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Hackers In “Largest Identity Theft Case Ever” Stole Over 130 Million Card Numbers :: Personal Background Check Blog

2009-08-25T12:49:00.001-07:00

Hackers In “Largest Identity Theft Case Ever” Stole Over 130 Million Card Numbers :: Personal Background Check Blog

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Text size: increase text sizedecrease text size Cable wars focus on HD channels

2009-07-26T20:35:00.000-07:00

Let the race begin! Cable television providers RCN and Service Electric are going head-to-head to strengthen their foothold in the region by increasing the number of high-definition channels each provides.

The fallout? Some customers may have to purchase additional equipment to keep viewing.

RCN will be unveiling Project Analog Crush in September, a plan to phase out analog service in order to multiply the number of high-definition channels available to its Lehigh Valley's customers from the present 29 to 100. Allentown, the first area to be upgraded, will be completed by September and the entire region is planned to be all digital by the end of the year, said Randy Nungester, RCN's vice president and general manager of the Pennsylvania market.

The upgrade will come at a cost to RCN customers, who will need a converter box to view the additional channels. The first converter box is free but additional units are $2.95 per month.

The cable provider has already done such upgrades in New York, Boston, Washington and Chicago.

''Over the past three to four years there has been a proliferation of HD television sets and the marketplace has exploded in the years as the prices went down and the size of the sets has gone up,'' Nungester said. ''In a competitive world you have to listen to the needs of your customers and if you do not change you will not be very competitive for long.''

High definition produces crisper picture quality, with images about six times sharper than analog. HD's added features are theater-like wide-screen display programming and Dolby digital audio capabilities.

RCN plans to add 15 to 20 channels on its expanded cable lineup, officials said.

Many cable providers, including the nation's largest provider, Comcast, have launched similar HD and digital expansion programs to remain competitive with satellite systems and Verizon's fiber-optic cable service called FiOS.

Cable providers have been gradually scaling back analog programming in recent years, replacing it with digital, which multiplies a cable provider's channel capacity. Each analog channel is the equivalent of three HD or 10 standard-definition digital channels.

RCN and Service Electric are the two largest cable providers in the Lehigh Valley, competing with other paid subscription services such as DirecTV and Dish Network.

The region's paid television market has been even more competitive since Verizon announced in April that it signed a 10-year deal with Allentown, allowing the company to begin laying groundwork for its FiOS service later this year.

FiOS, a service that touts high-speed Internet, clear picture quality and many HD channels, is offered in parts of 13 other states.

Verizon has said it chose to start service in Allentown because it has an infrastructure in the city with its DSL Internet service. Verizon has not said if it would be spreading FiOS service to neighboring areas.

Jack Capparell, Service Electric's general manager, said the company plans to have 100 HD channels by the end of the year. Service Electric is currently the lead HD cable provider in the area, providing about 40 such channels, viewable by a digital converter box.

Capparell said Service Electric provides the first digital converter box free but charges $5.95 per moth for each additional box. He added that the company will continue its analog service for customers that prefer the option.

Supreme Court whacks DSL antitrust suit against AT&T

2009-03-02T20:01:00.000-08:00

The Supreme Court has unanimously rejected a lawsuit against AT&T charging that the telco engaged in "price squeezing" against smaller Internet providers. A group of carriers led by Linkline Communications complained that the DSL giant charges high rates for wholesale access and low rates to consumers, effectively pushing competitors out of the market.

But the Supremes ruled on Wednesday that AT&T had "no duty to deal" with these carriers, at least as far as the Sherman Anti-Trust Act is concerned. The key to this logic is that while the Sherman Act forbids a company from monopolizing trade or commerce, it doesn't force the business to sell its services to other firms.

"If AT&T had simply stopped providing DSL transport service to the plaintiffs, it would not have run afoul of the Sherman Act," declared Chief Justice John Roberts, speaking for the court. "Under these circumstances, AT&T was not required to offer this service at the wholesale prices the plaintiffs would have preferred."

Lower courts did not see the matter this way. Linkline and three other carriers first brought their case to a California district court in 2003, charging that AT&T's retail and wholesale pricing policies effectively allowed it to "preserve and maintain its monopoly control of DSL access to the Internet." That venue agreed that AT&T's alleged squeezing techniques could run afoul of the Sherman Act. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco backed this perspective in 2007.

At issue for these courts was a ruling that the Supreme Court issued in 2004, Verizon vs. Trinko, which concluded that "a firm with no antitrust duty to deal with its rivals at all" doesn't have to provide a baseline level of service to them. As soon as the Supremes made that call, AT&T invoked Trinko in a bid to get the Linkline case dismissed. But majorities on both lower courts said that the "price squeezing" aspect of the dispute made the matter more complicated.

It got even more complex in 2005 when the Federal Communications Commission issued its Order releasing telecommunications carriers from the obligation to share their networks with unaffiliated ISPs. But in exchange for FCC permission to acquire BellSouth in late 2006, AT&T agreed to continue to offer DSL transmission access to smaller telcos "at a price not greater than the retail price in a state for . . . service that is separately purchased by customers who also subscribe to AT&T/BellSouth local telephone service."

The Supreme Court did not rule on whether AT&T has kept its end of that bargain. But it did uphold its own position in Trinko. "Trinko holds that a defendant with no antitrust duty to deal with its rivals has no duty to deal under the terms and conditions preferred by those rivals," Roberts wrote.

The Chief Justice seems to have had some fun with this case, e.g. this flourish: "[Linkline and company] tried to join a wholesale claim that cannot succeed, with a retail claim that cannot succeed, and alchemize them into a new form of antitrust liability never before recognized by this court."

And furthermore: "If AT&T can bankrupt the plaintiffs by refusing to deal altogether, the plaintiffs must demonstrate why the law prevents AT&T from putting them out of business by pricing them out of the market."

Perhaps they can demonstrate that, but they'll have to go back to the lower courts now with different arguments. The other plaintiffs involved this dispute are In-Reach Internet, Om Networks, and Nitelog, Inc.

DSL FORUM

2007-10-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

The DSL Forum today unveiled a major new phase of work at this year's Telco TV in Atlanta. The BroadbandSuite Release Plan -- an industry toolkit for broadband advancement - - represents a significant change in how the Forum issues its specifications.
Over the last fourteen years, the DSL Forum has developed approximately 150 Technical Reports (TRs) that address issues that range from interoperability to remote management of the digital home. The goal of the Forum's new Release Plan is to clearly identify which TRs are associated with specific milestones of broadband development. The Release Plan also provides for the first time, a defined roadmap of Forum work in the pipeline -- spelling out exactly what is the next stage of development.
-- Moving to the BroadbandSuite Release Plan enables service providers to better identify best practices and provides a reference map of future developments. For vendors, this new approach creates a benchmark against which to position their solutions and accelerate time-to-market. It also provides a roadmap of new contributions and work in development, allowing the industry and other organizational bodies to see the direction in which the Forum is moving.
BroadbandSuite Release 3.0 is tentatively scheduled for completion and release third quarter 2008.

Cell carriers fined over missed e911 deadlines

2007-09-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

The Federal Communications Commission had set a December 31, 2005 date by which all mobile carriers had to ensure that 95 percent of their subscribers had location-sensitive handsets--that is, those that allow emergency responders to pinpoint a caller's location upon connection to the 911 switchboard.

Sprint Nextel and large regional operators Alltel Corp. and U.S. Cellular Corp. "failed to meet this critical deadline by a significant margin, despite the clear requirements of the commission and the needs of their consumers," FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in a statement (PDF).

In fact, Sprint Nextel recorded only an 81 percent penetration rate and, according to the FCC, still has not reached the required levels. It was hit with the largest fine, at $1.33 million.

Alltel, which admitted it had reached a penetration rate of only 84 percent by the deadline and did not achieve the target until 17 months later, received a $1 million fine. U.S. Cellular, which reported about an 89 percent penetration rate as of the deadline and reached full compliance eight months later, was ordered to pay $500,000. Each of the companies had applied for deadline waivers but had their petitions denied in January of this year.

Martin said he considers "facilitating the ability of the public safety community to help those in need" among his agency's highest priorities and said enforcement actions like Thursday's are "a valuable and necessary tool in achieving this mission."

Each of the companies now has 30 days in which to pay up or to petition for the fee to be reduced--or dropped entirely.

Apparently, compliance with the FCC's rules relies in part on the ability of wireless carriers to force their subscribers--through incentives and otherwise--to switch to compatible phones, which has drawn reservations in the past from the wireless industry.

Alltel spokesman Andrew Moreau said his company "took extraordinary measures to convince our customers to swap phones, (but) many just didn't want to make the change. We believe the FCC's timetable for compliance may have underestimated customers' willingness to exchange phones." He declined to comment specifically on the FCC order because the company was still reviewing it.

Sprint Nextel spokeswoman Stephanie Walsh said her firm has faced an extra setback. In July 2004, a "software glitch" rendered the location-tracking capabilities useless in 4.7 million Motorola handsets using then-Nextel's iDEN network. The pre-merger Sprint CDMA network, she added, was poised to be the first carrier to reach the 95 percent mark.

Right now, the carrier has reached 94.7 percent compliance, Walsh said, but she declined to comment specifically on what the company plans to do about the fine, except to "recognize" it has been levied. She also said that no other wireless carrier met the December 31, 2005 deadline--although she acknowledged her company was "farther behind" than the others

Verizon, AT&T and Qwest share a huge contract, Sprint spurned

2007-04-07T02:58:00.000-07:00

Good news, AT and T (T), Sprint Nextel Corp (S), Verizon Communications (VZ), Qwest Communications Intl (Q)
The General Services Administration announced last week that teams of companies led by AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) and Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q) have won the Networx sweepstakes to provide the federal government telecommunications for the next decade. Noteworthy by its absence was Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S), which has provided these services via the previous two 10-year contracts. Those companies winning the contract will be eligible to bid for federal telecommunications services currently estimated to be worth up to $20 billion, although some suggest the total worth may be twice that amount. For AT&T Government Solutions, this builds on the many existing contracts it holds with departments of the government including Justice, Homeland Security, and the IRS. 4,000 employees already work for this division of AT&T. Its partners in this bid were Bechtel, Cingular Wireless, EDS, Global Crossing, GTSI Corp., Northrop Grumman IT, and SRA International.Verizon packaged its bid with Comtech Telecommunications, G2 Satellite Solutions, HP Proxim Wireless Networks, and WilTel Communications/Level 3 Communications, and Verizon Wireless.For Qwest, this decision represents a huge step forward as a major player in telecommunications services. It brings Akamai, Americom, Lucent Technologies, SAIC, Sykes and WireOne.Sprint's losing bid partners were Hughes Network Systems, InterCall and Lockheed Martin.A second, much smaller part of the Networx program, Networx Enterprise, will be awarded in May. That contract will cover emerging technologies.

Sprint Customers Can Use GPS To Find Apartments Right On Their Sprint Phones

2007-02-21T13:59:00.000-08:00

Smarter Agent Apartments for Rent Gives Sprint Customers Nearby Apartment Listings and Information in the Palm of Their Hand Now Sprint customers have the power to do more with the GPS technology on their wireless phones than ever before. In addition to Sprint’s current lineup of GPS-enabled navigation, location and specialty applications, Sprint and Smarter Agent today launched a new tool to give customers the power to view nearby apartments for rent right on select Sprint or Nextel phones. Smarter Agent Apartments for Rent uses GPS to deliver information about the closest available apartments without requiring the customer to enter an address or ZIP code.
"Sprint leads the industry in providing GPS applications that make everyday tasks easier, and Smarter Agent Apartments for Rent is an exciting example of that,” said George Ranallo, director of wireless data applications for Sprint. “Customers are increasingly coming to rely on our powerful networks and GPS technology to provide navigation and location tools on their Sprint phones. With applications like Apartments for Rent, Sprint is giving customers the power to use GPS in even more ways to quickly and easily get personalized information on the device they always have with them.”
Property information is provided by Apartments.com, a leading national online apartment Internet Listing Service affiliated with more than 150 newspapers across the nation. All properties advertised directly with Apartments.com are uploaded to Smarter Agent for access by mobile subscribers. Apartment information available through Apartments for Rent includes rental prices and full apartment details such as unit and building amenities and pet policies. In many cases, the listings even include interior pictures and floor plans. Customers can view the locations of available properties on MapQuest maps powered by industry digital map leader NAVTEQ.
“Because of Smarter Agent’s patented GPS mobile real estate searching, once a user downloads the application, every time they engage it, they can use a GPS search to automatically locate apartments for rent closest to them,” said Brad Blumberg, CEO of Smarter Agent. “One-third of the nation’s renting households move each year, and more than 12 million apartment units will be rented in 2007. Apartments for Rent makes finding the right apartment easy for Sprint customers.”
In addition to local GPS-powered searches, customers can also use Smarter Agent Apartments for Rent to search for apartments anywhere in the United States by entering a city and state to research multiple areas of interest.
Apartments for Rent is available nationwide on select Sprint and Nextel phones, such as the Motorola RAZR V3m and the Motorola KRZR, for $2.99 per month, plus standard data charges. Sprint also offers Recently Sold Homes by Smarter Agent for $4.99 per month.
Sprint Nextel, which offers the largest voice calling area and a nationwide mobile broadband network, also has the longest history of providing location-based services in the wireless industry, beginning in 2000 with location and mobility services, the first GPS-enabled phone to support E911 services in 2001, the first navigation service on wireless phones with turn-by-turn driving directions in 2003, and the first family location service in 2006. Sprint Nextel continues its leadership in location-based services by offering the largest portfolio of wireless mobility solutions for enterprise, general business and consumers. Sprint offers more than a dozen consumer GPS applications, including navigation, local search and specialty applications, such as Sprint Family Locator, TeleNav GPS Navigator, Garmin Mobile and BiM Active by Bones in Motion.

Sprint ''Powers Up'' Alabama with Largest Mobile Broadband Network

2007-02-08T08:00:00.000-08:00

Sprint today announced expansion of its high-speed wireless network, the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network, to Auburn and Dothan. Sprint wireless customers will be able to use a variety of devices, including handsets and connection cards, to access information, download songs over-the-air, watch live and on-demand television programming and check and send e-mails at broadband-like speeds. Sprint Mobile Broadband launched in Birmingham in 2005.
“Sprint’s Mobile Broadband Network is unmatched in delivering mobility and speed to our customers,” said Jeff Bennett, area vice president for Sprint. “Now, whether a customer is conducting business or at home in Auburn, Dothan and Birmingham, they have a more convenient way to stay connected to each other and the power to send and receive information at broadband-like speeds.”
Sprint offers the largest wireless broadband network of any carrier reaching more than 200 million people across the country and covering 9,268 cities and 878 airports. The Sprint Mobile Broadband Network is based on state-of-the-art EV-DO (Evolution Data Optimized) CDMA technology, delivering wireless data at average download speeds of 400 – 700 kilobits per second and a peak rate of up to 2.0 megabits per second.
The Sprint Mobile Broadband Network can be accessed by plugging a high-speed Connection Card into a notebook computer or via a Sprint Power Vision phone. Sprint Power Vision Packs include compelling content for all plans and are priced at $15, $20 and $25 – all of which include steaming radio channel from SIRIUS, streaming live news from ABC News Now, and unlimited Web and data access. Flexible pricing plans for laptop connection card access start at $39.99 per month.
New or enhanced services now available to Sprint customers:
The Sprint Music StoreSM was the first service in the U.S. to allow wireless customers to purchase and download full-length songs over-the-air to be enjoyed on their phone or PC. Sprint offers a full universe of music and video content, including streaming music and exclusive video of musical performances. Customers can browse, preview, purchase and listen to music from a song library of more than one million songs while on the go, right from their Sprint Power Vision Phone. The service is easily accessed from the Music icon on the main menu of the phone. Customers receive two copies of the song – one formatted for their phone and another for their PC – and can organize their music and create playlists from the phone.
Sprint TVSM is an Emmy Award-winning service that allows customers to enjoy TV on the go with more than 50 channels to choose from, including CNN, ABC, FOX, ESPN, The Weather Channel, MTV, E!, The Cartoon Network, Looney Tunes and Comedy Central. Sprint was the first to offer live programming, full-length movies, live concerts, Spanish-language programming and many other features on U.S. mobile phones. Some of the other key capabilities that are available include Sprint Power View (the only made-for-mobile video programming network in the United States with original sports and entertainment shows) and NFL Mobile (with video highlights from the end of NFL games and a live stream of NFL Network).
Sprint Family Locator is the first GPS-enabled service in the U.S. to enable a parent to use a phone or PC to identify the location of a child on a map, along with the address, surrounding landmarks and accuracy of the information within a specified radius. Sprint has the longest history of providing location-based services in the wireless industry, and continues to be the industry leader with the largest portfolio of GPS-enabled applications such as TeleNav GPS Navigator, AllSport GPS and Recently Sold Homes by Smarter Agent.
Web Browsing at broadband-like speeds on your phone makes it easier and quicker to stay informed whether you are at home, work, play or somewhere in between.
The expansion of the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network in Alabama is further demonstration of Sprint’s commitment to ongoing network enhancement and expansion. Through third quarter 2006, Sprint invested more than $17 million in both the Sprint PCS Nationwide Network and the Nextel National NetworkSM in Alabama. Nationwide, Sprint spent more than $7 billion in capital expenditures in 2006, most of which was invested to enhance its wireless and wireline networks. This year, Sprint expects to significantly increase this investment, primarily to further enhance its powerful networks.

Sprint Intros EX720

2007-01-31T08:04:00.000-08:00

Beginning today, customers in South Florida, Portland, Ore. and Puerto Rico join the more than 95 million people in 21 other major markets who enjoy the upgraded Sprint Mobile Broadband Network which provides users faster data speeds and the ability to ultimately utilize richer applications and services such as high-speed video telephony, music-on-demand, video messaging and large file uploads.
Since it became the first carrier to roll out the upgraded EV-DO Revision A technology in October of last year, Sprint has been continually monitoring customer experience, assessing network performance and optimizing network elements to enhance the performance of the industry’s fastest available mobile broadband network, allowing customers to experience even faster data speeds than previously stated. As a result, users in markets with the technology upgrade should experience significantly faster average upload speeds of 350-500 Kbps (compared with 50-70 Kbps of current EV-DO networks) and average download speeds of 600 Kbps-1.4 Mbps (from 400-700 Kbps).

Speed and size aren’t just valuable on the football field, they are prized by mobile broadband customers too, and clearly Sprint’s upgraded mobile broadband network is the champion when it comes to delivering both,” said Kathy Walker, chief network officer for Sprint. “Sprint customers in the upgraded markets can take advantage of the fastest available mobile broadband network to send and receive information at DSL-like speeds while on the go.”

Microsoft and Sprint Collaborate on Mobile Search

2006-11-16T07:12:00.000-08:00

Microsoft and Sprint, have announced a strategic alliance through which the companies will develop and deliver a range of innovative new service offerings for Sprint’s business and consumer customers. The first consumer offering in this collaboration enables Sprint customers to use Windows Live Search for mobile on their wireless phones to conveniently search location-based content from the Internet, such as nearby stores and restaurants, as well as Sprint’s catalog of ring tones, games, screen savers and related services. The service also provides new opportunities for highly relevant and targeted local advertising, which will benefit businesses and consumers alike.

“Microsoft and Sprint share a vision that mobility is about helping customers access the information they need while on the go. The new alliance will deliver on that vision for consumers and businesses,” said Mark Schweitzer, chief marketing officer at Sprint. “By adding Windows Live Search for mobile to Sprint devices, customers now carry with them a depth of relevant local search information, in addition to quick and easy access to their favorite Sprint content. Microsoft’s innovation in search and advertising makes them a logical choice for us to work with to realize this vision.”

The new Sprint mobile search service powered by Windows Live aims to provide one-stop access to relevant online content associated with a given keyword or phrase. For example, consumers who search for “sports” on their wireless phone can search all of Sprint’s content relating to sports, such as ringtones, wallpapers and applications with “sports” in the title, as well as local information available online such as business listings for sports stores, maps, directions and relevant advertisements from local businesses. The service is immediately available at no additional cost to Sprint PCS VisionSM and Sprint Power VisionSM subscribers on all currently available data-capable phones, along with many popular older models.*

“In recent years the search box has fundamentally changed the way people interact with the Internet, but we have only just begun to scratch the surface for what search and live Internet services can do in the mobile space,” said Steve Berkowitz, senior vice president of the Online Services Group at Microsoft. “Today’s announcement is a positive step forward in enhancing the mobile search experience for consumers and advertisers alike, by putting locally relevant information in the hands of consumers. And with Sprint’s strong history of enabling Internet services on phones and Microsoft’s expertise in delivering software plus services, we are excited about the opportunities this alliance can bring to further promote live services across devices that help people get the information they want, when they want it, where they are.”

Windows Live Search for mobile combines Microsoft Windows Live Local Search features, such as maps and directions, with capabilities allowing the indexing and discovery of highly relevant mobile content. This approach brings simplicity for users by delivering search results grouped in useful categories and in a format appropriate for a user’s specific mobile device.
The location-based offering available today from Sprint and Microsoft requires users to input their location by entering their ZIP code, address, or city and state. Future versions of the service are planned to enable consumers to give permission to automatically locate them and show the nearest businesses that match their search.

Companies Target New Integrated Services in Strategic Alliance

Today’s mobile search release is evidence of the success Microsoft and Sprint expect to continue in developing integrated solutions that bring together products and services from both companies, and which target business and consumer subscribers.

“Sprint is excited about the successful collaboration with Microsoft thus far. Besides mobile search for the consumer, our business customers are benefiting significantly from the ease and enhanced functionality of Windows Mobile 5.0 as well as robust managed security solutions based on Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services,” said Susan Nelson, vice president of strategic alliances, Sprint. “This holistic relationship aligns our companies in joint development, marketing and sales efforts, which allows us to move quickly to combine our expertise and deliver innovative solutions to our customers.”

Future initiatives in the alliance will explore leveraging new Microsoft technologies in the development of a differentiated portfolio of rich and seamless information experiences for Sprint customers. The service aggregation enabled through Microsoft’s Connected Services Framework will help to reduce integration costs and accelerate time to market as the two companies introduce new revenue-generating services that marry traditional telecommunications offering with Web services, from Windows Live beyond.

Sprint shares rise, some see bullish technicals

2006-10-07T03:19:00.000-07:00

Shares rose on Thursday in a rally some analysts said was spurred by bullish technical signals that the wireless provider's stock may recover ground it lost after reporting disappointing earnings two months ago.

Shares of the No. 3 U.S. wireless company rose as much as 5 percent before yielding ground to finish up 2.9 percent, or 51 cents, at $17.86 on the New York Stock Exchange.

In addition, many option investors turned to bullish strategies such as buying calls, hoping to profit from share gains.

Analysts said there did not appear to be any fundamental reasons why Sprint shares were up, but investors could be becoming more interested in the wireless sector in general or pushing Sprint's stock up for technical reasons.

"The whole wireless space is extremely strong today," said Stanford Group analyst Michael Nelson. who also noted that Sprint announced plans to sell three new popular cell phones earlier this week.

"In general Sprint has been really beaten up and some people are saying that at this level there may be some real value here," said Jefferies analyst Jonathan Schildkraut.

On October 4, smaller wireless rival Dobson Communications Corp. (DCEL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) posted subscriber growth that beat analyst expectations. Its shares rose over 19 percent on Thursday.

One analyst said Dobson's news was not necessarily a good sign for Sprint but it may have boosted interest in wireless stocks in general. Another small cellular provider, Leap Wireless International Inc. (LEAP.O: Quote, Profile, Research), saw its shares rise 4.4 percent on Thursday

AT&T to offer DSL customers cable plan

2006-09-12T16:01:00.000-07:00

AT&T Inc. is offering its broadband DSL subscribers a new service where they can watch live cable TV channels on any computer connected to the Internet at home or on the road for an extra $20 per month

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The AT&T Broadband TV service will feature about 20 channels of live and made-for-broadband content. The lineup includes the History Channel, the Weather Channel, the Food Network, Bloomberg, and Oxygen. Channels will be added soon, the company said without elaborating.

The content is being provided by MobiTV Inc., a company that has specialized in delivering live cable channels to cellphones through wireless carriers such as Sprint Nextel Corp. and Cingular Wireless, which is majority owned by AT&T.

As compared with many Internet-based video services, where the viewing window is considerably smaller than most computer monitors, the new AT&T offering will allow users to expand the picture to full screen. The service requires Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media Player for playback.
Viewers will see whatever commercials are being shown on the live broadcast, but no ads are planned for the browser window and control panel frame.

AT&T Broadband TV will be available to all 7.8 million subscribers of AT&T Yahoo High Speed Internet and AT&T WorldNet, though WorldNet users will not receive the Fox News channel.
While live TV feeds over the Internet are relatively uncommon so far, online downloading of video clips and TV programs has hit the mainstream over the past year.

Microsoft's Windows Live and Office Live raised a few eyebrows

2006-09-05T09:21:00.000-07:00

Microsoft's Windows Live and Office Live raised a few eyebrows back when they were first announced. Was Microsoft simply trying to cash in on all the "Web 2.0" hype and show that it was able to match Google? Since that time, the Redmond giant has been working furiously to add more features to the "Live" stable of products, and has even been preparing to add features from its original namesake, Xbox Live.
Now, Microsoft has announced that they will be partnering with Verizon to bundle various Windows Live services with subscriptions to Verizon's DSL and FiOS Internet services. Verizon customers will have the option of a cobranded Verizon/Live.com home page, a Verizon/Live.com search page, and e-mail access through Windows Live Mail. They will also receive a Windows Live Toolbar, a cobranded version of Windows Live Messenger, and Windows Live OneCare.
This deal enhances an earlier partnership that Verizon and Microsoft entered into in 2002, when the Internet service provider agreed to bundle MSN 8 with new accounts. In many cases, products that used to fall under the MSN umbrella, such as MSN Messenger, have been rebranded as Windows Live services instead. Verizon seems happy with the deal. John Wimsatt, a senior vice president at the telco, gushed: "We're delighted to move forward with Microsoft in offering our broadband customers an enhanced, more-personalized Internet experience through a combination of Windows Live services and innovative features from Verizon."
The contract is not exclusive: other ISPs can also jump on the Windows Live bandwagon if they so choose. Nor are the Windows Live services forced upon new users. Upon signing up for a Verizon account, customers are given a list of menu options that allow customization of e-mail, home page, and search engine preferences. If customers make no choice, the default for many of these options is set to Yahoo, based on an earlier agreement between Verizon and the exclamation point-enjoying search engine company.
Will deals such as this boost Windows Live's popularity? So far, reaction to many of the Live services has been mixed—few people are rushing to replace Google with Live.com and its slow, if fancy user interface. However, with Vista still on track for its ship date next January, much of Windows' default infrastructure will incorporate Live services, and my contacts at Microsoft assure me that the sluggish performance of many of the Live tools will be fixed by the switch to Vista's new graphics architecture, although it remains to be seen whether these performance gains will be noticeable on existing hardware.

No price cuts for Verizon, BellSouth DSL customers

2006-08-23T22:23:00.000-07:00

Verizon Communications' and BellSouth's DSL customers won't see a reduction in their broadband bills, even though a special fee that had been tacked on to bills to pay for a federal program has been eliminated.
Last year, the Federal Communications Commission changed how it classifies DSL (digital subscriber line) services, thus eliminating a fee that had been charged to all DSL subscribers to help pay into the Universal Service Fund. USF is a federal program that helps subsidize rural telephone service and provide Internet access to schools and libraries.
Verizon DSL customers subscribing to its 768Kbps (kilobits per second) service paid about $1.25 into USF every month, and customers of its 3Mbps (megabits per second) service paid about $2.83 per month, the company said. BellSouth customers were charged $2.97 per month for USF, according to the BellSouth Web site.
But now that the fee has been eliminated, as of Aug. 14, neither Verizon nor BellSouth plan to pass the savings on to consumers. Instead, Verizon has added a new "supplier surcharge" starting Aug. 26 that's $1.20 per month for the slower service and $2.70 for the faster service. BellSouth said it will keep its $2.97 fee, which it continues to call a "regulatory cost recovery fee."
Verizon said it is charging its new supplier surcharge to offset the cost of offering its standalone, or "naked," DSL service, which allows customers to subscribe to DSL without subscribing to Verizon's local phone service.
The company said that because it's losing revenue from those voice subscriptions, it must make up the difference in other ways. But instead of simply recovering those costs in the price of the actual service, Verizon has chosen to spread the cost of naked DSL across its entire DSL customer base.
Customers subscribing to standalone DSL pay $5 more per month for their broadband service than customers who buy DSL bundled with a voice service.
"We didn't think the standalone DSL service would be competitively priced if we put all of the cost on the service," said Bobbi Henson, a Verizon spokeswoman. "So we spread the cost across the entire base of our DSL customers. Doing this as another fee was coming off the bill seemed like good timing, since it will have little impact on what customers are actually paying per month."
Meanwhile, AT&T and Qwest Communications International, which also offer standalone DSL, are not adding new fees in lieu of the USF fee. AT&T charges about $10 more per month for the standalone DSL service than it does for its bundled DSL services.
BellSouth had a different explanation for keeping its $2.97 fee. It explained in a statement sent to CNET News.com via e-mail that the charge is "to offset costs incurred in complying with regulatory obligations and other expenses. The fee also recovers costs associated with additional systems necessitated by federal regulation, as well as costs associated with monitoring, participating in and complying with regulatory proceedings, and other network and servicing requirements."
But consumer groups don't buy either explanation.
"Verizon and BellSouth are using the situation to pocket more revenue from every customer by labeling this fee, which customers are already used to paying, something else," said Jeannine Kenney, senior policy analyst for Consumers Union. "BellSouth is clearly misrepresenting what the fee will pay for. I mean how can this be a 'regulatory cost recovery' when DSL is no longer regulated?"
Mark Cooper, director of research at the Consumer Federation of America, believes that Congress should take the phone companies' recent actions as a warning of what could happen if lawmakers do not impose Net Neutrality regulation, a hot topic being debated in Washington. Without Net Neutrality legislation, network owners, such as the phone companies, could charge third parties, like Vonage or Google, extra fees for offering services over the phone companies' broadband networks. Phone companies have argued that if they could provide Internet companies premium services for a fee, broadband customers could ultimately benefit through lower-priced and more innovative services.

2006-08-23T22:20:00.000-07:00

Sprint Extends Cable Deal

2006-08-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

Sprint Nextel said Thursday it has expanded its agreement with Time Warner Cable, the second-largest cable operator in the United States, to offer voice services to the cable firm’s customers.

The new five-year agreement adds another 14 service areas in which Time Warner will use Sprint’s wireline network to offer VoIP services to the cable company’s voice subscribers.

Sprint currently connects more than 1.2 million cable VoIP customers, and the Reston, Virginia-based carrier is expected to double that number to 2.5 million in a year.

Despite the deal, shares of Sprint Nextel fell $2.77 to $17.36 in recent trading, while Time Warner shares dropped $0.17 to $16.50.

Time Warner, the New York-based parent of Time Warner Cable, announced on Wednesday that it added more than 234,000 new VoIP subscribers in the second quarter, bringing its total to 1.6 million.
That places Time Warner Cable in the third spot among cable companies offering voice services.

Cox Communications, which has more than 1.8 million voice customers, continues to lead, barely, followed by Comcast in second place with 1.7 million.

Handing off Traffic
The deal between Sprint and Time Warner Cable will involve the handoff of long-distance traffic from Time Warner’s network to the Sprint network.

Sprint will also provide Emergency 911 services to Time Warner Cable’s voice customers.

Until it sold off much of its local phone business, Sprint used to be one of the largest wireline telephone companies in the U.S.

The company, which operates the third-largest wireless network in the U.S. after Cingular and Verizon Wireless, has built an extensive business around the cable industry.

Last November Sprint teamed with cable leaders Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, and Advanced/Newhouse in a joint venture that will allow the cable firms to resell Sprint’s wireless services.

Sprint invested $100 million in the deal while the cable operators together added another $100 million.

The $200-million investment is going toward the development of integrated voice, data, video, and wireless services, and marketing efforts.

Phone Company Incursions
Cable companies are facing incursions into their pay-TV distribution businesses by phone companies. AT&T and Verizon Communications are now offering all four services in much of their coverage areas.

Both AT&T and Verizon own wireless carriers and they resell satellite TV services as part of their voice, data, video, and wireless packages.

But both phone companies are also upgrading their networks to offer IPTV services. Verizon has already begun rolling out its IPTV services in a number of markets across the country.

Offering multiservice packages has proven to be quite popular among customers. Surveys have shown that customers favor the discounts inherent in these packages, and the single-bill option.

By reselling Sprint’s wireless services, the cable operators can match the phone companies in their ability to offer the full complement of four services.

“Our vision for the cable initiative, whether it’s wireline or wireless, is to deliver compelling, integrated services that provide unique value to customers,” said Gary Forsee, Sprint Nextel’s chief executive.

“This expanded agreement with Time Warner Cable is illustrative of our company’s growing importance in the cable sector,” he concluded.

Wireless, Web seen driving AT&T, Verizon earnings

2006-07-22T17:36:00.000-07:00

Telecommunications giants AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - news) and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ - news) are expected to report solid second-quarter earnings, buoyed by growth in wireless and Internet subscribers.
Analysts said cost savings from mergers between AT&T and SBC Communications, as well as Verizon and MCI last year, should also soothe investor concerns over falling traditional phone revenues and competition from cable operators' all-in-one packages of voice, Internet and phone services.
"Strong broadband and wireless customer growth should offset continued access line losses in Q2," said Tom Watts, an analyst at Cowen & Co.
"Cable competition and increased (capital expenditure) remain near-term concerns. However, long-term prospects for the free cash flow generation, EPS growth and share buybacks should offset these issues," said Watts.
In a first sign of how telecom companies will perform, Cingular Wireless, a joint venture of AT&T and BellSouth Corp. (NYSE:BLS - news), said on Thursday its quarterly net income rose to $540 million from $147 million. Cingular said it added a higher-than-expected 1.5 million customers while cancellations, known as churn, fell to a record-low 1.7 percent.
Analysts on average forecast AT&T to report on Tuesday adjusted earnings of 53 cents a share for the second quarter, up from 43 cents a year ago, according to Reuters Estimates. AT&T posted earnings of 52 cents a share in the first quarter.
Verizon, due to report on August 1, was seen posting earnings of 63 cents a share before merger costs, flat with the year-ago quarter and up from 60 cents in the first quarter.
Analysts said that both companies were benefiting from their wireless operations, but they were slightly more cautious on Verizon as it was spending more heavily on a fiber optic network to deliver Web-based television and other services.
BROADBAND AND VIDEO
AT&T shares have risen about 16 percent from a year earlier, while Verizon has fallen about 7 percent. Both companies are trading at about 12 times forecast 2007 earnings excluding special items, according to Reuters Estimates.
Verizon has been investing heavily in deploying high-speed Internet connections. Aside from its digital subscriber line service, it has also been expanding its fiber-optic service network, FiOS, the backbone of Verizon's newly-launched, Web-based TV service.
AT&T has also recently launched new video services. But both telecoms firms are struggling to compete with cable providers such as Comcast (Nasdaq:CMCSA - news) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWX - news), who have had a head start and an advantage of already being connected to living rooms.
"We expect Verizon to have another strong quarter in broadband, with 445,000 net additions... 130,000 in FiOS data and 315,000 in legacy DSL subscribers," UBS analyst John Hodulik said in a research report.

Sprint Nextel gives customers access in Canada, Mexico

2006-06-21T16:17:00.000-07:00

Sprint Nextel Corp. announced Wednesday that its customers will have access to wireless phone services in Canada and Mexico.

These services are available as part of reciprocal agreements with wireless service providers Bell Canada and Iusacell in Mexico. With this deal, Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) becomes the only U.S. operator to provide high-speed wireless services throughout Canada and Mexico.

John Dubois, director of global roaming for Sprint Nextel, said this deal was something the company had been planning for a while and is part of a larger expansion of international services. Within the next year, Sprint Nextel plans to be offering high-speed wireless service in major markets around the world, he said.

Sprint Nextel expresses concern about AT&T-BellSouth merger

2006-06-07T10:01:00.000-07:00

Less than a year after federal regulators blessed its $35 billion mega-merger, Sprint Nextel Corp. has filed opposition against AT&T Inc.'s $67 billion acquisition of BellSouth Corp.

A prime concern of Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) is that an AT&T-BellSouth would control 99 percent of the wireline access at Sprint Nextel's wireless towers in the AT&T and BellSouth service territories. Sprint Nextel must pay the wireline companies to access those high-capacity lines and route wireless calls.

In a filing with the Federal Communications Commission on Monday, Sprint Nextel noted that AT&T and BellSouth also jointly own rival Cingular Wireless, "thereby increasing the merged company's incentive to use its special access pricing flexibility to benefit Cingular."

Sprint Nextel outlined a dozen conditions the FCC should place on the merger before approving it. Those conditions include prohibiting AT&T from increasing certain access rates for 30 months.

Sprint Nextel, the No. 3 wireless carrier nationally, did not disclose in the filing how much money it spends with AT&T and BellSouth on the access fees for wireless calls.

AT&T, BellSouth, Sprint May Win End to Long-Distance Excise Tax

2006-05-25T07:29:00.000-07:00

More than a century after the Spanish- American War, AT&T Inc., BellSouth Corp. and Sprint Nextel Corp. may be close to being rid of the tax created to pay for it.

In the past year, five appeals courts with jurisdiction over 13 states have said the 108-year-old U.S. excise tax on long- distance calls is illegal, and Republican lawmakers in both chambers of Congress have introduced legislation to abolish it. In February, Treasury Secretary John Snow told a congressional panel that ``the handwriting is on the wall'' for the levy.

``Secretary Snow has led me to believe they're just about ready to throw in the towel,'' said Representative Gary Miller, a California Republican who is sponsoring repeal legislation in the House. ``It's time we just eliminate it.''

The Treasury Department said Snow would make an announcement today about the telephone tax. Snow's spokesman, Sean Kevelighan, said this week that ``IRS, Treasury and Justice are considering all the options, and we will hopefully have some sort of conclusion or decision in the future.''

The driving force behind the push for abolition of the tax comes from successful legal challenges by corporate phone-service customers such as Itasca, Illinois-based OfficeMax Inc. and Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett-Packard Co. The 3 percent excise tax, which carriers are required to collect from their clients and remit to the government, would generate $67 billion in government revenue over the next 10 years, according to estimates by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.

The telephone companies say the court rulings have put them in an untenable position: stuck between customers in those states who may sue them for collecting the levy and a government that may penalize them for failing to pass it on.

`Obligated'

``We are obligated to continue to collect the tax because the IRS hasn't issued any guidance telling us we don't have to,'' said Caroline Graves Hurley, director of tax, finance, and business policy for the Washington-based U.S. Telecommunications Association, an industry group that represents 1,200 companies, including San Antonio-based AT&T, Atlanta-based BellSouth and Reston, Virginia-based Sprint Nextel.

At issue is whether a 1965 version of the law, first enacted in 1898 to fund the war with Spain, permits the government to tax long-distance calls based on elapsed time, distance, or both. The IRS in 2005 insisted both types of calls are taxable; the courts have ruled the tax doesn't apply to calls billed in time increments or those covered by a flat-rate plan, as most calls currently are.

Refunds

More than a dozen companies, including St. John's, Newfoundland-based Fortis Inc. and Amtrak, the national passenger railroad based in Washington, have won more than $2 million in refunds from the government in the past two years. On May 16, Downers Grove, Illinois-based ServiceMaster Co., owner of the Terminix, TruGreen ChemLawn and Merry Maids brands, won a refund of $880,000 collected by AT&T and Sprint.

Those victories have led to dozens more suits, including a class-action claim filed by Fort Worth, Texas-based RadioShack Corp. that seeks as much as $9 billion in refunds on behalf of telephone users around the country.

Individual consumers may soon join the fray, too. BellSouth is already fighting a class-action lawsuit brought in April by a long-distance customer in Alabama.

``We believe anyone who wants to challenge the tax needs to challenge it with the taxing authority,'' said Bill McCloskey, a BellSouth spokesman. About 14 million of BellSouth's 19.8 million customers reside in states where the appellate courts have ruled the tax illegal, he said. Other telephone companies referred calls to the U.S. Telecommunications Association.

``With several appellate court losses already on the books, the IRS is clearly aware of the legal challenges they face,'' Hurley said. ``We hope they will act quickly to resolve these conflicts.''

Tax Cuts

The courts' involvement may deliver a victory to tax-cutting Republicans in Washington who are running out of taxes to cut and are facing a projected $300 billion budget deficit for this year.

Congress in 2000 voted overwhelmingly to abolish the levy, though then-President Bill Clinton vetoed the broader spending legislation that contained the repeal. The Bush administration hasn't revived the measure.

Since then, Republican lawmakers -- including Miller, Minnesota Representative James Ramstad, Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and Virginia Senator George Allen -- have led efforts to pass a new repeal.

`The Time Has Come'

``The time has come for the IRS to stop applying this unfair, and apparently illegal, tax,'' said Santorum, whose state is covered by the Third Circuit's ruling that the levy is illegal.

J. Leigh Griffith, a partner with the law firm Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis LLP in Nashville who is preparing to file as many as 100 refund lawsuits against the government on behalf of mid-sized companies, said lawyers are watching the results of two cases pending in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

A victory there by Time Warner Corp.'s Dulles, Virginia- based America Online unit or Morris Township, New Jersey-based Honeywell International Inc. would have national ramifications, he said. ``There is a reasonable chance the government will ultimately throw in the towel,'' Griffith said.

McCloskey, the BellSouth spokesman, said his company has been fighting the telephone tax for years and is tired of acting as a tax collector.

``We'd like to see it resolved in favor of the customer,'' he said. ``We've been in middle since the Spanish-American War.''

Sprint Announces Plans to Be First to Offer Mobile Broadband-Capable Palm Treo Running Palm OS

2006-05-16T07:57:00.000-07:00

Sprint Power Vision(SM) Smart Device Treo(TM) 700P By Palm Features
Industry-Unique Multimedia Capabilities Powered by the Nation's
Largest Mobile Broadband Network That Allows Users to Do More in More
Places
Sprint (NYSE:S) today announced plans to be the first carrier tooffer the Sprint Power Vision(SM) Smart Device Treo(TM) 700P by Palm -the latest PDA/Phone combo to deliver broadband-like download speedsof Sprint Mobile Broadband Services operating on the Sprint PowerVision Network(1). Sprint has the largest mobile broadband network ofany carrier today and is expected to extend its leadership role toreach an estimated 190 million people nationwide and in Puerto Rico byyear end and concurrently implement second-generation upgrades tobring additional mobility benefits to users in 1Q 2007. The Treo 700Pwill be available at the end of May at Sprint Stores, Sprint businesschannels and online at www.sprint.com at $399.99 after availablediscounts and promotions.

Ideal for customers who want to extend their workplace and stayconnected for personal needs, the Treo 700P builds upon the success ofearlier models offering enhancements in several areas includingbroadband-like download speeds, an enhanced Blazer Web browser and anupdated Palm OS (version 5.4.9). Sprint is enabling the Treo 700P withflexible connectivity options like phone-as-modem that takes advantageof the devices capability to be used with a laptop to providehigh-speed data access. Sprint is also expected to be the onlywireless carrier to offer live TV capabilities - via Sprint TV - onthe Treo 700P at launch.

"Sprint realizes that every business customer is also a consumerand uses mobility for productivity, social connections, entertainmentand news," said Danny Bowman, vice president of product marketing forSprint. "The Treo 700P is ideal for customers who are looking for adevice that provides a combination of power and elegance to satisfythe need for owning a stylish, cutting-edge device while still helpingthem to be more efficient and productive."

The Treo 700P allows Sprint customers to do more in more placesand provide a powerful productivity and entertainment experience.Features include:

-- Support for Sprint Mobile Broadband Service on the nation's largest mobile broadband network.

-- Support for Sprint TV(SM) - Emmy-award winning service providing more than 50 channels of video and audio for TV on the go, including live TV with full motion video and vivid sound.

-- Support for On Demand - retrieve personalized information for local news, sports, weather, movies and more.

-- Support for Sprint PCS Picture Mail(SM), Messaging, Games, Ringers, Screensavers

-- Email and Web capable

-- Phone as modem capability

-- Palm OS organizer

-- Bluetooth(R) Wireless technology

-- 1.3 megapixel digital camera with video capabilities

-- Built-in MP3 player

-- Speakerphone

-- 128 MB Memory - (60 MB available for end user storage)

-- Enhanced attachment capabilities - Documents to Go (version 8.0) including a new PDF viewer

-- Voice memo application

"The new Sprint Treo 700P delivers on Palm's commitment to providebusiness and mobile professionals with the tools they need to stayproductive while on the road," said John Hartnett, senior vicepresident worldwide sales and customer relations for Palm. "The Treo700P provides a world-class email and Web experience and, combinedwith Sprint's high-speed EV-DO network, gives businesses more reasonsto extend their corporate information with a Treo mobile solution."

For content, the Treo 700P has access to Sprint downloadablegames, ringers, screensavers and other Palm OS productivity andentertainment applications applied directly on a customer's Sprintbill. Additional content is available via the Sprint PCS SoftwareStore provided by Handango(TM), an intelligent on-device catalog ofapplications and digital media, allowing users to find, download andbuy software, games, ringtones, graphics and other applications simplyand securely. The store can also be visited online athttp://sprint.handango.com.

For complete details on the Treo 700P, visithttp://www.sprint.com/treo.

Sprint customers can currently use several devices on the SprintPower Vision Network to access various audio, video and dataapplications at average download speeds of 400-700 kbps and peakspeeds up to 2Mbps(2). Sprint today has the most wireless broadbandcoverage of any carrier. The Sprint Power Vision Network now coversmore than 150 million people and services customers in 220 majormetropolitan areas as well as 470 airports across the nation, the mostof any carrier. The Sprint Power Vision Network is expected to reachan estimated 190 million people nationwide by the end of the year.

About Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of communicationsservices bringing mobility to consumer, business and governmentcustomers. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing,engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including tworobust wireless networks offering industry leading mobile dataservices; instant national and international walkie-talkiecapabilities; and an award-winning and global Tier 1 Internetbackbone. For more information, visit www.sprint.com.

Broadcast Video

Press can register, browse, preview, download and order b-roll forfree at Palm's Multimedia Library at www.palm.com/multimedialibrary, aweb-based news and video archive.

This news release includes "forward-looking statements" within themeaning of the securities laws. The statements in this news releaseregarding the business outlook, expected performance, as well as otherstatements that are not historical facts, are forward-lookingstatements. The words "estimate," "project," "forecast," "intend,""expect," "believe," "target," "providing guidance" and similarexpressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.Forward-looking statements are estimates and projections reflectingmanagement's judgment based on currently available information andinvolve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actualresults to differ materially from those suggested by theforward-looking statements. With respect to these forward-lookingstatements, management has made assumptions regarding, among otherthings, customer and network usage, customer growth and retention,pricing, operating costs, the timing of various events and theeconomic environment.

(1) Within EV-DO data wireless service coverage area only. Actualdata speeds vary based on network capacity and application design.Backward-compatible with 1xRTT and IS95 networks. Email and webrequire data services from a mobile service provider at an additionalcost. VPN may also be required.

(2) Speed claims based on Sprint network tests. Actual speeds andcoverage on the Treo 700P vary. Palm's independent field tests showthat the Treo 700P can deliver speeds of between 400-600 kilobits persecond.

Sprint and Altell sign roaming agreement

2006-05-09T12:09:00.000-07:00

Sprint Nextel and Altell agreed to a 10-year roaming agreement that will allow customers from both companies to roam on each other's network. The agreement is effective starting July 1 and extends through 2016. Both CDMA voice services and EV-DO data are covered .

Altell already has roaming agreements with Verizon Wireless and Cingular. Its deal with Cingular was just extended to last through 2012. Since most Altell customers are using CDMA devices, the GSM Cingular network has little impact.

Who has the best cell coverage? It depends on where you are

2006-04-30T14:14:00.000-07:00

Cingular Wireless is running ads saying it has ''the fewest dropped calls," and Verizon Wireless is running ads calling itself ''the nation's most reliable wireless network," but Mort Rosenthal says no one company has the best coverage everywhere.

Breaking News Alerts Rosenthal, the chief executive of IMO, a new breed of retailer that sells every major wireless brand, knows what he's talking about. The Waltham company has done its own road testing and, unlike the cellular companies, makes the test data available to customers so they can tell town by town, or block by block, which carrier has the strongest signal coverage.

''It's kind of silly what they're all doing," Rosenthal said of the sweeping ad campaigns by some wireless companies. ''Consumers only care if their calls get through. It all comes down to the personal patterns of the end user who has the best coverage."

IMO's signal strength data shows all the carriers have fairly strong signals in downtown Boston, but in outlying areas there are color-coded gaps in every carrier's coverage.

In Wellesley, for example, the Verizon map is nearly all green (for strong coverage) with a few tiny blotches of red indicating the weakest coverage. The Cingular map has a substantial amount of yellow (weaker coverage), Sprint has even more yellow, and Nextel the most.

On Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester, the IMO maps are all uniformly green except for Nextel's, which is sprinkled with yellow.

In Milton, along the expressway, the IMO maps indicate Cingular has the best coverage, followed by Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Nextel.

Rosenthal says it's impossible to say one carrier's signal is always superior to another, but that's what the wireless companies are doing with their advertising campaigns. As the Globe reported last week, the claims are often accompanied with little or no evidence to back them up.

Cingular cites an unnamed research firm for its claim that it has the fewest dropped calls. Verizon cites internal testing for its reliability claims, but the backup data it makes available on its website is sketchy and dated. Sprint claims it has the most powerful network but offers no support for that claim.

Many readers last week said the Cingular claim about fewest dropped calls didn't seem to encompass them.

Ray Harrold of Northborough said he has trouble making calls with his Cingular phone in the Interstate 495/Route 20 area. ''I don't have dropped calls because I can only make so few calls," he said.

IMO, shorthand for Independent Mobile, tries to help consumers such as Harrold steer clear of such situations. Unlike a store owned by an individual wireless company, IMO sells the plans and phones of every company, so it doesn't have any particular ax to grind. It attempts to sift through its extensive database to find what phone and service plan best matches each customer's needs.

''This is not an industry that's consumer focused," Rosenthal said. ''We're trying to address that."

The IMO store in Framingham at Shopper's World is bright and colorful, combining hands-on testing of phones and personal digital assistants with sophisticated computer analysis.

At a sleek service bar along one wall, customers can pull up a comfy stool and, with the help of a customer service person, review on a computer screen phones, service plans, and coverage for Cingular, Nextel, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

Pick the features you want and the screen displays the phones that have them. Pick the ZIP codes and, moving the map's focus point around, you can see how the different carriers compare on signal strength where you live, work, or along your commuting route.

Because prices and plans are changing constantly, IMO employs four people just to keep its database up to date.

IMO earlier this year also hired an independent firm to track the signal strength of the various carriers along 5,500 miles of roads in Boston and its surrounding suburbs, with a heavy focus on those areas west of the city.

Rosenthal said IMO will update the road testing every six months and expand it as more stores are added. IMO opened its first Boston-area store in February and plans to add six more in the next year. Ultimately, he said, IMO hopes to operate a national chain with 20 stores in Boston.

Sprint launches text to landline service

2006-04-25T11:35:00.000-07:00

Sprint Nextel announced Text to Landline, a clever service that allows Sprint customers to SMS any landline phone in the US. The text message is converted into a voice message which gets played back for the reciepient. At that point they can reply with a preset text message or record a voice message.

Text to Landline automatically kicks in if the number an SMS is going to is not a mobile phone. Standard text message rates apply.

OUTLOOK - Lucent, AT&T, Sprint, Tellabs on telecom roll call

2006-04-22T08:38:00.000-07:00

Investors on both sides of the Atlantic will keep a close tab on Lucent Technologies Inc. when the company reports first-quarter results Tuesday. The sluggish-growing U.S. network vendor recently agreed to merge with France''s Alcatel.
Lucent is one of several major telecommunications companies set to unveil quarterly results next week. Others include the Sprint Nextel Corp., the newly constituted AT&T Inc. and Tellabs Inc.
Earlier this year, Lucent cut its 2006 sales forecast, citing lower orders in the U.S. and China. The company has been under pressure to improve growth and its stock performance, and the merger with the financially stronger Alcatel of France is viewed by Lucent executives as a way to accomplish those goals. The merged company would become a global giant in the network-equipment market.
For the fiscal second quarter, Lucent is expected to post a profit, excluding onetime items, of 3 cents a share on revenue of $2.24 billion, down from $2.34 billion a year ago, according to the consensus of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.
Executives have said they expect growth to accelerate in the second half of the fiscal year, so investors will look for clues that the rebound is underway.
AT&T Inc. , meanwhile, is slated to report its first full quarter of results since SBC Communications acquired the old AT&T Corp. in November. SBC then took the famed AT&T name as its own.
Investors already know that AT&T''s wireless business performed well. Cingular Wireless, which is jointly owned by AT&T and BellSouth Corp. , has reported net income of $354 million on a 9% increase in revenue to $8.98 billion. The nation''s largest wireless carrier added 1.7 million net customers in the first quarter.
What less clear is how well the company''s wireline business performed, particularly the long-distance operations of the former Ma Bell. AT&T''s ability to integrate acquired assets and to halt the decline in the voice business is crucial to the company''s goal of quickly making the huge acquisition add to profits.
AT&T is projected to earn 48 cents a share, excluding onetime costs and benefits, on revenue of $21.53 billion, including results from the old Ma Bell. AT&T reports Tuesday morning.
The company has led the way in the phone industry in signing up high-speed Internet customers. Wall Street will look for additional gains in data and Internet subscribers as well as broadband revenue.
If the results of Cingular Wireless are any indication, Sprint Nextel is also likely to show solid growth. The company, whose wireless business accounts for the lion''s share of revenue, is expected to earn 37 cents a share on revenue of $11.4 billion, up from $10.59 billion a year ago.
Analyst Todd Rethemeier estimates Sprint will add 1.5 million net new wireless subscribers.
Sprint is still a company in transition. The carrier plans to spin off its local phone business in the current quarter and aims to expand its partnership with the cable industry under which big cable operators would use Sprint''s network to offer wireless-calling plans of their own. Analysts believe the company could announce other initiatives to restructure operations and cut costs.
Sprint reports results Wednesday morning.
Tellabs , a supplier of phone-networking gear to AT&T and others, caps off a busy week with its quarterly report Thursday morning.
The vendor is likely to show a profit of 13 cents a share on revenue of $494.7 million, according to the consensus of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call. What investors want to know is whether the spate of mergers among phone carriers and the recent Lucent-Alcatel deal will hurt the company''s revenue growth.
Big phone companies have paused some spending while a combined Lucent-Alcatel could provide stiffer competition. Some analysts believe Tellabs could also become an acquisition target.