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AT&T’s customer satisfaction rating tumbled this year, ranking dead last among U.S. wireless carriers, according to a Consumer Reports survey released on Monday.
The nation’s second largest wireless network received the worst possible rating in eight of the nine categories the magazine studied, including overall value, voice service, data service, phone service, staff knowledge, and resolution of issues, among others. Get the full story »
Verizon Wireless senior technician Jim Harper works at a switching center in Los Angeles on Oct. 18, 2010. The company and other major cellular providers have spent billions to build 4G networks. (Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times/MCT)
Verizon Wireless is going live with its new 4G network in Chicago and 37 other cities on Sunday, the carrier said Wednesday.
The network will deliver speeds between 5 and 12 megabits per second, representing a tenfold increase in speed from Verizon’s current 3G network, Tony Melone, Verizon’s chief technical officer, said in a conference call. On the 4G network, a user can download a 10-megabyte presentation in less than 10 seconds or download 20 photos in 60 seconds, Melone said.
Clearwire, Sprint and Comcast began offering 4G services in Chicago on Clearwire’s network about a year ago. T-Mobile announced the local launch of its 4G network at the beginning of November. Get the full story »
U.S. telecommunications regulators plan to tackle at a Dec. 21 meeting contentious Internet traffic rules intended to prohibit broadband providers from blocking or slowing some traffic.
The Federal Communications Commission announced on Wednesday a tentative agenda for its next meeting that included an order to adopt regulations “to preserve the open Internet as a platform for innovation, investment, competition and free expression.” Get the full story »
Cable companies have been losing TV subscribers at an ever faster rate in the last few months, and satellite TV isn’t picking up the slack. That could be a sign that Internet TV services such as Netflix and Hulu are finally starting to entice people to cancel cable, though company executives are pointing to the weak economy and housing market for now.
Third-quarter results reported by major cable TV companies show major losses, but don’t settle the question of what’s causing them. Get the full story »
T-Mobile says it’s adding a cheaper data plan with a limit on monthly traffic, much the way AT&T and Verizon Wireless have done.
T-Mobile USA will introduce the new plan before the end of the year. It will cost $10 per month with a two-year contract or $15 without one. It will provide 200 megabytes of data use per month. Get the full story »
Apple Inc. sued Motorola Inc., alleging that the company’s smartphone lineup and the operating software it uses infringe on the iPhone-maker’s intellectual property.
The two lawsuits came after Motorola sued Apple in October for patent infringement and were the latest skirmish in a long-running series of disputes in the fiercely competitive smartphone industry. Get the full story »
The Samsung Galaxy Tab. (Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images)
Sprint Nextel plans to sell its iPad rival, the Galaxy Tab from Samsung Electronics, for a third less than the tablet computer’s price tag at Verizon Wireless. But the offer still comes with a catch that at least one analyst said would limit sales.
On Nov. 14, Sprint will kick off sales for the $400 Tab, seen as the most credible competitor so far to Apple Inc.’s popular iPad, which has been on sale for $630 since earlier this year.
But while Sprint customers will pay less up front, they may end up forking over more cash over time. The discount comes with a two-year contract requiring monthly service fees starting at $29.99 for two gigabytes of data downloads. Get the full story »
Verizon Communications Inc.’s wireless business lost more ground than expected to AT&T in the third quarter, pushing shares down 2 percent.
Verizon Wireless, its venture with Vodafone Group is widely expected to sell Apple’s iPhone early next year, but for now it is playing catch-up to AT&T, the exclusive U.S. iPhone carrier. Get the full story »
Verizon Wireless, the No. 1 U.S. mobile service, plans to sell Samsung Electronics’s Galaxy Tab for $30 less than Apple Inc’s iPad, but analysts say the new tablet computer is priced too high. Get the full story »
Verizon Wireless plans to introduce a less expensive–but restricted–data plan for smartphone customers next week, according to a person familiar with the plans, in a move that follows AT&T Inc.’s own offer of two tiers of pricing.
The nation’s largest wireless carrier by subscribers will offer a $15 monthly plan that gives customers 150 megabytes of data starting Oct. 28. But unlike AT&T, it will keep available its $29.99 monthly unlimited data plan. The change was first reported by technology news Web site Engadget. Get the full story »
(Ryan Anson/AFP/Getty Images)
Verizon Wireless will join rival carrier AT&T in selling Apple Inc’s iPad later this month, showing it may move closer to disrupting the tight relationship between the device maker and AT&T.
All three models of the popular tablet computer, which comes with Wi-Fi access, will be available at Verizon Wireless stores as well as AT&T stores from October 28, the companies said. Prices will range from $629 for the 16-gigabyte (GB) model to $829 for the 64 GB model at both of their stores. Get the full story »
Mobile phone users in Illinois are paying hundreds of dollars every month for unused minutes and unnecessary services, the Citizens Utility Board said in a report released Monday.
CUB studied 4,400 cell bills entered into its online Cellphone Saver between August 2009 and July 2010 and determined that those consumers are overpaying by an average of $359 a year. Get the full story »
Verizon Wireless said Thursday it has invested roughly $135.5 million in its network in Illinois during the first nine months of the year, laying the groundwork for the planned Chicago launch of its 4G network by the end of 2010.
Company spokeswoman Carolyn Schamberger said Verizon’s total Illinois investment for all of 2009 was $168 million, putting the operator on track to outspend last year’s investment. A direct nine-month comparison was not available.
Verizon announced Wednesday that it will light up its 4G wireless network in 38 metropolitan areas, including Chicago, by year-end. In the Chicago area, the 4G network will cover more than 7 million people, T.J. Fox, Verizon’s region president for Illinois and Wisconsin, told reporters on a Thursday call. Get the full story »
Apple CEO Steve Jobs showing off the first version of the iPhone in 2007. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
Apple Inc. plans to begin making a new iPhone by the end of the year, and Verizon Wireless will begin selling them in early 2011, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
AT&T is the sole U.S. carrier for the popular smartphone, and investors and consumers alike have long speculated over when Apple will expand distribution. Get the full story »
Chicago is one of the 38 cities that will be included in Verizon Wireless’ launch of its 4G network later this year, the operator said Wednesday.
Verizon, which will use a fourth-generation network technology called Long-Term Evolution, said its Chicagoland network will extend from the Wisconsin border, to Tinley Park and Homer Glen to Lake Zurich, Hoffman Estates and Bolingbrook. Lake Michigan will form the network’s eastern border. Get the full story »
