Network Operator Archive

  • SFR becomes second Euro carrier to launch femtocell service

    SFR becomes second Euro carrier to launch femtocell service

    Following Vodafone's lead, France's SFR has now become the second network operator in Europe to launch femtocell service for its signal-strapped customers. The Ubiquisys-sourced unit is being sold under the SFR Home 3G brand and runs €199 ($300), so you'd better really need a couple extra bars before you take the plunge -- though the good news is that they're not laying down any arbitrary restrictions requiring you to use it with SFR's DSL service. Coincidentally, SFR is minority-owned by Vodafone, so the move makes some sense -- so whether femtocells take off in Europe among any carriers without Voda interest remains to be seen.

    SFR becomes second Euro carrier to launch femtocell service originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

    Permalink | Email this | Comments

    Full Story

  • T-Mobile launches Pulse, first pay-as-you-go Android phone

    T-Mobile launches Pulse, first pay-as-you-go Android phone

    T-Mobile UK this morning announced the Pulse, the first pay-as-you-go Android 1.5 smartphone and the third coming from the network operator. Available for £180 starting October exclusively on T-Mobile, it boasts a 3.5" HVGA touchscreen display, the biggest yet on an Android handset, a 3.2-megapixel camera and a TeleNav-powered GPS (more specs below). The new device comes courtesy of Huawei, which had been rumored to be working with T-Mobile since displaying a device at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year. More details about the device: The phone runs on a Qualcomm's MSM7200A chipset and weighs 130g. It features a trackball and a 3.5" HVGA touchscreen display with auto-rotation. The T-Mobile Pulse also features a 3.2 mega pixel, auto-focus camera (no flash) that allows photos to be uploaded straight to the Internet, a 2GB internal memory and a micro SD card slot for storing media. The handset also offers access to corporate e-mail through the Road sync client, and boasts enhanced social networking and community features.

    Full Story

  • Meet Cherry, the unified Wi-Fi / GSM network operator that introduces automatic handover

    Meet Cherry, the unified Wi-Fi / GSM network operator that introduces automatic handover

    The chances of me being genuinely amazed at something I see a Belgian tech company achieve are rather slim. But occasionally, it happens. Last week I went to local entrepreneur meetup BetaGroup and saw five startups pitch their stuff to the 200-headed audience. The last one to get its five minutes of fame was Cherry, a new mobile operator that promised to "revolutionize the telecom world". Needless to say, I was as curious as I was skeptical. Then the company's CEO got up on stage, introduced himself, took out his Nokia smartphone, called some random guy in the audience and had him call him back on his phone afterwards. Projecting his mobile phone screen on a bigger screen for everyone to see, he demonstrated how he didn't need to launch an application and just browsed his contact list to call the other person. Standard functionality, sure, but the cool part of it was the fact that the phone was lacking the presence of a SIM card, which is supposed to identify you as a subscriber of a telephony service.

    Full Story