T-Mobile Brings Cell Phone Service Home

50 workers died between 2003 and 2011

(NEWSER) - Next time someone is carping about spotty cell coverage, keep in mind this investigation by ProPublica and PBS' Frontline: Fifty tower climbers died in accidents between 2003 and 2011 as the industry raced to get everyone connected. A slew of factors contributes, from inadequate training, to shoddy equipment, to a cowboy culture among workers that embraces drugs and alcohol on the job in combination with daredevil risks, to on-site supervisors giving tacit approval to take shortcuts in order to meet ever-rising demand. More»

Phones not that different from diaries, judges decide

(NEWSER) - The police don't need a warrant to search a suspect's cellphone for its phone number in order to obtain a history of calls, a federal appeals court. The three-judge panel, ruling on the case of an Indiana man convicted of drug charges on the basis of call records, likened cellphones to diaries, CBS reports. "It's not even clear that we need a rule of law specific to cellphones or other computers," they wrote. "If police are entitled to open a pocket diary to copy the owner's address, they should be entitled to turn on a cellphone to learn its number." More»

Brother ran up some serious roaming charges

(NEWSER) - When a Florida woman put her college-student brother on her cell phone plan, she had no idea what she was getting herself into. After two weeks in Canada, he managed to run up a $201,000 bill, WSVN reports—and that's without even talking. Turns out he hadn’t turned off his data roaming on the T-Mobile plan. Shamir Aarons, who is deaf, had also exchanged some 2,000 texts and downloaded a few videos. More»

Don't hang up on me, baby

(NEWSER) - Here's a cellphone that's got your number. In pursuit of more "emotional" and "sensory" phones, a designer at the Berlin University of the Arts has come up with three different touchy-feelie models that will blow on your neck, coo, and even kiss, reports the Los Angeles Times . One prototype has a strap that tightens to simulate a hand squeeze and is triggered by an amorous caller on the other end. The kissing phone involves questionable things like wet sponges and a membrane. "Very intense, huh?" asked the designer when he introduced his models at a German conference. He claims the amorous phones are a natural extension of our desire to reach out and touch someone with our calls. Ring-a-ding-ding. 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."