verizon

Last week I made a visit to my local Verizon Wireless store. As the store employees rung up my wife's new Galaxy S4 and sang its praises, they talked even more giddily about the impending arrival of another phone on the nation's largest carrier -- the HTC One.

This is just one small-town store in a vast network of Verizon stores, mind you, but employees told me iPhone sales had fallen off in favor of Samsung's Note and Galaxy S lines, and that they were expecting even bigger things from the HTC One.

What I couldn't get a straight answer on was when the flagship Android phone might finally come to Big Red. It's been months since the last great hope for struggling HTC was released to the masses, and the HTC One has since landed on all other major carriers in the United States. … Read more

Want to play a game of "guess who?"

A newly disclosed top secret document lauds the National Security Agency's "productive" and long-standing surveillance "partnership" with a pair of telecommunications providers -- that permitted tapping into their fiber links -- but without naming names.

This is where things get interesting for clue sleuths.

Even in the top-secret document published by the Guardian today, the firms are described only as "Company A" and "Company B." But the NSA's inspector general did disclose that, at the time the program was being … Read more

GM brands such as Chevrolet and Buick, along with most luxury automakers, offer their customers telematics services enabling connected features such as maintenance alerts, vehicle tracking, and even remote door unlocking. If you want these features, you don't have to buy a whole new car -- Delphi and Verizon have partnered to offer Vehicle Diagnostics, a plug-in module for adding advanced telematics to existing cars.

The Vehicle Diagnostics module, a little black box about 4 inches long, plugs into a car's OBD-II port, and comes packed with a GPS chip, a wireless data connection, and the ability to … Read more

Verizon Wireless is close to the finish line with its 4G LTE rollout.

The nation's largest wireless carrier by subscribers said on Thursday that its network has reached its 500th market with Parkersburg, W. Va. The company said it has virtually wrapped up its deployment, with a handful of markets left to get a 4G connection by the end of the year.

The milestone further cements Verizon's position as the leader in 4G LTE in the U.S., with by far the largest next-generation network among all carriers. In addition, the completion of the rollout means Verizon can … Read more

Verizon Wireless will offer smartphones that run only on its 4G LTE network by the end of next year, according to the carrier's network chief.

A 4G-only device could potentially be cheaper and sleeker because it doesn't need multiple cellular radios that current smartphones require. But that can't happen until Verizon gets its voice service to run on the 4G network, which currently handles only data traffic.

But with Verizon essentially wrapping up its 4G LTE rollout, the carrier already has an eye on voice over LTE. Verizon is hoping to offer what's known as VoLTE … Read more

Verizon Wireless has built a loyal following by having a rock-solid network. But the carrier is not known for having the widest selection of cool devices.

Getting Apple's iPhone a couple of years ago helped ease the frustration. But Verizon's slow adoption of one of the season's hottest smartphones has some subscribers scratching their heads.

In this Ask Maggie edition, I offer my insights on choosing a Verizon smartphone. I also explain to another reader the best option for making sure you are never left out of a Google Android software update.

Verizon Wireless today expanded its rugged smartphone lineup by announcing the Casio G'zOne Commando 4G LTE.

An update to 2011's Casio G'zOne Commando, the Commando 4G LTE has largely the same design as its predecessor. Clad in black with a few red accents, the handset packs rubber sidings for protection, and top and bottom ends that almost come to a point.

More importantly, it meets the expected military standards (under the MIL-STD-810G certification) for shock immersion, dust, vibration, salt fog, humidity, solar radiation, low pressure, and high and low temperature. What's more, the touch screen, which … Read more

Verizon Wireless subscribers interested in the Galaxy S4 Developer Edition can now order one directly through Samsung.

Selling for $650, the unlocked developer edition offers all the features of the standard S4. But as per its name, it's geared toward developers and other people who want to tweak the phone without running into the obstacles posed by the locked version.

An unlocked boot-loader gives you the ability to reprogram the phone with custom ROMs that carry only the OS and basic apps. You can then install a variety of apps of your own choosing and make other changes.

The … Read more