BROWSING: SBC Communications
BellSouth expands pre-WiMAX network, signs Sprint Nextel Internet deal
ATLANTA-BellSouth Corp. expanded its pre-WiMAX network to Palatka, Fla., offering wireless broadband services starting at $30 per month. BellSouth previously launched services in Athens, Ga. "Palatka was an obvious choice for BellSouth to offer this exciting technology," said Marshall Criser, state president of BellSouth's...
SBC, Always On partner for 802.11 services
HOUSTON-SBC Communications Inc. reported a deal with Always On Wireless Inc. to market a co-branded version of AOW's WiFlyer access point with SBC's Prodigy name targeting SBC Yahoo! Dial subscribers through retail outlets. AOW said the Prodigy WiFlyer combines a V.92 dial modem and...
Conspiracy charge moves phone-locking case forward
WASHINGTON-The federal judge who a month ago dismissed a class-action lawsuit claiming the nation's top mobile-phone operators violated antitrust laws by tying handset sales to the purchase of wireless service from carriers has agreed to allow a similar lawsuit explicitly alleging industrywide conspiracy to...
Making the case for gonzo deregulation
ASPEN, Colo.-With the ashes of recently deceased gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson still raining down from the sky, the Progress and Freedom Foundation brought its gonzo deregulation motto to the mountains of Colorado for its annual Aspen Summit. This year's event centered on the...
House of Mouse to offer cell service
The big mouse is finally loose in the wireless house as the Walt Disney Co. announced plans to launch a family-oriented mobile virtual network operator wireless service using Sprint Corp.'s nationwide network. The decision has been expected for some time and follows a similar...
Boingo subscribers gain access to SBC hot spots
SANTA MONICA, Calif.-Boingo Wireless and SBC Communications Inc. signed a Wi-Fi roaming agreement that gives Boingo customers access to 3,400 Wi-Fi hot spots in SBC's FreedomLink network. Boingo said its subscribers now have access to 18,000 Wi-Fi hot spots worldwide.SBC's hot spots include locations...
AT&T readies wireless broadband test in Atlanta
AT&T Corp. is reportedly set to begin testing a wireless broadband network in the Atlanta area using an early version of WIMAX technology. AT&T, which is in the process of being acquired by SBC Communications Inc., will use four towers in the Atlanta and...
Boingo subscribers gain access to SBC hot spots
SANTA MONICA, Calif.-Boingo Wireless and SBC Communications Inc. signed a Wi-Fi roaming agreement that gives Boingo customers access to 3,400 Wi-Fi hot spots in SBC's FreedomLink network.Boingo said its subscribers now have access to 18,000 Wi-Fi hot spots worldwide.SBC's hot spots include locations such...
SBC to deploy 21,000 laptops that include EDGE
SECAUCUS, N.J.-As part of its "Technician of the Future" initiative, SBC Communications Inc. said it plans to deploy 21,000 Panasonic Computer Solutions Co. Toughbook 29 notebook personal computers designed to connect to Cingular Wireless L.L.C.'s nationwide EDGE network to its field technicians. SBC owns...
SBC to deploy 21,000 EDGE-enabled laptops
SECAUCUS, N.J.-As part of its "Technician of the Future" initiative, SBC Communications Inc. said it plans to deploy 21,000 Panasonic Computer Solutions Co. Toughbook 29 notebook personal computers designed to connect to Cingular Wireless L.L.C.'s nationwide EDGE network to its field technicians. SBC owns...
Bill would ban cities from offering telecom systems: Texan introduces federal legislation that puts private sector first
WASHINGTON-A bill sponsored by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) banning municipal telecommunications, including Wi-Fi, has brought to the national stage a fierce battle already playing out in the states, pitting wireline and cable carriers against cities, consumer advocates and the high-tech sector anxious to exploit...
BellSouth plans wide area wireless initiatives
BellSouth Corp. is not letting its minority stake in wireless operator Cingular Wireless L.L.C. deter its own wireless efforts as the regional telecommunications provider announced a pair of wireless initiatives. BellSouth said it plans to deploy a wide area wireless broadband network beginning in...
VoIP carriers must offer E911
WASHINGTON-After hearing emotional presentations from users who were unable to successfully connect to 911 from Voice over Internet Protocol phones, the Federal Communications Commission last week adopted rules requiring VoIP providers to offer direct access to 911 services within about 165 days. "VoIP providers...
Antitrust law’s future in doubt, debate
WASHINGTON-While government approval of the proposed $35 billion Sprint Corp.-Nextel Communications Inc. deal and other pending telecom mega-mergers do not appear in doubt, there is a lively debate going on about the adequacy of long-standing antitrust law in the face of consolidation, convergence, innovation...
Vonage reaches agreements on E911 access with SBC, BellSouth
EDISON, N.J.-VoIP carrier Vonage Holdings Corp. said it has agreed to purchase access to elements of the wireless and wireline enhanced 911 network to offer E911 service to its customers from SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp.Vonage said the deal, which followed months of...
Pate to resign from Justice Department
WASHINGTON-The Justice Department said antitrust czar Hewitt Pate will resign next month, creating a vacancy amid a pending $35 billion merger between Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc. and other large telecom deals. "It has been a great honor to serve under President Bush...
Pate to resign from Justice Department
WASHINGTON-The Justice Department today said antitrust czar Hewitt Pate will resign next month, creating a vacancy amid a pending $35 billion merger between Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc. and other large telecom deals."It has been a great honor to serve under President Bush...
Missouri may exchange lawsuits for wireless tax cap
WASHINGTON-The mobile-phone industry is backing a bill in the Missouri legislature to raise wireless taxes in exchange for eventually capping the tax at 3 percent and ending a slew of lawsuits filed by municipalities to collect back taxes from cell-phone operators. The mobile-phone industry...
SBC VPN solution addresses business travelers’ needs
SAN ANTONIO-SBC Communications Inc. launched a package of integrated wireless remote access options for its virtual private network portfolio that the company said would help business travelers access network applications and information when out of the office.The package, dubbed VPN RoadWarrior, combines SBC's PremierSERV...
Sprint ups Wi-Fi locations with 5 new roaming pacts
Sprint Corp. signed Wi-Fi roaming agreements with four broadband Internet service providers and a virtual network enabler that the carrier said will increase the number of Wi-Fi locations accessible by its customers to more than 19,000 domestic and international hot spots. The agreements, which...
Operators spend big to get message across
We've all seen the ads: "Raising the Bar." "Can you hear me now?" "Nextel. Done." "Get More." Then again, with the wireless industry spending billions of dollars each year on advertising, how could we not have seen them?According to Advertising Age, the telecom industry...
Sprint ups Wi-Fi locations with 5 new roaming agreements
Sprint Corp. signed Wi-Fi roaming agreements with four broadband Internet service providers and a virtual network enabler that the carrier said will increase the number of Wi-Fi locations accessible by its customers to more than 19,000 domestic and international hot spots. The agreements, which...
Can T-Mobile USA make it alone?
T-Mobile USA Inc.'s position as the nation's fourth-largest wireless operator, as well as one of the industry's fastest growing, might not be enough to guarantee its long-term prospects. Several industry observers have questioned the carrier's ability to remain a standalone entity in the face...
BadgerNet II brouhaha
One consequence from the intrusion of wireless, Internet and other technologies into a space Bell telephone giants have comfortably occupied for the past century or so has to do with relationships, such as those between entrenched landline carriers and state-municipal governments.I was enlightened about...