WiMAX

Apple will offer refunds to new iPad 4G buyers in Australia frustrated by the tablet's lack of LTE support, it's been revealed, along with erecting signs at retailers explaining the 4G limitations, in an attempt to avoid legal action in the country. The 4G-branded iPad came under fire from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) earlier this week, over concerns that buyers were being confused by Apple's "iPad WiFi + 4G" nomenclature since none of the actual 4G networks in the country were supported. Now, the Sydney Morning Herald reports, Apple has conceded to a workaround, though the case will still be heard in court.

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NetZero doesn’t seem to be the only provider hoping to make use of Clearwire’s WiMAX service with its freemium model. The founder of Skype, Niklas Zennstrom, is hoping to offer a similar service with FreedomPop, although instead of offering a MiFi or USB stick, FreedomPop will aim to offer an iPhone case with a built in WiMAX radio.

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NetZero has launched a new, low-cost 4G data network, NetZero 4G Mobile Broadband, offering contract-free access from $9.95 per month. Available in around 80 US cities, the new Mobile Broadband system offers a choice of a USB modem or a WiFi hotspot for up to eight devices simultaneously, while 4G service itself can be intentionally speed-capped so as to prolong the data allowance.

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Clearwire is currently in the process of migrating from WiMAX to LTE, but there was a slight bump in the road when Google announced at the end of February it was selling its existing stock in the company, well below the market value. The 6.5% stake was sold for $47 million at $1.60 a share, below the $2.27 asking price at the time. Clearwire has today announced a new partnership with Cricket, which will see the budget wireless provider making use of Clearwire’s LTE network when it’s eventually built.

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Google has ditched its stake in Clearwire, selling off its 6.5-percent of Class A stock in the WiMAX carrier for $47m, well below market value. The news was confirmed in a SEC filing today, with a separate letter from Google revealing that Google is looking for $1.60 per share, while Clearwire stock is currently selling for $2.27.

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HTC has unveiled its latest 4G smartphone, the HTC EVO Design 4G, offering WiMAX and World Phone connectivity with a 4-inch qHD display and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Priced at $99.99 with a new, two-year agreement, the EVO Design 4G runs a 1.2GHz single-core processor and throws in a 5-megapixel rear camera - with HD video capture and an LED flash - along with a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera.

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The LTE push in the US continues to gather pace, with Sprint announcing that it will launch its own LTE in mid-2012 using the 1900MHz band. The new 4G network is expected to be built out by 2013, PCMag's Sascha Segan reports, with WiMAX devices - using the 4G network the carrier has so far been pushing - remaining on sale through 2012.

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Apple will overlook 4G in the fifth-gen iPhone expected to be unveiled today, sources suggest, with HSPA+ tipped as the fastest mobile connectivity option in the new device. Neither LTE nor WiMAX will be part of the iPhone 5 package, say the WSJ's tipsters, with Apple instead believed to be sticking with slower - but tried & tested - 3G standards.

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If there's one measure of a device's popularity and success, it's the willingness of a single company to bet their entire livelihood on future sales. That's quite possibly what's happening right this second behind the scenes at Sprint, where the 3rd largest mobile carrier in America appears to be making a multibillion dollar deal with Apple which will score them an exclusive deal with the iPhone 5. Sound like a possibility? Would Apple be swayed by $20 billion dollars from the pockets of Sprint, a deal that wouldn't even have Sprint breaking even until 2014? We shall see!

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Sprint took a big risk when it chose existing WiMax tech for its 4G networks. The hope was that the WiMax networks would already be widely available before the roll out of LTE started giving Sprint a leg up in the 4G race. That leg up never happened and LTE and WiMax are now fighting on even footing in many markets. Sprint had announced a while back that it was looking at rolling out its own LTE networks along with WiMax tech.

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A 7-inch ASUS Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablet has been revealed, the ASUS TOUGH ETBW11AA, offering both water and dust resilience along with WiMAX connectivity. The 1280 x 800 tablet, which Impress got to play with as it made its way to carrier KDDI, runs NVIDIA's dual-core 1GHz Tegra 2 processor paired with 16GB of onboard storage.

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The Samsung EPIC 4G Touch has gone on sale, finally bringing a Galaxy S II variant to the US market. The 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus smartphone - which we reviewed earlier this week - packs a 1.2GHz dual-core Samsung Exynos processor and an 8-megapixel camera capable of Full HD video recording. There's also WiMAX for high-speed connectivity on the move.

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