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Sprint Nextel and Cingular go crying to mommy about network quality
Claims about the quality of wireless networks are all fun and games until someone gets taken to court. Cingular has done just that in a May 9 court filing against Sprint Nextel, setting the stage for a legal showdown that could ultimately spell the end of ridiculous and meaningless claims that a network is "most powerful," "most reliable," or "l33t." It seems the spat started after Cingular began spreading the word that its network has the "fewest dropped calls" (you know, the commercials that cleverly drop out the sound, making you think your television's busted). Sprint Nextel, with its "most powerful" claim, took issue with that, and brought it before the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division to sort out. Cingular, in response, told Sprint to go big or go home, bypassed the BBB entirely, and filed a lawsuit counter-claiming not only that they have the fewest dropped calls, but Sprint's network isn't the most powerful, either. (Oh, snap!) For the record, Cingular cites data from a 2004 report thrown together by Telephia, but they won't say what data exactly, as they refuse to release the report itself (sound familiar?). Don't expect this fight to end any time soon, folks, and don't be surprised if Verizon eventually gets dragged into the mud, too.
Motorola V3i due on Cingular
We're not entirely sure when it's to hit the streets, but we got our grimey gadget groping mitts on some internal Cingular launch docs for the Motorola RAZR V3i -- that'd be the RAZR with iTunes and MicroSD. Yep, that 100 song cap is still present, and the V3i isn't anything more than it used to be (1.2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, quad-band GSM / GPRS), but at least somebody's bringing the damned thing to the US.
Big Four allegedly gouging rural carriers on roaming
Excuse our lack of shock on this one, but if you believe what the nation's rural carriers are saying, the Big Four aren't playing nice with roaming agreements. Thanks to extensive build-outs, the days when Cingular, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile relied heavily on mom-and-pop companies to provide rural coverage are long gone. The opposite, however, is not true: customers of rural carriers are virtually always roaming when they venture into civilization. The inequity is leading to some unpleasant pricing schemes that are making business tough if you don't own a national network. USA Today specifically cites NTCH, SouthernLinc, and Leap Wireless as getting the shaft from Sprint, Nextel (both pre-merger), and Verizon respectively, all of whom have made roaming prohibitively expensive or disallowed it entirely. So far, the FCC hasn't put its foot down, but an investigation is underway and rural carriers are calling for the enforcement of consistent, reasonable roaming rates. Hey, FCC, while you're at it, can you enforce a consistent rate of $2/gallon for gas? No?
Allegiance's USB PC card adapter
We've been waiting around a while for a USB PC card adapter (that wasn't $600), and you don't have to be a MacBook or MacBook Pro user to appreciate this little number -- you'd be surprised how many smaller machines these days come slot-free. Allegiance's notably shoddy looking adapter (shown right) purportedly supports a variety of Cingular, Sprint, and Verizon cards out of box, and for a surprisingly lean cost of $200. Too bad they're back-ordered into June (and too bad the box looks enormous), but hey, now you've got something if you couldn't Bluetooth DUN or tether your way into some wireless access. [Via GottaBeMobile]
Motorola Q is set for launch next week
Remember a ways back when we told you that the Motorola Q was due for May 22nd? Well that might not have been so far off after all. Turns out Motorola has just announced that they will be releasing the Q "next week," a week which turns out to include May 22nd among its numbered days. The EV-DO phone will be out first for Verizon and Sprint, but there should be a Cingular UMTS version out by the end of the year -- a bit earlier than they previously stated -- and possibly even a HSDPA version if we're really lucky. They're billing the Q as a "BlackBerry killer," which is fine, but we're just glad they finally realised that releasing a product is an important part of the BlackBerry killing process.[Via Phone Scoop]
Auction 66 could shake up wireless industry, benefit consumers
BusinessWeek writer Olga Kharif paints an interesting portrait of the potential state of the wireless industry following the government's unprecedented sale of spectrum this summer, called Auction 66, which could see a number of new players enter the voice and data market in the not-too-distant future. Following several years of industry consolidation, highlighted by Cingular picking up AT&T and Sprint grabbing Nextel, we could soon see companies that have traditionally delivered content in other fashions -- Time Warner, MySpace-owner News Corp., or Clearwire -- offer services that compete directly with the four major carriers. Several players, including Intel-backed Clearwire, Google-backed Earthlink, and a venture between Time Warner Cable, Sprint-Nextel, Comcast, Cox, and Advance/Newhouse Communications have already expressed interest in bidding for a slice of spectrum, while other bidders, which could include a Bill Gates- and Paul Allen-backed contender, will be revealed sometime next month. Unless the established carriers snatch up all the available spectrum, which is highly unlikely, fresh blood in the industry should bode well for consumers, who will likely benefit from lower prices, more services to choose from, and less restrictions on their bandwidth usage.
T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless not supplying data to NSA
If you make most of your calls via cellphone, there's a good chance your call records aren't being provided to the National Security Agency -- if, that is, you're using Verizon Wireless or T-Mobile and most of your calls are between you and other cellphone users. Both companies say they haven't supplied data to the government, with T-Mob specifically stating that it was not involved "in any NSA program for warrant-less surveillance and acquisition of call records, and T-Mobile has not provided any such access to communications or customer records." If you're a Cingular or Sprint Nextel customer, well, it looks like you're in the same boat as the vast majority of landline users: those companies refused to deny participation in the NSA program.
Cingular drops "La Migra" ringtone
Cingular Wireless has pulled a ringtone that mocks Latin American immigrants from its site, after being contacted by an advocate from a group called the League of United Latin American Citizens. The $2.49 ringtone, called "La Migra," ridiculed Latinos, with wording such as "Step away from the telephone-o. I'm deporting you back home-o." According to reports, a Cingular exec was "nearly speechless" after listening to the ringtone.Update: Thanks to Sascha Segan for pointing out that the ringtone was actually a bit of satire put together by Latino comedian Paul Saucido. You can catch Sascha's interview with Saucido here.
Pink SLVR L7 available through Cingular
While not quite as hot as the $75,000 diamond-encrusted version, Cingular new pink SLVR L7 will surely find a market among the hoards of people that seem addicted to devices in that most feminine of colors. Even though its sporting a different shade, this model has the exact same features as the black L7 -- iTunes, Bluetooth, EDGE, MicroSD, and a VGA cam -- and costs the same too, priced at $199 with a two-year service agreement and pledge of eternal loyalty to Cingular/AT&T Wireless.
MinuteWatcher provides free cellphone usage alerts
Three cheers for a free new service that not only alerts you of your cellphone airtime usage, but provides a forecast as well so you can adjust your calling patterns accordingly. Unlike other minute-tracking solutions, MinuteWatcher doesn't require downloading any software to your phone; rather, it automatically signs into your account on your carrier's website, pulls the relevant data, and emails it to you on a preset schedule in graphical or text-only formats. Available immediately for customers of all the major networks, MinuteWatcher seems like a no-brainer to sign up for, unless you're sketchy about giving up some of your personal info like password, phone number, and home address.[Via PRWeb]
T-Mobile's BlackBerry 8700g reviewed
Despite Cingular's claim of being "the network with the least dropped calls," PC Mag's Sascha Segan finds that T-Mobile's version of the BlackBerry 8700 smartphone, the 8700g, actually outperforms its 8700c cousin in terms of call quality. Other improvements upon the Cingular model are T-Mobile's addition of two key software features: the OZ semi-universal IM client (no Gtalk, and AIM users are restricted to their small mobile buddy group) as well as the first implementation of the Yahoo!/RIM partnership we heard about last month, in the form of a handy Y! Mail icon pre-loaded in the launcher. Besides these small differences, however, Sascha finds the 8700g to perform almost exactly the same as the 8700c -- that is, very well. Email and texting are a pleasure, attachment support is good for all but PDF files, and the crisp screen delivers web pages cleanly (albeit at EDGE speeds), making this seem like the new go-to device for the Mob's business clientele.
Blackberry 7130 gets real, FCC style
Thank you for once again making our lives interesting, oh gracious FCC. Your freshly unearthed filings from Research in Motion have divined us a small bounty of BlackBerry 7130s, which turned out to be where those other pics of the Cingular 7130 popped up from. Including the already launched 7130e, we've got four models on our hands now with the 7130c, 7130g, and 7130v. Each of the GSM devices should have quad-band EDGE as per the filing, as well as Bluetooth 2.0, 64MB flash and 16MB RAM, and the usual mini USB port. We'll let you know more as these things get prices and launch dates -- we're assuming it won't be too long now that the cat's out of the very holey FCC bag.[Via Phone Scoop]
Luxury MVNO Voce gets going in LA
Ah yes, Voce. That priciest of all MVNOs is starting to get rolling in LA with an invitation-only trial capped at 500 people, with plans to add New York and San Francisco this fall. Right now they only have service based on Cingular's GSM network, and since Cingular doesn't fork over data usage to MVNOs, the Voce service is voice only. Though at these prices, they obviously figure you're too stupid to use cellular data. The service has a $1000 joining fee, plus a $400 monthly fee, which includes unlimited minutes, a free leather-clad RAZR or black Nokia 8810, and certain VIP privileges like a 24 hour personal assistant and travel perks. There's also an annual device upgrade included, which will probably feel quite welcome by the time it arrives with as old as those phones are already. Voce does plan to offer data in the future by partnering with a CDMA carrier, but for now this MVNO's offerings aren't only ridiculously pricey, but nearly non-functional for all but the most casual of phone users.[Via Phone Scoop]
Pics galore of Blackberry's 7130c, v and g
RIM's rumored 7130c for Cingular isn't much of a secret anymore, since a whole slew of pics have recently surfaced on a forum, including the Cingular branded promotional pics shown above. There are also promotional pics of an unbranded version of the 7130 that look more like the leaked shots we saw before of this device, along with a few other pics that all but confirm this device is right around the corner. Among other documents there are listings of 7130v and 7130g devices, which aren't explained, but it looks like Blackberry lovers of all sorts might be getting a new device offering from RIM before long. There's still not really any info on phone specs, but things are looking good. Make sure you check the read link for all the leaked imagery.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Verizon and Cingular go censor crazy with mobile content
You might want to look elsewhere if you were hoping that snazzy new 3G handset of yours with a large screen was going to be conveying any spicy content, or really much of anything some suit might label "controversial." Turns out Verizon and Cingular are really putting the FCC to shame in their clampdown of vulgarities and what not in mobile content. Cingular, for example, has banned the words "lesbian," "condom," "pee pee," (that was getting out of hand, but what about "Wii Wii"?), and all Mature and Adult gaming content. Teen-rated content doesn't even get a free pass, so developers will have to really watch it if they want to be promoted to the largest mobile subscriber base in the country. Verizon is similarly conservative, even though they have taken to some risque advertising methods, featuring the sexy Joanna Dark (pictured at right, censors courtesy of our friends at Joystiq). But they'll have none of it from content providers. Along with the standard sex and vulgarity bans, they don't allow the "glorification or promotion of tobacco, alcohol or drug use," and ban derogatory references to Verizon, Verizon Wireless, or Vodafone. We'd better stop talking about this before we get banned as well.[Via Joystiq]
VK Mobile's waif-like VK2020 musicphone reviewed
VK Mobile seems like a very flashy company to us, what with their fashion-over-function ethos, their, shall we say, liberal "borrowing" of design elements from some of the sexier phones on the market, and who could forget the airbrushed nude models that they employed to hawk their products at CeBIT this year? We think PC Mag would agree that the company's quad-band GSM VK2020 musicphone -- that, like the models, we also spotted at CeBIT -- falls in line with this assessment, as their review highlights the handset's RAZR- and SLVR-killing thinness and "wow factor," but knocks it on nearly every aspect important to people who actually like their stuff to function properly. Among the laundry list of flaws reported are this model's small, dim screen, barely acceptable MP3 and call audio quality, lack of even EDGE-speed data, sub-four-hour battery life, limited filetype support, and flaky Bluetooth connection. Still, PC Mag's Sascha makes a good point when he compares the VK2020 to a hot date, in that you're a lot more likely to accept its faults just because it looks so damn good. If you're the type that rushed out to buy LG's silly Style-i non-hands-free, non-headset Bluetooth headset when it became available from Verizon this week, then you'll probably be just fine with forking over $400 to Dynamism in order to sport one of today's hotter-looking imports.
FCC tightens rules on spectrum auction discounts
Major wireless carriers planning to partner with smaller providers in order to get discounts on the upcoming wireless spectrum landrush have just been delivered a major blow by the FCC, with the agency announcing a tighter set of rules and penalties on a practice that had been popular in past auctions. According to the new rules, smaller carriers only qualify for discounts if they lease less than 50% of their licensed spectrum to other operators, and those discounts will be "further examined" for carriers sub-leasing as little as a quarter of their spectrum. Furthermore, if a carrier goes ahead and leases too much spectrum within the first five years after they've obtained a license, they must repay the entire amount of the discount plus interest. What does this all mean for the consumer? We're not completely sure about all the specifics, but we wouldn't be at all surprised if the increased costs to the major carriers happen to trickle down to our bills.
Cingular to get Samsung X507
While Samsung's SGH-X507 probably won't set too many hearts racing, it has just enough features to distinguish it from the usual crop of entry-level, free-with-plan phones. In addition to a fairly good external secondary display, the clamshell includes EDGE for data transfer, USB connectivity and Bluetooth. Seems like only yesterday features like this positioned a phone in the midrange category, so it's always nice to see more and more trickling down to the low-end. PhoneArena expects it to debut on Cingular for under $100.
Treo 650 getting major firmware update?
With Palm's Treo 700p launch seemingly, just weeks away, the poor little Treo 650 must be feeling a bit worse for wear. Well, Uncle Walt still loves ya and rumor has it, Palm does too. In fact, if true, then Palm is planning a major firmware update which should arrive immediately after the Sprint 700p launch in order to keep the platform "competitive." The firmware, dubbed "lowtide," is said to include several new items, chiefly among them is the long promised BlackBerry Connect application for installation and configuration of BBConnect clients, built-in MobiTV support (for Cingular Treos, apparently), FAT32 supporting 4GB SD cards, and hold onto your hats kiddies, WiFi drivers for Palm's WiFi card... about 2 years too late. (Yeah, there are supposedly a bunch of minor changes, too.) Of course, we can't confirm if any of this is true, but we'll be giving our Treo 650 a big hug when those wolfish 700ps are released anyway... just in case.
Treo Hollywood sighted for reals?
Enough with that sketchwardo, sparkle blue, antenna-free Treo we've been seeing around, these new pics seem to be more like the real "Hollywood" deal. Just as rumored, the phone is slimmer than the 700 and 650, and antenna free as well. The profile actually looks a bit BlackBerry-esque, but the front is all Treo. Palm OS loyalists among us won't be so excited to see Windows Mobile 5.0 running on this thing, but just keep in mind Ed Colligan's word that Palm OS isn't going anywhere, we're sure a Palm OS version of this unit will follow soon. There's no carrier branding on this unit, but the tipster reported 67KB/s speeds on Cingular's UMTS 1900 network, along with a 300MHz processor, 1.3 megapixel camera, and that fairly tired 240 x 240 display. Of course, these pics are a bit blurry, and we shouldn't expect the gospel truth on this device until Palm trots it out at a press conference (if then), but it's looking good so far.
