Telecom Offers Lifetime of Unlimited Calls
611120
Life expectancy is no longer a business concern merely for insurance companies and undertakers. A telecommunications company has more than a passing interest now that it offers a lifetime of unlimited calls over the Internet for &#36;999.
372885
PALO ALTO, Calif. -- A Silicon Valley startup wants to shake up the telecommunications industry with a $399 gizmo that provides free, unlimited domestic phone calls for homes with broadband Internet service.
527298
Network infrastructure maker UTStarCom Inc. says it has figured out a way to keep local cell phone calls local -- even over enterprise LANs.
653667
New plans offering unlimited talk will change the wireless landscape.
467199
T-Mobile USA, owned by Deutsche  Telekom AG , said on Tuesday it would offer unlimited  text messaging and voice calls for $99.99 a month, starting on  Thursday February 21.
558210
(InfoWorld) - 3 Group, the mobile telecommunications operator owned by Hutchison Whampoa, has set limits on usage of its new "unlimited" mobile data plan in the U.K. On Friday, 3 UK revealed that subscribers to its X-Series service can pay an additional Â£5 ($9.90) per month on top of their regular voice fees for "unlimited" access to Skype VOIP (voice over IP), instant messaging and Internet browsing. For Â£10 per month, subscribers get all that plus the ability to watch "unlimited" TV via a Slingbox plugged into their home broadband Internet connection. 3 sells the Slingbox for Â£99. Subscribers to this service can also use Orb software to remotely access content on their PC. All those unlimited features come with limits, however. Subscribers are allowed 5,000 Skype minutes, 10,000 Windows Live Messenger messages, 80 hours using Orb and Slingbox TV, and 1GB of Internet browsing per month. In addition, the included Skype service is restricted to calls to and from PCs or other Skype users on the 3 network, and customers must use Windows Live Messenger or Yahoo Messenger for instant messaging. 3 said that where unfair use is apparent, it will take "appropriate measures" based on individual cases. Mobile operators have been criticizedÂ for pricing their data services based on how many megabytes or gigabytes that users download. But operators like 3, that are beginning toÂ offer flat-rate plans, are still under fire for placing limits on their unlimited plans. Verizon Wireless in the U.S., for example, has been criticized for its $79.99 monthly "unlimited" data plan. On its Web site, Verizon notes that subscribers to the unlimited plans are authorized to browse the Internet and access e-mail and intranets but they are not allowed to continuously stream audio or video, watch TV through devices like the Slingbox, or receive automatic data feeds. Some subscribers to the Verizon Wireless service complain that Verizon has cut off their subscriptions for over-use. Editors at a consumer complaints and reviews Web site detailed their experience this year after Verizon cancelled their account. While placing limits on such data services may be disappointing to end users, the operators have a business reason for doing so. The operators are aware of the risk that a low-priced, unlimited offering could attract so many customers that their networks won't be able to support them all, said Daren Siddall, an analyst with Gartner, speaking after the introduction of X-Series. 3 introduced X-Series earlier this month and plans to open up the offering in the rest of its markets outside of the UK next year. The Nokia N73 is the only handset currently available supporting the offering but the Sony Ericsson W950i will follow in January.
51808
Will the carrier's call connect with consumers?
497355
Internet phone service provider Skype plans to start charging U.S. and Canadian users US$29.95 per year for unlimited calls to regular phones in both countries, as the end of a free trial offer looms.
81424
Internet-service provider Earthlink Inc. on Tuesday launched a service that enables high-speed subscribers to make unlimited voice calls through their computers at no additional charge.
178905
(InfoWorld) - Don't expect new mobile phone services based on the Internet Protocol to become nearly as prevalent as those running over PCs. That's the view of Hamid Akhavan, CEO of T-Mobile International, one of Europe's largest mobile phone operators. VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) services provided over mobile phone networks will have "far less impact" than those offered over fixed-line networks, Akhavan said Tuesday on the sidelines of a news conference at theÂ 3GSM conferenceÂ in Barcelona. "There are all sorts of technical issues that make mobile VOIP services difficult to implement," he said. Technical issues related to how networks pass on IP addresses of mobile users have not been completely resolved, he noted. "Take reachability, for example: How can the call come to me?" Akhavan also said emergency phone service and "always on" connectivity are also big issues, since staying online takes up bandwidth on pricey mobile networks. And then there's price: "When people talk about VOIP, they think free," Akhavan said. "With any mobile service provided over the Internet, you're going to need to buy a data package." Mobile VOIP "will take a small share" of revenue generated by mobile voice services, he said. Akhavan's views on the technical and commercial hurdles are shared even by some of the key advocates of mobile VOIP -- namely Skype. In a recent interview with a Finnish newspaper, Skype co-founder and CEO Niklas ZennstrÃ¶m spoke of "technical obstacles" and conceded that efforts to make Skype work had been taking "much longer than expected." Earlier, Eric Lagier, Skype director of business development for hardware and mobile, called the lack of attractive flat-rate fees for most mobile phone services a key commercial hurdle to mobile VOIP usage. He said the company didn't want to be in a position of claiming that its service is free, but facing users who at the end of the month are docked with a huge broadband usage fee. At last year's 3GSM World Congress, Skype and the Hutchison 3 Group (Hutchison 3G)Â announced a partnershipÂ to provide what they had hoped to become the world's first commercial VOIP service for mobile phones. Hutchison 3G, which operates IP-based mobile broadband networks in several European markets, was one of the first mobile phone operators to embrace VOIP, a technology many in the industry view as a major threat to their cash-cow voice business.
694738
New Zealand&#39;s biggest listed company, Telecom, launched its new high-speed &quot;third-generation&quot; - or 3G - mobile phone system service Tuesday, promising users high-speed data transfer to their handsets.
574192
Skype is introducing a $30 annual subscription to make unlimited calls with the Internet-based telephone service to any regular or mobile phone number within the United States and Canada.
648340
A tiny Pennsylvania telecommunications company is raising the hackles of giants Verizon Wireless and Cingular Wireless LLC, offering consumers unlimited cellphone calls for a $10 monthly premium by exploiting the carriers' unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling plans.
347366
NEW YORK - Coming soon could be a wireless broadband world in which consumers get to pick any smartphone or other device and load any software on it - not have to take what the wireless carrier wants to sell.
134230
Wouldn't it be great to have your own cellular tower at home? You'd always have a strong signal on your mobile phone, and you wouldn't be paying to use the carrier's network.
709075
AT&T Inc , Verizon Wireless and  Deutsche Telekom's (DTEGn.DE) T-Mobile USA on Tuesday announced  flat rate plans for unlimited calls in the United States,  raising investor concerns that a price war could break out and  sending shares lower.
466651
The UK&#39;s biggest service provider, with million customers, is leading the 3G push with 10 new handsets, seven of which will be exclusive to Vodafone - with the Sharp 902 debuting as Europe&#39;s first two-megapixel camera phone.