verizon

It's not necessarily cheap, but $99 a month is at least predictable. Verizon Wireless is hoping that the flat-rate, unlimited-calling plan will also prove attractive to high-end customers. While other carriers have already launched flat-rate plans of limited scope, Verizon is making its offer available nationwide.

Read more at CNNMoney: "Verizon Wireless Unveils Unlimited Calling Plan"

WASHINGTON--Verizon Communications doesn't currently block or slow down peer-to-peer file-sharing applications like BitTorrent on its broadband network, but it can't rule out doing so in the future, a company vice president said Monday.

The comments by Verizon executive vice president Tom Tauke arrive as Comcast has taken heat for throttling BitTorrent traffic in the name of "reasonable network management" and as the Federal Communications Commission is studying whether Internet service providers should be permitted to manipulate P2P traffic. Consumer interest groups have asked the FCC to declare that "degrading peer-to-peer traffic" violates the FCC'… Read more

What? You didn't know that already? I thought I was telling you something you already knew.

In case you missed it, Ad Scheepbouwer, the CEO of a Dutch telecom known as KPN told the Financial Times yesterday that "[He] had [an iPhone] and thought it was a pretty useless phone, to be quite honest. The battery ran out in no time. I didn't like the touch screen."

Of course, the company's CEO still didn't want to leave Steve Jobs and company out in the cold just in case it decides to start selling the iPhone to the Netherlands. Scheepbouwer said that his company would "be more than happy to sell it." After all, he pointed out, his company has "half the market in the Netherlands and hopes it will will be the party of choice."

Even better, this clown has allegedly been wining and dining Steve Jobs at every chance he gets in an attempt to win the deal. Am I missing something? Didn't he say that the product is 'useless'? And didn't he say that the battery runs 'out in no time'? If he believes that, why would Apple want to strike a deal with his company and why would his company want to sell such a junker?

If nothing else, this just goes to show us all how crazy these carriers really are.… Read more

Amazingly, almost every product Apple has released over the past decade has performed extremely well and there's no debating the fact that the iPhone is one of them.

But unlike the computer industry or the PMP business, the cell phone industry judges success by how well a device can perform over the long-term and keep a steady revenue stream flowing for both the carrier and the manufacturer.

And while the computing industry has become quite competitive over the past few years, driving prices down and forcing companies to make more compelling products, there's no debating the fact that the cell phone industry is the most competitive and strangely unprofitable of them all. After all, who would have thought that Motorola -- one of the proven leaders in the industry -- may be getting out of the handset business for good?

Knowing this, has Apple gotten in over its head trying to play the same game it always has with its other devices without realizing that the cell phone industry is an entirely different beast altogether? Sadly, I think it has.… Read more

WASHINGTON--AT&T may be flirting with filters designed to ferret out pirated material on its network, but Verizon Communications isn't interested.

That's the message that company Executive Vice President Tom Tauke delivered during a luncheon discussion at an Internet policy conference here Wednesday.

It's not that Verizon doesn't believe that it's vitally important to protect intellectual property, said Tauke, who heads the company's public affairs, policy, and communications department. Rather, the company is concerned that inspecting individual packets, as rival AT&T is currently testing, poses potential dangers to consumer privacy and … Read more

Wireless and the Fios fiber-to-the-home broadband network continue to fuel growth for Verizon Communications.

On Monday, the second-largest phone company in the U.S. reported profits were up 3.9 percent for the fourth quarter of 2007, as it added more wireless subscribers in its joint venture with Vodafone and nearly hit the 1 million subscriber mark for its Fios TV service.

Earnings met analyst expectations with net income coming in at $1.07 billion, or 37 cents a share. That was up from $1.03 billion, or 35 cents, a year ago. Profit, excluding items such as severance pay … Read more

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Verizon Wireless has released a pink version of the RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8130, making for a nice little mate to the silver model. We first caught wind of this blush-colored smartphone at CES 2008 when RIM, perhaps without Verizon's knowledge, showed it off at their booth, but all is rosy now. You can grab the pink Pearl starting today for $149.99 with a two-year contract and after discounts and rebates. We suspect Sprint's red BlackBerry Pearl won't be too far behind.