Review: Sprint 4G WiMAX wireless service in Philadelphia

Sprint's Overdrive 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot in Center City

Photos courtesy of Neal Santos.

Since Clearwire launched its 4G WiMAX network in Philadelphia in October, we’ve been itching to get our hands on a device that would let us utilize the high-speed wireless network.

With promises of speeds that blow away 3G connections that one might be used to on a mobile phone or USB modem, why not?

So we’ve taken the opportunity to test Sprint’s Overdrive 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot, a compact mobile WiFi router that lets up to 5 people simultaneously connect to Sprint’s WiMAX network.

It should be said that though Sprint, Clear and Comcast all utilize the same 4G WiMAX pipes, performance has been known to vary depending on the device. So while our tests here may indicate one speed, another device could produce a better or worse connection. We hope to test Clear and Comcast devices as the year goes on. [Full Disclosure: Clear is currently a Technically Philly advertising partner]

It should also be noted that the WiMAX network is being upgraded on a regular basis, so new towers are being installed in problem-areas where connection rates may have been poor during our tests produced earlier this year, officials tell us.

That said, we think our review is an interesting look at the network’s capability throughout Fairmount, Center City, Old City and Fishtown (complete with an interactive map of detailed throughput recordings). And we hope you’ll let us know how your 4G connection—whether on Sprint, Clear or Comcast—fares in your own neighborhood.

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Startup Roundup: Lots of love for local entrepreneurship

Introducing Technically Philly’s Startup Roundup. Here, we’ll parse out the small pieces that make our greater Startup ecosystem thrive. We want to keep you in touch with the innovations that we can’t quite get to covering, but that deserve highlight. Follow along with the Startup Roundup’s dedicated RSS feed. If you’ve got news to share, get in touch.

DEFINITE READS

USA Today highlights Temple entrepreneurship after university officials noticed that self-employment in the 2009 class is at an all-time high. Northeast Philadelphia news website NEast Philly was highlighted prominently, along with Shawn Geller, who founded CollegeClipper.com, which helps retailers connect with college students using coupon offers. [Full Disclosure: The TP staff graduated from Temple and we're buds with NEastPhilly.com's McDonald]

Update, 10:19 a.m.: The winner of Temple’s $65,000 Be Your Own Boss entrepreneurship contest was also announced this morning. Next Engineering, which designs an automated suspension system for motorcycles that uses sensors and fluid-based absorbers to provide more control and safety, took home the prize.

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Smart home technology increases automation while lowering energy consumption

Philadelphia Smart Home's Patrick Griffin explains the control center

In partnership with Temple University’s Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab, the university’s capstone journalism class, students Chelsea Leposa and Jared Pass will cover neighborhood technology issues for Technically Philly and Philadelphia Neighborhoods through May.

The is the first of a two-part series about residential technologies being developed or explored in the region. Read the second on Thursday.

Dinner is in the oven. A grocery list has been generated after surveying the empty pantry. The front door’s been opened for the deliveryman and the authorities have been alerted of a possible intruder on a neighbor’s property.

Sounds like a fairly normal day. Except each one of these tasks has been miles away from the home.

Welcome the convenience of living in a smart home, technology developments for residential properties that are coming fast. While home technology is not yet able to allow all of these tasks, industry experts say we’ll quickly move toward a state of complete home automation and remote user-control.

“Smart homes are a culmination of products and functionality,” says Utz Baldwin, the CEO of the Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (CEDIA), a trade association for electronic home installations. “What makes a house smart for me will be different than what makes a house smart for you. It comes down to the needs of the homeowner.”

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Editorial: Rebooting Innovation Philadelphia

Before its tenth birthday, Innovation Philadelphia will have to decide what it wants to be when it grows up.

The grant-funded economic development group, with a goal of attracting young professionals to the city’s “creative economies,” was formed in 2001 during Mayor Street’s administration with support from economic and academic leaders. More recently, though, the group has been better known for underwriting research to help postulate how the city can attract young professionals. With those ends, it hosts the annual Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit and produces the Entrepreneur’s Resource Guide.

The organization is also broke.

Philadelphia’s creative economy ecosystem is far from reaching its full potential, and we think there is still a role for the organization. But it’s going to take some serious steering.

Read more at Philly Mag’s Philly Post.

Philadelphia Speaks was hacked, to return in ‘day or two’

Philadelphia Web communities have been abuzz about popular online forum Philadelphia Speaks being down since Friday.

As we tweeted, Wil Reynolds, the former executive director of much beloved Phillyblog and an originator of its replacement, has been on his honeymoon since then. Reynolds has repeatedly declined to speak on record about last July’s sudden shuttering of Phillyblog.

Reynolds just sent word to Technically Philly on what is behind the sudden and days-long “server upgrade” that the site’s splash page currently suggests.

“[It] got hacked,” he wrote, adding “GRRRRRRRR.”

He pledged the forum would return “in a day or two.” Meanwhile, check out the group’s new Facebook page, which reads like a support group for withdrawing addicts.

VC Roundup: Wharton competes and the city gets $25 million

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Welcome to the VC Round-up, where we’ll parse through venture capital news related to Philadelphia-based private equity firms and the companies they fund. Subscribe to the roundup as an email newsletter. If you have any VC-related news to pass along to us, please drop us a line.

DEFINITE READS

The New York Times was all over the Wharton Business Plan Competition this year. The Old Gray Lady said that life sciences were all the rage, though business services company Cortical Concepts won the $20,000 grand prize. As we know, $20,000 to a Wharton student is like $100 to the rest of us.

DreamIt Ventures is a week away from its “kickoff weekend.” But a few lawyer-types are jumping the gun tonight with the Law Firm Kickoff. The free event plans to explore how law firms will work with the incubated companies.

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Report: More than 3,500 business networking events held in region last year

According to a report from business organization platform Basecamp and economic development group Select Greater Philadelphia, business networking events held in the region are going strong.

The report compiles statistics pulled from the popular Basecamp Business Calendar Network events calendar to tally the strength of the region’s events and networking opportunities.

Five-hundred organizations held 3,504 events last year, with nearly 300 held per month. The kicker—nearly half of the events hosted were put together by 25 organizations, with the top ten groups having hosted 31 percent of all events in the region. We see that trend often in our own events coverage.

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Events Highlights for May 3-9, 2010

Gosh, it was easy to get caught up with this weekend’s summer vibe. We BBQ’d, partied on a boat and danced the night away. And we still had time to dig the Broad Street Run.

But for all the fun, we just couldn’t stop thinking about the events on our calendar this week. They’re light, but that’s why we like ‘em. Kick it this week with some classic local technology groups and let’s make it through May gently, mmmkay? Net Tuesday celebrates its two-year anniversary, PhillyCHI lets loose with tech quizzo and the hard-workers at UArts show off their semester’s work in Fishtown. Kick it.

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