Posted 11/03/09 at 07:33:11 PM by Ryan Whitwam

Verizon thought they were so clever. Big Red’s recent “There’s a map for that” adverts seem to have ruffled some feathers over at AT&T. Now AT&T has filed a federal lawsuit against Verizon for false advertising. The issue comes down to the maps shown in the commercial.

The ad compares 3G coverage areas for the two wireless providers side by side. The red Verizon map, of course, looks much more filled in. AT&T’s map looks sparse by comparison. What many less savvy consumers might not follow is that this is only showing AT&T’s 3G, not EDGE. While Verizon’s entire network is 3G, AT&T still has significant areas covered only by slower EDGE service. AT&T claims that the ad leads people to believe that AT&T does not have coverage at all in the un-highlighted areas.

Indeed, the original version of the ad said that AT&T users outside the highlighted area were “out of touch”. Verizon removed that line and noted that non-3G voice and data were available, but AT&T still wasn’t happy. It’s not really an enviable position for AT&T to be in. They have to argue that Verizon should be making it clear that the AT&T network is available in more places – it’s just very, very slow. Everyone settle in, this might be entertaining.

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Posted 10/29/09 at 03:09:40 PM by Bart Salisbury

It seemed liked a good idea at the time, Google’s got to be thinking right about now. The good idea is Google Voice, which allows users a whole lot of nifty features for making and managing phone calls. For some, such as AT&T, however, Google Voice is a bad idea because Google Voice gets to play by a different set of rules which allow it to invade AT&T’s turf, and undercut its revenue stream.

One of the headaches Google Voice has generated for its parent company is the result of blocking calls to certain numbers. It costs to make calls, and the costs are greater to rural carriers, conference call services, and adult-themed entertainment. The rules for telephone company’s say all call get to pass through. Google Voice counters it is not a telephone company so doesn’t have to play by those rules.

In defending Google Voice’s decision to block calls, Richard Whitt, Google’s telecom and media counsel, tells us: “Earlier this year, we noticed an extremely high number of calls were being made to an extremely small number of destinations. In fact, the top 10 telephone prefixes--the area code plus the first three digits of a seven digit number, e.g., 555-555-XXXX--generated more than 160 times the expected traffic volumes, and accounted for a whopping 26 percent of our monthly connection costs.” Google, one can appreciate, doesn’t see a particular need to subsidize the fantasies of middle-aged single men still living in their mothers’ basements.

Google is promising to implement blocking schemes that are more particular--targeting particular numbers rather than a whole exchange. And, in fact, feels it should be congratulated for exposing “traffic pumping schemes” that drive up the cost of ordinary phone service. I’m guessing AT&T won’t be the first to send flowers.

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Posted 10/23/09 at 06:15:52 PM by Bart Salisbury

AT&T's breaking up with the iPhone? That seems to be the implication from a conference call with AT&T Mobility's CEO Ralph de la Vega. ComputerWorld is reporting that de la Vega downplayed the importance of the iPhone to AT&T’s overall smartphone strategy, and suggested that life for the mobile carrier would be just fine once the exclusive deal with Apple came to an end.

"We have a legacy of having a great portfolio...that will continue after the iPhone is no longer exclusive to us,” ComputerWorld quotes de la Vega as saying, adding “we feel really good about our non-iPhone [subscriber] adds and net adds.... We feel really strong about our portfolio in quick messaging devices, including BlackBerry and all the smartphones.” AT&T’s hold on the iPhone is expected to end mid-2010.

The possible sigh of relief coming from de la Vega may be due to the headaches the iPhone brought along with it. Broadband hungry iPhone users have overwhelmed AT&T’s network, bringing it at times to crawl. While the all those new subscribers are a good thing--3.2 million new iPhone activations in the 3rd quarter of 2009--the impact they are having isn’t. Time to let others, like Verizon, share in the pain.

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Posted 10/22/09 at 08:13:17 PM by Paul Lilly

AT&T has a bone to pick with several big-name LCD makers, and it will do it in court. The telco has sued a number of display manufacturers over allegedly fixing the price of more than 300 million mobile LCD screens.

Those on the receiving end of the lawsuit include Samsung, LG Display, Optronics, Sharp, and Chungwa. According to the lawsuit, the display makers "formed an international cartel illegally to restrict competition in the United States in the market for LCD panels."

AT&T called the whole situation a "conspiracy," accusing the defendants of agreeing to eliminate competition and fix LCD panel prices that they knew would be incorporated in LCD products and sold in the U.S.

This isn't the first price fixing scandal to hit the LCD industry, nor is it the first time LG, Chunghwa, and Sharp have been tied to price fixing allegations. All three agreed to plead guilty to similar charges in November 2008 and to pay $585 million in criminal fines.

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Posted 10/21/09 at 04:55:08 PM by Bart Salisbury

It makes sense: you pay for what you eat. But if a restaurant offers an all-you-can-eat buffet, then decides you’re eating too much and should be charged more, it doesn’t go over too well. It seems something similar is afoot with Internet providers: the promise of the all-you-can-eat buffet is cutting a bit too deeply into their bottom-lines, and now they think you should pay more.

The problem is one of expectations. Internet providers set up unlimited access as a method to attract people onto the Internet. And it worked. The Internet not only became populated, it began to offer a wealth of services that changed the nature of the retail marketplace, and is on the verge of doing the same for the media industry. Unfortunately, as the opportunities to be online expand, so to did our appetite for bandwidth. Meeting those demands has become something of a problem for Internet providers.

Because the federal government won’t allow Internet providers to differentiate traffic that moves over its hardware: porn and The New York Times must be treated with equal deference, Internet providers must find other ways of limiting the use they encouraged. "A flat-rate, infinitely expandable service is unachievable," Dick Lynch, chief technology officer of Verizon Communications Inc. (So to is a flat-rate, infinitely expandable brick of cheese.)

Earlier this year some Internet providers put monthly caps on usage. Comcast, for example, said no more than 250 Gbs a month. Comcast says this only impacts a small number of high-usage customers. AT&T, in Beaumont, Texas and Reno, Nevada, is offering tiered-pricing structures, with penalties for going over your monthly allotment.

More radical are plans by some, AT&T and Time Warner Cable, Inc. for instance, involve a return to usage-base pricing: you pay for what you eat. The problem with this approach is customers don’t like it. They really, really don’t like it. So much so that Time Warner was forced to shut down a pilot metered Internet program last year. Further, online businesses won't be thrilled. It could put a serious crimp into online browsing, leading to a downturn in Internet business. And Netflix probably won’t be too keen on the idea, with all it has invested in streaming video.

No resolutions as yet, but it seems certain that something is bound to happen. Maybe not metered usage, but something that involves taking more money out of our wallets is a given.

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Posted 10/14/09 at 09:04:28 PM by Ryan Whitwam

Dell’s first Android phone, the Mini 3i, was originally a China only release. Of course there were rumors that it might find its way to American shores, but they are rumors no more. Michael Dell has come out and said the Mini 3i will be available in the US early in 2010.

Dell mused on the smartphone market in a speech, saying, “The internet in your pocket ... and new platforms that are coming out are pretty interesting. Some of them resemble things that we're pretty familiar with, in terms of open systems and the ability to compete in an open ecosystem. I think you'll begin to see us show up there, gradually.”

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the Mini 3i would be modified to run on AT&T in the US. With Dell’s admission that the phone is indeed headed stateside, it seems likely that AT&T will get their first Android set in Q1 2010

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Posted 10/14/09 at 09:53:47 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Nokia has announced that its upcoming netbook, the Booklet 3G, will make its U.S. debut in November. AT&T and Best Buy will serve as the Finnish mobile phone giant’s launch partners. The netbook will be available for $299 with a two-year AT&T service contract.

Those not too keen on a two-year contract can buy the untethered version for $599. The choice seems to be between Mt Everest and K2. In an attempt to tap the launch of Windows 7, Best Buy will begin accepting orders for the netbook on October 22nd.

The Intel Atom-powered device features Windows 7 Home Premium, a 10.1” screen, Wi-Fi, inbuilt 3G connectivity, GPS, a 120GB HDD and 1GB RAM.

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Posted 10/12/09 at 03:28:40 PM by Bart Salisbury

As oversell in the wireless industry continues apace its fairly apparent that existing networks can’t keep up with demand. AT&T is the glowing example, unable to manage the enormous data demands placed upon it’s networks by iPhone users, resulting in slow service and dropped calls. Qualcomm, a mobile data service provider, has offered up an obvious solution: make the networks denser.

 Obvious, yes, but not in an obvious way. Paul Jacobs, Qualcomm’s CEO, says that by using femto networks on top of existing networks it’s possible to get “eight to 10 times improvement in user experience.” Patrick Mannion of RF Design Line describes femto networks, or femtocells, as “a low-cost, low-power cellular basestation that provides improved indoor coverage while backhauling the cellular traffic over a broadband connection.” Femtocells are preferred to a Wi-Fi option because the networks are more reliable and they allow wireless providers to keep control over revenue that would otherwise be lost if signals were carried on Wi-Fi.

John Walko, of the EE Times, is reporting that AT&T is currently experimenting with femtocell networks in Charlotte, North Carolina. Sprint has similar testing underway in Denver and Indianapolis.

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