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Sprint boosts protection plan fee, early out for contracts?
Major carriers' contracts have had the sticking power of Teflon lately, what with everyone suddenly deciding that 15 cents is the fair market value for text messages (no price fixing there, of course). Sprint's about to open the floodgates one more time, though -- this time with a bump to the monthly fee for its TEP (Total Equipment Protection) plan. The service goes from $6 to a whopping $7 on February 18 for both new and existing subscribers, giving folks partaking in the plan one more 30-day window to jump ship penalty-free and move to greener pastures (perceived or actual). Samsung i760, anyone?[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]Update: We're getting intermittent reports that this price hike may not lead to a get-out-of-jail-free card, possibly due to the fact that the TEP is not managed by Sprint proper but by a third party. As with past ETF skating opportunities, mileage often varies from day to day and from customer service rep to customer service rep; ultimately, we may not know until February 18 rolls around and reports start filtering in from the field whether folks are having any luck.
Verizon increases SMS rates -- customers now free of their contracts
It looks like Verizon Wireless is following in Sprint's SMS footsteps, announcing a planned hike in text messaging rates for those not currently subscribed to a messaging package. The hike, which will take effect March 1st, will bump the cost of sending a text message to the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico from $0.10 to $0.15 per message, with the price for international text messages remaining at $0.25 per message. The cost of receiving a message from customers of foreign wireless carriers, however, will increase to $0.15 whether you subscribe to a messaging package or not. If this all sounds a little familiar, it's because when Sprint did the same thing late last year, it didn't take long for people to figure out that the rate hikes amounted to a so-called "material change" to their contracts, meaning they could bail on it without paying an Early Termination Fee (EFT). So if you've been sticking to Verizon but secretly fancying another carrier, this looks like it may be your only chance to take the plunge without also taking a hit. In related news, Sprint looks to be planning a price hike of another sort, with a pair of tipsters relaying the news to us that the cost for Sprint's directory assistance service will be going up from $1.49 to $1.79 on February 1st, although whether that's enough to constitute a material change to the contract or not remains to be seen.[Thanks, Max, Tina, and Jonathan]
Opera lands contract to infect Samsung handsets
Continuing along Opera's silent, yet somewhat noticeable pursuit of conquering the mobile browser realm, the firm has sealed a deal with Samsung "to provide Internet browsers for its advance mobile telephones." Similar to the renditions already found on Windows Mobile Pocket PC, Blackberry / Treo, and basically every other handset out there, the browser will reformat pages for optimized mobile viewing and give Samsung owners one less thing to download when setting up their phone. Interestingly, the licensing deal is "per phone sold," but there's no information on just how much coinage will be changing hands when all this goes down.
Major League Gaming drops $1.75 million to sign more pros
Major League Gaming has secured team Carbon, the four-man national Halo 2 champion, with a $1 million group contract, and signed additional $250,000 deals with three members of team Str8 Rippin. Having signed similar contracts with team Final Boss and Str8 Rippin captain Tom Taylor back in June, MLG now has exclusive rights to three of the nation's top l33t pro-gaming teams.You can currently watch these fine young lads do battle on USA Network's coverage of the 2006 Boost Mobile MLG Pro Circuit on Saturday mornings.[Thanks, Raymond]
Cingular follows Sprint, ups pay-per-use texting fees to $0.15
Ah boy, here we go again. First there was drama galore when Sprint-Nextel jacked its pay-per-use texting fees from $.10 to $.15, convincing enraged users to demand their contract be terminated sans fees, and now we're headed right back into that same jungle with Cingular. In an apparent attempt to "sway" customers to add on a Messaging Package or Media Bundle, Cingular has announced that effective January 21, 2007, all SMS messages "sent or received on a pay-per-use basis" will cost you fifteen pennies. Unsurprisingly, some users aren't exactly thrilled with a portion of their bill getting hiked up by 50-percent (hey, it is what it is), and are looking for a way out. Thankfully, some users at PCSIntel, HowardForums, and other various locales have confirmed that if you get the right CSR on the line (and sound convincing enough), you can have your contract zapped without paying the $150 fee. Of course, this waiver depends on you not already having a texting package in place, but if you were ever looking for a way to sever your Cingular ties, now's the time.Read - PCSIntelRead - HowardForums
Softbank to undercut rivals, offer most mobiles free of charge
Softbank -- the folks who could be (but probably aren't) in cahoots with Apple -- is pulling out all the stops to lure customers away from those larger carriers in Japan. Soon after "vowing" to undercut any prices offered by rival firms NTT DoCoMo and KDDI, the little guy has now gone one step further by offering free handsets at the point of sale. Of course, there's always a catch, and customers looking at high-end phones will be faced with "a monthly fee" for the luxury of toting the latest and greatest, and will also be forced to sign a "one or two year" contract. But before you get too down on your luck, Softbank estimated that a "digital TV phone" would only run customers about ¥390 ($3.30) per month, which seems awfully cheap when Verizon somehow charges even more to automatically restore your contact list.
Sprint's SMS price hike saga
Sprint threw its customers for a bit of a loop last week when it raised its pay-per-use text messaging rate to $.15 per message, leaving some confusion as to whether users could get out of their contract without paying an early termination fee (EFT). The confusion apparently stemmed from the wording of Sprint's contact, which states that customers can be released from their contract if Sprint makes a "material change" to the service. Trouble is, Sprint didn't exactly come out and say if raising text messaging rates constituted a material change. After a short period of of uncertainty, however, CBS 13 in Sacramento claimed that the change was, in fact, a material one, and that customers could cancel their service without paying an EFT, something that was later independently confirmed by PCSIntel.com. So, if you've been looking for a chance to bail on Sprint for another carrier, here's your chance.
Regretting that three-year contact? Trade it away
We've all done it. The temptation of that latest-and-greatest smartphone being offered by (Verizon / Sprint / T-Mobile / Cingular) is just too great; we cave, signing our life away for one, two, or (gulp) three years in exchange for a killer price. Problem is, if you're anything like us -- as scary a thought as that might be -- the next gotta-have-it phone is going to drop well before your contract is up. Of course, most carriers offer the possibility of transferring your contract to another unsuspecting victim, but tracking that lucky individual down is the tricky part. A start-up going by "Celltradeusa" looks to help facilitate that search, charging $20 to pair up folks looking for a deal with other folks looking to slide out from under their contract. Going through the motions of getting the new owner's paperwork filled out (credit approval, etc.) is still left to the buyer and seller to work out themselves, but they've at least taken the guesswork out of finding one another in the first place.[Via SmartMoney]
LG's entry-level VX3450 now on Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless has announced that it is shipping the LG VX3450, an entry-level clamshell that replaces the VX3300. The low pricing -- $29.99 on a 2 year contract, or $79.99 on a 1 year contract -- reflects the phone's skeletal feature set (Verizon claims it's for people who "want to keep life simple"): for your money you get a basic blue flip-phone with an external antenna, a speakerphone, voice-activated dialing, an external mono-display, and wait for it... a custom ringtone composer! As you can probably tell, we're not too ecstatic about the VX3450, but as it's one of the cheapest handsets from Verizon Wireless you can probably expect to see a whole lot of them out and about from now on. So just consider this post as a friendly warning, m'kay?
Legal woes over robotic parking garage
Robotic parking garages, albeit very few and far between, aren't exactly new creations, but the original fully-automated deck in Hoboken, New Jersey has found itself the center of unwanted attention. For those unfamiliar with the process, bustling commuters follow computerized instructions to park (and exit) their vehicle on a steel slab, where the car is then hoisted upward and slid into an open bay until recalled. The robotic car shufflers can cram 324 vehicles into a 100- by 100-foot lot, which is more than double the amount traditional lots hold. But all has not been well for the automated car-lifters -- the city of Hoboken has been locked in a bitter dispute with Robotic Parking, which owns the software that operates the garage, over a contractual violation dealing with the intellectual property owned solely by the company. After the city decided to change the deck's management, they failed to stop using the proprietary software that was licensed to them, while succeeding in cutting off Robotic Parking's royalties. As expected, legal blows starting flying as Hoboken reportedly claimed there were "booby traps" in the company's software (but they kept using it?), while Robotic Parking demanded reparations for the unpaid use of their code. The dust has began to settle, at least somewhat, as both parties recently agreed to a deal in which the city shells out $5,500 / month for "licensure and support" of the software for the next three years, after which we assume Robotic Parking will promptly be kicked to the curb. This definitely isn't the first time lawsuits have caused headaches in consumer electronics, and it's presumably not the last, but it just goes to show that you should probably see if certain things are "reserved" before pulling on in.
MySpace members entitled to contract-free Helio
You have to give these guys a lot of credit for trying some unusual angles in an effort to gain footing. Appealing directly to its MySpace demographic, Helio is now offering to waive the nearly universal concept of a 2-year contract for new subscribers. Not bad; to MySpace members that take their social networking seriously, Helio probably seemed like a pretty hot concept already, and we can guess that this should be enough to push over a handful of those folks sitting on the fence.[Thanks, Rom]
Hollywood unions announce contracts for mobile shows
As much as studios and talent unions like go at it about royalties and such, the truth of the matter is that those addicted to ABC's "Lost" must be teased with tiny morsels of Internet and mobile content -- there's no escaping it. To that end, Hollywood labor types have just finalised contracts with ABC to define payments for actors, writers and directors to be featured in two-minute "mobisodes." Sounds to us like talent will be reimbursed and protected in much the same way they are for traditional episodes, just on a smaller scale. This keeps with the show's producers' aims of keeping the quality up to snuff for the "mobisodes," and is being lauded by both sides as a groundbreaking agreement that should set a good precedent for royalties related to micro content. Now, for the real question: did they consult Locke about this?
