This is great for the coffee-drinking public, to be sure, but it’s also pretty great for Bell Canada. Remember that Bell is already serving up the free Wi-Fi at Starbucks, McDonald’s, Indigo and Chapters locations. Adding Tim Hortons to the mix with its over 2,000 locations has got to be a pretty fantastic contract. Tim Hortons underwent a “rigorous six-month testing process with multiple service providers,” finding that Bell “delivered a fast and reliable service.”

The high-speed Wi-Fi rollout at Timmy’s has already started and they expect to cover more than 90 percent of Tim Hortons locations by September. That’s just in time for all the college kids going back to school, returning to the routine of constant caffeination and studying.

[Source]

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Well, it seems that everyone is about to get access to this personal hotspot very soon. According to some insider reports, iOS 4.3 will include the personal hotspot regardless of carrier. As mentioned, we already know that the Verizon version will get it, so does this mean that AT&T will support this too? We hope so.

Then again, it’s very much possible that AT&T is going to lay down the ban hammer on the iPhone’s personal hotspot, once again forcing you into the jailbreak community to do the wireless tethering thing. It’s not a deal breaker for some folks, but the personal hotspot comes in so useful when you’re away from home.

Realistically, it’s a bit of a shame that AT&T and Apple would lock this down for so long. It’s a pretty standard thing to find on other platforms and other carriers, after all. In any case, iOS 4.3 is set to hit in March. Maybe AT&T will wait for an iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 to implement this?

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The regular price for Clear’s iSpot is $99 and it’ll be officially launching on August 10. If you get in your pre-order today, however, they’ll knock 70% off the price and sell it to you for just $29 (today only). Better yet, the monthly plan is just $25 for unlimited 4G data and that’s without a contract.

The kicker is that the $25 plan only limits you to Apple devices like the iPod touch, iPad, and iPhone. The iSpot will actually detect whether it’s an Apple product or not. Alternatively, you can bump up to the $40/month plan and use that 4G WiMAX service for anything with WiFi.

iSpot [Gizmodo]

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From what I can see, the Telus Smart Hub will operate in much the same way as the MiFi device that you may have seen from some other carriers. The idea is that you get a 3G “Smart Hub” device and it will create a Wi-Fi network (and web access) anywhere you have 3G service, assuming you have an active SIM card.

It’s interesting to note that the Smart Hub will offer simultaneous voice and data, seeing how it’s not really a voice device in the first place. I think that it means you can use it for a VoIP-like service through a standard telephone.

In any case, the 3G Smart Hub will offer up to 7.2Mbps downstream and 5.76Mbps upstream, Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS), full wireless security (WEP, WPA, WPA2), and wireless 802.11n standard. The device itself will sell for $199 on contract ($399 outright). Plans range from $65 to $95 a month, including anywhere from 1000 to 4000 national minutes and anywhere from 3GB to 10GB of data. Additional data is charged at $15 per gigabyte, ouch.

The 3G “Smart Hub” service is set to launch in late May for Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and the Atlantic provinces. Interestingly enough, British Columbia and Alberta will have higher priced services: $80 to $130 a month.

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Sierra Wireless Overdrive 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot on Sprint

So, you’re on a Spring Break trip, perhaps with the iPad you managed to snag or your tried, true, trusty netbook, but you can’t seem to find a Wi-Fi hotspot anywhere. You’re desperately looking for a place to connect but there’s nothing there. Sprint and Sierra Wireless have you covered, literally.

One of the newest devices to hit the shelves is the Overdrive 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot by Sierra Wireless.  Made available through Sprint, this credit card-sized device takes 3G and 4G connections and converts them into a usable Wi-Fi hotspot for up to five Wi-Fi supported gadgets – like the upcoming HTC EVO 4G.

They say that the 4G hotspot will allow your iPad to surf the web up to 10 times faster than with an equivalent 3G connection. This makes it great for Skype, video streaming, and other data-intensive applications. If you want, you can use the Overdrive 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot to play online games with your Nintendo DSi too.

Naturally, Sprint 4G isn’t quite everywhere just yet, but it is available in 28 major markets across the nation. These include Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Las Vegas, Portland, Seattle and more. As this year progresses, Sprint expects to offer 4G to up to 120 million people, including pending launches in Boston, Cleveland, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis.

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