Porn and Electronics. They go together about as well as Peanut butter and Salmonella. Now Rudy Phillips is intimately aware of this connection; after sending out her phone to be serviced by Best Buy Mobile, she received a loaner phone that was filled with… well, you know.
mobile
By 2.6.09
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T-Mobile came in first in a J.D. Power and Associates study of cellphone customer care performance, with 755 out of a possible 1,000 points. Actually, though, all the carriers came in above the 700 point range except for Sprint, which was in the 600s. [RCR Wireless]
By 11.20.08
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If you have an account with Mint, and you’ve enabled mobile alerts, you can now text “Bal” or “Balance” to 696-468 (MyMint) and receive a summary of all of your accounts. [Mint]
Sprint Asking Employees To Please Pink Slip Themselves
By 11.20.08
Sprint has asked some of its employees to consider voluntarily resigning by December 3rd in exchange for a compensation package. Says a spokesperson, “No one is being forced to do anything. There are no forced reductions. There are no layoffs in store. It’s a matter of employees having the option to exercise discretion. No targets have been announced.” IntoMobile says retail store employees and managers are not being included in the offer. Update: We’ve received a little more info from an anonymous tipster about the downsizing, and what it might mean for customers of Sprint.
AT&T Won't Sell Man GoPhone Because It Can't Verify His Credit History
By 3.29.08
Nathan’s been having trouble this week buying a prepaid GoPhone from AT&T Mobility’s website. He finally found out the reason: they couldn’t verify his credit history. This is confusing because it’s a prepaid GoPhone and because his credit history is superb. “Cheryl refused to transfer me.
Pizza Hut Announces Nationwide Mobile Ordering
By 1.17.08
Pizza Hut may not be the world’s best pizza, but now that they’ve rolled out nationwide mobile ordering—via their website on any web-enabled phone, or text message on the rest—they’re certainly one of the easiest pizza joints to order from.
Intuit Planning To Launch "iPhone-Friendly" Version Of Quicken Online For $3/Month
By 12.19.07
Would you pay $36 a year to access Quicken on your iPhone? What the hell, why not, right? You already paid for the iPhone! That’s probably what Intuit is hoping—and the zillion-dollar iPod accessories market proves there’s a lot of “blue ocean” for businesses that want to fish in Apple waters. It launches the product as a web service on January 8th, 2008, with an iPhone-friendly flavor also available then. There are plans to roll out “tweaked” versions for other mobile devices at an unspecified point in the future.
Wesabe's New Mobile Site Helps Track Expenses On The Go
By 12.13.07
Wesabe, the popular personal finance website, has unveiled a new mobile version that “lets you check your balances, see recent transactions, and… enter cash transactions, from any mobile browser.” To save time, you only need to enter the most basic information via your phone—you can add the details to the entry later from a standard web browser.
Save $10 On T-Mobile Total Internet
By 12.12.07
A reader writes in to say he saved $10 on his T-Mobile bill when he called up to ask why there were two different “Total Internet” options on his add-ons list. Were they the same thing? Yes. So he could switch to the cheaper one without penalty and get exactly the same add-on? Sure.
Consumer Reports Survey Discovers People Hate Cell Phone Companies
By 12.7.07
The next issue of Consumer Reports will contain the results of a nationwide customer satisfaction survey for the mobile phone industry. In a surprise to no one who actually has a mobile phone, the cellular industry is “among the lowest-rated services” for consumers, particularly because of termination fees, high prices, and confusing contracts.
Cellular Abroad Charges Tax On Security Deposit, Calls It A "Sale"
By 11.9.07
Joanna writes, “Here’s my tip for using Cellular Abroad: don’t. They totally charged me tax on a ‘security deposit’ and then refused to refund my tax on the returned portion of the deposit.” When she wrote to Cellular Abroad to dispute the tax, she was told that technically it wasn’t a security deposit but a purchase, and that when they refunded her the difference after she returned the phone, that wasn’t a refund—they were buying it back from her, and because they have a reseller’s license they don’t have to pay taxes on their “re-purchase.” Whaaa?
Google In Talks With Verizon About Putting Its Software On Their Phones?
By 10.31.07
Google’s not answering any questions, and Verizon is being all coy about it, but anonymous sources have told the press that the two companies are in talks right now over installing Google apps on Verizon phones—an interesting idea, though not quite as dramatic as installing the full-fledged phone operating system that Google has supposedly been working on for a while now. The big questions (for consumers) are: will Google apps help subsidize the cost of phones or plans, or will Verizon just invent new inefficiencies to justify swallowing any new revenue? And will Google applications mean ads before making calls or sending an email? Also, Google already has some great (and totally free) applications out there for mobile devices—so what could they be offering through Verizon that’s so special?
By 10.24.07
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Microsoft has said it will not participate in the upcoming wireless spectrum auction, because it wouldn’t help their business model, which is to create and sell software to handset makers. [Reuters]
LetsTalk Triples Price Of Phone, Won't Refund Difference
By 9.25.07
Reader Brandon writes in to share a painful story of shoddy customer service and questionable pricing policies with LetsTalk, an online mobile phone and plan retailer. After ordering a $99 phone with a $100 mail in rebate, the order was delayed, then changed to add a free car charger to apologize for the delay (so far so good), then changed again without notice to $299 with a $200 mail in rebate. After calling to dispute the charges, he was promised the price would be changed back to its original amount—but the next day it was shipped out and his account was charged for $299.
New Legislation Would Limit Wireless Contract Termination Penalties
By 9.18.07
Two advocacy groups, the Consumer Federation of America and the Consumers Unions, endorsed a bill yesterday that would limit the amount that wireless, cable, and telephone companies could charge customers for early cancellation of their contract. Specifically, it would require companies to waive cancellation fees for the first 30 days, and pro-rate any fees after the first 30 days (something Verizon already does, but no other mobile carrier that we know of).
By 9.14.07
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Canadian telecommunications giant Bell Canada is pulling down over 50 ads placed around parts of Toronto and Vancouver, because they show a woman wearing a button that reads “Belsen was a gas,” the title of a Sex Pistols song and a reference to the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen. The button is one of many the model wears, and the company says it was impossible to read during approval and proofing, and only became legible when blown up to billboard-size proportions. [Reuters and Free Republic]
The Rip-Off Industry Of Customized Ringtones
By 9.13.07
In today’s Circuits column, tech columnist David Pogue asks an important question about the $5 billion ringtone industry for mobile phones: why does it exist at all? Apple’s latest moneymaker for itself and the labels is the ability for you to re-purchase certain songs you’ve already purchased, so that you can load them onto your phone as ringtones. But before you marvel at Apple’s chutzpah, they’re actually charging less per ringtone than major carriers like T-Mobile, Sprint, or Verizon.
