to undo the progress of the past 25 years and create a new Ma Bell duopoly.”

Posted in Cellular Voice and Internet | No Comments »

30. March 2011 by admin.

There has been a shortage of the Ericsson W35 Cellular Voice and Data - Cellular Terminal (Tranceiver / Router / Analog Telephone to Cellular Telephone Router) from around December 2010 to March 2011.

The Ericsson W35 is back available again. We can have one to you anywhere in the US and Canada within 2-3 business days. The shipping is FREE. These units are very popular in the marine market in particular for power (motor) and sail yachts. These units can take an external antenna for extended range on the water. These units can take standard RJ-11 telephone input from standard telephone equipment and PBX systems onboard marine vessels. These units have a built-in 4 port switch and router functionality as well as a wireless access point providing wireless connectivity to handheld, portable, and Mac / Windows Laptops … as well as other 802.11 compatible WiFi devices. In other words these units create a network - if you didn’t already have one … or can be plugged into an existing onboard computer network onboard a boat.

These units can run on 10 - 28 vDC as well as the supplied AC to DC power supply … there is a DC connection cable available, so this makes them flexible on boats as far as the power connection as well.

These units operate on GSM / UMTS / HSPA Cellular Networks and are Quad Band for U.S., Caribbean, and European / Asian locations … which allows use on marine vessels as they travel the world. GSM / UMTS / HSPA uses Sim Cards which allows you to change providers easily as you travel. This means that they are an UNLOCKED cellular device (not locked to one carrier as some handheld devices are.) They can provide WiFi connectivity to those handheld devices that have WiFi capability allowing Internet and voice applications such as Skype, Vonage, and other voice over Internet / Voice over IP usage.

Please see additional information on this blog … as well as (from there) links to our W35 information and sales page.

Dealer inquiries are welcomed.

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom provides local support for these units, we don’t just sell them - we also install them. We know how they work … we can tell you how to install and use them.

—

Alan Spicer

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom and WiFiYacht.net

+1 954-683-3426

Email: communications @ marinetelecom.net

http://www.marinetelecom.net and http://www.wifiyacht.net

Posted in Cellular Voice and Internet | No Comments »

10. February 2011 by admin.

Question …
Hi Alan,

I just found your video on connecting the W35
directly thru DC.  I found it because I was thinking that I could just cut off
the AC adapter and wire it directly to a DC plug (with some inline fuses like
you have).  I just was wondering if you could confirm this and if you could let
me know which pins (pins 1 - 4) you used for the black and red wires.

Thank you in advance for your help.

* Answer …

I know which wires it is – because I still have the adaptor I made. I took
the supposedly bad AC to DC adaptor. Cut the plug end of and stripped the wires
down. I tested both with a meter and with a W35 and it seems to work. The wire
#1 and #3 shorted seemed to be important.

From the left – with the white stripe to the right

1 – shorted to 3

2 – positive

3 – shorted to 1

4 (white striped) –
negative

* The numbering I just gave you was arbitrary … but I chose to hold the
four conductor cable in my hand with the white striped wire to the right and
counting from the left. The first black wire being #1, 2nd one #2, etc.
…

* I hereby disclaim any and all responsibility for you using this
information. Use is at your own risk. If you torch your W35 or your dog no
longer loves you afterwards…. I am not responsible.

—
Alan
Spicer

DBA Alan Spicer Telcom / Alan Spicer Marine Telecom
Computer
Services, Wired/Wireless Networking,
Cell/Sat/Landline Communications,
General Consulting…
Marine, Business, Small Office and Home Office (SOHO)

* Cost Savings and Integration of Multiple Internet Technologies
on
board Sail and Motor Yachts * Documentation, Operating
Instructions, and
Support after the Sale *

* http://www.marinetelecom.net/
*
http://www.internetforyachts.net/
* http://www.wifiyacht.net/
*
954-683-3426

http://www.marinetelecom.net/Ericsson_W35/

Livewire: Access
Controller (Service Selector):

http://www.marinetelecom.net/Livewire_Service_Selector/

Posted in Cellular Voice and Internet | No Comments »

18. January 2011 by admin.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/216669/iphone_vs_iphone_which_network_can_satisfy_your_need_for_speed.html

The results seem to indicate that AT&T is the faster network but that Verizon is more reliable. There were also some other interesting points brought up both in the article and in the comments posted by readers.

Alan Spicer liked one comment and added his own comments to that.

Posted Today, 03:29 PM
hazydave, on 14 January 2011 - 05:34 PM, said:

WHEN you can get a good 3G connection, AT&T has an inherently faster protocol. HSPA can run up to double the speed of EvDO, and minimally, the peaks are set for 3.6Mb/s down, versus 3.1Mb/s down on Verizon.

On the other hand, while AT&T has good 3G support in urban areas, less than 25% of AT&T’s cells (as of some report last year) are 3G at all. Every Verizon cell is 3G. So once you leave the big city, there’s another story entirely. A big part of this is the CDMA2000 technology… neither Verizon nor Sprint needed either all-new equipment or new spectrum to support EvDO 3G. AT&T and T-Mobile needed twice the usual spectrum (better still 4x) to support HSPA. T-Mobile didn’t even have this spectrum until 2006 (they bought newly opened spectrum at 1700MHz and 2100MHz).

Another non-city issue is frequency. Higher frequencies drop off faster in free air, and faster still through buildings and foliage. One reason Verizon and AT&T have better coverage in rural areas is this: they each have one of the two available slots at 850MHz, the old AMPS frequencies. Nearly everyone else, along with Verizon and AT&T, run at 1900MHz (this is in the USA, but it’s similar in Europe). But AT&T needs both 850MHz and 1900MHz at the same time for 3G, so they have 3G range problems compared to Verizon, once you’re out of the city.

This is somewhat fixed for 4G (real 4G, LTE in particular… HSPA+ is still a 3G technology, on the same frequencies as HSPA). Verizon and AT&T both have a good deal of spectrum in the 700MHz band, so they’ll outperform the others, once they get the suburbs and rural areas wired (the both claim “end of 2013″). Sprint has even more spectrum, but it’s at 2500MHz, which has serious problems though foliage. They’ll need more towers than AT&T or Verizon. T-Mobile has some LTE aspirations, but has not fully announced these yet, particularly, who’s spectrum they’re going to use.

Alan Spicer said:

@hazydave - That was the best post I have seen on this article and on many article comment posts. Instead of posting a he-said she-said finger-pointing barrage … you posted technical facts backing things up. In ham radio frequencies are often described by what wavelength “meters” band they are.

Examples 160 meters = 1.8 Mhz, 80 meters = 3.5 Mhz, 40 meters = 7 Mhz, all the way down to many of you have heard of 2 meters = 144 Mhz (we’re now in Very High or VHF), but not many have heard of 70 centimeters (Now in Ultra High or UHF). 33 Centimeters Amateur Radio Band is about half of that and now on the playing field for cellular communications ranges. It’s 902 Mhz.

I know from ham radio use that VHF went a lot further outdoors but didn’t penetrate buildings very well. UHF seemed to penetrate buildings better but didn’t have as much range as VHF. And it gets worse the higher you go up in frequencies. Hand cellular devices seem to have some of the same problems that hand held amateur radio transceivers have … because of being small devices with small antennas and having no guaranteed line-of-sight to the “tower”.

In amateur radio - “repeaters” are used to retransmit the signal to increase coverage. They also often use linking systems with multiple towers and base stations … almost “cellular” like in concept and purpose. But not as many towers as most cellular systems have.

1900 Mhz - (300 / F Mhz = ~ meters) = 0.1578947368421053 Meters. Or 15.7894 Centimeters. 15.7894 centimeters multiplied by 0.3937008 = 6.2 inches. Two interesting things about that. #1 to be a full wave antenna at 1900 Mhz your antenna has to be about 1/2 foot tall. It is NOT. #2 You see the size ~ 6.2 inches and can imagine the obstacles near that size that can absorb that radio wave. Things in your car, things in your house, things in your office. Those frequencies are not SUPPOSED to go that far. (Why WiFi is in 2.4Ghz? They don’t want it to go too far.) In fact the cellular provider likely has a down tilt on the antennas to keep them from interfering with the adjacent towers, etc.

This was just mean to show some information about radio waves and relate it to cellular frequencies. It was not meant to make a definitive answer as to any cellular carriers range or speed. Just some food for thought. Your hand, your arm, your body, could very easily block a cellular band signal.

73 de KA4UDX,

Alan Spicer

—
Alan Spicer Marine Telecom

Posted in Cellular Voice and Internet | No Comments »

29. November 2010 by admin.

Hopefully everyone had a good Thanksgiving and some got the whole Thanksgiving Weekend off. Some might have went Black Friday shopping.

Well now it’s Cyber Monday. (yah… they make these holidays up as they go along…) and time for an Ericsson W35 Sale.

Ericsson W35 - Rear View

* For 3 days starting on Cyber Monday - 11/29/2010 until Midnight 12/01/2010 - Ericsson W35 for everyone only $470.00.

http://www.marinetelecom.net/Ericsson_W35/ - shows the price as $520.00. Minus $50.00 from that is $470.00. And FREE SHIPPING to US/CAN addresses.

Note: If you need the External Antenna Radio Pigtail (MCX to N-Female) that will add an additional $15.00 to your final price.

* The Ericsson W35 (complete) Marine Pack is also available ON SALE … shows $860.00 on http://www.marinetelecom.net/Ericsson_W35/ for the same three days $860 minus $100 = $760.00. There will be shipping on the marine packs - so call for a quote on the shipping.

Ericsson W35 Marine Pack

Ericsson W35 Unit

—

Alan Spicer

Alan Spicer Marine Telecom and WiFiYacht.net

communications @ marinetelecom.net

+1 954-683-3426

Posted in Cellular Voice and Internet | No Comments »