T-Mobile's First HSPA+ Modem Goes On Sale Sunday

adeelarshad82 writes "T-Mobile announced that the webConnect Rocket USB Laptop Stick, the first HSPA+ device for the US, will be available beginning on Sunday, March 14. The device was originally announced at MWC in February. HSPA+ is interesting because it could enable 4G LTE-like speeds using existing 3G infrastructure and according to a hands-on, it smokes Wi-Max. Right now, it's still just for Philadelphia, although we should see several major cities light up with HSPA+ on both coasts well before the end of 2010."

Re:Portugal

[jimduchek]

The problem with the US market when it comes to broadband, wireless tech, etc vs. Europe or Japan is population density. US cities (It's an American mentality, I suppose) tend to sprawl out, and most of the country is rural, but still fairly populated. Most countries have a higher density (the US is 178th), and most of the non-3rd-world ones that are lower (Canada, Russia, Brazil, etc) have large areas that are entirely unpopulated (and thus don't need to be taken into account for density when it comes to rolling out tech). Not to mention the US is freakin' huge to begin with -- Portugal is a little smaller than Maine, our 38th biggest state. But with a population of 10 million, that's more than Michigan, our 8th most populous state. Rolling out a technology here in the US requires an _enormous_ outlay of cash because of the area that needs to be covered in order to cover enough people to make it worthwhile.

Re:Portugal

[OzPeter]

The problem with the US market when it comes to broadband, wireless tech, etc vs. Europe or Japan is population density. US cities (It's an American mentality, I suppose) tend to sprawl out, and most of the country is rural, but still fairly populated.

I can buy that argument for the rural areas of the US, but when you areas such as NYC I can't fathom as to why they don't apparently have the population density and size to support all the fancy technologies that seem to spring up elsewhere in the world. If anything NYC should be showcasing to the rest of the world as to what high population densities and capitalism can do for technology. But then again, I suppose the technology they have actually *does* showcase the tech that the companies want to install, and that basically the companies couldn't give a flying fuck about providing the best shiny and newest technology.

Re:Latency?

[afidel]

That really depends on what you are doing now doesn't it? If you are streaming an HD video then the greater speed matters, if you are trying to load the 1,000 elements in a complex webpage or doing XMLHTTP requests then the 1Mbps connection with the lower latency may be preferred.

Re:Canada

[atamido]

Turns out Canada had this amazing system called interact that would let you swipe your credit card just like you were at an atm. It was everywhere.

I got my first Visa check card in late 1997, in the USA, and I knew many people that had one way before me. After that, I don't recall ever using cash outside of fast food places. Perhaps where you lived was just behind the times?