Cingular To Offer Mobile High-Speed Internet

ArbiterOne writes "ZDNet has the story: Cingular is moving ahead with its plans to offer wireless high-speed Internet access to consumers. Lucent Technologies has agreed to provide the technology, and Cingular has agreed to buy out AT&T Wireless, and become the number-one cell carrier in the US."

Comments

Cost

[barcodez]

There is no mention of what the cost is or indeed what the price model is. Do you pay for time, bandwidth, QoS?

Having a high bandwidth connection is all very well but if it costs $10/Mb then ill just wait until I'm at the office to connect.

Technologies like this are only useful to the vast majority of people once a certain price point is met. I imagine there is a large cost to recoup be the OpCos so it will be sometime before we can all sling a 3G modem in our laptops and forget about it.

Re:Cost

[ForestGrump]

Well, currenetly your paying a high cost for low data rates.

Something like 20/mo for 5 meg transfer, and up to 80/mo for "unlimited", where you get a max of 130ish/sec or somethign like that.

more info cingular page

But you must remember. End users don't care for doing data. They just want voice. Data is targeted at businesses, whose workers know nothing about money...its a business expense.

Grump

Think OUTSIDE the box..

[Segway Ninja]

I know this is an unfarmiliar concept tosome of you, but hear me out.

One GSM Modem + One Laptop + One provider offering High Speed wireless internet over its network = a Laptop on the internet.

We've got such setups going in New Zealand, and it's slowly becoming mainstream.

Re:Think OUTSIDE the box..

[Viceice]

What are the data charges like? When i was in NZ in 2002, call charges were an insane NZ$1.49 a minute. Where i come from, thats daylight robbery. So if data charges are just as high or worse, i don't see how it will take off.

Death to telephone numbers

[pubjames]

Now we're getting mobile wireless (which of course means we can do mobile VOIP) can we please get rid of telephone numbers? They feel increasingly primitive to me. It's much easier to remember name.surname@company.com than 023633463453.

Of course the problem is with personal numbers, rather than office-based ones. Of course your work is one thing that defines you (bob.thompson@company.com), as does your physical location bob.thompson@london.uk. But not everyone has a job, and location based identifiers don't make much sense for mobile numbers. Any solutions?

Focus groups? Who needs them?

[Anonymous Coward]

Cingular, in a statement announcing the 3G testing, described general aspects of some services it might offer consumers with the new network. The offerings could include downloading film trailers and sports highlights, access to e-mails with large attachments, and locating automated bank machines, movie theaters or restaurants.

Here's a thought, just let me have the plain old fucking internet access through my phone without having to jump through any co-branded, stratigic partnering marketing hoops to get there.

Re:Don't expect it to work

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep. Cingular WAS my provider for a month. One of the worst customer service experiences I've ever had. And, that's saying a lot these days.

Re:Don't expect it to work

[Rebel_Princess]

Oh and yes, mod me troll -- see how long you'd keep up a cheerful attitude about the customers.

Caller - "Yeah I'm calling about my phone..." CSR - *grits teeth*

I dont get it..

[LordJezo]

Everyone is buying each other, getting newer and fancier phones, getting fancy high speed internet, but still no one can match Verizon in terms of actually being able to get a signal and make a call... how come they are not focusing on that before all the extra fluff?

Sprint moves to EVDO

[Anonymous Coward]

However, my story submission on Sprint moving to EVDO yesterday was ignored. I have detected an anti-CDMA bias in the /. coverage of wireless issues for some time now.