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If you’re a Sprint Nextel customer and your reception is poor, the carrier may give you a free coverage-boosting femtocell.

Sprint-Nextel has begun a program of offering a free Airave Access Point to qualifying customers, according to a story on Fierce Wireless. The new femtocell, made by Airvana, provides cellular coverage over a small area and supports 3G (EV-DO) data speeds, unlike Sprint’s previous Samsung-built femtocell, which only supported the slower CDMA 1x data service.

Femtocells are like miniature cellphone towers, providing a signal boost over a range of about 100 feet or less. About the size of a cable modem, they use a landline internet connection to connect with the carrier (and the internet), and broadcast a cellular signal that subscribers of that company’s wireless service can use to connect. AT&T recently began offering a femtocell called the 3G MicroCell, which costs $150 plus $20 per month. It does remedy coverage problems, as our review of the 3G MicroCell showed, but places the financial burden on the customer.

Sprint, by contrast, is willing to foot the bill for qualifying customers, although the company requires that you send the femtocell back if you end your contract with Sprint.

Customers that don’t qualify for a free femtocell can still buy the Airave for $100 plus $5 per month.

Fierce Wireless, via Ars Technica

UPDATED: Samsung, not Airvana, built the first-generation Sprint Airave femtocell. Airvana is the manufacturer of the second-generation, 3G-capable Airave.

Photo: First-generation Samsung-built Sprint Airave femtocell. Photo by nino63004/Flickr

Follow us for real-time tech news: Dylan Tweney and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Virgin Mobile has just upended the entire US mobile internet market. While other carriers continue to limit data and charge per Gigabyte, Virgin has just revealed a new unlimited plan for $40-per-month.

Revealed on Virgin’s Facebook page, the new “Broadband2Go” plans will be condensed down to just two options from the current four: $10 for 100MB (lasts ten days) and $40 for unlimited use for a month. the new tariffs should be available tomorrow, August 24th.

Virgin already has a few unlimited options available on its “Beyond Talk” plans, but these also include voice and SMS and are aimed more at cellphone users. The new unlimited plans are geared towards users of USB 3G dongles and MiFis.

The biggest problem will be the fact that Virgin uses the Sprint network, and therefore CDMA and not GSM. This rules out the iPad, although at these prices you might find it a good idea to pair a Wi-Fi-only iPad with a MiFi.

Still, hold onto this snippet for if and when a Verizon iPad becomes available, whence you shall be able to swap to Virgin if you live in a Sprint coverage area.

Broadband2Go plans [Virgin/Facebook]

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews

Apple has approved a flashlight application which contains a hidden function: Data tethering for the iPhone. The app, named Handy Light, appeared to be yet another flashlight app, but by working through some amusing network settings and then selecting the colors in the app in the right order, it lets iPhone users share cellular internet connection with another wireless device. Predictably the app has already disappeared from the store.

Handy Light is from developer Nick Lee, and cost just $1 in the App Store. You may remember the $10 Netshare, which did the same thing, and suffered the same fate. Why would you want an app to let you tether the iPhone, when AT&T has finally offered official tethering to its users? Because AT&T’s version costs $20 per month extra, and can only be used with the new, crippled 2GB per month data plans. Those holding onto their old unlimited plans are shut out.

To use the app, you need to create an ad-hoc Wi-Fi network on your computer and connect to it with the iPhone. Then, you need to configure the SOCKS proxy on your computer (changing the IP address to 13.37.13.37, ho ho). After this, you hit the secret light-sequence combo in Handy Light and you’re good to go. Sure, its inelegant, but it is (or was) also cheap. If you managed to get ahold of it while it was still on the store, it should also work with your iPad.

Full instructions for Handy Light, should you have somehow downloaded it and not actually realized its hidden dark side, you can find videos all over YouTube (just search for “handy light”) or you can read the step-by-step at App Shopper. Anyone else will have to do it the old-fashioned way and jailbreak their iPhone.

Handy Light: Tethering App Camouflaged as Flashlight [App Shopper via Macworld]

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter..

Source:wired.com

Posted under Gadget Reviews