Amp’d Mobile will shutter its ailing service on July 24th at 12:01 am, meaning that today is the final day to port your number to another carrier. The mobile virtual network operator has worn a giant “Kick Me!” sign ever since it filed for bankruptcy after half of its 175,000 customers failed to pay their bills; securing its fate, Amp’d costs Verizon $370,000 per day and owes the telecommunications behemoth over $56 million. The goodbye text Amp’d sent its customers, and information on porting your number, after the jump.
cellphones
Amp'd Mobile Bankruptcy Costing Verizon $370,000 A Day
By 7.19.07
Verizon Wireless said that as of June 23, Amp’d Mobile had incurred $15.6 million in post-bankruptcy charges and is costing the carrier $370,000 a day, but still has not obtained debtor-in-possession financing that would assure the carrier that its bills will be paid. Verizon Wireless said it has received one payment of $2.5 million, which was supposed to placate the operator and allow Amp’d Mobile to have continued access to its network.
At the time of the bankruptcy filing, Amp’d had already run up $41 million in unpaid bills to Verizon, in addition to the aforementioned $15.6 million.The Pioneer Press reports that Amp’d has about $9,000 in cash. This means that you are likely richer than Amp’d mobile.
Cut Spending With Flickr And A Cameraphone
By 7.18.07
Here’s an idea for people trying to get a lock on their spending but find writing down everything too fascist. What about taking a picture of everything you buy with your cameraphone and uploading it to Flickr?
Make "Materially Adverse Changes" Your Mantra And Cancel Cellphone Service Without Early Termination Fee
By 7.17.07
Russ writes and reminds us how pounding irrefutable legal truth into a customer service rep’s ear is the key to escaping your cellphone contract without early termination fee…
Sprint Customers Terminated For Complaining Too Much Were Scamming Sprint For Free Service
By 7.11.07
Sprint announced Monday it was canceling the accounts of around 1,000 people who called customer service too much. At first blush, it might sound like a pretty jerk thing to do, have bad service and then punish people who complain, but we spoke with one of our most reliable Sprint insiders, who had a different side to the story: the terminated customers were scamming Sprint, calling in again and again, just to get free service credits.
FCC Proposes New Rules To Further "Unlock" Cellphones
By 7.10.07
Sick of boring handsets with crippled features? So is FCC chairman Kevin Martin. He’s proposing “sweeping new rules” that would apply to the 700mhz spectrum that is soon to be vacated as television goes digital. What will the new rules be?
Under Martin’s proposal, to be circulated in the agency as early as Tuesday, mobile services in these airwaves would have to allow consumer choice.
By 7.10.07
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According to one report, by a guy who analyzes customer service phone calls for a living, the special Apple iPhone customer service line (1-877-419-4500, NOT the AT&T number) is really great. [The Customer Service Survey]
Sprint Cancels Army Unit's Cellphones For Roaming Too Much
By 7.10.07
Sprint canceled the service of 200 Army men and women who had just come back from Iraq. For roaming too much. Because Sprint hadn’t installed a tower close enough to their base. A little ol’ backwoods place called West Point.
Donate Or Recycle Old Cellphones With exPhone
By 7.7.07
What will the legions of new iPhone owners do with the perfectly good cellphones they just replaced? exPhone hopes that anyone with unused, unloved “exPhones” will consider either donating or recycling their old companions. Before saying goodbye to any exPhone, you should take three basic steps to protect your wallet and your privacy:
Lost Cellphone? Buy A Prepaid Phone From Walmart And Port Your Account
By 7.5.07
Here’s a cheap way to replace your cellphone if you lose it while under contract. Just go to Walmart and buy one of their pre-paid cellphones, then call up your provider and ask for them to activate the phone under your account. You’ll need the provide the serial number and the ESN of your old phone. Those are found underneath the battery (so it’s a good idea to write them down BEFORE you lose your phone).
Consumerist Reader Sprint Executive Customer Service Hotline Works
By 7.4.07
That special hotline (703-433-4401) Sprint set up for Consumerist readers that goes directly to their executive customer service team actually works, according to reader Greg. [More]
Recording Of Tmobile Trying To Prevent Matt Haughey From Cancelling For An iPhone
By 7.2.07
Listen to the valiant attempt a T-mobile retention rep makes to keep Matt Haughey, Metafilter creator, from canceling and switching to an iPhone.
Cellphones Test Positive For Harmful Bacteria AKA Hold Something Against Your Face A Lot And You'll Get Germs On It
By 7.2.07
The report from January 2006 neglected to say whether the amount found was enough to cause infection, or whether they had tested the cellphone owners for occurrences of the bacteria found on their own phones.
Now I Can Use My iPhone!
By 7.2.07
Anthony, who wasn’t able to use his new iPhone for over 48 hours when porting his AT&T number over, just got his problem solved! Hooray!
By 6.30.07
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Regardless of whether you set your cellphone locator to “Location On” or to E911, your phone will only squawk its location if you dial 911.
How Not To Submit To iPhone Envy
By 6.29.07
We could be standing on line outside an Apple Store waiting to get our grubby little hands on an iPhone. We are not, and we’re ok with that. You too can resist the little charmer’s curves and siren song ringtone by remembering the iPhone’s imperfections:
