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cellphones
cellphones
Huge Nexus One ETF Magically Shrinks As FCC Investigates
The Washington Post is reporting that the ridiculously huge ETFs for the Nexus One are magically shrinking as the FCC continues to investigate the fees. Google has shaved $200 of the "equipment recovery fee" it charges if a customer breaks their contract with T-Mobile after a 14-day trial period. More »
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Took Matter Into Own Hands After RoboCaller Spoofed Cell
A scammy robocaller had spoofed Rodger's phone number and angry recipients of the calls were calling him incessantly, but now it's over. With AT&T's help, he realized that the autodialer had spoofed his new work number, which was being forwarded to his cellphone. So he disabled the call forwarding, kept his cellphone number, and just had his new work number changed. Victory. More »
HTC Says They're Shipping My New Nexus One: I Don't Believe Them Anymore
The launch and early customer support of the Google's Nexus One phone, manufactured by HTC, has been a bit problematic. But let's try some optimism! Maybe now that the early hype has died down and HTC has had some time to get used to the situation, warranty replacements will take place in a timely fashion! Or...well, as reader Michael writes, evidently not. Update: Thanks to this post, Michael's new phone is on its way. More »
RoboCaller Spoofed My Cell, Now Angry People Call Me Nonstop
(psd)
Rodger is screwed. A telephonic bot is using his cellphone number as the caller ID as it spam calls thousands of people. It's probably a scam, too, because the message it leaves tells people that if they've had their credit card canceled recently, to press "1" and then enter their credit card number. Rodger knows exactly the message that's left because loads of these people are angrily calling back his cellphone.
UPDATE: Took Matter Into Own Hands After RoboCaller Spoofed Cell More »
UPDATE: Took Matter Into Own Hands After RoboCaller Spoofed Cell More »
You Can Now Make VOIP Calls On Your iPhone Using 3G
(Photo: TheRoss)
I'll keep this short because it's Apple-related and we all need a break from that company: Apple has removed its ban on using your iPhone's 3G "connection" to place VOIP calls, so now you can use an app like Fring to place overseas calls even when you're not around a Wi-Fi hotspot. Call quality in those moments will naturally depend on AT&T's ability to provide a good 3G connection, so keep your expectations low, but still it's good news for any iPhone/AT&T customers looking to save money on calls. More »
Google Not Done Yet With Direct-To-Consumer Phones, According To Motorola
(Photo: gillyberlin)
Motorola told its investors today that it's working on building an Android phone for Google to sell directly to consumers alongside the HTC-built Nexus One. There are no other details yet, other than that it should be released in 2010, according to Motorola's co-CEO Sanjay Jha. More »
Google Voice Does End Run Around Apple, Launches New Web App
Apple made it clear last year that Google Voice is not welcome on the App Store or your iPhone. "Fine," said Google. "We'll go through the browser!" Today the search engine revealed a new mobile web interface that uses some fancy HTML5 magic to provide voicemail, calling, and text message functionality. If you don't already know, you can turn any page in Mobile Safari into an App icon on your home screen (click the "+" icon in Safari), meaning now you can have a legitimate Google Voice "app." Below is a video tour. Update: There's a down side to this: Cy writes in to let us know that this fancy new version actually breaks functionality for iPod Touch owners--the old web-based version let Touch owners make calls, but this one doesn't. More »
Analyst Predicts Verizon Will Break AT&T's iPhone Monopoly In June
(Photo: Ninja M.)
Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek roused the hopes of Verizonites everywhere by predicting Apple will sic its upcoming iPhone 4G on the cell phone company's customers come June, Tech Trader Daily reports. More »
Verizon Shrinks The List Of Phones Subject To $350 ETF
Verizon has dropped 10 phones from its list of models that will trigger the high $350 early termination fee. Cnet wonders whether this is Verizon's way of trying to make its "advanced devices are expensive to service" argument more palatable to the FCC, as the remaining models are all smartphones. More »
Lack Of Google/HTC Customer Service Is Problematic
The Google/HTC Nexus One has been out for two weeks now, but the poor customer service vortex has sucked in many Consumerist readers, devouring their access to a functional phone, as well as their 14-day grace periods for returns. More »
Check Your Phone Bill For Bogus Charges From OAN
(Photo: Don Fulano)
Check your phone bills for the past few months for a bogus $14.95 charge (+$.46 tax) from "OAN Ideal Savings Now." A message on our voicemail hotline tipped us off, and online complaints, like these 188, echo our reader's grievance. It's called cramming, and it's illegal. More »
AT&T Says I Owe Big Money From A Bill Six Years Ago
(Photo: epicharmus)
Richard says AT&T tracked him down to tell him he had an unpaid bill of $1,671.98, but it doesn't owe the phone company the money because it sold the debt to an outside agency. He fears getting dinged on his credit history for a bill he believes he doesn't owe. More »
Text Message Donations For Haiti May Be Delayed Up To 3 Months
(Photo: United Nations
Development Programme)
It's quick, easy, and convenient to donate to relief efforts for Haiti earthquake victims by sending a text message, but not such a great idea if you want to be sure that your donations reach people and organizations in need before sometime in April.
Mobile carriers don't actually submit your donation to the charity until after you've paid your bill. Experts agree that the donations will take at least one billing cycle for pledges to reach their destination. More »
Apparently, Replacing A Dead Nexus One Is Too Hard For HTC
(Photo: simone.brunozzi)
Prashant loves Google's software products and open policies, and decided to purchase a Nexus One on the very first day they hit the market. He writes that the phone he purchased was dead, and handset manufacturer HTC keeps making promises to send a handset that they never actually send. More »
AT&T Debuts New Unlimited Plans In Attempt To Irritate Verizon
(Photo:So Cal Metro)
AT&T just put out a press release announcing new unlimited plans for all of their customers, even the ones with, gasp, iPhones. More »
AT&T Announces Proposed Settlement Over ETF Class Action Lawsuit
(Photo: on2wheelz)
Chris wrote in to us this afternoon, "I found this gem in my AT&T wireless inbox [today]. I received no notification it was there, just happened to notice that I had a new message from AT&T online." It's an announcement that AT&T Mobility has arranged a proposed settlement over a class-action lawsuit concerning early termination fees. If it's approved, there'll be a settlement fund created from which AT&T customers "may receive monetary or other benefits." More »
Verizon Introduces Mandatory $9.99 3G Data Plan
(Photo:KFreon)
Verizon is cutting its prices, and by cutting them is actually raising them. What? Yeah, let's let Ars Technica explain it. More »
Zagat Releases First Cellphone Carrier Survey Results
(Photo: angermann)
Zagat, the popular consumer feedback-based restaurant review guide, now reviews wireless carriers as well, and they've released rankings on the four national carriers. The company surveyed 2,319 wireless consumers and then created Zagat-style scores in a variety of categories. Here are some of the highlights. More »
Update: All Four Major Carriers Now Waiving Fees For Haiti SMS Donations
Update 2: Sprint has also announced that it is waiving fees, retroactive to Wednesday. (Thanks to changebumpin!) More »
Sprint Crawls To Let Guy Cancel Account
(Photo: J Dailey)
Chase had a problem with Sprint -- the company wouldn't acknowledge the fact that he canceled his account. More »
