sprint

Sprint Nextel sells cell towers to reduce debt

Sprint Nextel is selling more than 3,000 cell phone towers in a deal that will bring in $670 million in cash for the beleaguered wireless operator.

Sprint Nextel announced Wednesday that it plans to sell most of its cell phone towers to TowerCo. Sprint will then lease access to the towers to run its cellular phone network as well as build the new 4G WiMax network it's working on as part of the new Clearwire venture.

Sprint didn't disclose the specific number of towers it will sell and the final purchase price won't be determined until … Read more

Windows Mobile 6.1 update available for Sprint HTC Touch, Mogul

Update: July 21, 2008, 11:42 a.m., PT: This post has been updated with information about the Sprint Mogul software upgrade.

The Windows Mobile 6.1 updates have been slow to roll out to current Windows Mobile smartphones, but looks like today is the lucky day for Sprint HTC Touch owners. Available for download from HTC's Web site, the software update doesn't just bring the latest mobile operating system. You also get upgraded to EV-DO Rev. A; advanced GPS with support for Sprint Navigation; the Opera Mobile Web browser; and a full onscreen QWERTY keyboard. Hey, not … Read more

Report: SK Telecom in talks to acquire Sprint

Updated at 2:22 p.m. PDT. See below.

South Korea's largest wireless provider is said to be in discussions with Sprint about a potential acquisition, according to a report on CNBC's Web site.

Citing "people familiar with the situation," CNBC says that SK Telecom is interested in acquiring the much larger Sprint Nextel, but that any deal is still "weeks away," and that Sprint's own board of directors is "divided" about whether to sell the company at all.

The report says that SK Telecom will not pursue Sprint if it … Read more

Palm Treo 800w debuts with Sprint

The world may still be all abuzz with iPhone 3G talk, but believe it or not, there are other smartphones out there, and Sprint just happened to land a pretty good one.

The carrier and Palm on Monday unveiled the Palm Treo 800w, a Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone targeted at business users. Now, we'll admit that we've given Palm its fair share of criticism over the years for being behind the times and lacking innovation, but while the Treo 800w doesn't offer anything earth-shattering, it offers enough to stifle some of our complaints.

We're talking … Read more

Verizon Wireless settles early-termination suit

Verizon Wireless agreed to pay $21 million to settle a lawsuit filed by customers who claim the company's early termination fees are excessive and unfair.

Details of the settlement aren't public. But a Verizon spokeswoman said that the settlement will put to rest claims filed by customers in California as well as customers who are part of a nationwide class action lawsuit.

Verizon denied any wrongdoing. And the spokeswoman pointed out that Verizon Wireless was the first cell phone operator in the U.S. to establish a pro-rated early termination fee that decreases over the time of the … Read more

Verizon Wireless agrees to pay $21 million over termination fees

Verizon Wireless agreed to pay $21 million to settle a lawsuit filed by customers who claim the company's early termination fees are excessive and unfair.

Details of the settlement aren't public. But a Verizon spokeswoman said that the settlement will put to rest claims filed by customers in California as well as customers that are part of a nationwide class action lawsuit.

Treasure hunt: Palm Treo 800w user guide unearthed on Sprint's site

You can run, but you can't hide, Palm. It appears that some enterprising individual unearthed the user guide for the yet-to-be-announced Palm Treo 800w on Sprint's Web site yesterday. This news actually isn't a complete surprise as these rumors have been circulating the Web for a while now. However, this latest find makes the speculation all the more believable. The Treo 800w will reportedly run Windows Mobile 6.1 with support for EV-DO Rev. A, GPS and Wi-Fi, and a 320x320-pixel resolution touch screen. No one seems to know the exact launch date, although Sunday, July 13th … Read more

The 404 136: Where Maggie makes her triumphant return to The 404

It's definitely been awhile but we're happy to welcome Maggie Reardon, Senior Writer for CNET News.com, back to the show. Today we talk about waiting in line for useless electronics, beer pong video games, the shaky new PS3 firmware, and Maggie enlightens us on some iPhone alternatives and the benefits of switching to Sprint. HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY MAGGIE!!!

EPISODE 136 Download today's podcast

Smartphone rumors for everyone

It's summertime and things are heating up, and we don't necessarily mean the temperature (because it certainly isn't very hot here in San Francisco, but I digress). No, we're talking more about rise in smartphone rumors, which isn't uncommon for this time of year as the carrier's start prepping for the fall and holiday seasons. As such, the blogosphere is blowing up with speculation, and looks like there's something for every carrier. Now, we must reiterate that these are just rumors and obviously, the service providers and device manufacturers haven't confirmed anything, … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 757: Vista: it's not Stalin

Big thanks to one of our callers today who offers some much-needed perspective on Vista and...well, everything, really. Also, Netflix saves the profiles (yay!), AT&T releases details on iPhone 3G pricing (ouch if you don't get a contract), and Fiji objects to other things named "Fiji." Just like how we object to other things named "Buzz."

Listen now: Download today's podcast Episode 757

Happy Canada Day!

Netflix issues mulligan on profiles, won’t eliminate the feature http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-9980993-36.html http://blog.netflix.com/2008/06/profiles-feature-not-going-away.html

AT&… Read more