Virgin Mobile's Canadian division will soon carry the iPhone, according to an announcement. The company has revealed few details, except that it will sell both the 3G and 3GS, and that a launch should happen sometime "in the coming months." The device will also be the carrier's first HSPA-based phone, possible through an upgraded Bell cellular network.
Google today extended its free holiday Wi-Fi deal to include 47 airports. Major stops in common destinations such as Boston, Las Vegas, Orlando and San Jose will have unrestricted wireless Internet access starting from today and lasting through to January 15th. Two of the airports, in Burbank and Seattle, will have the Wi-Fi permanently.
Sprint on Monday said it would buy out one of its affiliate carriers, iPCS, for $831 million. The deal puts the smaller company's push-to-talk iDEN phone service directly under Sprint's control and settles a legal battle between the two that had blocked Sprint from advertising its network and might have prevented Sprint from selling service in those areas. Under the new agreement, Sprint would no longer need to sell off parts of its network in iPCS areas.
Google on Monday pushed its belief in widespread Internet access with a free Wi-Fi deal with Virgin America. The team-up will give no-cost Internet access to passengers on any of the airline's current flights between November 15th and January 15th. The search engine creator sees it as a way of easing stress during the holidays by keeping up on news from the ground, though it also encourages use of Google's services in the air.
United Airlines this week began deploying Wi-Fi on some of its flights. The rollout will at first cover longer flights between California and New York and should have 13 Boeing 757 planes in United's fleet offering Internet access by mid-November. Much as with similar approaches from Virgin and other airlines, the new approach is based on Aircell's Gogo technology and shares a 3G cellular connection (typically EVDO Revision A) with the entire cabin over a Wi-Fi hotspot in the plane itself.
In an industry-first, Britain's cable TV, wireless and Internet provider Virgin Media will soon unveil an unlimited MP3 music download subscription service together with Universal Music, says a Monday report. Sources indicate the monthly fees for the service would range from the equivalent of about $16 to $25 and would allow subscribers to stream music like Internet radio or download tracks and albums from any Universal artist. The downloads would come in a DRM-free MP3 format, allowing users to burn discs or transfer them to most any portable music player.
Virgin America on Wednesday morning said it has become the first airline to offer Wi-Fi on all of its flights. The extension gives those flying to or from Boston, LA, Las Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington, DC the option of using most non-voice Internet features on any Wi-Fi equipped computer or handheld as soon as electronics are cleared for use on the plane. Virgin had originally started its access on just flights between New York and San Francisco.
AirTran Airways in collaboration with Gogo has announced it will be the first airline to provide Wi-Fi access on all its airplanes. By registering with Gogo, users can purchase a session of internet time that enables them to use most non-voice Internet features on a given trip. Prices for the in-flight internet sessions are based on what type of device the user brings with them, and for how long they will be on the flight.
Virgin Media on Wednesday began an Ashford, UK trial of what it says is the fastest cable-based Internet service on Earth. Using a high-end implementation of the DOCSIS 3 cable modem standard, the carrier says it's offering 200Mbps downloads to 100 testers; the speed is faster than 160Mbps Japanese service and twice as fast as the 101Mbps Optimum Online service in the US. The bandwidth is said sustainably high enough that Virgin is testing streaming 3D and HD video online.
Canadian cell carrier Fido is poised for an overhaul that will change its role in the market, a claim by purported sources of the Financial Post says. Under this new strategy, the Rogers sub-brand would more closely compete with Telus' Koodo, Bell's Solo and Virgin Mobile with an emphasis on lower-cost plans and a wider selection of phones than today's selection, which is partly a subset of Rogers' own lineup. Among other changes, the controversial $7 System Access Fee would be dropped to reduce the practical monthly rate.
Wal-Mart is following the actions of Microsoft, Yahoo and Virgin, shutting down its DRM (Digital Rights Management) servers on October 9. The move will render any Wal-Mart-purchased, copy protected WMA music files inert if not burned to CD prior to the server shutdown. Boing Boing is reporting that Wal-Mart has emailed customers warning them of the impending server shutdown and its effect on their collections.
The long-rumored Helio Ocean 2 has finally shown in concrete form courtesy of an FCC filing made public today. Appearing under the codename OZII, the Pantech-made dual slider matches earlier leaks and appears to primarily change the looks of the original Ocean as well as improve the software; aside from chromed trim, the device would chiefly improve by adding a full HTML web browser.
Virgin Mobile plans to carry Helio's planned Ocean sequel but doesn't have plans for it until next year, says company spokesperson Jayne Wallace. Although confirming that the device has been built and that Virgin will take over releasing the device to market, Wallace says the new Ocean isn't yet ready and that it should be launched in early 2009, when it will perform as "best" as possible. Little is known about the Pantech-made device other than that it should continue to use a dual slider and that it will have a cosmetic makeover.
Virgin Mobile today bore the first fruits of its takeover of Helio by introducing the Personal Communication Devices (formerly UTStarCom) Shuttle. The device is Virgin's first 3G phone and uses the faster EVDO network for several features that are either borrowed from Helio or were previously inaccessible to Virgin's phones, including quick access to multiple social networks as well as Buddy Beacon for finding friends and YouTube for web video.
Virgin Mobile today said the US government has greenlit its buyout of Helio. The approval comes without having to change the original terms of the deal, which hands over all of Helio's 170,000 customers and actually improves the rates Virgin pays Sprint to use its network for calls and data. It also significantly reduces Helio's debt and gives the partly Korean-owned company two seats on Virgin's board of directors.
The British music and film industries finally received the cooperation they have been seeking from Internet Service Providers in helping them fight illegal file downloading. A report on Thursday has six of the country's largest Internet providers sending warning letters to subscribers suspected of illegal file downloading and sharing. The decision to do so is commonly believed to be spurred by the British government, which announced earlier this year that it would impose its own laws forcing them to police how their services are used had they failed to cooperate voluntarily.
Korean communications giant SK Telecom is discussing buying out third-largest American cell carrier Sprint, CNBC claims. Although technically smaller than Sprint, sources say SKT hopes to bring a private equity group into the deal that would give it enough financial clout to complete the deal. The Korean company allegedly wants any takeover to occur on friendly terms and is proceeding slowly, with any possible agreement still uncertain and weeks away at the earliest.
American Airlines will begin testing in-flight Wi-Fi technology on June 25th, a report claims. The technology is expected to debut on a round-trip flight between New York City's JFK and Los Angeles' LAX, and should it be successful, it could be quickly activated on number of other AA aircraft. Some 15 Boeing 767-200 planes are said to already have Wi-Fi installed, it just being a matter of activating the routers at will.
Virgin Media today said it will be the first Internet provider to experiment with actively combat pirated content distributed across its network. The UK broadband firm has agreed to a test project that will scan for illegal copies of music and other media across the service. The monitoring will follow a three-strike rule that will see users receive a letter for a first violation; a second violation will result in a temporary suspension of Internet access, while a third will force the customer to cancel their service altogether.
