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Wireless carriers again brace for massive Northeast storm

Wireless carriers hope they can weather Nemo better than Sandy.

With a massive blizzard hitting the Northeast region just months after superstorm Sandy devastated the area, the carriers are working to avoid the same kind of mass outages that previously struck their networks and left hundreds of thousands of people without service.

AT&T said it has an "arsenal of disaster response equipment and personnel on standby." The company has topped off its fuel generators at various cell sites, installed and tested high-capacity backup batteries, as well as "Quick Connect Generator Plugs," and staged additional … Read more

J.D. Power: Verizon again tops in customer care survey

For the fourth consecutive time, J.D. Power and Associates has named Verizon Wireless as the leader in customer care among full-service wireless providers.

The semiannual report is based on feedback from thousands of consumers, scoring carriers based on three contact channels: telephone; walk-in (retail store); and online.

Verizon leads all full-service providers with a score of 766, just ahead of AT&T's 759, however both were above the industry average. Verizon credits social networking efforts for the high marks, touting the active and light-hearted online personality.

J.D. Power also found the carrier to do particularly well … Read more

Sprint Q4 loss widens to $1.32B as Nextel customers flee

Sprint probably can't wait to excise the Nextel part of its business.

The Overland Park, Kan., wireless carrier reported hefty fourth-quarter subscriber losses on the Nextel side, with more than 1 million customers leaving the service, easily offsetting the gains made on its core Sprint business. In total, it lost 337,000 net customers.

Sprint posted a loss of $1.32 billion, or 44 cents a share, compared with a year-ago loss of $1.3 billion, or 43 cents a share. Revenue, however, rose to $9 billion.

The results were better than expected. Analysts, on average, forecast a per-share … Read more

Verizon's HTC M7 could come to life as a Droid DNA refresh

Verizon may soon debut a refreshed version of the HTC Droid DNA smartphone, according to newly uncovered details leaked by software developer and HTC insider @LlabTooFeR.

Hardware specifications for a model known as "DLXPLUS" suggest that the nation's largest wireless provider could be readying a device with details that are not unlike the rumored HTC M7.

The hardware list points to an Android Jelly Bean device with Sense 5.0, a 4.7-inch 1080p display, a 13-megapixel camera, and a quad-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 processor. Said to also have 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage, the … Read more

The top six wireless charging handsets (roundup)

Whether you think it's just a trendy party trick or the next feature we should all come to expect from high-end handsets, wireless charging is catching on and has been featured in a number of top-tier devices.

And while the future of its popularity still hangs in the air, we rounded up the best phones (in no particular order) that are available now and feature the technology. All these handsets, save for one Lumia, feature the capability natively and don't require a special phone case.

In addition, if you're looking at this list with envy while holding … Read more

New PlayStation may debut this month

Friday's CNET Update deciphers the shapes:

Stories from today's tech news roundup:

- Sony expected to unveil a new PlayStation this month -- before E3

- Verizon has new prepaid plans for 3G smartphones

- Nokia is researching a new material called graphene

- HBO Go may be coming to Apple TV

- Amazon beefs up its Prime Instant Video streaming with Downton Abby and is also creating original kids shows

- Netflix premiered the series, "House of Cards," and all 13 episodes are available now

- CNET's Download team highlights free alternatives to the new Office 2013 and Office 365 … Read more

Verizon launches prepaid plans for 3G phones starting at $60

Verizon Wireless today launched two new prepaid plans with lower pricing for smartphone users as the company ramps up competition in the pay-as-you-go phone market.

The new plans start at $60 a month for unlimited talk and text and 500MB of data or $70 for 2GB of data in addition to unlimited talk and texts.

Previously, Verizon's prepaid plan cost $80 a month for 2GB of data and unlimited talk and texts.

The catch is the plan only covers 3G phones that run on the Android, BlackBerry, or iOS systems. That includes the Samsung Illusion, HTC Droid Incredible 2, … Read more

Verizon Wireless to sell Square's credit card reader for $9.97

Verizon Wireless today became the latest company to sell Square's credit card reader, giving business owners another way to obtain the mobile gadget for credit card processing.

The carrier will offer the Square Card Reader at its stores across the country for $9.97, with a $10 rebate to a Square account. After plugging the reader into the headphone jack of a smartphone or tablet, users can swipe credit cards through the device to be read and processed.

Square has quickly been gaining popularity with small businesses and larger corporations. Starbucks supports Square's mobile payments in thousands of … Read more

BlackBerry's last stand: Z10 unveiled

Wednesday's CNET Update has the BlackBerry breakdown:

It's the start of a new chapter for BlackBerry. Today's show explains the basics of the Z10 and Q10 smartphones, as well as the new features of the BlackBerry 10 operating system. For a deeper dive, check out the links below:

- Full review of the touchscreen BlackBerry Z10

- First impressions of the BlackBerry Q10 smartphone with keyboard

- Full review of the BlackBerry 10 operating system

- RIM sheds old name, becomes BlackBerry

- The big apps available on BlackBerry 10

- Carrier and price details for the Z10 and Q10 … Read more