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At first, we figured our Instinct here at Engadget HQ had just woken up on the wrong side of the bed, but we’re now receiving a flood of tips from individuals nationwide having the same issues. Put simply, it seems that certain data services are thoroughly borked, with our Weather app being unable to refresh for at least the past 18 hours (some are reporting even longer). Additionally, we’re hearing that folks are having to manually refresh their email and deal with all sorts of error messages when attempting to use any of the data services. So, what gives? Are you having data-related issues with your Instinct? C’mon Sprint, this is your best-selling EV-DO device of all time — it’d be nice to have it working for the weekend. Oh, and great job showing all those angered iPhone 3G users that your network doesn’t have issues, too.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Truth be told, Fixed Mobile Convergence still isn’t talked about much (comparatively speaking) ’round these parts. Yeah, we’ve seen a few FMC routers scattered about, but Vodafone’s taking a stand by rolling out its Station in Italy. The box, which was developed in cooperation with Huawei, is an integrated switch / router with ADSL2+, WiFi, UMTS / HSPA (via a removable USB key) and four Ethernet ports. Essentially, it’s designed to combine voice with fixed and mobile broadband services, and it enables users to make calls on their handset through a fixed line connection when they’re kicking back at home. We’re also hearing that the device will eventually make its way to other Vodafone markets, but there’s been no word yet on future rollout dates.

[Via GigaOM]

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Cellphones

Hold everything — did you have any idea surging cellphone use was putting a damper on landline utilization? Oh, right, common knowledge. Anywho, a recent study conducted here in America found that three in ten households actually relied solely or primarily on their mobile to communicate. In the latter half of 2007, it was discovered that 16-percent of domiciles didn’t even have a landline, while 13-percent had one but took all (or nearly all) of their calls via cell. Just to put things in perspective, only 5-percent of US homes were cellphone-only in 2004, while 1.082-percent had not yet surrendered their can-and-string. If you’re one of those number lovers, hold your head up high and hit the read link for lots more data about this totally engrossing topic.

[Image courtesy of Preston LNO]

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Source: Darren Murph

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Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Great news, T-Mobile USA fans — the roller coaster ride is finally over. After we thought T-Mobile’s 3G network was but moments away from launching, we soon found that data may be left out. Oddly enough, a few reports hailing from the Big Apple claimed that data actually was included. At long last, the carrier is coming clean and announcing its official 3G rollout in the States. Unfortunately, the UMTS / HSDPA network is initially launching in New York City alone, but the good news is that data will be included and the operator expects the high-speed data network to “be available in cities where a majority of its subscribers currently use data services” by the year’s end. Yeah, it’s safe to celebrate now, we promise it’s not a(nother) false alarm. Full release posted after the jump.Continue reading T-Mobile clears everything up: 3G rollout (with data) is on in NYC

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Source: Darren Murph

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Mobile phone users in Europe are paying high costs to text message or use mobile Internet services outside their own country, the EU’s telecoms chief said today. This word comes just a few months after the EU regulated the cost mobile phone service providers could bill for roaming charges outside a customer’s country of origin.

Last September the European Commission capped roaming fees for foreign travelers and prices dropped by as much as 60%. But there are currently no price limits on text messages and other mobile data transfers. EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding is concerned about the high cost and wide range of prices service providers charge for these applications.

“We will watch developments very closely and respond appropriately by the end of 2008,” she said.

Reding gave a similar statement when she warned phone companies that they need to reduce roaming charges when someone does a voice call outside his or her country of origin. Companies at the time didn’t heed her warning and the EU government stepped in to regulate roaming charges. It is illegal to charge more than 49 euro cents a minute for making a call, and 24 euro cents for receiving calls, outside travelers’ home countries. Before the regulation, a four minute boarder call from France to Germany would cost 4 euros even though a similar call made within France over a longer distance would just cost a few cents.

Text messages and data transfers are good money makers for mobile phone providers. It is estimated that EU members sent 202 billion text messages last year. It is likely that European phone companies will be scrambling to reach some sort of compromise with the EU Telecoms Commission before new price controls are set in place.

Source: John Kullman

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