More Americans are continuing to pull the plug on their landline telephone service in favor of using cellular phones, according to a recent report by J.D. Power and Associates.In its 2008 Wireless Contract Customer Satisfaction survey, the company also reports that younger consumers who...
More than two dozen mobile operators and spectrum license holders have banded together to form NextGen Mobile L.L.C. The organization hopes to pool efforts to launch GSM-based, next-generation networks covering small and rural markets.The organization said 28 companies have joined what grew out of...
A Texas-based company is using the Internet for businesses and consumers interested in finding out if they are paying too much for their wireless service. Validas Inc. offers a Web site where customers simply upload their bill online. Patent-pending technology used by Validas does...
T-Mobile USA Inc. has erased the worrisome fine print on the data-usage agreement related to its recently announced G1 phone, which the carrier unveiled with Google Inc. and HTC Corp. earlier this week.At the launch, T-Mobile USA outlined the unlimited data plans priced at...
The typical U.S. mobile subscriber sends and receives more text messages than phone calls. In a finding that might benefit mobile marketing, Nielsen Mobile found that during the second quarter of this year, domestic wireless subscribers sent or received an average of 357 text...
The back-to-school rush is over and, inevitably, the holidays will soon be upon us. Cue up the chorus of young voices in your household tentatively suggesting that you might want to take them shopping for new handsets.Hmm ... just how young is that chorus,...
The back-to-school rush is over and, inevitably, the holidays will soon be upon us. Cue up the chorus of young voices in your household tentatively suggesting that you might want to take them shopping for new handsets.Hmm ... just how young is that chorus,...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Analyst Angle. We've collected a group of the industry's leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry.Another CTIA show has come and gone. There was plenty of talk of new applications...
It's official. The plaintiffs' bar smells blood.The mobile-phone industry suddenly finds itself under siege over rising text messaging prices; there are now five different class-action antitrust lawsuits against the nation's largest wireless carriers over the issue. The growth followed Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee Chairman...
The mobile-phone industry may be facing a legal texting tsunami in U.S. courts with the filing of two new antitrust class-action lawsuits against the nation's largest wireless carriers - filings that come on top of a separate price-fixing suit in Illinois federal court and...
Carriers are beginning to use carrot-and-stick strategies to bring their third-party content partners to heel. And both the carrot and the stick are made of cash.Sprint Nextel Corp. earlier this year became the first U.S. carrier to formally tie revenue shares to business practices,...
Barack Obama has added one more record to his historic bid for the White House.Nielsen Mobile estimates that 2.9 million mobile subscribers received the Democratic Illinois senator's text message announcing Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), as his choice for VP, according to a news release.Nielsen...
Lately in the land of red, white and blue, people are talking a lot about green, including wireless service providers. In an industry that boasts 263 million subscribers who get a heap of stuff with their service, carriers can have a large carbon footprint....
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Analyst Angle. We've collected a group of the industry's leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry.To quote Bob Dylan. mobile networks are a-changin'. As more and more mobile users download...
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced a $1 million settlement with a Hong Kong wireless content firm in connection with a state probe into consumer complaints about charges for third-party services that were not authorized."As the first content provider to adopt advertising standards...
Verizon Wireless announced it completed its purchase of Rural Cellular Corp., bringing to a close a yearlong transaction that sparked complaints from consumer advocates and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).Under the final agreement, Verizon Wireless placed Rural Cellular licenses and assets in Vermont, New York...
Mobile music has been a one-hit wonder. But the big follow-up to the lucrative ringtone market may not be ringback tones, full-track downloads or any other single application. It may be advertising.Ringtone revenues in the United States will shrink in 2008, falling to $510...
How much do we really know about our phones or - even more complex - our smartphones? We know they turn on, make calls and even connect to our work e-mail. The hard part usually comes when trying to organize the bill, trouble shoot...
Things move quickly in the U.S. mobile entertainment ecosystem - unless you're an adult content vendor.From sex texts to moantones to bikini-clad models to full-on hardcore video, wireless porn is gaining traction in certain markets around the world. Wireless wantonness rang up about $1.7...
U.S. CARRIERS ARE EVER SO SLOWLY BEGINNING TO SHARE consumer demographics and other coveted information in an effort to deliver highly targeted wireless ads. And Sprint Nextel Corp. - very quietly - appears to be leading the way.Advertising agencies and high-profile brands have long...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Yay or Nay. Every week we'll review a new wireless application or service from the user's point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works and what doesn't. If you wish to submit your application or...
Sprint Nextel Corp. announced its small- and medium-sized CDMA business customers now have access to its Business Premier loyalty program.Since its merger with Nextel Communications Inc., the carrier has been working to merge all users onto one network and one billing platform. Thus, the...
Carriers are changing their minds about outsourcing pieces of their operations. The decision for carriers to put units of their business in others' hands is beginning to increase in popularity - not at a rapid speed, but it's being considered. Historically, the thought...
An emerging subplot in the escalating early termination fee controversy is the harsh criticism that's surfacing in federal lawsuits over the impact on consumer credit ratings when a dispute arises over such charges. It raises questions - separate from legal, economic and public policy...
