GM has confirmed OnStar 4G pricing for the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac models getting baked-in LTE this year, including supporting tagging your car onto your existing AT&T Mobile Share plan. Plans for those without AT&T service but signed up for OnStar will kick off at $5 for 200MB of data per month, rising to $50 for 5GB.
Virgin Mobile has announced a new hotspot that uses its Broadband2go coverage plan called the Netgear Mingle mobile hotspot. The device is able to connect up to ten smartphones, tablets, or computers to the internet at one time via a shared mobile broadband connection. One of the coolest features of the device is its LCD screen.
Getting your notebook or other gadgets online if you've a big budget but no local service - say, perhaps, because you're desperate for WiFI in the desert or a remote jungle - is suddenly easier, with Globalstar and Iridium wading into the super-niche satellite data hotspot market. Globalstar's Sat-Fi and Iridium's Go! each promise the sort of cellular data sharing we're familiar with from mobile hotspots, only tapping into each company's satellite networks for coverage around the world.
Voice, data, and a battery backup for those times when ice storms take out your landline: that's the promise Novatel Wireless' MiFi Home is making, also known as the Verizon 4G LTE Broadband Router with Voice. Unwieldy name but the hardware does a fair amount: like a traditional MiFi it'll share a mobile data connection, but plug a regular wired phone in and you can also make voice calls as if it were a landline, too.
ZTE did a bit of teasing pre-CES, and now that the show has begun, we have been able to get some hands-on time with the various items. There were some smartphones and the Iconic Phablet, however one stuck out a bit, the ZTE Projector Hotspot. This one is as the name would suggest and serves as both a projector and mobile hotspot.
Chevrolet has detailed its "Connected by OnStar" 4G intentions for 2014, confirming which of the cars in its range will be first to get AT&T LTE as standard, and we went hands-on with some of the first apps for the new connected car platform. First announced back at Mobile World Congress 2013, the scheme will see 4G connectivity no longer the preserve of luxury vehicles alone, with GM choosing a spread of cars from the cheapest Spark through to the feistiest Corvette Stingray to be among the first models to go online. It's not just turning a car into a mobile hotspot, either; Chevrolet aims to use the technology to demystify the whole vehicle ownership experience.
ZTE isn't ready to show you its new phablet, mini-projector-and-WiFi-hotspot combo, BlueWatch smartwatch, and other fresh gear its prepared for CES 2014 quite yet, but that's not going to stop it from talking about them ahead of the show. The company has at least eight new products, including the Grand S II flagship with triple-microphone noise reduction and what sounds like similar voice control features to the Moto X, a 5.7-inch Iconic Phablet with a quadcore processor, wireless charging, and split-screen apps to show two programs simultaneously, and the ZTE BlueWatch, a combination fitness tracker and smartphone remote for the wrist.
Tesla's in-car telematics system relies on AT&T's HSPA+ network, the carrier has confirmed for the first time, part of AT&T's attempt to push its new mobility options which include intelligent SIMs that can split payments between car manufacturers and drivers. The system, which Tesla currently uses for sending telematics and car status data from the Model S back to home base, as well as to stream media content to the dashboard and show other infotainment content, will soon be opened up to using the car as a mobile hotspot, allowing passengers to get online through a shared connection.
T-Mobile has just launched a new device that will allow its subscribers to share their fast 4G LTE connection with family and friends. But don't be deceived by its name as the Samsung LTE Mobile HotSpot PRO is more than just your average mobile hotspot and is, in fact, something all road warriors might want to have in their arsenal.
MiFi creator Novatel Wireless is developing a new home hub, dubbed the "MiFi Tower", not only cutting the cord on traditional voice and data, but integrating smart home functionality as well. The LTE device, already in testing and outlined during the company's recent financial results call, is billed as "MiFi Powered" and blurring the distinction "between fixed line and cellular infrastructure" with home connectivity, digital phone service, and internet access all wrapped up in a portable device that, one day, could enable total migration of voice and data services to IP-based equivalents.
iPhone and iPad users who use their iOS device to share a 3G/4G connection are being advised to change the default Mobile Hotspot password, after researchers showed it was possible to crack them in under sixty seconds. Apple supplies mobile hotspot users with a preconfigured password when they enable the feature, but the default is generated from a limited number of dictionary words, researchers at the University of Erlangen in Germany discovered. With some GPU-accelerated brute-force shuffling, the team managed to break into any iOS hotspot using the default password within 50s.
T-Mobile's first 4G LTE hotspot has been revealed through a press image. The 4G LTE hotspot will be called the T-Mobile Sonic 2.0 Mobile HotSpot LTE. The device is set to launch on March 27th, but the pricing for the device is still unknown. The hotspot features a very simple, black design with a power button, navigation buttons, and a colored display. The display shows your connection info, battery life, settings menu, number of people connected to the hotspot, and more.
