Cingular launches global high-speed roaming service

Cingular launches global high-speed roaming service

US based cellular giant Cingular is due to become the first company in the country to offer high-speed, global roaming. The company would be using world’s first five-band cellular device, a PC card from Option Wireless for this new service.

This card would be available for sale in the retail market for nearly USD 100 and would include a two-year domestic unlimited data plan or a one-year new GlobalConnect plan. Fortunately, the service would work on both the PC and Macintosh platform.

Cingular made this announcement at the ongoing 3GSM cell-phone trade show in Barcelona. The company is already the only carrier in the world to have widely deployed the HSDPA high-speed system on their networks.

The technology uses the Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX LaptopConnect card and would enable the user to connect to global EDGE networks on all four major bands (850, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz). In addition, it also supports UMTS/HSDPA networks on both the North American bands of 850/1900 MHz and on the 2100 MHz band used by the rest of the world. And impressively, it also comes with support for the Wi-Fi networks.

All these features make this card the most flexible cellular device ever seen so far.

Kris Rinne, chief technology officer for Cingular Wireless added his views on this launch: “The need for broadband connections continues to move from our offices and living rooms to almost anywhere in the world. As more GSM carriers upgrade to UMTS and HSDPA, we see ourselves becoming the travel agents for 3G worldwide.”