Dallas – AT&T and Deutsche Telekom have dropped plans for AT&T to acquire Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile network in the U.S.

via AT&T Gives Up On T-Mobile Acquisition – 2011-12-19 23:20:12 | TWICE.

Verizon Wireless has announced that it will offer family data plans for wireless users with various devices as soon as 2012.

via DailyTech – Verizon to Offer Family Data Plans Next Year.

Verizon Wireless is calling Microsoft’s bluff and exposing a major hole in this strategy: And it says it will drop Windows Phone unless Microsoft picks up the pace and starts taking advantage of the wireless carrier’s key differentiator, the high bandwidth LTE wireless network.

From WindowsItPro.com:  Verizon Wireless Makes Reasonable Demand of Windows Phone.

Among the top four US wireless carriers, Verizon is the best, according to this year’s annual satisfaction survey by Consumer Reports magazine. AT&T, well, not so much.

Get the ENTIRE story at DigitalTrends.com:  Verizon best, AT&T worst, among top US wireless carriers: Consumer Reports.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Verizon’s(VZ_) $3.6 billion purchase of wireless spectrum with cable providers signals that the dance for market position may quickly draw in Apple(AAPL_), Google(GOOG_) and Microsoft(MSFT_) .

via Verizon Wireless Dance May Draw In Apple, Google – TheStreet.

These new technologies could be placed on lampposts, utility poles and buildings in order to help lose the large cell towers currently used.

via Future Of Cell Towers Looks ‘Small’ – Technology News – redOrbit.

(Is this the end of tall cell towers? Doubt it but this is technology to watch.)

I don’t typically write about personal experiences on here, but I decided to pass along the following tale as a way to hopefully spur a debate about the way Verizon Wireless has chosen to launch the much-anticipated Apple iPhone.

via Did Verizon Wireless handle iPhone launch well? – Business Browser.

(Gets one to thinking. nice article/opinion piece at Fredericksburg.com.)

J.D. Power and Associates, in its recent 2010 U.S. Business Wireless Satisfaction Study, ranked Verizon Wireless highest among wireless providers in small- to mid-sized business customer satisfaction.

via Verizon Wireless ranked highest in business customer satisfaction | Managing Mobile Devices News | Mobility Management News and Blogs.

(Are you a customer? How do you feel about this rating?)

I sat down this month and really looked over my VerizonWireless bill. It has climbed steadily since we subscribed many years ago. We have a family plan with two phones. Basic Service is $59.99 but our bill is OVER $100.

There is the $34.07 Surcharges and Fees, Verizon Wireless Surcharges – “Includes charges to recover or help defray costs of taxes and of governmental charges and fees imposed on us by the government. Other Charges and Credits – includes charges for products and services, and credits owing.”

There is the $6.11 government surcharge and tax.

There is the “Voice” charge of $7.45 “The “Voice” section of your bill Includes charges for voice calls, including calls that exceed your Plan’s minute allowances, 411 Search, Long Distance and other calls.” They claimed seven minutes of share time used and 77 minutes total out of our 400 minutes authorized but we still have an inadequately explained $7.45 minute charge. It doesn’t appear we did anything to deserve this, ah except maybe 411 charges. Yes that’s it.. We don’t even use 100 minutes of a 400 minute allowance during the month. It’s not like we are a challengingly abusive customer that taxes the system! We are taxed to death like everyone else earning much less than $250K per year. Excuse me politicians are you reading this? Hello! But I digress.

There is a data charge of .40 cents but we use no data.

Had we used text messages each one would have cost .20 cents each sent and received. We don’t text.

There is the State of Maryland 911 surcharge of 25 cents and the Calvert County surcharge of 75 cents. Oh and this will really get you thinking. Because cellular service in and around my home has always been poor any calls that do connect go to towers across the Chesapeake Bay and we are connected with 911 centers outside of our area who must transfer our calls to Calvert County 911. Needless to say, we have learned not to count on our telephones for 911 service.

So the real price of a two cellular family plan is $109 and some cents. It may be time to re-evaluate our service. Have you looked at your cellular bill recently? What are the mystery fees and surcharges like with your cellular carrier?

According to the latest news, AT&T is boosting the capacity of its HSPA 3G network from 3.6Mbps to 7.2Mbps on the downlink. At present, AT&T wireless users indeed need excitement. AT&T Cell phone news

The upgrades are possible through software upgrades to its networking equipment. At the same time, AT&T is

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As the host of more than 24,000 visitors on busy summer days, Yellowstone National Park has adopted a wireless communications plan that seeks to balance safety and convenience with its mission of preserving the park’s natural condition.

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AT&T said Wednesday that although first quarter profits slipped 9 percent, its wireless data revenues grew nearly 40 percent as it was able to achieve its third consecutive quarter of double-digit postpaid net subscriber additions on the back of 1.6 million new iPhone 3G activations.

read more | digg story

Sprint Nextel is a company that offers wireless and wire line communication services to customers, business and the government. This company is famous for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies to millions of customers worldwide. At a recent press release Sprint announced integrated and enhanced VOIP services for cable co.

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The Baltimore-Washington, D.C. area will be the first region in the country to allow cell phone subscribers to get free broadcast TV on their handsets. Read this blog post by Marguerite Reardon on Wireless.

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A recent story in the New York Times exposes quite a bit about how wireless carriers transmit text messages (SMS). These articles (the NYT article in particular) are good reads for the terminally curious.

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Mobile Instant Messaging IM Solution from Mundu IM : Offers a wireless Mobile Instant Messaging (IM) application that unites your MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, AOL, Google Talk and Jabber Instant Messaging ( IM ) services into a single chat window.

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Accoridiing to the Howardforums, Verizon wireless releases the “My Verizon” application for BlackBerry. The appliacation allows users to check their minutes and data usage, view account balance, make payments, view plan, add/remove features and change their voicemail passwords directly on the handset.

read more | digg story