The controversy over whether the Federal Communications Commission should regulate short code-related text messaging has opened a floodgate of weighty policy questions - from network management to consumer protection to free speech - that could make resolution of the matter far more difficult than...
A class-action suit filed against Verizon Wireless and third-party content providers in California federal court alleges the No. 2 mobile-phone operator enticed subscribers to engage in illegal gambling. The suit centers on 99-cent charges levied on wireless consumers who played contests associated with popular...
I've always found it odd that carriers charge for voice, charge for data and then charge separately for text messages. Isn't text data? It's words after all, from a user's point of view.But no, SMS somehow is a bridge between voice and data (indeed,...
Alexis de Tocqueville might have saved himself a lot of travel if he could have watched a few Super Bowl broadcasts. It's no secret that Super Bowl commercials act as a sort of barometer for what Americans are all about. The expectations surrounding the...
T-Mobile USA Inc. has been hit with a class action suit over alleged charges for text messages received by consumers who do not want the feature.The suit, recently filed in the U.S. District Court in Seattle, claims T-Mobile USA charges for text messages regardless...
Urban, youth-oriented MVNO Helio L.L.C. is racking up "record growth," the company said yesterday in announcing that founder Sky Dayton will leave the CEO post to become chairman. Dayton replaces current chairman Jinwoo So, president of global business at SK Telecom. Helio is a...
Text messaging is getting a lot of attention these days as society tries to figure out the appropriate rules to govern this new form of communication. Like most everything else, a one-size-fits-all approach likely won't work, and the etiquette behind texting will evolve over...
THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION launched a rulemaking to determine whether mobile text messages and short codes are covered by non-discrimination provisions of the telecom act.Public-interest and consumer groups asked the FCC in December to rule that the law forbids wireless providers from blocking the...
The Federal Communications Commission launched a rulemaking to determine whether mobile phone text messages and short codes are covered by non-discrimination provisions of the telecom act.Public interest and consumer groups asked the FCC in December to rule that the law forbids mobile-phone carriers from...
Verizon Wireless will follow Sprint Nextel Corp.'s lead in bumping text messaging rates from 15 cents to 20 cents per message.The carrier is informing postpaid subscribers that the cost for domestic text messages will be increased in March; messaging rates for prepaid users will...
New cellphone driver-distraction laws went into effect Jan. 1 in Oregon and Washington state.According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Oregon will now prohibit teenagers from talking on cellphones while driving. A new Washington law goes even further, prohibiting all drivers from text...
America has fallen in love with text messaging. More than 28.8 billion text messages are sent per month, according to figures from CTIA. And nearly everyone knows someone who knows someone who sends 15,000 texts a month. (Usually that someone is a teenage girl).Obviously...
Want to know how long the line is outside your favorite club on a busy Saturday night? Or the guy-to-girl ratio at a bar before you pay the cover?That's the promise of BuzzD, a new local-search/networking service from mobile pioneer Nihal Mehta. "It's the...
T-Mobile USA Inc. is suing Canadian operator Telus Mobility over the northern neighbor's use of a familiar promotion: my Faves. T-Mobile USA introduced its "myFaves" plans in late 2006, offering customers the ability to make unlimited calls to five self-selected phone numbers regardless of...
Public-interest and consumer groups asked the Federal Communications Commission to forbid mobile-phone operators from discriminatory interference with text messaging."For many people, texting has replaced calling as a way of keeping in touch," said Gigi Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge. "The FCC should...
Editor's Note: Welcome to Reality Check, a feature for RCR Wireless News' new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile content industry to give their insights into the marketplace. In the coming weeks...
Editor's Note: Welcome to a special edition of 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. In the coming weeks look for columns from Jupiter Research's...
This week marks the beginning of the holiday season, of course, when most of us focus less on business and more on the reasons we work so hard. So in the spirit of the upcoming long weekend-and thanks to a predictably lethargic news cycle-a...
While they may lack the name recognition of their larger competitors, regional carriers are tweaking their rate plans ahead of the holiday shopping season.Qwest Communications International Inc. introduced a set of wireless plans emphasizing messaging and data use.The Messaging and More plans are aimed...
San Antonio-based carrier Pocket Communications introduced a pair of new rate plans, including one that starts at $25 per month, in an attempt to attract users to its flat-rate calling service. Pocket has a track record of shaking up the south Texas market with...
Editor's Note: Welcome to Reality Check, a feature for RCR Wireless News' new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. We've gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile content industry to give their insights into the marketplace. In the coming weeks...
Qwest Communications International Inc. introduced a set of wireless plans emphasizing messaging and data use.The Messaging and More plans are aimed at subscribers who are heavy text message users and utilize data services such as Web browsing and sending photos from their mobile phones....
Regional carrier Pocket Communications said its customer base in south Texas reached 170,000 subscribers, 17 months after the company began offering a flat-rate wireless service that competes with larger carriers such as Leap Wireless International Inc. Pocket, which serves the greater San Antonio area,...
Wireless carriers are heading into the all-important holiday selling season, flashing new handsets designed to dazzle consumers and riding sales trends which have been building over the past year.The Apple Inc. iPhone craze has, as expected, prompted interest in touch-screen technology-and competitors are taking...
