The project will initially involve building a solid fiber backbone. Once this infrastructure is completed, then Google Fiber can connect into homes across Kansas City. It will involve laying down thousands of miles of cables across Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri.

The cables contain many glass fibers about the width of a human hair and can deliver data at 1Gbps speeds. The network will be tested for supporting gaming applications and intensive graphics programs.

The bulk of the changes are aimed at cutting out waste and abuse in the Lifeline program, which has been around for 25 years. The changes include setting up the National Lifeline Accountability Database that will prevent the subsidies from being funneled to multiple phone carriers on behalf of the same family or individual. The changes will also make a more streamlined way to determine if a family or individual qualifies for free service.

The changes also mean that homes with multiple families living in the home will count all families and their income to determine eligibility. The goal of the FCC is to save $2 billion over the next three years and funnel some of that money into a program to pay for rural broadband tests. The rural broadband test program is called the Broadband Adoption Pilot Program. The savings goal from the Lifeline subsidy for 2012 is $200 million, with $25 million of those funds earmarked for the new broadband pilot.

[via The Verge]

The initial plans for the wireless broadband service were shot down due to interference with many GPS devices on the market right now. LightSquared came back with an alternative plan with a lower powered service that it said would not interfere as badly. Even those plans are being frowned on by the FCC, and it appears that LightSquared may be dead before it starts.

A letter from the FAA has been published that used tests by a panel of nine experts in different government agencies and departments. The conclusion was that LightSquared posed a risk of dangerous interference with GPS devices. LightSquared has argued in the past that GPS has no right to protection and that the GPS makers had poorly designed devices. The insinuation by LightSquared was that it’s not its wireless service but shoddy GPS designs that allow interference.

In the UK, government-run turned private telecoms company British Telecom runs the so-called “last mile” of telephone networks. This final connection between the local exchange and users’ homes are what can cause a bottleneck for other DSL broadband providers, like Sky: if they want to do any work on new connections or maintenance, they must contract it out to BT’s engineers rather than do it themselves.

Installing a new cable network – or building out a huge wireless system – would obviously involve considerable investment on Sky’s part, but the upshot would be a system entirely within the company’s control. That could have long-term financial impact, as well as reduce customer frustration when Sky service is interrupted and the company has to look both to its network and that of BT in order to narrow down the fault.

Actually doing that would demand Sky partially replicating or replacing the 5,000 or so BT exchanges, which makes its hotspot wireless roll-out look simple in comparison. According to reports, both are still being tested, though there’s no indication when, exactly, a public launch might take place.

“The internet plays an important role in the lives of citizens, consumers and industry. We now expect and depend on access to the content and services it has to offer” Ofcom CEO Ed Richards said. “Ofcom is now looking to the ISPs to ensure that transparent information is available, and will look to intervene if it does not see improvements.”

The organization has set out three key factors which ISPs must explain clearly: the average speed users should expect, how any traffic management such as throttling might impact service, and details on which services – if any – are specifically blocked. “ISPs should not use the term ‘internet access’ to refer to a service that blocks lawfully available internet services” Ofcom concludes.

If ISPs don’t step up their game, “then Ofcom could use its powers to impose minimum quality of service levels”: that’s not just on how limits are communicated, but which limits themselves are applied. A Net Neutrality framework was passed into UK law earlier this year.

The program was first announced back in early August and is part of Comcast’s regulatory obligation after its NBC Universal acquisition. The service cannot increase in price over time and there are no rental or activation fees. Generally all families that meet the low-income qualifications can apply unless the family has outstanding bills with Comcast or has been a customer within the past 90 days.

Eligibility for the program depends on individual circumstances, but families with at least one child in the National School Lunch Program will qualify. A family of four making less than $29,055 a year should qualify for the program, while a family of three making less than $25,000 a year should be able to qualify as well.

[via Ars Technica]

The new program is part of Comcast’s regulatory obligation after having acquired NBC Universal last year. Although individual circumstances will affect eligibility, a rough estimate is that a family of four making $29,055 per year would qualify for the scheme, while a family of three making less than $25,000 would also qualify.

Comcast promises no price increases, rental fees or activation fees, and sign-ups will be accepted as long as they have no outstanding bills with the company and haven’t been a customer in the past 90 days. Obviously you’ll also need to live in an area with Comcast service, too. Service will begin in the 2011-12 school year.

[via NPR]

Guerra calls the project super WiFi and the system takes the normal WiFi signals and shifts them over to the TV station frequency. The student has already tested the system in a home where the cities free WiFi signals didn’t reach thanks to lots of tall trees surrounding the property. Super WiFi could get the single to the home even though it was a mile from the All Wi-Fi transmission tower that sent the free broadband service.

The system that Guerra designed uses components like an off the shelf 2.4GHz WiFi card on a Linux computer and the card’s frequency was connected to a frequency translator developed by Alcatel Lucent. This is the key bit of magic that downshifts the WiFi signals to the empty channels in the 563MHz frequency. The output from the translator was connected to a TV antenna set up outside the home.

[via Gizmowatch]

The agreement will see passengers on JetBlue flights get access to the ViaSat Ka-band satellite technology that allows for more bandwidth and faster speeds than existing in-flight internet access providers. The agreement between the companies is worth about $30 million.

It will see Ka-band terminals installed into the JetBlue fleet hat has 170 aircraft. ViaSat will install the broadband terminals into the Airbus A320 aircraft that JetBlue operates as well as the Embraer E190 jets. JetBlue will be the first to get the Ka-band service and installation in aircraft is expected to start in 2012.

The ATRIX is a HSUPA-capable device, and we currently are performing the testing and preparations necessary to ensure that, when we turn this feature on, you will continue to have a world class experience.

AT&T hasn’t quite gotten their act together as quick as they had hoped with this one. Sometimes the real answer is that these systems are technically the bleeding edge, and it’s not some conspiracy to keep you from achieving your top speeds on the wireless internet. Here’s a little help discerning the technical specs from behind the marketing malarkey surrounding the wireless broadband available on the market.

3G, 4G, LTE, HSPA, WiMax

I could go into a Wikipedia-esque discussion of all of the various mobile data standards since the dawn of mobile data standards, but I’d rather not. I’m going to focus on disambiguation of a few of these key terms and let you know what you really need to know. If you haven’t heard of LTE, HSPA, or WiMax before, don’t be alarmed. They’re just protocols to govern wireless and mobile data transmission. They set standards so that your device can talk to any similarly equipped cellular tower

It makes it easier that these technologies are already cleanly divided along service provider lines. LTE has been deployed in the US by Verizon and MetroPCS. WiMax is the realm of Clearwire and Sprint. AT&TMo are known to use HSPA to provide their broadband. Of course these lines are shifting with the shakeups going on in the market, but that’s how things are currently arrayed.

HSUPA

What is HSUPA? Does it make sense that it was turned off? Should we clamor for AT&T’s summary execution? HSUPA is a part of the HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) wireless telecommunications protocol. It’s the part that lets you upload quickly. The HSUPA (The U stands for Uplink) works along side HSDPA (Downlink) to provide the whole protocol, HSPA. Get it? Really, the fact that this portion of the system was delayed is not really a surprise to anyone who has ever imagined the amount of real infrastructure that goes into producing the end-user-experience we expect. Honestly, whenever a telcom rolls out an upgrade project of this magnitude, it’s hilarious if anyone doesn’t expect delays in something. HSUPA was where the slack had to be this time, no big deal. Hey, AT&T, just let us know what the deal is before we have to go to the Better Business Bureau.

What’s up with all of these G’s? How many G’s do I need again?

The G designation on all of these various technologies is a generational marker by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Most smartphone users are more than happy with their current 3G connection. It allows for mobile e-mail browsing, web-surfing, and some amount of streaming video. I’ve enjoyed Netflix on my iPhone with no hiccups. With all that the 3G is able to deliver, it’s still all about the 4G. Or if you’re not into the whole brevity thing, the 4th Generation of Mobile Telephony Standards. None of the technologies available on the market can currently hang with the ITU’s 4G requirements. The ITU set “peak speed requirements for 4G service at 100 Megabits per second for high mobility communication (such as from trains and cars) and 1 Gbps for low mobility communication (such as pedestrians and stationary users).”

LTE vs WiMax vs HSPA

WiMax and LTE are standards that come from different organizational origins. WiMax comes from the side of the IEEE, known for bringing you the collection of standards we dub Wi-Fi. This standard Wi-Fi connection is governed by a set of protocols collectively known as 802.11. WiMax is governed by a set of protocols collectively known as 802.16. LTE is a product of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), spawned from the international GSM standard. “Work on LTE has been going on since 2004, building on the GSM/UMTS family of standards that dates from 1990″

My friend, Robert Evans, recently sang of the death of WiMax. The standard has had a good run of it since they’ve had NTT DoCoMo of Japan coming after it since 2004. What? You don’t remember when NTT DoCoMo called for LTE or Long Term Evolution, to become the international standard for wireless communication? Neither did I. Even with six years in the making, the long term goals of LTE have not yet been made manifest, as the standard is still considered to be a third generation communication technology as it’s currently deployed. Full fourth generation wireless transmissions will be coming out this year with specifications like the LTE Advanced.

We will continue to see increased transmission speeds and decreased latency via wireless over the next few years, regardless of the protocol in which the packets are scribed.

Read more about what’s going on with your wireless at Android Community.

[via Gadget Lab]

Sprint Direct Connect will triple the current square-mile reach for groups using Sprint’s push-to-talk service. It will also have the “best-ever” in-building coverage. Data bandwidth capacity on the network will also be increased as this new service is deployed.

The initial handsets for the Sprint Direct Connect launch will be rugged devices from Motorola and Kyocera. They will feature most of the capabilities of current Sprint push-to-talk phones as well as next-gen push-to-talk apps and high speed data access, hi-res cameras, and Bluetooth. The changes are expected for Q4 with more features coming in 2012.

Press release:

Sprint unveils new Gold Standard in Push-to-Talk

Planned 4Q launch of Sprint Direct Connect will offer increased push-to-talk coverage, more broadband data capabilities, new features – and more enhancements to come as Sprint Network Vision deploys

Overland Park, Kan., March 16, 2011 – Sprint (NYSE: S) today announced plans to expand its gold-standard push-to-talk leadership, unveiling fourth-quarter launch plans for next-generation push-to-talk capabilities powered by Sprint’s broadband CDMA network. As part of the launch, Sprint will offer an initial set of handsets packed with features designed for workgroups that rely on push-to-talk and establish a new push-to-talk brand – Sprint® Direct Connect®.

Sprint Direct Connect service is being built to deliver higher bandwidth capacity to keep up with customers’ demand for data. Sprint also is working to deliver enhanced applications on Sprint Direct Connect, best-ever in-building coverage and is planning to provide triple the square-mile reach of Sprint’s current push-to-talk service.
Sprint Direct Connect will launch with an initial portfolio of rugged devices from Motorola and Kyocera. The devices will feature most of the capabilities available on current Sprint push-to-talk phones, plus next-generation push-to-talk applications and functionality including high-speed data access, high-resolution cameras and Bluetooth®. The planned portfolio will include an ultra-rugged camera flip phone and an Android™ Smartphone with a touch screen and a QWERTY keyboard. In 2012, Sprint expects to deepen its push-to-talk portfolio, adding more devices with new form factors and features.
The devices are expected to enable group push-to-talk for up to 200 participants, Land Mobile Radio (LMR) interoperability, and availability notification. In early 2012, Sprint Direct Connect is expected to add more capabilities, including international push-to-talk.

Network Vision
Sprint Direct Connect service is a tangible benefit of Network Vision, Sprint’s blueprint to deploy a cost-effective and innovative network. Announced in December, Network Vision is expected to consolidate multiple network technologies into one seamless network resulting in enhanced coverage, quality and speed; better network flexibility; reduced operating costs; and improved environmental sustainability. The plan includes a complete upgrade of Sprint’s current wireless networks accompanied by changes in device chipsets and network infrastructure.

The benefits of Network Vision to Sprint’s PTT customers will be wide-ranging:

Better coverage and capacity

* Push-to-talk coverage footprint is planned to increase to nearly 2.7 million square miles and is expected to cover a population of 309 million (with the addition of 1xrtt and roaming coverage) – an increase from the iDEN network’s 908,370 square miles covering a population 278 million.
* In-building coverage is expected to improve significantly through investment in the most advanced CDMA technology and radio equipment.
* Voice and data capacity is expected to increase significantly as Sprint will be able to fully leverage its industry leading spectrum holdings in 800 MHz, 1.9 GHz, and – through its partnership with Clearwire – 2.5 GHz.

With Sprint Direct Connect, Sprint expects:

* More push-to-talk enabled devices including handsets, rugged devices, and PDAs that combine industry leading push-to-talk and mobile broadband data services over a larger coverage area.
* Enhanced features for push-to-talk users on the new CDMA platform.
* Interoperability with all existing Sprint push-to-talk devices.

During the nationwide implementation of Network Vision, Sprint expects to continue operating the iDEN network at current best-ever performance levels. As the customer base shifts to more broadband-centric push-to-talk applications on the CDMA network and Sprint launches Sprint Direct Connect, iDEN cell sites are expected to be phased out in 2013.
“Our customers are asking for broadband push-to-talk now,” said Paget Alves, president-Sprint Business. “We’ve seen steadily increasing demand for faster data speeds, better and broader coverage, and more applications on push-to-talk devices. Sprint Direct Connect is designed to solve for all three, and is expected to come with sub-second push-to-talk call set-up time initially in Sprint CDMA RevA coverage areas. Sub-second call set up is expected to expand across the U.S. with the implementation of Network Vision.”
Alves added, “We believe the new push-to-talk service powered by a broadband network and featuring competitively priced rugged handsets and smart phones will represent an unmatched offering in the market.”
Sprint plans to identify customers who require custom push-to-talk solutions and assist with their migration to the CDMA network. The company also plans to engage partners in developing a robust portfolio of push-to-talk accessories and involve developers in the creation of new applications through its Sprint Gets Rugged application developers program. The program will provide information, support and tools needed to port developers’ applications to Sprint Direct Connect devices. More information on the Sprint Gets Rugged application developers program can be found at http://developer.sprint.com/SprintGetsRugged. Sprint will hold a conference on March 22 at the International CTIA WIRELESS® meeting in Orlando for developers who are interested.

Apparently, the cap for DSL subscribers will be 150GB monthly. If you are a U-Verse subscriber, the cap will be 250GB monthly. These tidbits came from AT&T representative Seth Bloom at SXSW in Austin. If a customer goes over those data limits, they will be charged $10 for each additional 50GB block of data.

Bloom says that users that go over the caps will get a onetime grace period and after that, the user will be notified when they have reached 65% of the monthly allowed data and notified again at 90% and at 100% used. Bloom says the average AT&T DSL user only consumes 18GB per month and a small amount of customers will be affected by the change.

[via Gigaom]

Obama compared expanding wireless networks to building highways, railroads, and expanding electricity across the country in earlier decades. Right now, just 65 percent of US homes have broadband internet service. “When it comes to high-speed internet, the lights are still off in one-third of our households.”, he said. Expanding broadband internet will give people in rural areas easier access to information, and opportunities outside their hometowns.

In his state of the union speech, Obama committed 4G high-speed wireless services available to at least 98 per cent of Americans within five years.

Details include:

• A goal to free up 500 MHz of radio spectrum, mainly for mobile broadband. Obama proposes financial incentives to encourage companies and government agencies to release some of their spectrum they hold so it can be auctioned off for this purpose.
• A one-time $5-billion investment in the construction of 4G networks in rural areas. Obama noted that private companies don’t expand there on their own because it isn’t profitable.
• A $3-billion fund to support research, testing and development of “key technological developments” to enable and take advantage of the 4G rollout.
• $10.7 billion to develop and deploy a nationwide interoperable wireless network for public safety and emergency services.
• Using $27.8 billion raised from the proposed auctions of government and commercial spectrum to cut the national deficit by $9.6 billion over the next decade.

[via CBC News]

In the letter, Comcast says that they would be willing to, maybe, provide some households with their previously unpublished Economy speeds. Price wise, customers would have to pay only $10 per month for the access. To be considered for the cheaper prices, though, your home would have to make $20,000 or less per year. Additionally, there would have to be one child in the household that is part of the No Child Left Behind program. So, if you do not have a child, or make more money than what Comcast would require of you, these options would not be possible.

Comcast also outlined their plans for expansion, noting that they would cover over 400,000 more homes within the next three years. However, that seems to be only about 2.3 percent more than what they already cover, so the expansion isn’t likely a reason that the FCC would consider the proposal.

As of right now, the FCC hasn’t said whether or not they will extend the conditions or accept the proposal from Comcast.

[via Electronista]

According to the report, Google’s experimental run of a 1Gbps broadband network will cover 850 homes on the Stanford University campus’ Residential Subdivision. Google, not wanting to waste any time, plans on starting the installation of the network early in 2011. Interestingly enough, though, Google says that this experiment has nothing to do with the “Fiber for Communities” project that Google announced at the beginning of the year, which would see the same speeds installed across the United States.

As of right now, Google seems to be in the planning stages. With the installation process still a few months out, there’s no need for Google to rush into the experiment. This will be the company’s way of showing what a 1Gbps broadband network can do, so this will be the Betas of all Betas for Google.

[via Google Blog]

The speedy broadband network was extended to the rural village after an agreement with Surf Telecoms, which is a power distribution service in the area. The people in the village will now get access to 50Mb speeds and the trial will start next month.

The fiber network was installed using the existing power poles in the area rather than having to try to bury the lines or run them in another manner. Along with broadband, the network Virgin Media has installed will also provide access to TV services. I wish someone would start offering faster speeds using new installation methods here in the broadband backwater that is the rural US.

Obama and the FCC are working on a national broadband plan with the goal of getting 100 million homes on 100Mbps connections by 2020. Some US Senators are now asking the FCC if its goals are too modest. Senator Daniel Inouye asked FCC chairman Julius Genachowski, “What is the FCC’s rationale for a vision that appears to be firmly rooted in the second tier of countries?”

The thing about the national broadband plan that bothers the senators is that the 100Mbps speeds will be limited to larger urban areas. Those living in rural locations can hope for 4Mbps connections at best. Genachowski says that the broadband plan goals are “aggressive” and the plan will reevaluate the 4Mbps target ever year or so. He also points out that the median speed of broadband purchased today is 4Mbps. The question in my mind on that statement is if the reason that is the media speed purchased because that is the best that many Americans can get affordably.

Bill Kula, the spokesperson we just mentioned, Verizon is planning on releasing a home WiFi router that works with their FiOS fiber optic service. This new router will support the 802.11 b/g/n WiFi standard, which means you’ll be able to browse the Internet even faster than you already are. Good news for all those FiOS customers out there, we’d say.

Right now, the new broadband router is being internally tested, as Verizon aims to get it fully integrated with its current systems without a hitch for its debut in July or August of this year. And, if 802.11n wasn’t good enough for you, it’s also going to include a Gigabit Ethernet connection. Unfortunately, probably because it isn’t close enough to a release date, Kula couldn’t divulge the price for the new home router.

[via DSL Reports]

The FCC announced recently that it wants ISPs in America to target speeds of 100Mbps for broadband over the next ten years. Verizon and AT&T have already said that the 100Mbps number will be almost impossible to hit in the next decade. While the ISPs in America complain about not being able to hit 100Mbps in a decade, Virgin Media customers in the UK will get 100Mbps by the middle of 2011.

Virgin announced that it would offer 100Mbps connections to every one of its 3.8 million UK customers in 2011. The super-fast speed comes courtesy of the fiber optic network Virgin Media owns. The new connections will be 24 times faster than the average connection in the UK today. Virgin offered no indication of what the 100Mbps service will cost customers.

With the new system in place, Google are hoping to experiment with new uses of high-speed connectivity.  That could include bandwidth-intensive applications and services, together with looking at the physical ways in which fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) is deployed.

While they’re not taking sign-ups as yet, Google are calling for information – from communities and from service providers – to help them decide on their initial roll-out areas.  Responses will be accepted until March 26th, and you can register your details here.

BendBroadband itself is a small, family-owned cable operator based out of Bend, tucked away in the Pacific Northwest. Their launch of the Evolved HSPA makes them the first company in the United States to make the technology available, in a commercial aspect. T-Mobile USA is set to bring the technology to a more wide-spread customer base, but for right now they have only a trial network running in Philadelphia. The excitement for HSPA+ stems from the sheer speed provided by the upgraded 3G tech, with downstream connectivity reaching 56 Mbps, and an upstream connection of 22 Mbps.

BendBroadband is able to reach speeds of 15 Mbps, but says it will be more realistic to reach between 6 and 8 Mbps for its customers. In addition, the company can offer broadband and voice services to several more rural areas that may have been unable to connect to these services previously. The broadband connections proper will come with two variations: mobile and fixed, and they will cost anywhere between $20 and $80 a month. Anyone out there in the Bend area able to try this yet? This just seems like a great indicator of what’s to come, especially if small companies like BendBroadband are starting to push out next-generation technologies.

[via GigaOm]

So we’ve got the pigeon Winston, which got a 4GB USB memory stick strapped to its leg before it was tossed into the air, and sent on its way. The pigeon’s path was from Durban to Howick, which is 60 miles, and it only took the pigeon one hour and eight minutes to make the trip. How long did it take South Africa’s largest ISP, Telkom? It had only managed 4% of the same amount of data, in two hours.

So, in two hours it got 4% of 4GB of information, while it took a pigeon an hour. Telkom is obviously saying that their broadband is not slower than a pigeon, stating that there have been improvements suggested to all of their customers, but that have effectively, to this point in time, not been accepted or utilized. We’d say that considering it’s been done, showing the opposite, that perhaps their broadband is indeed slower than a pigeon. But this is a one-time event, and maybe everyone in South Africa was trying to download something at the same time. Who knows.

[via T3]

Unboxing video after the cut

Like the Verizon MiFi, you can choose from an unsecured connection (not advised, considering there’s a 5GB data cap and $0.05/MB overage charges) through WEP, WPA and WPA2 encryption.  There’s also a firewall and the battery is rated for up to 40hrs standby or four hours of use.

In the box there’s a sleeve case for the MiFi, printed instruction guide, AC adapter and a USB cable.  The main difference between the Sprint MiFi and the Verizon MiFi – aside from case color – is that Sprint offer access to the hardware’s GPS receiver, where Verizon don’t.  Sprint say that can be used to access mapping and location-based services, which is something we’ll be testing out the usefulness of over the next couple of days.

As for speed, while obviously it’s tough to compare two different networks and it’ll be dependent on your location, we’re finding that the Verizon version offers almost twice the download speed and more than double the upload speed of the Sprint MiFi.  Ping times are halved, too.  There’s no reason to suspect that there’s anything hardware-related affecting those speeds, so right now we’re putting the shortfall down to Sprint’s network.

We’ll have the full Sprint MiFi 2200 review very soon, so until then enjoy the unboxing video!

The package is actually “virtually unlimited” and called the Turbo package. It will cost $75 a month and provide you with 100GB of usage. However, there are overage charges associated this this plan. The cost is $1/GB for each that’s over 100GB. However, once you reach $75 in charges, you aren’t charged anymore. This is what makes the plan unlimited. Sort of.

Other packages include the Limited Package for super light users at a rate of 1GB/month (768KB down, 128KB up) with $2/GB overage charges. There are also the Road Runner Lite, Basic, and Standard packages that offer 10GB, 20GB and 40GB caps, respectively. These feature a $1/GB overage charge. In all honesty, this idea of “capping” the data cap overage charges themselves is a bit odd. Wouldn’t a $150/month unlimited plan make the most sense?

Cell phone carriers can now subside the cost of netbooks in exchange for a service agreement, much like they do with mobile phones. From what we can read in the flyer, RadioShack will start this amazing deal just in time for Christmas on December 14th. If you’re dedicated to sticking out your two-year plan, we suggest picking one of these up.

However if you’re on the fence about it just take a look at the numbers. The Acer Aspire One alone costs $499; with the play you will be paying about $1,440 over the course of two years, that’s almost three times the amount of the netbook itself. The $60 a month fee may seem a little steep to mobile customers, but given a lot of use this may in the end be a great value. There is always the option of buying the Aspire One straight out and getting a mobile broadband card for much less a month with the option to use it with any computer you wish. It all comes down to one question, is this deal worth it?

In case you need a refresher, the HP Mini 1000 is a very small netbook that features a 10.2-inch BrightView display, a large keyboard and weighs just a tad over 2 pounds. It also features a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor and a webcam.

Apparently, now you can activate the WWAN on the Mini 1000 by using the HP Connection Manager 1.1. This makes it so a single connection can be made for all HP Minis and Notebooks. Pretty simple stuff. Plus, it supports GSM and CDMA networks. You can start adding the mobile broadband option starting today for an added $199 on top of the standard Mini 1000 cost.