Carriers

T-Mobile USA said today that it will begin selling its a prepaid phone and service through discount retailer Family Dollar as the carrier continues to move deeper into the prepaid business.

Family Dollar, which has 6,000 locations, is the next retail chain to announce a partnership with T-Mobile following 7-Eleven. Both are meant to serve as a replacement for RadioShack, which plans to stop selling T-Mobile service and switch to Verizon Wireless next month.

The demographics of the typical 7-Eleven and Family Dollar customer suggest the company is going after the low-end prepaid market, competing against the likes of … Read more

How does a cell phone become a cell phone? More than just processors and plastic, most cell phones in the U.S. owe their existence to the behind-the-scenes collaboration, and sometimes conflict, of the carriers and manufacturers that create a concept and design long before a smartphone or flip phone emerges from the factory.

How do phones wind up in a carrier's lineup, how long does it take to get a phone on the market, how is price determined, and what kinds of problems can delay a launch? In an effort to answer these common questions, I sat down … Read more

For developers looking for that extra leg up, there are few better places to start than with the wireless carriers.

Last week, I wrote about the critical importance of finding the right partners. And for many, getting the blessing of a carrier is like Kobe Bryant getting a clear lane to the hoop: you're all set up for that slam dunk.

There are many potential rewards, including monetary support, an increase in public awareness, possible new relationships, and a stamp of approval from a major player in the wireless industry. But with so many developers angling for the attention of so few carriers, how does one stand out? One way is through developer contests, which are often sponsored by or run by the carriers.

"It's given us a chance to show the world the work we're doing," said Brendan McBride, founder and executive director of Remas, a nonprofit organization developing an app that allows immigrants in the U.S. to more smartly send funds back to their home countries. The app won a contest run by AT&T. "Having won the prize has given us a degree of credibility that would have been difficult to achieve as a start-up organization."

While these contests open some doors, there are some limits. AT&T has been shying away from preloading applications, so that avenue is largely closed to developers. A lot of the success… Read more

If you're looking for a mobile Internet solution and travel within Clear's 4G coverage, then look no further than the Clear Spot 4G Apollo. All things considered, this is the best mobile router we've seen.

This is a compact device, though not the most compact of its kind, that offers superfast cellular Internet access for up to eight Wi-Fi clients at a time. It has average speeds of around 9Mbps for download and 5Mbps for upload as tested in the San Francisco Bay Area. At these speeds, you can download a full 1080p high-definition movie (some 10GB … Read more

AT&T's deal to buy T-Mobile USA could end up being even costlier than originally thought.

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the telecommunications giant has hired bankers to advise it on the potential sale of customers and spectrum--assets that may be worth $8 billion or more.

It's no huge surprise that AT&T will need to make concessions. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson has said as much. But this is the first time there has been a value placed on the trade-offs it will have to make to get the deal done.

The … Read more

T-Mobile will begin charging data overage fees on its low-end 200MB data plan starting on August 14, the carrier confirmed on Thursday.

As first reported by TmoNews, T-Mobile is moving away from its policy of throttling data speeds once customers exceed their allotted 200MB of data per month and shifting to a policy of overage fees.

"Customers will incur overages of $0.10 per MB when they exceed 200MB of data ($10 for 10MB) up to a maximum monthly payment of $40 with Value plans or $45 with Classic plans for data including the 200 MB add-on fee," T-Mobile said in a statement. … Read more

Verizon Communications' dispute with its landline workers is getting uglier as it moves from the bargaining table to the courtroom.

The company is seeking injunctions to limit the picket lines, as well as stop what it claims are acts of sabotage, harassment, and blocked access to its facilities. It has been granted statewide injunctions in New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, and is heading into court in Massachusetts and New Jersey today.

The escalating dispute calls into question the prospect of an immediate resolution to a strike that began over the weekend, when 45,000 workers in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic … Read more

Don't look for a slew of 4G LTE phone announcements out of the AT&T camp anytime soon. Instead, the carrier plans to devote the next few months to building up its LTE network.

Speaking at a Oppenheimer Technology and Communications Conference today, Peter Ritcher, senior vice president for AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, indicated that the company still expects to launch its 4G network in five markets--Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio--in the next few months, with plans to cover 15 markets by the end of the year.

Instead, AT&T will initially … Read more

With a roomful of journalists and a live Webcast audience as his witnesses, Verizon CEO Dan Mead officially launched the Verizon Application Innovation Center in downtown San Francisco today.

"Innovation is at the very core of what Verizon does, and what we stand for," Mead said. "LTE has become one of the signature factors driving innovation."

A sister site of the LTE Innovation Center that opened last month in Waltham, Mass., the application arm is essentially an office space for a relatively small group of Verizon employees, including engineers, to work with application developers and partner … Read more