Smartphones: Data Tsunami Coming

Smartphones are double-edged swords for carriers. They attract big-spending customers, but tax networks designed for simpler times, explains Fortune.

Independent telecom analyst Chetan Sharma estimates that the typical wireless subscriber consumes 120 megabytes each month; typical iPhone owners use four times that.

And it’s just getting worse. By 2010, global mobile data traffic is expected to exceed 200 terabytes per month, six times last year’s levels, according to Cisco Systems.

“3G networks were not designed effectively for this kind of usage,” says John Donovan, AT&T’s chief technology officer, referring to the current generation of broadband wireless. “We fight the day-to-day guerrilla warfare as the customers move around.”

Many of AT&T’s 60,000 cell towers need to be upgraded, with new 850 MHz gear and backhaul. That could cost billions of dollars, and AT&T has kept a lid on capital spending during the recession. AT&T will delay their LTE upgrade, upgrading its HSPA 3G network from 3.6 Mbps to 7.2 Mbps, instead.

Verizon plans to have 30 US LTE Markets by 2010. Verizon will use their nation-wide 700 MHz band. The carrier hopes to have a data-only LTE trial service available in Seattle and Boston later this year.

It can’t come soon enough. The tsunami is about to hit. Android phones from Samsung, LG, and Motorola are due in stores by early 2010. Motorola will launch their Android portfolio on September 10th. The data-oriented Palm Pre, which operates on Palm’s WebOS platform, is already on Sprint and should be in Verizon stores early next year.

A Cisco Mobile Forecast for 2008-2013 noted that a single high-end data phone today generates more data traffic than 30 basic-feature cell phones, while a single laptop air card generates more data traffic than 450 basic-feature cell phones. Cisco projects that mobile data traffic will increase a thousand-fold over the seven years from 2005 through 2012, with video being a significant component.

AT&T offers free Starbucks WiFi (with a paid data subscription) while Verizon is partnering with Boingo to deliver free WiFi access at hotels, airports, restaurants and coffee shops (with a data plan). PCCW, the Hong Kong operator, has started using Wi-Fi hot spots to ease the load from smartphones and its digital TV service.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson has said that the most active 5% or so of data users are causing problems for the other 95%. AT&T is working on a revamped data plan whereby light data users would pay less, and heavy users would pay a premium rate — or leave.

Source:  Dailywireless

Jonas Bros. Team with Verizon for Innovative Campaign

The Jonas Brothers are coming to Verizon and LG Mobile Phones to create a unique experience for fans that taps into new green screen technology.

Starting this week, fans who create green screen videos via their mobile phones or using their computer Web cams will be entered for a chance to play a kickball game against Nick, Joe and Kevin live and in person.

Participants can then upload their videos to http://VCASTLive.vzw.com, where V CAST Live members will vote on them.

“Playing live in front of our fans and interacting with them in new ways is really what it’s all about for us,” said Kevin Jonas. “Verizon and LG understand that and have come up with some really fun ways to add to the fan experience. I mean, a kickball contest? How cool is that?”

This playful mobile campaign builds on base for the Jonas Brothers that has already taken root in the digital realm. With V CAST Music and V CAST Music with Rhapsody, Verizon Wireless customers can get Jonas Brothers songs as full-song downloads, ringtones or ringback tones. Source: Mobile Marketing Watch

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Verizon: Free WiFi with DSL/FiOS

Verizon is now providing free WiFi through Boingo hotspots for its medium-and-faster-speed DSL and fiber customers (pdf).

The service is provided by Boingo. It allows Verizon to match the free WiFi available from AT&T which has been available for more than a year.

Verizon Wi-Fi is not available for PDAs, phones, desktop PCs or Macs — only laptops. Only 3 Mbps DSL or faster and 20 Mbps FiOS or faster customers qualify for free Boingo service and it’s not yet available for Macs.

AT&T’s Wi-Fi plan, available at Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, and other locations, requires their 3G Dataconnect service plan for $60 per month.

Boingo also resells AT&T’s Wi-Fi service, notes IDG News. Boingo has 30,000 hotspots in the US, but only some of those are from AT&T’s network, including nearly 7,500 Starbucks outlets.

Cablevision also supplies free WiFi for cable modem subscribers in New York.

Barnes & Noble, the world’s largest chain of bookstores, last week announced it will now provide free Wi-Fi in all 777 of its stores throughout the United States.

Barnes & Noble signed a strategic agreement with AT&T to provide free Wi-Fi to all its customers. No AT&T subscription required.

The company hopes to bring more customers into the store, and expand its current e-book catalog of 700,000 titles — 500,000 of which are free public domain e-books from Google — over the coming months. Source: http://www.dailywireless.org/2009/08/03/verizon-free-wifi-with-dslfios/