Snow Leopard to support native 3G Wireless WAN hardware

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  • Reply 21 of 37
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,851member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    I hope you aren't right. I'd get a new Mac if they included this card, even if it meant going to a 15" MBP over the nice and tiny 13" MB. My current USB 3G card finally broke at the USB port after so much abuse but they cost a couple hudrend to replace so I soldered the wires to an old USB cord. They were only about 1/2" long and about 4 strands of wire so the procedure was quite difficult. Especually when you consider that I was on the road, bought a soldering kit at a Walmart and use a socket on the outside of the building near their automative service center on the pavement while laying down so I could be more stable and closer. Surprisingly it works.



    As would I and many people I know. Maybe AT&T will enhance their plan to include a MacBook and an iPhone like a buddy system we now have for two phones. It's a no brainer this will happen in some form on laptops just to fill in the ever shrinking Wi-Fi gaps. 3G will be old very soon too, maybe those soon to be not used TV frequencies could be useful?
  • Reply 22 of 37
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,953member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ndbbm View Post


    With the newer gobi chipsets they will work on gsm or cdma. So as long as Apple doesn't lock it, you should be able to use it with any provider.



    I didn't know that Gobi crossed that divide, I assumed it didn't because it was Qualcomm.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dkwiseguy View Post


    Now if only we can fix a little problem called "the sim card" at the same time! I hope for my new iphone to rid that legacy.



    BTW: a 3G enabled tablet would be nice! I think online Timemachine, push via Whisperner, iphone tethering, ditch the old and in with new; multiTouch tablets with nVidia ion and 3G.



    The SIM card is required because it's in the standard.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by macologist View Post


    I saw this announced in the last 2 days



    Verizon first to offer MiFi 3G/Wi-Fi hotspot

    http://www.electronista.com/articles...00.at.verizon/



    Wi-Fi to Go, No Cafe Needed

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/te...8cir&emc=cirb1



    Looks like it would make computers with the Built in 3G old news!



    My OLD QUESTION is still answered on this Forum, and ATT and Verizon clerks don't have even a hint of a clue! Here it is again:



    Does LTE mean the end of GSM and CDMA Divide in the US? How about the rest of the world?



    LTE = new Worldwide UNIFIED Standard, or is LTE vs WiMAx going to be The New GSM vs. CDMA War, all over again?



    Spring is WiMax, but how big is WiMax going to be worldwide?!



    Worldwide Roaming, or will the US Carriers make International Partnerships, so that they charge for roaming like crazy! Or will they have World Regions, ala DVD's?!



    Looks like Cell Carriers will be the New ISPs, once the LTE Speeds and COVERAGE are as good as Cable Companies!



    LTE = end of landline phones? Or will the landline phones be mostly for poor + older people?



    Either way, it seems like the DATA Prices will be too high for too long, before they start coming down! Thus the Digital Divide is not going away soon! Video Chats on iPhones etc. needs Speed, and Speed and Coverage will be CO$TLY, thus the Digital Divide = Economic Divide!



    I'll try to be as helpful as possible, but maybe this reply won't be helpful in the way you would like. Some of that is just going to be speculation. I'd like to know some of those answers. I don't know if a cellular store clerk is aware of what's coming except to prepare for the next model of phone, someone else said that LTE hasn't even been ratified yet, so its future may still be in flux.



    I am skeptical that LTE is going to do away with the CDMA standard . Personally, I would like a fallback mode, as it is, iPhone falls back from 3G to EDGE to plain GSM/GPRS, depending on signal quality and network availability. Say you sign up for LTE from Verizon with a hypothetical LTE iPhone. If it doesn't support CDMA, what happens if the signal is too weak for LTE? It's not going to jump onto AT&T's network is it? I honestly don't know if a phone with both CDMA/GSM is going to roam on the other standard.
  • Reply 23 of 37
    dagamer34dagamer34 Posts: 494member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by thenobleshrew View Post


    Apple posting a WWAN job position is nothing to get excited about. Intel has been planning to include WWAN directly on future chipsets, and if Intel does it NVIDIA won't be far behind. So once the hardware support is included, Apple will write drivers and test behind the scenes.



    This is certainly not a major sign that laptops or any other hardware are coming with carrier tie ins or subsidies. Stop dreaming people. Apple is simply keeping up with the hardware vendors provide to them.



    End speculation now.



    Thing is, because Apple uses a very limited hardware selection, OS support for built-in hardware is only going to exist if Apple is considering actually putting that hardware into shipping units. Otherwise, 3rd parties can write drivers and it'll show up under USB devices.
  • Reply 24 of 37
    libertyforalllibertyforall Posts: 1,418member
    What's the difference, Apple tied it's iPhone to ONE carrier in the US, so why not laptops?



    Actually, I would rather see a laptop with HSPA/LTE/Wi-MAX...
  • Reply 25 of 37
    brucepbrucep Posts: 2,823member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    I can stream Hulu great on mine. It's 3G , but with Category 5 HSUPA radios. That means 7.2Mbps (Cat10 HSDPA) down and 2.0Mbps up. I have gotten over 3Mbps down and 1.3Mbps up. About 75% of those registered speeds are about my average.



    This goes to show you that one carrier is always better than another in every circumstance. I know AT&T have upping their network because I tell the difference with my browsing.



    PS: HSDPA goes to Category 14 at 21.1Mbps and HSUPA to Category (3GPP Rel7)\tat 11.5 Mbps. Then there is Evoloved HSPA (HSPA+) under 3G which can go to 42 Mbps down and 22 Mbps up while still using the same air interface as the other WCDMA standards. This means that LTE, which is the magic word of the month, is not the next step in WWAN throughput.



    sorry i meant would adding a Aerolite 11G USB Adapter Mac 54MBPS 802.11G Compact . boost my weak verizon signal ??
  • Reply 26 of 37
    I use an Option Express Card 3g aircard. Used to work natively under 10.4 but need some of the worst 3rd party middleware to use it. Wish Apple would just fix that one little problem... Please!?!
  • Reply 27 of 37
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by brucep View Post


    sorry i meant would adding a Aerolite 11G USB Adapter Mac 54MBPS 802.11G Compact . boost my weak verizon signal ??



    I have no idea how you connect to the internet. The card above is an 802.11b/g card. That cannot connect to Verizon's wireless network. There has to be another device in-between if you are relaying from a WiFi connection to an EV-DO connection, but that is pointless unless you are in the boonies and have some super big antenna on your home that needs to pick it up before relaying it.
  • Reply 28 of 37
    wigginwiggin Posts: 2,265member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    if Apple were only reporting information on third party USB 3G WWAN peripherals, something that Mac OS X already supports, those reports would continue to be included with other USB devices.



    Instead, Snow Leopard's System Profiler breaks out WWAN support on the same level as other technologies that are available from Apple, directly built into Mac hardware models, including the ubiquitous Bluetooth and AirPort as well as hardware interfaces that are only available on specific Mac models, such as the Fibre Channel and SAS of the Xserve and Mac Pro.



    The whole article is largely dependent on the assumption that Apple only lists hardware in System Profiler if that hardware comes integrated with a Mac. But that is not true. They separately list Printers (which would plug into the USB or Firewire ports) and Fibre Channel (which would plug into a PCI slot).



    Also note that the Locations category isn't hardware, it's network configurations. Further precedent for listing non-hardware topics here.



    So this could simply mean that Apple is going to separate out this information if you insert an ExpressCard Wireless WAN card.
  • Reply 29 of 37
    brucepbrucep Posts: 2,823member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    I have no idea how you connect to the internet. The card above is an 802.11b/g card. That cannot connect to Verizon's wireless network. There has to be another device in-between if you are relaying from a WiFi connection to an EV-DO connection, but that is pointless unless you are in the boonies and have some super big antenna on your home that needs to pick it up before relaying it.



    Thank you. I connect to the internet at work with the verizon usb 760 broadband mobile

    But my signal is weak and I am trying to figure out some kind of signal boost .
  • Reply 30 of 37
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by brucep View Post


    Thank you. I connect to the internet at work with the verizon usb 760 broadband mobile

    But my signal is weak and I am trying to figure out some kind of signal boost .



    Some of those cards have a little place to put an external antenna. At least mine does.
  • Reply 31 of 37
    gregalexandergregalexander Posts: 1,401member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Aizmov View Post


    A 8" tablet Mac..

    I defintely don't need a laptop but I need something I can lug around, bigger than my iPhone and I can use to sync my iPhone.



    I really don't want a phone+data plan AND a laptop (or tablet) + data plan. Otherwise why wouldn't I get my laptop (or tablet) to tether via my mobile phone. Especially once the iPhone allows Tethering. (Personally I would have liked to connect an iPod Touch to the internet via my Nokia 3G phone too.)



    Unless, of course, Apple can encourage AT&T to have a single data plan shared over two 3G chips.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2 View Post


    A tablet Mac is certain to use the iPhone OS-X instead of the desktop OS-X. It will sync with the "main" desktop computer just like your current iPhone does, not sync with your iPhone.



    Both devices will likely sync with MobileMe and other cloud junk so they will both be in sync with each other, but if you are expecting the tablet to be your main computer and sync the iPhone to it in that sense, I think this is really, really, really, unlikely.



    Yeah I agree with that.



    I'd actually like to see my laptop "sync" a subset of data from my TimeCapsule. So that I could have 500GB of film, music, & photos, but only sync 20GB to my laptop. Of course, when I'm at home I should have all 500GB at my fingertips.
  • Reply 32 of 37
    kattikatti Posts: 1member
    As if that's news, German magazine Macnotes mentioned the WWAN panel in February already
  • Reply 33 of 37
    hiimamachiimamac Posts: 584member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dasein View Post


    Jobs said he didn't want to use it because it would tie customers down to one carrier...maybe very soon they won't be.



    Cheap, I mean affordable ( up front ), subsidized new device.

    You heard it here.
  • Reply 34 of 37
    hattighattig Posts: 860member
    Why in that screenshot has the text being pointed to, "WWAN", been altered or added in? The A in it doesn't even match the "Airport" entry above.



    I mean, there's "artistic concepts" and, um, "non-artistic concepts"?
  • Reply 35 of 37
    gregalexandergregalexander Posts: 1,401member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hiimamac View Post


    Cheap, I mean affordable ( up front ), subsidized new device.

    You heard it here.



    Would you really rather pay, say, $500 upfront + $50/mth for 24 months (total $1700), instead of just $1000 upfront?



    I REALLY don't want to pay for a data connection on my phone AND on my laptop - I want to pay once.
  • Reply 36 of 37
    webmailwebmail Posts: 639member
    Right now there are chipsets that support ALL major carrier types EVDO (CDMA) and HSDPA (AT&T), Although I'd put $50 on Apple going only with AT&T technology.
  • Reply 37 of 37
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by webmail View Post


    Right now there are chipsets that support ALL major carrier types EVDO (CDMA) and HSDPA (AT&T), Although I'd put $50 on Apple going only with AT&T technology.



    Including the higher 3G categories? How about T-Mobile USA?s wonky 3G spectrum?



    These chips do come at a higher price, and may be larger than what Apple wants to use.
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