T-Mobile Launching Net Phone Price War

$80M patent settlement licenses tech, curtails rising legal costs

(NEWSER) - Vonage shares saw their biggest-ever bump today, after the company announced it has settled its patent lawsuit with Sprint for $80 million. In addition to cutting its legal losses, Vonage gains a license to use the disputed tech. “It's good in that things could have gotten worse,” one analyst told Bloomberg. “But it's not entirely positive because of the financial obligations.” More»

The consensus: 'Ma Bell is back'

(NEWSER) - Reactions to the surprise AT&T-T-mobile merger are pouring in, and, not surprisingly, most conclude this isn't a good thing for consumers:

• The Bell telephone system—"aka AT&T"—was broken up in 1984 to increase competition, and the US telecommunications market was deregulated in 1996, again to increase competition. But this merger "effectively restores Ma Bell to her former girth yet allows the company to operate in a looser regulatory environment," writes David Lazarus in the Los Angeles Times . "Consumers might wonder if they've been played. ... Ma Bell is back," and the only thing left for federal regulators to do is instill "new rules that address the shortcomings of our failed experiment in deregulation."

It's not just dead last in general—last in every city, almost every category

(NEWSER) - AT&T may claim to have the largest and fastest wireless network … but it also has the worst one, according to the latest Consumer Reports survey. When it comes to wireless providers, AT&T ranked dead last in general—as well as in every city. Last year, it came in second-to-last. Consumers rated quality of calls, text messages, wireless data, and customer support, and AT&T ranked lowest in almost every category: Text messaging, in which AT&T came in second-to-last, was the only exception. More»

Verizon's alliance with Google an obstacle for Apple

(NEWSER) - Competition from Google's Droid platform may stall the Verizon-Apple marriage, meaning the iPhone will wind up branching out to T-Mobile first. With AT&T's exclusive deal near an end, furious speculation about which provider will be the next to offer Apple's signature device has focused on Verizon. But two industry analysts are predicting that Verizon, No. 1 in US subscribers with 71 million, will lose out to No. 4 T-Mobile. A big reason: technology More»

Verizon has reach, but is way behind on sexy smartphones

(NEWSER) - Verizon’s network may be the envy of its peers, but its smart phones definitely aren’t, writes Priya Ganapati. Caught off guard by the iPhone phenomenon, the carrier has taken a very cautious approach to new devices, subjecting them to a long testing process. As a result, while its competitors have carved out niches, Verizon is stuck in place. More»