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. and Verizon Wireless each appear to be easing their stance on sharing subscribers' location information with partners, efforts that put weight behind their bluster about openness.Sprint Nextel announced it will open its location platform to location aggregators WaveMarket Inc. and uLocate...
While it will be months before President-elect Barack Obama gets his administration in place and begins to roll out policy priorities, the selection of individuals focusing on high-tech agencies and their issues in the transition period suggests industry giants Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility...
The mobile-phone industry has dropped a legal challenge to the open-access condition imposed on a third of the 700 MHz spectrum auctioned by the Federal Communications Commission earlier this year. Wireless industry trade association CTIA appealed the agency's C-Block open-access rule last year -...
History-making is not apt to stop with the election of an African American to the highest office in the land. President-elect Barack Obama and his incoming administration also could break with tradition insofar as the balance of power between telecom network titans and the...
We expect our purchases to work as promised - and work right away. When it doesn't happen, it's frustrating and disappointing at best, and potentially a customer-losing experience at it's worst.Apple's 3G iPhone was a product that I was enthusiastically looking forward to for...
The wireless industry faces a policy landscape whose evolving contours could be significantly shaped in coming years by the outcome of the Nov. 4 elections.On the surface, it would appear industry has plenty of reason to worry. If Democrats capture the White House and...
From early indications, the uncertain shift to open platforms in the wireless space will not take a linear path and instead is apt to evolve in zigzag fashion due to variances in unpredictable political, technological and market forces.The answer to the question, 'What does...
Social networking is exploding in mobile, according to figures released by ABI Research. And Frank Meehan thinks he knows how to capitalize.ABI polled 500 users of online social networks and found that 46% of respondents had used such services from their phones. MySpace and...
THE OPEN-ACCESS POLICY DEBATE, which raged last year and then curiously subsided after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said the agency should not force wireless networks to give unfettered access to third-party devices and applications, is once again alive. The issue appears to...
Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWirelessNews.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....
VERIZON WIRELESS' PLAY for Alltel Communications L.L.C. may not necessarily trigger a classic battle over whether the government should block the deal, but rather could ignite considerable controversy over whether roaming, divestiture and other conditions should be imposed on a merged entity already boasting...
So it seems to me that the whole exclusive, subsidized handset business model is causing the wireless industry a lot of grief - unnecessary grief.For example: 1. The FCC was working with Verizon Wireless to create a national early termination fee policy. The nation's...
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin scheduled a vote on rules for another major spectrum auction, one that would encompass 25 megahertz in the 2155-2180 MHz advanced wireless services band and require the winning bidder to offer free broadband service under an aggressive build-out...
MOBILE CONSUMERS PROBABLY don't give voicemail a second thought. But a couple of startups are hoping to change that. Voicemail, like caller ID and long-distance calling, has become a standard inclusion in almost all wireless offerings, nearly as much a part of plans as...
CTIA's Wireless 2008 conference and exhibition touched on all things wireless, from new handset launches to the industry's ongoing technology arguments. RCR Wireless News Online Editor Mike Dano covers the biggest news of each day at the show.
CTIA's John Walls explains the...
As the wireless industry gears up for the nation's biggest wireless show, CTIA's John Walls discusses the trade group's objectives for this year and beyond. ; CTIA's John Walls and the issues facing wireless; And in other news,...
LAS VEGAS-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said during a keynote last week at the CTIA Wireless 2008 event that he opposes Skype Ltd.'s petition to impose open access throughout the cellphone industry, prompting cheers from cellular carriers and criticism from others. "In light...
Excited by the initial buzz of CTIA, Red Bull and Vegas, (Did I mention how much I love this city? It's perfect. Just perfect.) I made some wild claims early last week.I said the wireless industry was "back to full strength" and that this...
So it was about 24 hours ago when in these same pages - and if we did our jobs right, in this same general area - I made some wild claim that the wireless industry was "back to full strength" and that this year's...
Federal Communication Commission Chairman Kevin Martin's well-received announcement here that he will push for dismissal of Skype Ltd.'s open-access petition has now prompted a reaction from an influential House lawmaker. Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), vice chairman of the...
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said he opposes Skype Ltd.'s petition to impose open access throughout the cellphone industry, prompting cheers from cellular carriers and criticism from others. "In light of the industry's embrace of this more open approach, I think it's premature...
The nation's biggest wireless show kicks into high gear, as Sprint Nextel announces its handset plans.
Dan Hesse, Sprint's CEO, releases the carrier's iPhone response, designed by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
Samsung's new sleek, black Instinct device features a touchscreen, graphically rich user interface, visual voicemail...
Change has never been easy for the cell-phone industry. And it's perfectly understandable. With the kind of wild success and wealth creation during its first three decades, cellular chieftains who collectively service more than 250 million subscribers have a history of being instinctively cautious...
