Wireless

I had dinner Monday night in London with David Wood, futurist at Symbian, and came away feeling strangely calm. Perhaps it was the exceptional food at Veeraswamy, capped off by a bitter chocolate ice cream....

Or perhaps it was the fact that Wood has spent 21 years with Symbian (and Psion before it was acquired by Nokia), long enough to live through several mobile revolutions and not get too ruffled by any particular one.

In fact, over the course of our dinner Wood pulled out his back-to-the-future Psion Series 5mx on several occasions, a device released a decade ago yet eerily resembles the cutting-edge Netbooks and smartphones of today.

Plus ça change...

Symbian has proved to be such a formidable competitor in Europe and the Middle East, but has underwhelmed in North America and Japan, though it claims roughly 50 percent of the global handheld market. In part it stemmed from the fact that Symbian had limited target GSM wireless carriers in the U.S. (AT&T and T-Mobile). Without a CDMA offering, Symbian was locked out of much of the U.S. market.

But in June 2008, Nokia announced that Symbian would be open sourced to broaden its appeal to developers. The catch? The process would take up to two years to complete. Today, Symbian still isn't open source but is actively working toward that goal.

Unfortunately, Apple's iPhone, Research in Motion's BlackBerry, and even the Palm Pre have been claiming ever-widening swaths of the global smartphone market, taking share in Symbian's European backyard. Wood isn't overly concerned. He may have good reason.

While we like to think of technology moving at incredible speed, the fact is that adoption moves much more slowly. Even in a market as dynamic as browsers, Mozilla's Asa Dotzler calls out the snail-pace shifts in browser adoption trends.

To prove his point, Wood points out how Apple's iPhone was considered near divine until the Palm Pre came out, and then suddenly criticism was heaped on the iPhone for lacking basic functionality. No multitasking? No cut-and-paste? Come on, Apple!

And so Apple has, as its soon-to-be-released iPhone 3G S shows. But the Pre's launch suggests that Apple doesn't have a stranglehold on mobile mind share. If Symbian does things right and provides compelling value as an application publisher, it should have ample time to mount a serious challenge to existing smartphone competitors.

Symbian doesn't plan to launch an App Store, Apple-style. Instead, as CNET has reported, the foundation wants to serve the same role a book publisher does: provide intermediary services between application developers and the wireless carriers. Such a strategy not only gives Symbian more devices to play on, but it also makes it a valuable partner to more wireless carriers than Apple can.

It's not a given that Symbian will succeed, of course, but Wood could be right to remain calm in advance of Symbian's launch of its open-source project. The world is not standing still, waiting for Symbian's arrival. On the other hand, it's also not moving forward nearly as fast as we might think.

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More people throughout the world are hopping onto the high-speed bandwagon.

Global broadband access jumped by 16.6 million lines in the last quarter, reaching a total of 429.2 million lines throughout the world, says a report released Tuesday by industry group Broadband Forum.

Despite the sluggish economy, growth was slightly higher in the latest quarter than over the prior three months, according to the report.

In this past quarter, broadband access grew by 10 percent in 20 different countries. The biggest gainers were India at 13.4 percent, the Ukraine at 15.2 percent, Egypt at 10.6 percent, and Mexico at 10.3 percent. Access in North America rose 3.87 percent, reaching 93.5 million lines, the report said.

China ranks at the top of the list for highest number of broadband lines at 88 million, while the U.S. is number two with 83.9 million lines, the report said.

Among broadband technologies, DSL is still the most popular with a 64 percent slice of the market. Cable is next at 20 percent. Fiber is pulling up fast, capturing more than 3 million new lines to gain a 12 percent market stake, the report said.

Based in California, the Broadband Forum is a worldwide group of around 200 companies involved with telecommunications, computing, and networking. The broadband report was prepared for the forum by industry research firm Point Topic.

Once a niche market, online banking has grown into a widely-used tool for the average consumer.

Among 3,988 adults surveyed in the U.S. by Gartner Group, 47 percent said they now bank online. In the U.K, 30 percent echoed the same response.

Results varied according to income. Gartner found that over half of all consumers earning more than $30,000 in the U.S. and 15,000 pounds in the U.K. bank on the Internet. Among lower-income households, 25 percent in America and 17 percent in the U.K. use online banking.

"Over the past several years, online banking has been seen as a way of appealing to more affluent and younger clients," said David Schehr, Gartner research director. "However, what is becoming clear is that the overall level of consumer Internet use and the increasingly narrow segment of nonusers--particularly in the U.S.--are shifting the dynamics of who is using online banking and what they seek from it."

Among people who don't bank online, no one single reason was cited above all others, noted Gartner. Around 61 percent of U.S. households and 58 percent of those in the U.K. said they simply prefer to use other methods. However, 41 percent of U.S. consumers and 38 percent in the U.K. blamed security as the most important reason for not banking over the Internet.

Gartner conducted its survey in December 2008 and January 2009 and questioned people 18 years and older.

Overall, the number of households paying bills online is slated to jump 5.4 percent from 48 million this year to 63 million by 2014, according to another report from research firm Forrester.

The report notes the effect of bill consolidation sites, such as Yodlee and Corillian, where consumers can manage and pay all their bills. Such sites are starting to woo more people from the banks' own bill payment sites and will own a greater share of the market by 2012. Banks will need to do a better job spreading the word about their own online services, according to Forrester.

"eBusiness executives at banks need to work to establish earlier and stronger bill payment relationships with young affluents and other young adults," said Forrester senior analyst Edward Kountz. "To strengthen their position and better support these customers, banks need to add more payment options, deploy online and mobile alerts with greater visibility, and continue to hammer home the message that online bill payment is free."

Google might be making it easier to adopt Google Voice by letting users bring an existing number.

Getting started with Google Voice could be easier if you could bring an existing phone number.

(Credit: Google)

Techcrunch reports that Google plans to bring the concept of number portability to its Google Voice product, allowing you to use an existing cell phone number as your Google Voice number. At the moment, those who sign up for Google Voice are given a brand-new phone number that others can call to a reach a user at home, work, or on the mobile.

The trouble is that when you call somebody back who called your Google Voice number, the number that appears in their caller ID window is the number of the device that you're using, forcing them to store several different numbers in their phone anyway to know who's calling them and causing confusion over just which number to use. As an addition to the number portability efforts, Google is supposedly working on software that will let you broadcast your Google Voice number from your assorted handsets.

Google isn't going to be your wireless carrier just yet; you'll still have to have some sort of account with a carrier to deliver your calls, texts, and e-mails. Google Voice also lets users access voice mail transcriptions from their e-mail in-boxes and set up conference calling, among other things.

Google Voice is still in limited use; you have to have been a customer of GrandCentral, acquired by Google in 2007, to use the service. In March, Google said it would open up the service to everyone in "a number of weeks," which gives it a pretty large window.

No U.S. carrier has been announced for the Jet.

(Credit: Samsung)

At an event in Manhattan Monday, Samsung unveiled its new Jet smartphone, which features a fast 800MHz processor and Samsung's proprietary OS that includes its Dolphin Web browser. Alas, the Jet won't be flying into the U.S. anytime soon, though its designation as a UTMS phone leaves AT&T as its most probable destination if it does hit these shores. All that said, it is available for the rest of the world later this year.

Unlike the Omnia 2, which was also announced at the event, Samsung did have the Jet on hand for reporters to play with. Several remarked that the touch screen seemed quite responsive despite being resisitive. But there was some disappointment that the phone didn't seem even zippier with that 800MHz processor (until now, smartphone processors have tended to top out at 600MHz). However, Samsung reps said the software wasn't final and was still being tweaked. (It was also impossible to test the Dolphin browser because there was no network connection).

All in all, the look and feel of the Jet was appealing. It's smaller than the iPhone and is more on par with the size of the Palm Pre. However, we're just not sure how appealing a proprietary OS is at this point when you have an open OS like Android sitting out there.

Samsung Jet smartphone

Here are the Jet's specs:

Microsoft has found a powerful incentive to get people to use Windows Mobile--at least those within its own ranks.

The software maker has stopped paying for cellular data plans for those using BlackBerries, iPhones and all manner of non-Microsoft devices.

Plenty of Microsoft workers still have an iPhone, but as of earlier this year, they can no longer be reimbursed for their data plan unless they switch to a Windows Mobile-based phone.

(Credit: Apple)

Although the move took place earlier this year, it is only making headlines now, thanks to an article on Silicon Alley Insider.

It's hardly a shocking move. Lots of companies standardize on a particular mobile operating system or two and limit reimbursements to those devices.

A Microsoft representative confirmed on Monday that "the data plan reimbursement for Microsoft employees is limited to Windows Mobile devices."

"This policy took effect as part of the broader cost saving measures announced earlier this year," the representative said in an e-mail. The software maker has trimmed its product line, cut staff, and also pulled back on spending on travel, vendors and contractors.

Nokia on Monday unveiled the E72, the successor to its popular E71 business handset.

The updated version of Nokia's QWERTY-keyboarded candybar phone includes an optical navigation key. According to Nokia vice president Ilari Nurmi, the new input method allows for "more intuitive scrolling through menus, e-mails and fast panning of images."

Another enhancement visible on the front of the Series 60 phone is the ability to turn the handset into a flashlight with a single press of the space bar key.

The E72's camera is a 5-megapixel affair, while the E71 only had a 3.2-megapixel camera. The device also appears to have a new speaker at the back of the phone.

Nokia says the E72 uses active noise cancellation to make calls clearer. The handset also has a 3.5mm headphone jack -- unlike its predecessor -- so standard headphones can be used without an adapter.

In terms of its dimensions, the E72 is almost identical to the E71 -- it is the same height and thickness, but is 1mm wider and a gram heavier.... Read more

Americans have survived the transition to digital television without incident.

The sky did not fall and there was no major shortage of digital converter boxes Friday when full-power broadcasters across the nation turned off their analog TV signals and started broadcasting only in digital. Calls to broadcasters and the Federal Communications Commission have been heavy the past few days, but officials say that the volume is within what the agency had expected.

"The digital TV transition is looking more like Y2K than the Bay of Pigs," Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said during a press conference on Saturday.

While the agency is quick to say that there is still work to be done in helping stragglers get over the air signals, it's clear commissioners were relieved and pleased with how smoothly the transition of some 971 stations to all digital broadcast went throughout the country on Friday.

Officials said Saturday that more than 317,000 consumer calls were made to the FCC on Friday, the highest number of calls the agency has ever had in one day. But the agency was prepared with call centers staffed 24 hours a day with a total of 4,000 live operators to answer questions. Even though call wait times were higher during peak periods, on average consumers had to wait less than five minutes for their call to be answered.

The largest volume of calls came from broadcast markets serving major cities, most notably Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore.

The FCC's Web site also got a lot of activity on Friday with more than 3.1 million page views on the www.dtv,gov site. This is more page views than the site had in all of May.

About 30 percent of the calls to the FCC call centers concerned the operation of digital boxes, the agency said. And most of those calls were resolved were instructed to "re-scan" converter boxes in order to receive the digital channels that had moved to new frequencies. More than 20 percent of the calls handled by live agents dealt with reception issues.

FCC officials said that it was hard to say exactly how many people were not prepared when the switch happened and how many are still without over-the-air broadcast TV. But according to the latest Nielsen survey conducted before the June 12 deadline, less than 3 million households across the nation were unprepared. This figure was at least half of what it had been in February.

Retailers across the country were well-stocked with digital converter boxes for last-minute shoppers, which alleviated any concerns government officials had about equipment shortages. But the agency noted that in some locations antennas were in short supply. The FCC is suggesting that consumers look online if they are unable to get an antenna from a local retailer this weekend.

Even though there was no major catastrophe or mass out-cry from the public over the switch to digital TV, acting FCC Chairman Michael Copps said the agency's work is still not complete. He said that the FCC is continuing its grassroots efforts to ensure consumers, who still aren't getting over the air TV are not left behind. He used a baseball analogy to describe where he feels the agency is right now in the transition.

"We are safe on third right now," he said. "But I'm not going to close the books on the transition or declare a home run until we solve all the consumer problems."

Still, he also pointed out that there are likely far fewer unprepared viewers now than there would have been had broadcasters switched to digital on the original February 17 deadline. Fearing that consumers were not ready for the transition early this year, Congress voted to delay the mandated transition to June 12.

Since then FCC has thrown its efforts into overdrive, working with volunteers from the public and private sector to educate consumers and provide out reach programs to install digital converter boxes for consumers.

Copps expressed his pride for the efforts of his staff and the massive coordination among the different groups working to make the DTV transition smooth.

"We turned this little regulatory agency on the Potomac into a real grass roots organization," he said.

Copps and the other FCC commissioners said that "search and rescue" efforts will continue to find and help individuals who have been left behind in this transition. FCC volunteers along with volunteers from other groups, such as AmeriCorps, are on the ground manning walk-in centers where people still needing help can go to get help. These folks are also going to door-to-door in at-risk communities to make sure that people are able to get over-the-air TV.

Broadcasters will also continue to turn up the power on their transmitters, which could help some consumers receive TV signals that they might not have been able to get previously.

NEW YORK--Louise Coleman of Brooklyn, N.Y., did everything she was supposed to do before full-power TV broadcasters in the U.S. turned off their analog TV signals and started broadcasting only in digital, but she still found herself in a Best Buy store on the DTV deadline day, Friday, buying the last amplified digital antenna on the store shelf.

An indoor amplified HDTV antenna from RCA, which is owned by Audiovox

(Credit: Audiovox)

Coleman said she had gotten her $40 coupon from the government and bought a digital converter box for her older analog TV before the first deadline for the switch to digital TV on February 17. And she even bought a new flat screen digital-ready TV for her living room to replace an old analog TV that was on its last legs. So she thought she was prepared.

But when Coleman hooked up her digital converter box to her TV using her existing antenna on the eve of the digital transition, she discovered that she could get every regular broadcast TV station except channel 2. Meanwhile, using a new TV antenna with a built-in signal amplifier attached to her digital ready flat-screen TV, she was able to get all the regular channels, plus two extra channels. So off she went to Best Buy, to pick up the very last digital TV antenna with a signal amplifier the store had in stock at a cost of $50.

"I was prepared back in February for the switch," she said. "But then when I hooked up the box last night, I realized that I wasn't getting all the channels and that I probably needed a different antenna, so here I am again."

Coleman was not alone. While much of the hoopla around the digital TV transition for the past several months has focused on whether people with older analog TVs had a digital converter box to receive digital signals, a big issue for New Yorkers on Friday when broadcasters flipped the switch to digital was finding an antenna to improve their reception.

TV antennas were in short supply in New York City Friday when full power broadcast TV stations switched to digital-only TV broadcasts.

(Credit: Marguerite Reardon CNET )

By 1 p.m. EDT the Radio Shack on 23rd Street near Park Avenue had plenty of converter boxes in the store, but it was all out of antennas. The Best Buy just down the block on 23rd Street and 6th Avenue only had a few antennas left by mid-afternoon. And by 5 p.m. a Best Buy customer service representative at the store on Broadway and 62nd Street said that antennas were sold out in Manhattan. The only stores that still had them in stock were in Queens. As for converter boxes, the representative said the store still had 242 left.

Justin Barber, a spokesman for Best Buy, said that as of Friday evening, Best Buy stores across the country were meeting demand for converter boxes. He couldn't say whether other areas around the country were experiencing antenna shortages. But he said that the company had anticipated a spike in demand.

"We have been working with our antenna vendors to get additional inventory," he said. "That was definitely something we were planning for in anticipation of the DTV switch."

It's difficult to say how widespread the potential antenna shortage has been. Mark Wigfield, a spokesman for the Federal Communications Commission, said he hadn't heard that antennas were in short supply. But he said he wasn't surprised that antennas are in high demand.

"You really do need an antenna to receive digital signals," he said.

Best Buy had plenty of digital TV converter boxes on hand for last minute shoppers.

(Credit: Marguerite Reardon CNET )

But Wigfield added that people may not need to rush out and buy a new antenna. They may be able to use the existing antenna they had used to get analog TV signals. But he said that whether the antenna is new or old, consumers should make sure it supports both UHF and VHF radio frequencies. VHF antennas have traditionally been the rabbit-ear antennas that receive channels 2-13. And UHF antennas have been in the shape of a circle or bow-tie. These antennas are used to tune channels 14-51. Now that broadcasters are only transmitting in digital, it's important to have an antenna that supports both VHF and UHF, since many digital signals are now being broadcast in UHF frequencies.

In addition to VHF/UHF antennas there are also amplified antennas that can be used to improve reception. In the case of Louise Coleman, the amplified antenna, helped her get all the standard TV channels offered in her area, as well as two more channels she couldn't get with analog TV.

But retailers caution consumers that no antenna is a one-size fits all solution, something Richard Savelli, of Manhattan learned the hard way. Savelli had bought a basic rabbit ear-style antenna from Radio Shack when he picked up his converter box earlier this year, but even with the new antenna he isn't able to tune in some digital TV channels. He was in Best Buy on Friday looking to buy a new antenna. But the pickings were rather slim.

"It is frustrating," he said. "Nobody told me I needed a special antenna. But cable is too expensive and I don't want to give them my money."

Figuring out exactly which antenna to use can be a big challenge. The FCC has some information on its Web site www.dtv.gov that provides some help. But most of the information on the Internet is about outside antennas. Still, Wigfield recommends that consumers check out the FCC Website and use a tool that allows people to put in their address and ZIP code to see where their local station transmitters are located and what kind of signal they can expect to get. There is also information available about the different types of antennas.

CNET Reviews associate editor Matthew Moskovciak says that the position of the antenna is often more important than the type of antenna used. He also says that newer converter boxes work much better than ones made just a few years. Moskovciak, who reviews antennas and digital converter boxes for CNET, has also been an over-the-air TV viewer for the past three years. And he says he has spent hours testing and figuring out which solution works best for getting digital TV signals in his Astoria, Queens, apartment.

What he has discovered is that an expensive amplified antenna did not perform as well in his apartment as a much cheaper HDTV UHF/VHF antenna. He uses an HDTV "silver sensor" antenna that costs around $35, versus $50 or more for an antenna with a signal amplifier. And he says that he not only gets more TV channels than he did with analog, but that the TV channels he is getting are much better quality in high definition and with surround sound.

A silver sensor HDTV antenna from Philips that is similar to the one CNET editor Matthew Moskovciak uses.

(Credit: CNET)

But he adds that everyone's experience is different, and that some people living in a different part of the city or even someone in his own neighborhood or building whose apartment is facing a different direction could have an easier or a harder time getting a signal with the same equipment.

So what are consumers to do? Here are a few tips that can be used to help get you started setting up your antenna for digital reception.

•  Make sure you are using an antenna that supports UHF and VHF.

•  Move your antenna closer to a window. Often it's much easier to get reception from the window.

•  Point the antenna in the direction where you know local TV stations are broadcasting. You may have to adjust the antenna for different channels.

•  Rescan your digital converter box or tuner to find the channels in case the broadcaster has moved them.

•  If you're still unable to get a signal, try a new antenna. Moskovciak recommends not buying the most expensive antenna first. Instead, he says to work your way up, trying different antennas to see which one works best. Often a less expensive antenna may work better than a more expensive one. Best Buy has a 30-day return policy, so try as many antennas as you want, and return the ones that you don't need.

"It's definitely not easy to set this up perfectly," Moskovciak said. "I've spent a lot of time getting mine set up. I have my antenna taped to the wall and pointing toward the transmitters. But I really don't watch TV all that much, so I can't justify spending another $50 a month on cable."

Virgin Mobile USA is launching a new pay-as-you-go mobile broadband service called Broadband2Go.

Novatel USB broadband modem

(Credit: Virgin Mobile USA )

The service uses Sprint's EV-DO Rev. A network. It will not require a monthly subscription nor will it require an activation fee. To use the service, people need to buy a Novatel USB broadband modem that costs about $149 from Best Buy.

The device and service will be available in late June, the company said. The service is sold in megabyte and gigabyte packages. For $10 a month, users can get 100MB of data usage for 10 days. For $20 they can get 250MB of data, and for $40 they get 600MB. The most expensive pack costs $60 and provides 1GB of data usage. These buckets of data usage are available for 30 days before they expire.

Users will be able to monitor their data usage when they connect to the wireless network, and they'll be reminded to top up their account as they near their data limit. And users can add more data to their account as often as they'd like by using a credit card or a Virgin Mobile Top-Up card.

Prepaid services for cell phones have long been popular in Europe and other parts of the world, but in the U.S. these services have traditionally served only niche markets. With the economy in a deep recession, however, prepaid is gaining steam in the United States. Consumers of all stripes are looking for good deals with no service contracts.

Regional prepaid provider Cricket, which is a subsidiary of Leap Wireless, also offers a pay-as-you-go wireless broadband service. Like the Virgin Mobile wireless broadband service, Cricket's service also doesn't require a contract. And users can get unlimited wireless broadband for $40 a month using the company's 3G wireless network.

The big nationwide wireless carriers, such as AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint Nextel, have traditionally gone after business users with their broadband wireless services. As a result, the pricing of their service is usually pretty high--around $60 to $65 a month for an unlimited plan that typically offers up to 5GB of data per month.

But the wireless data services offered with pay-as-you-go plans and no contract seem to be geared more toward consumers.

"We have seen a big opportunity to provide this service to our consumer customers who can't afford a similar service from Verizon and AT&T," said Greg Lund, senior manager of corporate communications for Cricket Communications. "A lot of these customers were on dial-up, who want broadband service. And because they're very mobile, the wireless broadband service is good fit for them."

Corrected on June 12 at 7:24 a.m. PDT: Virgin Mobile USA's 100MB data plan costs $10 and expires after 10 days. The company's 600MB offering, which expires after 30 days, costs $40. A previous version of this story misstated the expiration time of the 100MB plan and the amount of the 600MB plan.