Brian Nadel, Computer World, 6/17/2011

Which carrier’s mobile hotspot packs the most punch?

You’re sitting in your hotel room and you need to connect your laptop to the Internet to get some work done. But while many hotels offer free Internet access, you’re staying in one that thinks of it as comparable to the room’s minibar, charging you a small fortune to get online.

“It’s totally out of control, with a night’s Wi-Fi potentially costing $30,” says Allen Nogee, a senior analyst In-Stat, a Phoenix-based market analysis firm. “Some hotels are now charging extra for second and third [Wi-Fi-connected] devices, and others are adding in per-megabyte charges.”

What’s a frugal traveler to do?

Consider a mobile hotspot. About the size and weight of a wallet, these devices tap into your cellular provider’s 3G or 4G wireless data service, delivering Internet data at broadband speeds via a built-in Wi-Fi router. They work anywhere your data service has a signal and can support as many as five devices at once.

Mobile hotspot pros and cons

Mobile hotspots can yield bandwidth that is on a par with, and in some cases superior to, a hotel’s costly Internet service. Satisfying the need for speed, mobile hotspots can stream movies, download huge presentations and support videoconferences. The best can serve up data as fast as 15Mbps.

What’s more, a single mobile hotspot can service a group of working businesspeople, such as several accountants auditing a company’s books. Rather than logging on to the hotel’s Wi-Fi service at night for $10 to $30 each, the workgroup can tap into a $100 mobile hotspot for all their data needs. (More details on mobile hotspot prices and data plans in a moment.) Some devices even have microSDHC card slots, allowing groups to share data.

On top of supporting a workgroup on the go, a hotspot is often the best way to retrofit a tablet or notebook for fast, new 4G connections. It can also provide a convenient way to get online in certain rural areas where wired high-speed connections aren’t available but cellular coverage is.

Recently, when my office’s Internet provider experienced problems and my connection became unreliable for several hours, I was able to switch to a mobile hotspot and continue working online. The irony is that I started getting much faster download speeds than my cable provider ever delivered.

Depending on your needs, however, a mobile hotspot might not be the best solution. If you’re traveling solo, a mobile data card that’s integrated into your laptop or a USB modem might make more sense — they tend to be smaller, lighter and cheaper than mobile hotspots. But these devices won’t help you get colleagues online, and older ones won’t work with wireless carriers’ new 4G networks.

Another option is smartphone tethering. Many of the latest smartphones, including the most recent BlackBerries, allow you to tether a laptop or tablet to the phone via a Bluetooth or USB connection, turning it into the equivalent of a hotspot. There are potential snags here, though, because some phones don’t allow calls when they’re doing data duty, and tethering can make opening your monthly phone bill even more stressful. The Big Three national networks charge between $15 and $30 a month (on top of your data plan fees) for allowing you to tether a notebook or tablet to your phone.

Finally, keep in mind that a mobile hotspot is yet another small device to potentially leave behind. Says Nogee, “A mobile hotspot can work well on the road and be a genuine alternative to hotel Wi-Fi, but they are so small that they’re easy to forget about and leave in a hotel room.”

Putting mobile hotspots to the test

I was able to lay my hands on the latest mobile hotspots from the three major U.S. carriers: Novatel Wireless’ Mobile Hotspot MiFi 2372, which operates on AT&T’s network; Novatel’s Mobile Hotspot MiFi 4082, which works with Sprint’s network; and the Samsung SCH-LC11, which uses Verizon Wireless’ network.

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Jordan Crook, Mobile Crunch, 6/7/2011

Verizon Wireless got hit with an FCC complaint this morning by an organization called Free Press, over the restrictions placed on Verizon’s 4G LTE smartphones. The group claims that Verizon’s rules don’t necessarily jive with the regulatory policies of the Federal Communications Commission when it comes to tethering to Verizon’s speedy 4G LTE network.

More specifically, the complaint claims that Verizon asked Google to block tethering functionality in its Android devices, which is a direct violation of FCC requirements that the carrier not “deny, limit, or restrict” its subscribers’ ability to use whichever devices and applications they choose.

Here’s what Free Press policy counsel Aparna Sridhar had to say on the matter:

Verizon’s conduct is bad for the public and bad for innovation. It also appears to be illegal under the FCC’s rules that govern Verizon’s LTE network. Users pay through the nose for Verizon’s LTE service, and having done so, they should be able to use their connections as they see fit. Instead, Verizon’s approach is to sell you broadband but then put up roadblocks to control your use of it.

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Matt Hamblen, Computerworld, 5/3/2011

Free Android phone tethering apps found in Android Market are reportedly being blocked by AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile.

Sprint continues to support the tethering apps, possibly because it continues to offer offers unlimited, voice text and data plans.

The other carriers charge $15 to $20 per month to use a smartphone as a portable modem for a tablet or PC. The free tethering apps, like PDANet, available in the Android Market, represent a free or cheap alternative to those charges.

According to Technologizer and other blogs, T-Mobile has long opposed free tethering apps while Verizon and AT&T have only recently begun the bans.

When users attempt to install tethering apps on the phones of those carriers, they get an on-screen notice that reads: “This item is not available on your carrier.”

A spokeswoman at Verizon suggested that any blocking of the free tethering apps is done by Android OS developer Google. However, she wouldn’t say whether Google was doing so at the behest of Verizon or the other carriers.

“Google is ultimately responsible for what is in the marketplace,” the Verizon spokeswoman said.

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Glenn Fleishman, Macworld.com, 4/18/2011

Any device running iOS 4.3 supports Bluetooth tethering—here’s how to make it work

You should know by now that an iPhone of the right vintage can be turned into a mobile hotspot—a portable router that pumps out a Wi-Fi signal on one side and talks to a mobile 3G broadband network on the other. We’ve covered the Personal Hotspot feature for both the Verizon iPhone 4 and for the the GSM-based iPhone 4 used by AT&T in the U.S. and other carriers around the globe.

The Personal Hotspot feature also lets iPhones starting with iOS 4.2.6 (Verizon) or 4.3 (GSM model) share the cell data connection via Bluetooth and USB as well. All iPhone 4 flavors can allow up to three Bluetooth devices to connect as part of a total of five connections of any kind (among USB, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi) at any given time. (The iPhone 3G or 3GS with 4.0 or later installed can accept one connection via Bluetooth.)

What you may not know is that the iOS 4.3 update adds Bluetooth tethering to every iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad capable of running that latest release. This lets any of those devices obtain an Internet connection from an iPhone with its sharing feature enabled. (Yes, you can even connect one iPhone as a client to another acting as a server in this manner.) It should also work with any computer, router, or mobile device that offers this kind of connection sharing over Bluetooth, such as Mac OS X’s Internet Sharing feature. Many other mobile devices can also tether over Bluetooth, as well as Mac OS X and Windows systems.

Why connect with Bluetooth
Bluetooth tethering has a set of advantages that might lead you to select it instead of Wi-Fi for routing your iOS device through an iPhone 4 Personal Hotspot. It also has a few drawbacks that might dissuade you.

For iPhone 3G and 3GS users, this form of tethering also allows other iOS devices to share a connection, which was previously impossible. (If either phone has iOS 4.0 to 4.2 installed, the sharing option appears as Internet Tethering. On an iPhone 3GS with iOS 4.3 installed, it’s labeled Personal Hotspot, though Wi-Fi isn’t available as an option.)

The key advantage of Bluetooth tethering is simplicity, especially with a streamlined pairing process for securely connecting two devices over Bluetooth that Apple added to the iOS with the 4.3 update. You can also likely save battery power on both the iPhone acting as a hotspot and the device or devices you to tether to it: Bluetooth should consume less power than Wi-Fi, even though modern Wi-Fi has a lot of built-in power-conserving features.

What you’ll like best, though, is that using Bluetooth tethering sidesteps a major inconvenience with the Personal Hotspot feature. When you turn on the feature on your iPhone, Wi-Fi sharing is only enabled for 90 seconds unless a device connects via Wi-Fi within that period. After 90 seconds with no connections, your phone’s Wi-Fi radio turns off sharing to reduce battery usage. The same is true if you have Wi-Fi devices connected, and then disconnect or power down all of them: a 90-second countdown ensues.

This adds a step to using Personal Hotspot when you’re using it during a commute, for instance. Instead of just pulling out your iPad, and waiting for it to connect, you have to first extract your iPhone, and navigate to the Personal Hotspot screen. Wi-Fi availability should automatically start up just by visiting that screen, although I found in testing that I sometimes had to tap the Personal Hotspot switch from On to Off and back to On again. Then you put your iPhone away, and your iPad should connect to the iPhone’s mobile hotspot with no prompting.

Bluetooth sharing, in contrast, is always available with Personal Hotspot. In the scenario above, you’d leave your iPhone stowed and simply wake your iPad. The tablet should connect automatically. If it does not, you navigate to Settings, go to General -> Bluetooth, and tap the iPhone hotspot in the list of Bluetooth devices. The iPad then connects.

Bluetooth offers a level of security that’s equivalent to the WPA2 flavor of Wi-Fi encryption required by Apple for the Personal Hotspot feature. However, with Bluetooth, all the security is handled for you automatically. The pairing process confirms that no other party intercepted a key exchange; after that, strong encryption is used automatically with no data entry.

What’s the biggest downside to Bluetooth tethering? Throughput. Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, the flavor built into all iOS devices, has a raw rate of 3 Mbps and a net throughput that’s just a bit over 2 Mbps. That’s fine on Verizon’s 3G network, where average speeds never top 2 Mbps. On AT&T’s network—and many other GSM networks worldwide—the HSPA 7.2 standards allow realistic average speeds of 1 to 4 Mbps. Over Bluetooth, you’ll cap your highest potential, as Wi-Fi can carry more than 30 Mbps between two devices.

The set-up
Now, how would one set this up, I hear you ask? For setting up the Personal Hotspot, please consult our earlier coverage of that feature, which we linked to above. In brief, make sure you’ve signed up for the feature with your carrier. Both AT&T and Verizon Wireless charge $20 per month to use Personal Hotspot, and AT&T requires a certain level of metered service. (Carriers outside the U.S. may include the feature at no charge or require certain service levels or surcharges.) Then launch Settings on your iPhone, tap General -> Network -> Personal Hotspot, and tap the switch to On. (If you’ve already used Personal Hotspot, the menu item appears in the main level of the Settings app at the top.)

Both iOS devices you’re linking up via tethering will show the same code and ask you to confirm. If the number isn’t the same, cancel and try again. It’s either an error or a nearby ne’er-do-well.

On any other iOS device with version 4.3 or later installed, follow these steps to pair and then tether the device:

1. In the Settings app, tap General, then Bluetooth.
2. Select your iPhone from the Devices list. It will appear by whatever name shows up when you sync in iTunes. (You can change that in iTunes by clicking the name, and then typing in a new one. This works even on computers other than the one with which you sync your media and apps.)
3. On both your iPhone and the iOS device which you are pairing, a dialog appears asking you to confirm that a six-digit PIN code appears the same on both devices. If it does, tap Pair on each device. (This security step prevents a third-party from intercepting traffic or pairing without permission. if a third-party were in the middle, the codes won’t match.)

The Devices list shows your active connection, here between an iPad and the iPhone that’s sharing its mobile broadband.

On your paired device, a special chain-link icon appears where a Wi-Fi signal strength meter typically shows up in the status bar at upper left. On both devices, the word Connected appears next to the name in the Bluetooth Devices list.

Your iOS device will remain paired with the iPhone’s mobile hotspot as long as it remains active. If you put it to sleep and wake it, it should reconnect: you’ll see the double-link icon at upper left if it does. Should your device fail to reconnect automatically, launch Settings and tap General -> Bluetooth. If it says Not Connected next to the iPhone’s name in the Devices list, tap the name. This causes the device to reconnect. If that fails, try toggling the Personal Hotspot option on your phone from off to on.

A special two-chain icon appears in the status bar when you’re using Bluetooth (or Wi-Fi) tethering to connect to an iPhone’s Personal Hotspot sharing feature.

You can make your iOS device stop pairing by tapping the white-in-blue detail arrow next to the iPhone’s name in the Bluetooth screen’s Devices list. Tap Forget This Device, and it has no memory of how to connect. (You can easily repair at will using the instructions above.)

Bluetooth tethering isn’t a replacement for Wi-Fi sharing, but it provides more flexibility in your arsenal, especially if you commute and don’t want to have to fiddle with multiple devices to gain a connection.

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Glenn Fleishman, Macworld.com, 3/15/2011

Throw away your MiFi! Forego the heartbreak of tethering! Give up the struggle of Internet Sharing from a mobile broadband modem through your laptop! The iOS 4.3 Personal Hotspot feature can slice (through your mobile bill), dice (up your cables), and make pounds and pounds of Wi-Fi devices connect to the Internet. But, wait! There’s more! Personal Hotspot does its job well, too.

The Personal Hotspot update included in March’s iOS 4.3 update turns a GSM-based iPhone 4 into a portable wireless router that can share its Internet connection with other devices. Up to three pieces of hardware with standard Wi-Fi adapters can connect to the iPhone’s micro base station. It can’t, however relay one Wi-Fi network to other devices—for instance, it can’t share an expensive hotel Wi-Fi connection with colleagues’ machines, an iPad, and itself.

Personal Hotspot replaces and expands the tethering feature introduced on AT&T iPhones with iOS 4 (and for iPhones outside the U.S. with iOS 3). Tethering is a one-to-one connection that allows a single computer or other compatible device to use a phone as a modem over Bluetooth or via a USB cable. Personal Hotspot for the iPhone 4 includes both of those options as well as sharing via Wi-Fi, and expanding Bluetooth sharing to handle up to three devices. (The new features aren’t available for the iPhone 3GS, even though it can be upgraded to iOS 4.3.)

We previously covered the ins and outs of the Personal Hotspot feature that arrived on the CDMA-based Verizon Wireless model of the iPhone 4 with its custom iOS 4.2.6 release. iOS 4.3 isn’t yet available for the Verizon model, but was released March 9 for GSM iPhones, enabling this feature with carriers who choose to support it. AT&T is one of those.

We’ve created this new version of this article to explain the AT&T version of Personal Hotspot, which has slight differences from its implementation on Verizon phones. The biggest of those is the maximum number of devices of each kind you can connect. Verizon Wireless allows a maximum of five devices in any mix of tethering and Wi-Fi with the limit of one over USB, three by Bluetooth, and five by Wi-Fi. AT&T drops the Wi-Fi maximum to three devices, but still allows a total mix of five across USB, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. Other GSM carriers may opt for up to five Wi-Fi connections, according to reports.

Getting started

Setup and use is as simple as one might hope from iOS and AT&T’s billing department. First, you need to enable the feature on your AT&T account. AT&T offers three ways to do this. You can call the company’s customer service line (611 on your phone); you can access your account features via AT&T’s Website and make the change; or you can use the free AT&T myWireless app for your iPhone to make the change through a features section.

The Personal Hotspot feature requires the DataPro tier of AT&T’s data plan, which is $25 per month for up to 2GB of data. The Personal Hotspot features adds $20 per month, but also beefs up monthly data usage to 4GB. This is a combined pool you can use either for data consumed or produced by apps on the phone and any tethered or Wi-Fi devices.

An AT&T spokesperson confirmed that you may enable or disable the Personal Hotspot feature (as with the previous tethering feature) at will and with no additional fees. You can also switch between DataPro and the cheaper 200MB DataPlus plan at any time if the Personal Hotspot option is turned off. However, if you still have an unlimited data plan with AT&T—the carrier pulled those last June but let existing subscribers keep their $30-a-month plans—once you switch to the DataPro plan to use Personal Hotspot, your days of unlimited data are over. You can never go back.

AT&T said that you can opt by phone or Website to choose a retroactive plan change, which changes the charges for the billing period to date; or for a pro rata upgrade, which starts charging from the date you change for that portion of the month. The pro rata option also metes out just the amount of data you’d get for that part of the month. A colleague made this change, and a problem with his account setting required a call instead of a Web site click. A customer-service representative was able to sort it out for him via a chat session.

With your plan enabled, launch Settings, and tap General -> Network -> Personal Hotspot. After the first time you turn on the feature, the Personal Hotspot item will subsequently appear at the top level of the Settings app. You’ll notice the Personal Hotspot screen is full of information, explaining how to connect via Wi-Fi, USB, and Bluetooth, since all three options are available—if you’re using an iPhone 4, that is. According to Apple’s system requirements, only the iPhone 4 can connect via Wi-Fi, USB, and Bluetooth to share cellular data via the Personal Hotspot feature. The iPhone 3GS is limited to a single Bluetooth connection and USB, the same as the iPhone 3G, which still uses tethering to share its connection with another device. (Apple changed the label in Settings from Internet Tethering to Personal Hotspot on the iPhone 3GS just to confuse us all—and enforce interface consistency, I suppose—but didn’t add new capabilities.)

Securing your hotspot

Apple requires a password for the hotspot Wi-Fi network. You’ll be grateful for this, as it means that you can’t accidentally open the network to anyone and have them run up a huge data bill. The password Apple prefills is unique, easy to remember, and quite strong: a four- or five-letter word followed by four digits, like “prong5343”. (Oddly, Verizon Wireless’s Personal Hotspot feature generates a password that comprises a word plus two digits plus another word. Apple must defer to carriers on the precise pattern.)

While brute-force methods may crack short Wi-Fi passwords—if someone was really that interested in breaking into your mobile hotspot—any password with letters and numbers longer than nine digits long is considered unbreakable by currently known methods. You may replace the Apple-generated password by tapping in the field. A password must be at least eight characters long (a mix of letters, numbers, and punctuation), but try ten.

The hotspot feature relies on Wi-Fi’s WPA2 Personal protection, a seven-year-old encryption standard that’s available in all AirPort base stations and cards shipped starting in 2003, and in nearly all other Wi-Fi gear shipped since 2003 or 2004. If you have an old iBook with a plain old AirPort Card in it, or a device that only offers the original 802.11b flavor of Wi-Fi, however, it won’t be able to join the network.

You can share simultaneously through USB, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, but you can selectively disable either wireless method. Disable Bluetooth (General -> Bluetooth) or Wi-Fi (main screen, tap Wi-Fi), and you reduce battery usage a bit, as well as quiet the radio environment around you. When you flip Personal Hotspot to On, it will ask you if you want to enable Bluetooth or Wi-Fi if either is turned off. USB is always available, but you can enable and disable USB tethering on the computer side, even when you have an iPhone plugged in for charging or syncing, via the Network preference pane.

How it works

A blue bar appears at the top of the screen when a device is connected to the hotspot, much like the green bar that shows an active call when you’re not in the phone app. Tap the bar to open the Personal Hotspot setting screen. The bar displays a count of connected devices, including USB and Bluetooth. If no devices are connected by any network method, the Wi-Fi radio will power down after 90 seconds, and the hotspot will no longer broadcast its availability to Wi-Fi devices. Just unlock the phone, and navigate to the hotspot settings screen to wake it from its slumber. In testing, I occasionally also had to toggle the hotspot switch to Off and back to On to reactivate Wi-Fi. Bluetooth remains continuously active whether or not devices are connected.

Because Personal Hotspot looks to a computer or other device just like any Wi-Fi connection, you can carry out any task and use any service. This includes FaceTime on an iPhone or iPod touch relayed through the hotspot (not on the iPhone running the Personal Hotspot feature). This is also true if you’re connected via USB or Bluetooth.

Throughput seems to be about the same whether you’re using apps on an iPhone or connected to the phone as a conduit to the Internet. On AT&T’s network, I was able repeatedly to reach 1.5 to 2 Mbps downstream and 750 Kbps to 1 Mbps from a speed-testing app on the phone, and the same speeds from connected computers. In a comparable test with a Verizon Wireless iPhone 4, I was unable to beat 500 Kbps downstream. Your mileage will absolutely vary, although AT&T’s network, in areas with good coverage, will almost always be faster than Verizon’s due to the current generation of mobile broadband technology in use by each firm.

Managing your hotspot

If a phone call comes in while you’re using the hotspot feature, a GSM iPhone continues to keep the data connection live and all devices connected regardless of whether you accept or reject the call. (The Verizon iPhone 4 keeps devices connected but suspends the data service until you answer or reject the call, and keeps it suspended if you accept the call—part of the CDMA network’s inability to handle voice and data at the same time.)

Things get complicated if your iPhone 4 is within range of a Wi-Fi network to which it has previously connected. With Personal Hotspot turned on and at least one device connected by Wi-Fi, USB, or Bluetooth, the iPhone will force a connection to AT&T’s 3G network, and maintain the hotspot connection. However, if no devices are connected, when the hotspot feature slumbers, the iPhone switches to the available Wi-Fi network.

You can also switch to using a Wi-Fi connection for Internet access with the Personal Hotspot active. Navigate to the Wi-Fi setting, and tap a button—Disconnect Wi-Fi Clients—that only appears if you have folks connected by Wi-Fi. While that option won’t show up if Bluetooth or USB tethering is in use, the iPhone still only uses 3G for the feature; it won’t share a Wi-Fi connection.

Shutting down the hotspot

If devices are connected via Wi-Fi using Personal Hotspot and you want to bump them and switch the iPhone to use a local Wi-Fi network instead of AT&T’s 3G service, you can tap Disconnect Wi-Fi Clients instead of turning off the Personal Hotspot feature.

When you’re ready to turn the hotspot feature off, use Settings to tap the Off button in the Personal Hotspot item. In my testing, Personal Hotspot used a reasonable amount of battery power, and noticeably drained the iPhone over time, but it’s nothing compared to, say, an active GPS navigation connection. You could likely use Personal Hotspot for several hours of routine use (not continuous streaming or downloads) starting with a full charge. I recommend plugging in an iPhone via USB or a power adapter to avoid running out of juice. Because iOS puts the hotspot feature to sleep when nothing’s connected, you can leave it turned on and essentially in standby when you’re not using it.

The biggest worry you might have with the feature is burning through data. You are likely more aware of the bandwidth you’re consuming on an iPhone, which automatically throttles certain kinds of data usage when connected via 3G: streaming slows down, you can’t download music, movies, and apps larger than 20MB, and other more subtle techniques make the phone less talky. But connect a laptop or mobile device via Wi-Fi, and you might use up the monthly allowance by retrieving an iOS GPS navigation update.

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Gregg Keizer, Computer World, 2/3/2011

Announces 2GB allowance, multi-device Wi-Fi tethering for Android, says ‘working on bringing it to the iPhone’

AT&T said on Wednesday that it will allow tethering of multiple devices to Apple’s iPhone, and add a 2GB data allowance to the $20-per-month service.

The carrier declined to spell out a timetable for the move, however.

“We are working on bringing it to the iPhone,” an AT&T spokesman said by e-mail. “[But we have] nothing else to share at this time.”

The move is a counter to rival Verizon, which will let iPhone owners use their smartphone to create a personal Wi-Fi hotspot, which can connect up to five other devices, including tablets and notebooks, to the Internet.

Verizon will provide its tethering for $20 per month, which includes a 2GB data allowance. Each additional gigabyte of data, or a fraction of one, runs another $20 under Verizon’s service plan.

Verizon described the Wi-Fi hotspot feature last month when it announced it would sell a CDMA-compatible iPhone 4 starting Feb. 10.

Apple has labeled the feature Personal Hotspot, and iPhone watchers expect it to appear in the next version of iOS, which will reportedly be released next month.

Although AT&T did not confirm a release, it’s likely the company will also use iOS’ Personal Hotspot rather than release a separate app.

Earlier on Wednesday, AT&T announced that it was preparing that app, dubbed Mobile Hotspot, to let Android smartphone owners tether multiple devices via a short-range Wi-Fi connection.

AT&T will also match Verizon’s tethering option by adding 2GB of data to its own plan, which previously came with no data allowance of its own. AT&T has bundled iPhone tethering with its Data Pro plan, a $25 per month deal that comes with its own 2GB allotment, since last summer.

For AT&T customers, additional data costs $10 per gigabyte over the amount bundled with its data or tethering plans.

“We want to extend the benefits of an additional 2GB to smartphone customers on our tethering plan,” AT&T Mobility’s chief marketing officer, David Christopher, said in a statement. “This delivers more value today for the price they’re already paying — and that’s what our customers want.”

Currently, AT&T’s iPhone tethering uses a wireless Bluetooth link between the smartphone and a tethered device, or requires that the user plug the iPhone into a laptop’s USB port. Personal Hotspot, however, creates a Wi-Fi hotspot that other devices can access.

AT&T will launch Mobile Hotspot Feb. 13 alongside the $100 Android-powered HTC Inspire 4G — AT&T’s first smartphone to include the app — and roll out the additional data allowance the same day.

Assuming Personal Hotspot is built into iOS 4.3, the iPhone upgrade expected next month, AT&T won’t have to create a version of the Mobile Hotspot app for the iPhone.

Verizon and Apple will begin taking pre-orders from existing Verizon customers for the CDMA iPhone 4 starting at 3 a.m. ET Thursday, midnight PT. The general public can pre-order a Verizon iPhone from Apple on Feb. 9, and retail sales at Apple, Verizon and Best Buy kick off Feb. 10.

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Matt Hickey, CNET news, 1/12/2011

Verizon (finally) announced that it is getting the iPhone for its wireless network. It wasn’t much of a surprise–the rumors have been around for years and really came to a head in the last couple of weeks. But a revelation that wasn’t widely expected was that the Verizon iPhone could work as a personal Wi-Fi hot spot. This essentially allows the iPhone to act as a Wi-Fi access point for up to five devices, allowing them to connect to Verizon’s 3G network wherever the phone has coverage.

This type of easy tethering caught the attention of some AT&T iPhone users, as the feature is not available on current iPhones. The Verizon iPhone was noted as running a version of iOS 4.3, whereas current GSM iPhones are running 4.2. Thus the rumors started swirling that 4.3–released to developers today–would bring the feature to all iPhone’s capable of running the OS, Verizon or AT&T-based.

And now, BGR, formerly known Boy Genius Report, says that the feature will indeed be available to all iPhones capable of running 4.3. Right now, that’s looking like iPhone 4 on Verizon and AT&T, as well as the 3Gs on AT&T, or unlocked on another GSM provider.

For the personal hot spot to work, it’s likely that the phone will have to have carrier support. Right now, AT&T charges a premium for Internet tethering, which is essentially what this is, and Verizon allows it with its top data plan. There’s no telling now how other carriers, like T-Mobile, would implement it, if at all.

Of course, this is all according to a BGR source, who remains a mystery. It could be all false, but considering that the current version of iOS allows for USB and Bluetooth tethering, it doesn’t at all seem far-fetched. We’ll find out when 4.3 gets pushed to all iPhone users, whenever that is. But the next logical question is: will iPads with 3G get this feature?

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After almost four years of endless gossip, analyst forecasts, and so-called leaks, the Verizon iPhone is a reality. We’re thrilled, to be honest, if only because we never have to write another rumor story again. The iPhone 4′s arrival on a second U.S. network is significant, of course, but the smartphone market is a thousand times more mature than it was in 2007 when the first iPhone hit. So, though we expect Verizon to gain a lot of new customers, its iPhone faces heavy competition from rival carriers, and even from within Verizon’s own lineup.

Before we break down the device, we’ll offer the cost and release details. Big Red will match AT&T’s pricing, which is $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB version, but unlike AT&T it will offer unlimited data plans. Existing customers can preorder the black version beginning February 3, with full availability following on February 10. Verizon was listing the white iPhone 4 on its Web site earlier today but a carrier spokeswoman confirmed to CNET that the long-delayed model won’t be released until later in the spring.

Design
Besides a couple of changes, the Verizon iPhone 4 barely differs from its AT&T counterpart. First off, Apple moved the ringer-mute switch further down the handset’s left side to accommodate the CDMA antenna. Unfortunately, that means the current selection of iPhone 4 bumpers won’t fit. And while we’re on the subject, Verizon iPhone customers will not be entitled to a free bumper case.

Secondly, the Verizon handset’s antenna has a new design. During her hands-on inspection, CNET’s Bonnie Cha found that the gap that sits next to the headset jack on the GSM version has moved to the left side (where the ringer switch was). The gap on the lower left side made famous by “antennagate” is still there, but CNET has found that reception does not degrade if you touch the gap during a call (more on that later).

Hot spot
Honestly, we weren’t expecting the Verizon iPhone to offer new features, but we love that it bests its GSM rival by offering a mobile hot spot that can support up to five devices. Though it’s hardly a new feature–Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile currently offer handsets with that functionality–it is new to Apple. And it will make the Verizon iPhone a better mobile computing device. The bad news is that customers will likely pay an additional $20 per month to use it. That’s cheaper than Sprint’s $29 monthly charge, but more expensive than T-Mobile’s $14.99 fee.

No 4G
The Verizon iPhone 4 will not support Verizon’s 4G LTE network. That’s disappointing, but hardly surprising. As we’ve said before, Apple is not a company to jump on a bleeding-edge technology. Verizon’s 4G network has yet to be used by cell phone customers (only laptop users are on it now), and Apple will make sure it can deliver the polished user experience that it always seeks. Also, Apple will wait until LTE covers more territory. On the other hand, you can expect a 4G model on both Verizon and AT&T in the coming months. Sure, you’ll have to upgrade to a new version, but Apple is a master at that game.

Other features
You’ll get the usual goodies like the 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, the front-facing VGA camera, Bluetooth, a digital compass, Retina Display, e-mail, voice control, assisted GPS and Google Maps, the Safari browser, access to apps and media through iTunes, and FaceTime over Wi-Fi. The Verizon iPhone stands apart, however, by offering iOS 4.2.5 over the iOS 4.2.1 that’s currently on the AT&T handset. We’re still confirming what specific changes iOS 4.2.5 brings.

Voice and data
The CDMA iPhone will not be able to employ voice and data at the same time. We think that’s a pretty big deal and it’s no surprise that Apple and Verizon avoided this point during the launch event. The CDMA Development Group has announced that simultaneous voice and data on CDMA will become commercially available in the first half of this year, but no U.S. CDMA carrier has announced plans to implement the change. We’ll be watching this one closely.

No global roaming
We’re not pleased that Verizon’s iPhone will not support GSM networks. You’ll be able to use it in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and a handful of other countries outside North America, but world travelers will have extremely limited roaming capability. Bad move, Apple and Verizon.

Performance
We experienced satisfying call quality when Bonnie used the Verizon iPhone to call a landline handset. On both ends, the voice quality was sharp and natural, the signal remained strong, and we didn’t experience any static, interference, audio cut-outs, or dropped calls. The volume remained loud, as well, and background noise was minimal even though Bonnie was calling from a crowded, noisy room. Even better, we didn’t experience the attenuation issues we had on the AT&T handset.

Brief data tests also showed an improvement. According to Bonnie, the Verizon iPhone loaded Web sites like the New York Times a few seconds faster than an AT&T model could in side-by-side testing. That’s promising, but it’s no guarantee that Verizon will have consistently better service once its handsets are released into the wild. Consider that Bonnie was running her test in a room with dozens of AT&T iPhones and just a few Verizon models. After there’s more parity between the two carriers, things could change.

All that brings up an important point, which is that users should not expect the Verizon iPhone to be a miracle device. As we’ve said before, there’s a very good chance it will offer better performance, but don’t expect it to cure your reception woes. It’s still using a cellular network that will vary according to your location and how many people are using it at one time. The expectations for a Verizon iPhone are immensely–and ridiculously–high and the handset runs a risk of not living up to them. We’ll make our own assessment once we get a review device in hand. Until that time, though, it’s important to keep your hopes in check.

Outlook
There’s no question that Verizon will benefit from getting Apple’s popular device. The investment will cost the carrier, but it’s also going to get a lot of new customers and Apple will earn serious cash selling millions of more handsets to a market that couldn’t have them before.

Still, it’s way too early to write AT&T’s iPhone eulogy, and there’s no way Apple can crowd out cell phone rivals as its iPod did with other MP3 players. Why? Because there are just too many other fantastic smartphones on the market for that to ever happen. Just last week at CES, for example, we saw an incredibly innovative array of new Android smartphones that offer features the Verizon iPhone can’t touch. We had 4G handsets from Verizon Wireless and AT&T; Motorola wowed us with its dual-core Atrix and Droid Bionic; and we loved Motorola’s laptop dock. Indeed, these devices will give Apple a serious run for its money. And even without them, there are plenty of perfectly satisfied smartphone users who don’t have an Phone and don’t yearn for one.

Innovation happens too quickly in the wireless world for one device to stay at the head of the pack for long. As CNET’s reviews show, the iPhone is a very good device, but Apple is far from the only company with a great idea. Android is not backing down; Microsoft and RIM will continue to evolve; and we haven’t heard the last of Palm yet. The iPhone is on a new carrier, but it remains just one player in a very competitive field.

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Phil Goldstein, FierceWireless, 11/1/2010

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Matt Cameron, BlackBerryCool, 9/29/2010

Yesterday, RIM released a Java plug-in for Eclipse for Mac OS X enabling developers to develop Java apps for the BlackBerry on a Mac. BlackBerry Java development on the Macintosh has been absent and developers have been asking for a solution for a long time.

The initial beta will focus on Java development for BlackBerry 6 with a tethered device debugging on the BlackBerry Torch: no simulator required.

Eclipse is a free java-based open source software development environment mostly based on plug-ins. With the exception of a small run-time kernel, all of Eclipse’s functionality relies on plug-ins. This beta has all the features of the BlackBerry Java Plug-in for Eclipse v1.1.2 including the ability to package a single app project for multiple BlackBerry devices. It also supports Eclipse project artifacts and folder structures.

You’ll need a Mac running Snow Leopard (Mac OS 10.6), Java version 1.5, as well as a BlackBerry Torch in order to get started. Then download the beta plug-in here.

You can find the latest version of Eclipse here.

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