FCC: 8M Wireless Users Keep Cell Numbers
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Nearly 8 million mobile phone users have switched carriers and kept their cell numbers since a new rule allowing that flexibility went into effect one year ago, the Federal Communications Commission disclosed Tuesday.
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Leading wireless phone provider sets subscriber bar a little higher.
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Strata8 is launching a service that lets enterprise cell-phone users make low-cost calls inside their offices.
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(InfoWorld) - The iPhone won't be just for customers living in the big cities. On the day it is introducing the hugely hyped cell phone, AT&T announced it will acquire wireless provider Dobson Communications for $2.8 billion in cash. Dobson, which markets its service under the Cellular One brand, provides cellular services mainly to rural and suburban areas. Its network covers 17 states and has the potential to serve 13 million people. Along with the network, AT&T will get Dobson's 1.7 million customers. The companies say their networks overlap only minimally. The two carriers have had a relationship since 1990, when Dobson began offering roaming services to AT&T. The boards of both companies have approved the deal, and Dobson's majority stockholder has also approved it. AT&T said the deal will help it realize significant annual savings in reduced roaming expenses. The deal is subject to regulatory approval. Because there is little network overlap, AT&T expects to obtain approval by the end of this year. AT&T is only just digesting its acquisition of Cingular Wireless, one of the biggest operators in the nation. Adding Dobson's customers to its ranks of subscribers, AT&T will have 63.9 million subscribers.
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The home of the Braves is the eighth city the Internet service provider has signed up to deploy a Wi-Fi network.
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(InfoWorld) - U.S. cell-phone users are staying away from mobile data services in droves, according to research company IDC. Almost three-quarters of respondents (72.5 percent) in an IDC online survey didn't use any data service other than text-messaging in the third quarter of this year, said analyst Lewis Ward. The company asked 2,506 teen-age and adult users about their attitudes toward data services. Data services are too expensive, respondents said. Mean consumer data spending on data services was about $3.70 per month, with the average young consumer spending more, according to IDC. But even among 18-to-24-year-olds, 47 percent complained about price. In general, U.S. consumers have been slower than those in other countries at adopting mobile data services. The first significant data service, SMS (Short Message Service), was a big hit in Europe and Asia before it was widely adopted in the U.S. Higher per-minute voice costs and lower data prices in those regions have helped drive adoption, Ward said. Today, SMS is a relatively bright spot for U.S. mobile data use. According to the survey, 47 percent of users sent or received an SMS in the third quarter. But Ward said he was surprised to learn how many of those messages come from subscription news and information services. About one-quarter of the messages in that period came from such services, which mobile users sign up for to receive news, sports, financial and other information, according to the survey. About one-fifth of consumers bought a ringtone during the quarter and one tenth bought a wallpaper or a game. But in a written-response portion of the survey, a small percentage of respondents not only didn't use mobile data services but were vehemently opposed to them, Ward said. Some were worried that they degraded voice calls by taking up network capacity, which is not possible on most types of cellular networks. One wrote, "I don't use any of these" followed by seventeen exclamation points, Lewis said. However, Ward sees the U.S. catching up to other parts of the world over the next several years as a more open market lowers prices. At the moment, carriers mostly control what content and services their customers can get, using a "walled-garden" approach. "As the mobile Internet matures, I think it'll become very difficult for carriers to control all aspects of the business model, as they more or less can in the current environment," Ward said. Third-party offerings, some of them free and supported by advertising, will force down prices and help increase adoption, he said. The U.S. is likely to even lead the charge on some mobile services. For example, instant-messaging services that U.S. consumers have widely embraced on their PCs are starting to catch on with the country's mobile users as well, communicating both among themselves and with PC users, Ward said. (IDC is a division of International Data Group, the parent company of IDG News Service.)
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(InfoWorld) - U.S. consumers should be allowed to take phones along with them when they switch wireless carriers, and spectrum to be auctioned through the U.S. Federal Communications Commission should include rules requiring the winning bidders to sell access to competitors at wholesale rates, some U.S. lawmakers said Wednesday. Some members of the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet also questioned what they called huge early termination fees on wireless telephone contracts. But other lawmakers and executives with wireless carriers questioned the need for new wireless regulations, saying an already competitive market protects customers. The U.S. wireless industry is "vigorously competitive," with four national and several regional carriers, said Representative Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican. New net neutrality and open access rules that would require carriers to open up their networks to new devices and applications could slow wireless innovations, he said. "We should take care to not adopt policies that would set back the highly competitive wireless market," he added. "No matter how you slice it, forced network neutrality smothers investment in a competitive market and in the end will leave consumers worse off with probably fewer choices." But other members of the subcommittee, mostly Democrats, questioned why phones can't switch between wireless networks. U.S. customers should also be able to run any applications they want on wireless networks instead of having limited choices approved by the carrier, said Representative Mike Doyle, a Pennsylvania Democrat. "It's time for consumers to become the deciders of what they want their phones to do," Doyle said. Apple's recent launch of its iPhone demonstrates the "promise and problems" of the U.S. wireless industry, added Representative Ed Markey, the subcommittee chairman and a Massachusetts Democrat. While the iPhone has innovative new technologies, U.S. customers can use it with only one wireless carrier, AT&T, he said. Other lawmakers called on the FCC to go farther than requiring device portability and application choices when it sets the rules for the use of spectrum to be auctioned in the 700MHz band. Part of the 60MHz of spectrum to be auctioned by early next year should include requirements for the winner to offer the spectrum at wholesale rates to other wireless and broadband providers, said Representative Chip Pickering, a Mississippi Republican. A wholesale rule would allow new wireless broadband providers to spring up all over the country, Pickering said. The 700MHz spectrum, now used by U.S. television stations for over-the-air broadcasts, would allow for long-range wireless broadband services, many experts say. The wholesale rule wouldn't put new regulations on existing wireless services, Pickering said. "What's wrong with that?" he asked. There's nothing wrong with a carrier voluntarily deciding to wholesale its spectrum, said Steven Zipperstein, general counsel for Verizon Wireless. "We don't think a business model should be hardwired into the auction by regulatory fiat," he said. Ed Evans, CEO of startup carrier Stelera Wireless, questioned whether a wholesale business model would succeed in the new spectrum. "You're going to give up a scarce resource ... that you're not going to be able to recoup the value on," he said. "You're going to prohibit other people from deploying proven technologies in that same area." But Jason Devitt, cofounder and former CEO of Vindigo, a company that distributes local guides on mobile phones, said the U.S. needs a more open wireless system where application providers don't have to work out deals with wireless carriers. "We have a regulatory system that doesn't work," said Devitt, now CEO of Skydeck, a wireless startup. "I'm mad as hell that I require permission to innovate in the wireless market." While wireless customers usually have to switch devices when they switch carriers, U.S. television subscribers don't have to buy a new TV set when they switch from cable TV service to satellite, added Timothy Wu, a professor at the Columbia Law School and supporter of open access rules. "There's something strange about this industry," he said. "Even the rules of personal property ... seem to be suppressed."
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New service sends color maps and directions to cell phone users.
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One bill safeguards wireless phone numbers; the other targets malicious snoops.
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In October, most major cellphone carriers plan to start compiling a publicly accessible listing of wireless phone numbers.
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Strata8 Networks, which officially opened its doors for business on Thursday, is offering a new twist on helping enterprises to lower their cell phone costs.The company, which has its own cellular spectrum licenses, offers enterprises cellular service inside of their corporate offices at a flat rate. Strata8 customers place a small base station in their building to provide coverage to workers using standard cell phones. The phones connect to the corporate cellular network while in the office but roam onto a commercial network elsewhere.The Bellevue, Washington, company is unique among others offering products that extend cellular coverage indoors in that Strata8 uses its own wireless spectrum. The spectrum, in the 1900MHz band, is the same kind used by most of the nationwide mobile operators and is owned by Strata8&#39;s parent company, Wirefree Partners.Enterprises pay $25 per user per month for the service, which includes unlimited calling to co-workers in the organization as well as to any other Strata8 customer. The base station connects to the enterprise&#39;s existing phone system, so long-distance and international calls cost the same as they would from a desk phone.The service should allow customers to save money by cutting back on their cell-phone service plans, according to Andy Wilson, executive vice president of marketing for Strata8. Craig Mathias, an analyst with the Farpoint Group, said many reports have shown that more than half of calls made from within offices are made over cell phones.But while calls from desk phones are generally cheaper than calls made from cell phones, companies should look at various factors to determine whether Strata8 would save them money, Mathias said. For example, some enterprises may not to be able to negotiate lower rates than they already get from their cell phone provider, so Strata8 would end up being an additional cost.Instead of Strata8, an enterprise could use a converged Wi-Fi and cellular service, where calls over the Wi-Fi networks are free and Wi-Fi access points are relatively inexpensive. However, that setup could require many Wi-Fi access points and also requires end-users to choose from just a few expensive phones currently available to work with such systems, he said.In addition, Wi-Fi networks use unlicensed frequencies and so can run into interference problems. But if an office building isn&#39;t using other equipment that might interfere, and if it isn&#39;t near other businesses using a similar system, converged Wi-Fi and cellular services should work well, Mathias said. Still, Strata8&#39;s offering is a clever idea that could work well for some enterprises, he said.The base stations that Strata8 uses, called pico cells, are made by UTStarcom and use the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) mobile technology. Enterprises must pay for the pico cells; Strata8 said the price varies depending on the site.One pico cell could cover a 10,000-square-foot building, but all structures present different challenges, Wilson said. Some deployments might require additional repeaters to extend coverage. Strata8 will hang the equipment for customers or train IT managers to do it themselves.Strata8 is in final negotiations on a roaming deal with a cellular operator, but Wilson said he couldn&#39;t reveal which one. Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel have nationwide CDMA networks.For now, end-users can choose from just five phones that work with the Strata8 system, including the Moto Q, Treo 700wx, Razr V3 and two HTC handsets. While any CDMA phone will work in theory, these selected phones support roaming between the Strata8 and the wide area cellular network.Other companies such as RadioFrame, also from the Seattle area, sell pico cells that help improve cellular coverage for enterprises. However, Strata8 has advantages because its system connects to an existing corporate telephone system, reducing the costs of calls for enterprises, according to Wilson. In addition, because Strata8 is using its own spectrum, it was able to set the flat rate monthly fee, he said.Strata8&#39;s service is available in some cities on the U.S. Virgin Islands and regions of nine states including Florida, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. The company said it has a few customers already but declined to reveal their names.
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Users will be able to receive news alerts and information via IM.
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Verizon Wireless has agreed to drop its opposition to the FCC&#39;s decision to realign the 800 MHz spectrum band, including Nextel&#39;s receipt of 1.9 GHz spectrum, and Nextel has agreed to relinquish
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Feds slap $2.825 million in fees on Sprint Nextel, Alltel and U.S. Cellular in a move designed to demonstrate the importance of location-sensitive phones for mobile subscribers.
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The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has proposed fines totaling US$2.8 million to three wireless carriers for failing to meet coverage requirements for an emergency dialing service called E911, the agency said Thursday.
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Switching to a new cell phone provider is supposed to be easier than ever due to new rules that let you keep your phone number. But jilted carriers aren&#39;t giving up without a parting shot.
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Customers should be able to keep their phones--not just their numbers--when switching carriers, some suggest.