Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook
Man Tries to Order Priciest Starbucks Drink Ever Total cost: $23.60 »

NEWS ABOUT: telephone

Stories 21 - 40 | << Prev 

Switch to grid view »

Economy May Be Death Knell for Landlines ... Even Cable

If consumers are forced to pare down, high-speed internet connection has trump

(Newser) - An economy that’s stuck in “slow” could soon have consumers making choices about whether to keep their cable TV or Internet connections, and weighing whether they need a telephone landline, reports Advertising Age. A high-speed connection that can provide access to the Internet, phone service and even entertainment... More »

DC Trip Nets Mac Little More Than Muddled Campaign

Getting back on track may be hard after confusing few days

(Newser) - John McCain's insistence on rushing to Washington to involve himself in the bailout process left his campaign reeling, gave critics new ammunition, and widened Barack Obama's poll margins, Bob Drogin reports in the Los Angeles Times. The Arizona senator, who didn't help draft the plan and also skipped voting on... More »

Texting Raises Alarms as Accidents Turn Fatal

Docs see danger while driving—or walking

(Newser) - The steep rise in text-messaging is being matched by a steep rise in people not paying enough attention to what they're doing, the New York Times reports. Fatal accidents involving distracted texters are on the rise and a group of emergency room doctors has issued a stern warning against attempting... More »

Service Lets Callers Dodge Conversation

Slydial users can sneak a message straight onto voicemail

(Newser) - A new phone service is a hit with people who want to make a phone call without actually talking to anybody, the New York Times reports. Slydial allows users to skip directly to leaving a message on voicemail without the recipient realizing they have an incoming call. Users say the... More »

France Telecom Offers $42B for TeliaSonera

French telco looks to expand into Turkey and Russia

(Newser) - France Telecom’s long-anticipated takeover bid of Swedish telco TeliaSonera finally landed today—with a thud. TeliaSonera immediately rejected FT’s $42 billion cash-and-stock offering—worth some $10.33 per share—as too low, reports the New York Times. Investors appeared to disagree, pushing France Telecom stock down 4% in... More »

Consumers Giving Up Landlines

One-sixth of US households are now wireless

(Newser) - Mobile and Internet-based phones are replacing landline phones in US households as younger Americans lead a movement to newer technologies, reports USA Today. The number of homes depending on wireless phones jumped 159% between 2004 and 2007. Nearly 35% of people 25-29 years old lived in wireless-only households in the... More »

Wireless Drives AT&T Growth

Company posts 22% increase in net income for Q1 despite dip in landline earnings

(Newser) - AT&T posted a 22% increase in net income during the first quarter, thanks to strong growth in its wireless unit. Its wireless earnings nearly doubled, while landline earnings dropped 2.1%. The company’s net income was $3.46 billion (57 cents a share), compared to $2.85 billion... More »

Cellphones Sound Last Call for British Icon

Famous red booths disappear from English streets

(Newser) - Britain’s iconic red phone booths are going extinct in a country where cellphones outnumber people, USA Today reports. British Telecom is shrinking the overall number of pay phones and replacing the red booths with modern ones that double as wireless hotspots. With just 12,700 of the originals left... More »

T-Mobile Brings Cell Phone Service Home

New plan would combine mobile, landline accounts

(Newser) - Cell phone giant T-Mobile is moving into the landline business. The company is trying out a service that ties cell phones to landlines that if successful in Seattle and Dallas could go nationwide within months, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company's new service uses a special router to tie... More »

AT&T's 4Q Numbers Bolstered by Cell Sales

Other operations lagging behind

(Newser) - AT&T's quarterly numbers indicate strong wireless sales, the Wall Street Journal reports, though unimpressive figures from its landline and Internet divisions have left some analysts and investors concerned. AT&T enjoyed a quarterly revenue of $3.14 billion—up from $1.94 billion this time last year—bolstered by... More »

Verizon Sues Alltel Over Guinea Pig Ad

Wireless giant says claims made in commercial are untrue

(Newser) - Verizon Wireless is suing rival Alltel for false advertising over a television commercial featuring a vicious guinea pig, the Register reports. In the ad, a caged rodent named Alice is compared to Verizon customers who lack the freedom to change calling plans without extending their contracts. Released from her cage,... More »

Tough Call: Book Says Bell Ripped Off Rival

Phone inventor likely copied competitor's patent application

(Newser) - Telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell ripped off the idea from his rival Elisha Gray, a new book claims. In The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell's Secret, journalist Seth Shulman uncovers evidence that Bell took a sneak peek at Gray's patent documents with the help of his lawyers and a... More »

Cell Bills Trump Land Line Charges for 1st Time

Americans have 250M mobiles, 170M home lines

(Newser) - US households racked up bigger cellphone than land line bills in 2007 for the first time ever, analysts say. Only 6 years ago, households spent three times more on residential phone bills than on mobiles, a disparity that shrank to an average difference of only $28 by 2006. Now, with... More »

AT&T Disconnects Pay Phones

Call a friend on your cell to report end of 129-year-old business

(Newser) - In 1878, one of AT&T’s ancestors introduced the first pay phone—an ordinary phone with an attendant nearby to take callers’ cash. Now the company is discontinuing its pay-phone operations, it announced today, 129 years later. With roughly 80% of Americans owning cellphones, pay phones had shrunk to... More »

Microsoft Sees Office Phone as Next Frontier

Software giant likely to butt heads with Cisco in lucrative market

(Newser) - Microsoft is famous for ever-more-complicated programs for ever-faster computers, and now it's taking aim at an overlooked piece of hardware: the phone. Yesterday, Bill Gates launched a line of software designed for office telephones that aims to make phone tag a thing of the past. It's a multi-billion-dollar sector, Fortune... More »

Strip-search Costs McD's $6.1M

Jurors say franchise negligent in hoax

(Newser) - A Kentucky jury has ordered McDonald's to pay $6.1 million to settle the case of an employee who was strip-searched in the fast-food restaurant as part of a hoax. Jurors gave Louise Ogborn, 18 at the time, hefty punitive damages because McDonald's didn't seem all that concerned about warning... More »

Free Phone Service Listens In, Tailors Ads

Startup sparks privacy concerns with marketing that draws on conversations

(Newser) - In much the same way that Gmail scans emails to push relevant advertising, a California start-up is using voice-recognition software to translate the strategy to Internet phone calls. Puddingmedia offers free phone service if customers allow eavesdropping on their conversations, the AP reports. The data isn't recorded, but privacy advocates... More »

Gabbers Can Make (Mostly) Free Calls With New Gadgets

Each connects home phones to the 'Net

(Newser) - Gabbers have a couple of new options if they want to use the 'Net to make free (or cheaper) phone calls. Each is a box that connects to a home phone and a computer to route calls through cyberspace. One is a modest and low-cost, the other a chic machine... More »

Smartphones Flunk IQ Test

Joe Nocera concludes that packing in features is making many phones dysfunctional

(Newser) - In a New York Times piece sure to resonate with frustrated smartphone owners everywhere, Joe Nocera unspools a Treo horror story that runs the gamut from weird, intermittent glitches to a lethal software upgrade. After turning in his moribund phone for a new one, and finding the replacement  as balky... More »

More Americans Go Wireless

Landline use falls; one-eighth of US households rely on cellphones only

(Newser) - More and more Americans are bypassing landlines and using only cellphones, a new CDC survey says. The trend encompasses people of all ages and incomes, and it's especially pronounced among the young and the poor. One-eighth (12.8%) of all households use only a cellphone—up from 3.2% in... More »

Stories 21 - 40 | << Prev 
NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS
Other Sites We Like:   24/7 Wall St.   |   Betty Confidential   |   BuzzFeed   |   Cracked   |   Fark   |   Timelines   |   The Frisky   |   Geek Sugar   |   NewsOne