If the Federal Communications Commission puts any teeth into net neutrality rules, look for the issue to land on the front doorsteps of the United States Supreme Court.The FCC, with three new members and a Democratic bent, is proposing to add two new regulations...
While the big news out of this year's Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Span, was Verizon Wireless' choice of LTE vendors - Alcatel Lucent and Ericsson, among others - its IMS news is just as interesting. It's not too much of a stretch...
AT&T Mobility President Ralph De la Vega opined the benefits of an open wireless ecosystem at last week's Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona, Spain, noting that wireless customers want it.And he's right. Wireless consumers likely would be better off with a common set...
So it seems the hottest item to sneak into a prison cell is no longer contraband cigarettes, or a knife baked in a cake, but a cellphone. Clearly a prisoner with too much time on his hands and lack of access to the outside...
I used to love my Treo handset. (Sadly I can't remember whether I owned the 600 or the 650). I loved the stylus, I loved the games, I loved the ringtone (you know, the same ringtone every other Palm user had). But sometimes you...
That crazy old Internet! Some wireless execs e-mailed letters to Santa Claus but somehow they ended up in my inbox. (OK, our managing editor Dan Meyer bribed a few elves down on their luck last time he was in Vegas). And although it may...
I just got back from a long weekend in a place that is defying the economic downturn, where there is a housing shortage because of all of the people flocking to the area, where the local restaurant has to close early because there aren't...
Is the Google Android operating system a game changer? The answer to that question may determine the answer to one of wireless's biggest questions: Who owns the customer? From the time the first cellphone call was made, wireless carriers have had the front-line relationship...
Editor's Note: Welcome to our coverage of 25 years in wireless. RCR Wireless News is celebrating with a package of stories detailing the advances of the past three decades. For full coverage please visit RCRWireless.com/25years.
A quote, "Under the tree in '83," that I wrote...
CHICAGO - "We live in a visual world." The comment, from Dan Moloney at Motorola, quickly summarizes how WiMAX services can change the world. He backed it up with a bunch of stats from a Moto survey of millennials (young people between the ages...
Last week's upheaval in the financial markets certainly will impact the wireless industry, but in what ways and to what extent remains to be seen. Smaller startups may have a more difficult time getting credit or finding backers, and larger players may postpone some...
SAN FRANCISCO - The CTIA I.T. show always brings together the best of the enterprise market and the best of the entertainment space to push mobile deployments in both arenas. Data continues to produce a bigger piece of carriers' revenues, but mostly due of...
Smaller spectrum holders are going to face challenges as they decide whether to build out or sell in their markets.At last week's Spectrum Marketplace event in Denver, nearly every spectrum holder in the room said their business decisions would be impacted by AT&T Mobility's...
Remember the good old days of wireless regulations? The analog sunset date was February 2008. E911 rules initially required carriers to supply public safety answering points with a call-back number and cell site location, and Phase II rules demanded more precise information. Granted, lawsuits...
The wireless industry must continue its leadership role in addressing consumer-electronics waste, not just because it's good corporate citizenship, but because it's good business - for individual companies and the planet.Indeed, the world's most popular device, the cellphone, is merely the face of an...
Verizon Wireless is smart to quickly agree to sell off wireless properties in 85 markets where it overlaps with Alltel Communications L.L.C. assets in order to try to speed approval of its plan to buy the nation's No. 5 carrier for $28 billion. Verizon...
The Federal Communications Commission is rushing toward auctioning too much spectrum in too short a period of time and is going to be disappointed with the results. While auctioning 25 megahertz of AWS-3 spectrum and designating a portion of that spectrum for "free" wireless...
ATLANTA - Innovation has to become institutionalized if wireless content is going to be successful, AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega last week told attendees at the GSM Association's first last Mobile Innovation Marketplace - Americas event in Atlanta. "Just having it pop...
Smaller entrepreneurial wireless developers could lose a friend with Verizon Wireless' acquisition of Alltel Communications L.L.C. Alltel supports a number of cool applications on its deck. Celltop, which allows you to customize your user interface with widgets; Ontela, which offers a service that automatically...
Federal regulators - in Congress and at the Federal Communications Commission - increasingly seem fed up with wireless service providers. Ironically, it is the very success of the largest wireless carriers that seems to be getting under government's collective skin. Over the past few...
First, let me say I think Wi-Fi is the best thing since sliced bread. Really, I do. That being said, a number of announcements last week made me scratch my head as different companies try to attack the wireless broadband space. Come along for...
For this I got the unlimited text-messaging plan for our family?My 12-year-old daughter showed me an MMS she got the other day from one of her friends. It starts off with a picture of a blood-soaked girl's face and reads: "Hello. I am Emily...
Recent events in the wireless industry underscore the disconnect between regulatory processes that lag far behind the technology and business decisions they are supposed to guide. This gap is apparent in the government's views on the D-Block auction, the so-called "spectrum screen" and even...
What's with all the new pricing plans? Are carriers moving toward customization in lieu of simplicity?The introduction of unlimited plans a few months ago seems to have sparked a rallying cry for even more options from wireless operators: This week alone -- and it's...
