If your to-do list currently has a spot marked “apply for cramming refund from T-Mobile,” then you’d better hop to it. Individuals who currently have or had wireless service with the “Uncarrier” in the last five years have just 14 more days (the deadline is June 30) to apply for a refund as part of the mobile company’s $112.5 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission for tacking-on third-party charges to customers’ bills – a practice known as cramming. You can visit the settlement website to see if you’re eligible or to submit a claim. [WTNH-TV] [More]
t-mobile
Verizon Not Interested In Buying Dish
By 6.16.15
With everyone else in the cable/Internet/wireless business gone merger-mad, the only thing that telecom titan Verizon has purchased recently is AOL for a few billion bucks. The company has long been suggested as a prime buyer for satellite TV service Dish, but a top Verizon executive says that’s just not happening. [More]
Dish Talking To Banks About Potential T-Mobile Merger
By 6.12.15
The romance is heating up between potential merger mates T-Mobile and Dish, with the satellite company reportedly talking to banks about putting together a bid for the magenta-hued “uncarrier.” [More]
Report: Dish And T-Mobile Mulling Merger (Again)
By 6.4.15
Last fall, rumors started swirling that satellite TV company Dish Networks and mobile carrier T-Mobile were eyeing a merger. And now, many months later, it looks like the two companies may indeed be close to a deal. [More]
AT&T Exec Says Wireless Companies Soon Won’t Be Footing Bill For Customers’ Devices
By 6.3.15
During the first decade-plus of the 21st century cellphone boom, most of us paid only a fraction of the full retail price for our phones because the wireless companies were willing to pick up the rest in exchange for locking us into 2-year contracts. But with more service providers pushing subscribers into plans that have them paying full price for their devices, the days of getting a new $650 phone for only $200 are quickly fading into memory. [More]
T-Mobile To Dangle “Risk-Free” 14-Day Trial For Verizon Customers
By 5.5.15
T-Mobile already offers to pay off early termination fees for new subscribers who want to leave their current wireless provider before their contract expires, and in a new, direct attack on Verizon’s huge customer base, the magenta-loving “un-carrier” is offering to pay for folks to return to Verizon if they’re unhappy with T-Mobile after a couple of weeks. [More]
T-Mobile CEO Sees Cable/Wireless Mergers As Inevitable
By 4.29.15
As we sip the last drops of champagne over the failure of the merger of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, an even bigger acquisition appears to be passing through the regulatory process with relative ease — that of AT&T and DirecTV. And with Comcast, TWC, Charter, and other cable operators all now looking for potential corporate spouses, their eyes may also be turning toward the wireless market. [More]
What Will Comcast Do With The $45B It Couldn’t Spend Buying Time Warner Cable?
By 4.24.15
Comcast’s dream of achieving full coast-to-coast cable dominance this year came to an official end this morning when they had to admit the Time Warner Cable merger was just not going to happen. But Comcast is a huge business, with impatient shareholders. They need to continue proving growth, which means buying other businesses to make theirs bigger. TWC might not be on the table anymore, but something, somewhere has to be. [More]
Google’s “Project Fi” Wireless Smartphone Service Offers Data At $10/GB, Will Credit You For Unused Data
By 4.22.15
As expected, Google has finally announced the details of its wireless smartphone service that will, at least at first, piggyback on the networks of Sprint and T-Mobile. It’s called Project Fi and plans with unlimited talk/text, unlimited international texting, and WiFi tethering will start at $30/month, with each gigabyte of data you use costing an additional $10. And if you don’t use your full allotment, your account gets credited accordingly. [More]
Google Could Announce New Wireless Service Today; May Only Charge For Data You Use
By 4.22.15
In March, Google confirmed its plan to launch some sort of wireless service for consumers in the U.S., and a new report claims that the Internet biggie could pull back the curtain on this new product as early as today. [More]
T-Mobile Decides To Base New Coverage Map On Real Data From Real Phones
By 3.30.15
T-Mobile has been trying, for the past few years, to break away from the dominant competition in the mobile space by doing anything they can think of differently. And now, that extends to information for potential customers, too: their coverage map. [More]
T-Mobile Illegally Restricted Employees’ Right To Discuss Workplace Issues, Join Unions
By 3.19.15
A long-standing dispute between T-Mobile and an communication workers union came to an end Wednesday, with the wireless company on the losing side. [More]
Could Comcast Try To Buy Netflix Or T-Mobile If Time Warner Cable Deal Fails?
By 3.6.15
After more than a year of stop-start-stop regulatory review, the FCC and Justice Dept. are currently in the final stretch of deciding whether to approve, block, or put conditions on the mega-merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable. With even some formerly optimistic industry analysts now having their doubts about the deal’s success, it’s time to consider what Kabletown might do if the acquisition falls through. [More]
Google Confirms Plans For Wireless Service
By 3.2.15
A new major player could be coming to the world of wireless service providers. Google confirmed plans to launch its own wireless service in the next several months, albeit in a limited capacity. [More]
4 Things We Still Don’t Know About Net Neutrality
By 2.27.15
The FCC voted yesterday to reclassify broadband and protect the open internet. In other words, at long last, we have a net neutrality rule. And that’s great! But there is still a lot we don’t know, and there are a lot of questions left unanswered. Here are the major things we don’t know, and parts we’re waiting to better understand. [More]
Google Wallet To Come Pre-Installed On AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile Android Phones
By 2.23.15
Even though Google Wallet has been around for several years, the mobile payment system hasn’t been the industry leader the company had hoped for, mostly because AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile created a competing app, Softcard. But Google has now reached a deal with those three providers that will result in Google Wallet being pre-installed on new devices later this year. [More]
T-Mobile Claims It’s Bigger Than Sprint, Open To Working With Dish On Wireless Services
By 2.19.15
With AT&T and Verizon comfortably controlling the two lead spots in the U.S. wireless market, it’s left to Sprint and T-Mobile to duke it out over the third-place position. And if you believe the latest chest-thumping from T-Mo CEO John Legere, his company is now at least tied with Sprint if not ahead. [More]
Everyone Except Sprint Customers, Rejoice: You Can Start Unlocking Your Mobile Phone This Week
By 2.9.15
It’s been in years of back-and-forth legal limbo, but late last year cell phone unlocking in the U.S. became well and truly legal. Likewise, the wireless industry’s voluntary plan for phone locking, adopted last February, finally goes into full effect this week. [More]
