Carriers »

Times are tough. With the global economy teetering on the brink of disaster, everyone is looking to pinch as many pennies as they can get their hands on. Major national wireless carriers are no exception.

Verizon Wireless, the No. 2 wireless carrier in the US, has announced that they will start charging content vendors a cool 3 cents for every MT (mobile terminated) message that gets pushed through Verizon’s network on its way to customers’ handsets. MT traffic usually includes text message responses to search queries, text alerts (news, sports, stocks, etc.), and interactive voting notifications. Starting November 1, Verizon will be banking 3 cents for every MT message sent to Verizon customers - the new fee will be charged in addition to the fees that MT vendors already pay. All MT vendors will be subject to the fee increase, with the exception of free-to-end-user campaigns (where the sender assumes all costs associated with sending text messages), non-profit organizations, and mobile donation programs.

The move is apparently aimed at recouping overhead costs associated with delivering text-based content to customers. “Just like any business, we reassess our charges to make sure they align with our costs for providing the service and sometimes it becomes necessary to make adjustments,” Verizon Wireless representative Brenda Raney said. “In this instance, this is the first increase the company has implemented since the service began in 2003.”

Verizon’s decision to levy an additional fee on MT vendors could set a precedent that might just put increasing pressure on the booming MT business. Vendors like  cellphone coupon startup Cellfire and SMS-search service ChaCha are most affected, but even political campaigns like Obama’s text-message campaign could feel the pinch.

It’s just too bad that the additional MT fee won’t stop SMS text message spam. Way to go Verizon.

[Via: RCRWireless]

Bored of your tired old BlackBerry Pearl 8110 that came in Black? No need to worry, the Pearl and indeed a heck of a lot of other devices out there are coming out in new colors almost every day. And if you don’t like the colors offered, you can always accessorize or get a custom paint job done on your phone!? Why not?

Today, news came out that the BlackBerry Pearl 8110 is now available in ‘Sandstone with Pink Henna Design’ from AT&T for only $99 on a 2-year contract. This one appeals to the ladies for sure. Go ahead and check it out here. I have never seen a ’stock’ BlackBerry come out with a design like this… it should sell like hot-cakes.

[Via: CrackBerry.com]

If you’re a BlackBerry Bold user, or even if you’re not, chances are you know of the (cough) issues that people have been going through on the device. Spontaneous restarts and dropped calls among other things were not uncommon.

Well, good news for everyone running the device is that together with Rogers, RIM has released a new OS upgrade (4.6.0.162) which should address most of the issues people were having. The Bold ships with OS 4.6.0.125, so I know there are a whole bunch of you out there that were sitting patiently waiting for this.

To get started, download the OS from RIM’s website, install the package and then open Dekstop Manager. The update should go through without a hitch. As always with any OS upgrade however, make sure you BACKUP your device.

[Via: BlackBerrySync]

Ah, the weekend. Time for something a little lighter.

The Canadian comedy sketch show ‘This Hour has 22 Minutes’ did a piece not so long ago about Rogers and Canadian consumers that want the iPhone 3G. As you can see in the video below… Rogers isn’t shy about taking their customers for all they’re worth. It feels like it’s not far from the truth either!

‘Where is your left arm???’….

‘Oh, Rogers took it! But I don’t even need it with this cool touchscreen…’

Watch the vid here.

[Via: MobileSyrup]

AT&T has added a new simple 3G phone from Samsung. Aside from boasting a 3G radio, the Samsung SGH-A637 hardly impresses anyone. To be fair, there’s a 1.3 megapixel camera, 1.9-inch screen, Bluetooth, integrated GPS and microSD card slot on board. Supported services include MobiTV, Cellular Video, XM radio, AT&T Mobile Music and AT&T Navigator. And that’s about it. The device seems ideal for seniors or those who want to fall in love in modern 3G services. In the latter sense, Samsung’s candybar seems like an ideal starting point…

[Via: slashphone]

Samsung JACK i616 in Merlot color is now available through Rogers Wireless. The strange thing, though, is that the device on the website has Fido branding. Ok, we know Rogers is the owner of Fido, but why on earth they used the image of the device with Fido’s logo is beyond me. It’s not a big mistake, if it’s a mistake at all on their part, it’s just… strange.

Anyway, now when the JACK is Windows Mobile 6.1 compliant, Rogers will ship the smartphone with the latest version of Microsoft’s mobile OS. The price is $24.99 on a way-too-long 3-year plan… Here’s a link to the Rogers’ website where you can get all the details.

[Via: MobileSyrup]

With the CDMA evolution pathway coming to a veritable dead-stop in the next few years, it’s been safe to assume that CDMA carriers in North America would be jumping on board the 4G LTE bandwagon in the next decade. There’s been much speculation about Telus and Bell Canada adopting the GSM evolution pathway for their next generation networks over the past months, and today it all comes to a head.

Following on an interview from a Telus exec that had the Canadian carrier considering LTE as the standard of choice for their future data network, both Telus and Bell have announced that they’ll be launching GSM service in 2010. Both carriers will be rolling out 3G HSPA networks on a fresh GSM backbone in 2010, as both Telus and Bell prepare to eventually offer 4G LTE service.

Rather than rely on their CDMA network to handle the brunt of wireless demand until LTE comes online, Bell and Telus will be offering subscribers a GSM-option (3G HSPA) alongside CDMA. By layering their HSPA network over their CDMA network, the Canadian carriers hope to make the transition to GSM technology as smooth and painless as possible for their customers.

“Bell’s transition to the global 4G LTE standard with a combined EV-DO and HSPA network path aligns us with more than 30 major carriers worldwide planning a similar move to LTE,” said Stephen Howe, CTO for Bell. “This broad global technology ecosystem will mean a fast, efficient and cost-effective network transition to 4G LTE, and access to the broadest possible range of next-generation phones and data services.”

The adoption of HSPA will expand the roaming agreement that both Bell and Telus have had in place since 2001. With Rogers’ essentially monopolizing the Canadian GSM market, Bell and Telus are working to help eachother grow into their GSM-britches. In the next couple years, we’re likely to see the Canadian market undergo a significant shakeup. More GSM competition means Canadian consumers will see the cost of wireless voice and data service drop as carriers battle for market-share.

Your next mobile phone might just be a GSM handset on Bell or Telus. Cue the champagne!

[Via: RCRNews]

Two weeks ago we saw Apple launching a dedicated page to allow potential iPhone 3G buyers to partly buy their device of choice online. Then, few days ago AT&T announced a similar “offering” to enabled customers to “set up accounts online before heading to the nearest store to activate and complete the purchase, reducing in-store wait times as the busy holiday shopping season approaches.”

Pre-qualifying credit check will determine user’s eligibility to port an existing phone number to AT&T in advance, while existing AT&T customers will determine eligibility to add a new line for iPhone…

Interested? Hop over to www.att.com/iphone and take it from there.

RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis recently opened up a bit about the development process of the BlackBerry Storm - apparently early models weren’t up to snuff for Vodafone: “I thought that when we put Quadband EDGE and GPS and a powerful CPU and high-performance graphics cards on one tiny board – I figured that that was enough of a breakthrough and Vodafone sent me packing!” This history could be reflected in some of the first rumours of the BlackBerry Storm, which portrayed a less than stellar keypad, but according to early reviews everything has been nicely ironed over thanks in part to Vodafone. Many of Vodafone’s ads are touting that the BlackBerry 9500 is custom-built for them, and I guess this is exactly what they’re talking about.

RIM has traditionally been fairly conservative in their releases, but by taking a few hints from their carrier partners, they’re obviously learning a thing or two.

[via Pocket-Lint]

Verizon was getting a few TV teasers rolling just before the official announcement of the BlackBerry Storm a few days back, and now Vodafone is following up with what sounds like a UK ad. Germany is also slated to provide RIM’s first touchscreen BlackBerry with signature ClickThrough technique. It’s probably safe to assume Vodafone will be pushing this out to its many international branches in due course, so if you haven’t heard anything in your respective neck of the woods, just sit tight.

[via BlackBerry News]