According to an AT&T press release, DRM-free online music giant eMusic has cut a deal with AT&T to offer music that can be downloaded to certain AT&T handsets, with a duplicate DRM-free track also delivered to the user’s computer.
telephony
10 Reasons To Throw Away Your Cellphone
By 8.1.07
We realize not everyone can throw away their cellphones, but we approve of this list because it reminds us of a time, long, long ago….
T-Mobile And The FCC Tell You To Reply To Txt Msg Spammers
By 7.31.07
Crissy received some txt message spam on her cellphone and was understandably annoyed because incoming txt messages are not included in her package with T-Mobile.
Got Cellphone Service With Unicel? Welcome To Verizon Wireless
By 7.30.07
If you’ve got a cellphone with Rural Wireless (also known as Unicel) your contract has just been purchased by Verizon Wireless.
9th Circuit Court Says Companies Can't Change Contract Terms Simply By Posting Changes On A Website
By 7.26.07
Parties to a contract have no obligation to check the terms on a periodic basis to learn whether they have been changed by the other side. Indeed, a party can’t unilaterally change the terms of a contract; it must obtain the other party’s consent before doing so….
If You Don't Keep AT&T For 60 Days,They'll Rip Out Your Wires
By 7.25.07
This guy uses a Packet8, a VoiP provider, but the reception from plugging his phone into the modem wasn’t very good, so he asks AT&T if he can hire them to install phone jacks.
OECD Says US Broadband Network Is Flailing; Telecoms Respond, "You Mean Superior!"
By 7.25.07
According to a new report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in a ranking of broadband penetration among 30 member nations, the US has slipped from 4th place (2001), to 12th place (2006), to 15th place this year. Corporations, lobbyists and politicians have skewered the report, but this follow-up piece from Free Press provides a point-by-point rebuttal and confirms that yes, by pretty much every account, the United States enjoys craptastic Internet access.
Amp'd Mobile Shuts Down Tomorrow, Port Your Number Today!
By 7.23.07
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.
Sorry Californians, AT&T Will Raise Your Rates Unless You Sign Up For Bundled Services
By 7.22.07
AT&T has raised the price of call waiting, call forwarding, and caller ID by $1.01 per month for all California customers that do not subscribe to a service bundle. This marks AT&T’s second rate hike since the California Public Utilities Commission stopped regulating phone rates last summer in the name of “promoting competition.” AT&T is not hesitant to admit that the rate increases are designed to prod consumers into signing up for bundled phone and internet packages:
Verizon To Pay $6 Million For Sending Junk Faxes
By 7.21.07
Verizon will pay $6 million to businesses in Louisiana, Florida, and Alabama for sending 10,145 junk faxes advertising its services. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act bans businesses from sending unsolicited faxes, and allows for fines reaching up to $1,500 for each violation. Verizon will pay class members only $625 per fax, despite their crack legal team’s best efforts to deploy novel and absurd legal arguments in Verizon’s defense.
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.
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…
SunRocket Postmortem: Virtual Everything Means No One Really Gives A Damn
By 7.17.07
Start-ups like SunRocket and Vonage, the largest and best known of the group, tend to offer only phone service, and they do not have the ability of the larger companies to ensure quality of service because they do not operate their own telecommunications lines, said Richard Greenfield, a media analyst at Pali Research in New York. “They only have one product and they can’t control quality,” Mr. Greenfield said, adding that the business is “extremely challenging.”
So they leased their lines, outsourced their call center, and except for an office in Vienna, VA, were for all intents and purposes, a virtual operation.
Video Of Ted Stevens Wanting To Switch Between Phones "As I Ride My Motorcycle"
By 7.17.07
In it, he says, “Is it coming? Why shouldn’t I be able to say, just by a little switch on my phone at home that’s wired, I’m going off on the wireless now, I want to use this as I ride my motorcycle…I’m bad. Pardon me.”
SunRocket VoIP Is Dead, Run Away While You Still Can
By 7.17.07
As of last night, Sunrocket VoIP is unplugged, and they didn’t warn any of their 200,000+ customers, who had been attracted to the service by deals which offered $99 buy-one-year, get-one-year-free unlimited calling to the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Now they’re experiencing spotty service, full outages, and a feeling of panic.
By 7.17.07
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Without warning, Sunrocket’s VoIP service is dead. Subscribers better start porting their phone numbers. [Reuters]
