Sprint, AT&T, BofA Faves of Identity Thieves

AT&T, Verizon, Sprint lose out by subsidizing Apple's cell phone

(NEWSER) - Apple's profits are soaring , but at the expense of cell phone carriers who subsidize iPhone sales. AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint all pay about $600 for iPhones that they resell to customers for $200. The carriers figure they'll make up the loss with monthly cell phone bills—but Verizon and AT&T stock have both dropped, and Sprint's losses have ballooned by 40%, since they started selling the coveted iPhone, the Los Angeles Times reports. More»

AT&T reports 200K orders, calls sales strong

(NEWSER) - The just-announced iPhone 4S may not be an iPhone 5 , but it is still another big hit for Apple, which sold out its pre-orders in just 12 hours, reports the International Business Times . AT&T alone reported more than 200,000 pre-orders, saying it was the most successful iPhone launch ever, and Sprint and Verizon also reported strong sales. Already there are three people waiting in line at Apple's 5th Avenue store, two of whom have been there for 12 days. More»

Surprise: Arilines and telecoms make the cut

(NEWSER) - Ask someone which American company they most loathe, and chances are they'll struggle to pick just one: The Atlantic rounds up the "19 Most Hated Companies in America" based on the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Airlines, telecoms, and power companies make frequent appearances. Some of the worst offenders:

• Pepco (No. 1): Potomac Electric fared worst with a 54/100 satisfaction rating, thanks in part to long and frequent outages.

Google meanwhile to let you pay with swipe of the phone

(NEWSER) - Big changes could be afoot in the way Americans pay for stuff. Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo are introducing a new service that will let customers easily transfer money from their checking account to someone else’s, the Wall Street Journal reports. The banks are hoping the service competes with eBay’s popular PayPal service, which now handles a lot of the transactions people used to use checks for. The payments could even be made on the go from a smart phone. 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."