Service plans

Don't expect T-Mobile to follow Verizon and AT&T with shared data plans later this summer.

As the carrier sees it, not only do consumers not want them, but also shared options are "potentially confusing and expensive." A recent blog post from Senior VP of Marketing Andrew Sherrard advised that it will not be adopting the coming "one size fits all" model.

"Some of our competitors are backing away from simple, unlimited data and moving to family shared data plans," Sherrard wrote. "But would this approach actually deliver a better value … Read more

If you are a fan of Samsung's tiny mobile router, the SCH-LC11 mobile hot spot and for some reason don't want to use Verizon, there's now another choice.

U.S. Cellular today announced the launch of the same device on its own network. The company said that for a limited time, the device is slated to cost $50, after a $50 mail-in rebate, in cities that currently have U.S. Cellular's 4G LTE coverage and those that will by the end of the year.

For now, U.S. Cellular offers 4G LTE service in select cities … Read more

NEW ORLEANS--After three furious days, CTIA 2012 has come to a close. Though a visit to the Crescent City always is enjoyable, this year's event was a little quieter than in past years. But that doesn't mean we didn't see some very cool stuff. Here's what the CNET team picked as the Best of CTIA 2012.

Best phone: Samsung Galaxy S III Samsung may have unveiled its Samsung Galaxy S III flagship phone days before CTIA 2012 kicked off, but CTIA was our first chance to handle it. And at the end of the day, the … Read more

As rumors have indicated for a while, Microsoft has added paid storage options to its SkyDrive cloud service.

Brand new SkyDrive users get 7GB of storage for free. Existing users (those with accounts as of April 22) continue to get up to 25 GB of storage for free if they opt to do so. After that, an additional 20GB costs $10 per year; an additional 50GB costs $25 per year; and an additional 100GB, $50 per year.

Microsoft also made available for download on April 23 a preview version of SkyDrive for Windows, a local version of its SkyDrive client. … Read more

If you're a Cricket customer who skipped over the Huawei Mercury smartphone because it lacked Muve Music, you'll be happy to know you can hop back to it.

Cricket will soon supply an over-the-air download to upgrade the phone and let in the unlimited music downloads and ringtones on top of the usual unlimited calling, data, and text and multimedia messaging.

The Muve Music plan costs $65 per month, making it the priciest of Cricket's unlimited plans, but also its most comprehensive.

Remember those fateful words that no kid ever wanted to hear from their teacher: You've got so much po-tential? "Potential" is a compliment when you're just starting out in your field, and veiled disappointment after you've been in it for years. The sentiment describes exactly how I feel about Google Voice.

Let me just say that I've been using Google Voice on mobile since the apps first premiered for Android and iPhone -- and I continue to use it every day on both platforms. In fact, I depend on it for my job.

As a cell phone reviewer, I'm constantly testing new phones. Google Voice gives me a centralized place to access my family and friends' calls and texts. Since they only see the message or incoming call, it doesn't matter which device I use to reach out.

Google Voice has a ton of features, many of them exceedingly useful, like call forwarding, free texts to the U.S. and Canada, visual voice-mail transcription, and international texting.

Yet messaging delays, lack of MMS support, the iPhone app's instability, and the Android app's incomplete integration into most devices weigh it down (Sprint's Android phones are a partial exception for the last point.) As for those tragicomic garbled voice-mail transcriptions I've spoken about before, I've simply come to accept them.… Read more

Sprint's reign as the only carrier to integrate Google Voice into its cell phone service could be coming to an end.

"We are having discussions with other carriers about this," Vincent Paquet, Group Product Manager for Google Voice, told CNET in an interview. He declined to name specific carriers.

Google's Paquet added that the existing partnership, which lets Sprint customers easily turn their handset number into a Google Voice number, has been successful.

Google Voice gives users access to visual voicemail that you can read on the phone or online, personalized greetings, and cheaper international calls, among other perks.

Although anyone can port their phone number to a Google Voice account, Sprint's offering doesn't include the $20 porting charge, is simpler to set up online, and let you unlink the Sprint phone if you already have an account. … Read more

Video chatting in Hangouts is busting out of Google+.

Video calls among two or more Google+ users was the big draw when Hangouts launched, but now Google has flipped the switch the allow Google+ users to make phone calls to almost any phone number, not just within the Google+ ecosystem. That means that users will be able, for example, place a voice call from their computers and reach friends or family on their land line or cell phone.… Read more

Early-termination fees got you down? ETFs are fees that phone carriers charge customers in case they want to cancel their contracts early. Agreements usually last two years, but if you want to leave a carrier before then, the company uses ETFs as a way to recuperate money from selling you a subsidized phone. Some argue, however, that these fees are grossly expensive and exploitative. Our main advice is to read the terms of your agreement carefully and drum up a lot of attention with your carrier if things aren't going exactly the way you think they should be. For … Read more