nextel

Japanese wireless provider SoftBank made a huge bet on the U.S. market after it agreed to take control of Sprint Nextel for $20.1 billion.

After days of speculation and reports, the two companies confirmed the deal this morning. SoftBank gets a large foothold in the U.S. market, which it believes still has the opportunity for growth. Sprint, meanwhile, gets a new lease on life and more support as it continues its turnaround.

But what does this mean for the average customer? Will the deal have any affect on Sprint's day-to-day service? CNET has put together this … Read more

Verizon Wireless and AT&T have pushed back shipment dates on iPhone 5 as pre-orders continue to pile up.

AT&T's Web site says every configuration of the iPhone 5 will ship in 14 to 21 business days, which means some orders could arrive as late as October. Verizon says the phone will be delivered on September 28.

The shipment delays follow similar messages found on Apple's own Web site. They underscore the continued demand and appeal of the iPhone 5, even if some critics have considered it a disappointing upgrade.

Sprint Nextel, however, isn't … Read more

Samsung Electronics is giving some love to prepaid wireless providers Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile.

The two prepaid players, both units of Sprint Nextel, will each be getting their own Galaxy smartphones.

Boost will be getting its own version of the Galaxy S2, Samsung's next-most-recent flagship smartphone. Virgin Mobile will be getting its first Galaxy smartphone, the Galaxy Reverb.

The carriers are getting the phone as the prepaid business heats up. MetroPCS yesterday unveiled a $55 plan that includes unlimited voice, text messages, and truly unlimited data. Boost and Virgin both throttle, or slow down the connection, of users … Read more

With Verizon Wireless and AT&T piling on more restrictions to their data plans, T-Mobile USA is going the opposite route with a new truly unlimited plan.

Starting September 5, T-Mobile will take a page out of Sprint Nextel's playbook and offer a truly unlimited data plan -- one without any caps, throttled connections, or overage charges.

T-Mobile says that customer demand has driven the change, but the move comes after Verizon and AT&T have both moved away from unlimited plans and focused on capped shared data plans that have irked some consumers with their complicated … Read more

T-Mobile USA continues to bleed its most valuable customers as the carrier struggles to keep up with its fellow national rivals.

The carrier, a unit of Deutsche Telekom, said today it lost 205,000 net customers in the second quarter, largely due to a defection in customers with long-term contracts.

T-Mobile posted a second-quarter profit of $207 million, down slightly from $212 million a year ago. Revenue fell 3.3 percent to $4.88 billion.

The company's subscriber results look a lot like Sprint Nextel's struggles with customer growth over the past few years, with staggering losses on … Read more

Two of Chrysler's cars are morphing into smartphones, sort of -- right down to the ability to access their own "app store."

The 2013 models of the Ram 1500 pickup and the SRT Viper sports car, expected to hit the market later this year, will come with a few features born from Chrysler's partnership with Sprint Nextel, announced in March. Among them: the vehicles can act as mobile WiFi hotspot, send text messages via voice command, and offer emergency and location services using the Sprint 3G network.

Automobiles represent a new frontier for the wireless carriers, … Read more

Sprint Nextel said today that the Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into the company's tax collection practices, following a related lawsuit filed by the state of New York.

In April, New York Attorney General Eric Schniederman filed a lawsuit against the Overland Park, Kan., wireless carrier, alleging it had stiffed New York state out of $100 million in taxes. Schniederman sought $300 million as a penalty.

Specifically, the suit deals with whether Sprint properly collected taxes from its customers to be paid to New York.

The SEC probe could suggest that the issue goes beyond New York. Sprint … Read more

Remember Republic Wireless?

The wireless service, which made headlines for its cut-rate $19 unlimited voice, text message, and data plan that relied more on Wi-Fi networks than cellular ones, opened and quickly closed its beta last year. Now the company is ready to reopen its beta to a new wave of customers, and has added the Motorola Defy XT to its lineup, Engadget first reported.

Republic Wireless captured a lot of attention for its plan, which many believed would be disruptive to the more traditional contract wireless plans, and even the less expensive prepaid plans. But the company has gotten … Read more