T-Mobile USA closes data plan loophole

Reports about trouble with T-Mobile USA’s data service had crept up within the blogosphere last week, but we suspected something bigger was going on: Sure enough: “I spoke with T-Mobile tech support and they confirmed they made security updates to their network and that feature codes (SOCKS) were changed as part of that upgrade. She was able to reset my account (T-Mobile Internet) remotely and told me it would take up to 48 hours for the change to take affect. She admitted that the ’security updates’ were to prevent unauthorized data connections and that they had knocked customers off the grid. She also stated that tech support intervention is required for existing customers to get this resolved on a customer by customer basis.”

T-Mobile USA has two popular mobile Internet packages: one for $5 a month, which more or less gives you access to the carrier’s WAP deck and their email client, and a $20 a month package that gives the user greater access (“unlimited”) to the Internet through a mobile browser. T-Mobile USA just figured out that many $5 a month subscribers had found a way to access the “full” Internet, even though they were on the limited plan. The latest update seems to have fixed this loophole and took a few legitimate “unlimited” $20 a month subscribers down temporarily as well. By most accounts this morning, it sounds like most subscribers have regained their rightful service.

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Report: Palm weighing sale to Nokia

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Treo-maker Palm is “exploring its strategic options” and evaluative courses of action that include a sale, taking in a PE investment or “a purchase of its own.” The report adds weight to the relentless rumors surrounding the company, including a recent one last week that claimed the company was in advanced talks with Nokia. Palm has found it difficult to compete with the likes of heavyweight handset makers like Nokia and Motorola in the consumer market and RIM in the enterprise space. This time last year, then 6 percent shareholder Mark Nelson urged the company to sell, citing a competitive market with “slowing innovation, commoditization and choked margins.” In November 2005 another major shareholder, Sagio Investments, decried Palm’s stock price to its board. Maybe now the company has finally heeded their advice.

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Verizon turns on VCAST TV

Verizon Wireless today officially launched its VCAST Mobile TV service in 20 U.S. markets, including Denver, Kansas City and Albuquerque, N.M. The service, which uses Qualcomm’s MediaFLO broadcast network, will feature eight channels including CBS, NBC, ESPN, Comedy Central and MTV. Each channel will broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with programming that embraces simulcast, time-shifted and archival content. Pricing for VCAST Mobile TV is $15 per month, or $25 per month for unlimited Mobile TV, pre-existing VCAST services and mobile Web access. The service will make its debut using the Samsung SCH-u620 device but more handsets will be added.

The pricing for the service seems a bit steep, although Ken Hyers, analyst with Technology Business Research, says he expects that the price will decline as Verizon rolls out more markets. “The goal is to get the early adopters first and this pricing is not a problem for early adopters,” Hyers says. Nevertheless, the price will have to decline to appeal to the mass market.

Another issue is how Verizon will differentiate VCAST Mobile TV from its VCAST streaming service. The similarity of the names may be confusing to consumers. But Hyers says that the company has several months to experiment with the marketing and pricing before AT&T (formerly Cingular Wireless) enters the market with its comparable broadcast TV service.

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Rumor Mill: Palm will be sold by Thursday

Reports of an imminent acquisition of Palm are circulating once again as Unstrung.com continues to churn the rumor mill: Private equity firms Texas Pacific Group and Silver Lake Partners are potential buyers of the Treo maker, according to the report. Nokia and Motorola are also bidding for Palm, which positions either company squarely against RIM in the U.S. for the enterprise market. Palm is set to report its quarterly earnings on March 22, which the report claims is the same day Morgan Stanley wants to close the deal.

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Verizon Wireless to acquire Alltel

Reports have surfaced in various consumer blogs that Verizon Wireless is keen on acquiring Alltel. This news comes just days after Alltel’s CEO Scott Ford gave a nod to old acquisition rumors by noting that the carrier is reviewing “a broad spectrum of options.” Verizon spokesperson Jeffrey Nelson said “We have no comment on this.” Alltel could not be reached for comment.

Ken Hyers, analyst with Technology Business Research, says Verizon Wireless is the most plausible candidate to take over Alltel. “It would certainly fill in Verizon’s coverage gaps. They already do extensive roaming on Alltel’s network so from a finance standpoint it would make sense to save on those roaming costs,” Hyers says. Hyers also noted that now is the time to act: “From a timing point, though, if there was going to be a consolidation like this, now’s the time to do it. They’ve got to do it before 2008, because if the Democrats come to power, well, this same laissez faire attitude toward consolidation isn’t going to continue under a new administration.”

While Cingular would lose any claim to being the biggest carrier in the U.S. (by any metric) Sprint might be the biggest loser should this rumored deal come to fruition. “It would be hard for any other operator to reach that size, especially given the amount of penetration we already see in this country,” Hyers says.

Plus a Verizon acquisition of Alltel would likely cause some difficulties for Sprint’s roaming arrangement with Alltel.  “The Alltel roaming deal is essential for Sprint, since its coverage is not that good in some rural areas,” Hyers says. “The roaming deal might not necessarily be lost right away [it depends on the terms of current contract] but renewing it might be another matter.”

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Sprint: Bring it on, Apple

Sprint Nextel’s SVP of product management and development, Oliver Valente said: “We welcome the competion… we look forward to competing with Apple in the music space.” The comments were made at the Pacific Crest Digital Media and Entertainment Forum in New York City, and come a week after reports came out that two of Sprint’s top mobile entertainment executives (Paul Reddick and John Styers) are leaving the carrier.

“There are some barriers [Apple] will have to overcome,” Valente said. “It won’t be as easy as some believe to go from an industry where you are making a lot of money on hardware and not so much money on services into an industry where it is quite the reverse.”

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Trend: Wireless users “do more” online

According to a recent report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 54 percent of Internet users check their email on the typical day, but a full 72 percent of wireless Internet users (WiFi or mobile network) check their emails daily. Just under 50 percent of wireless Internet users get news online everyday, while 31 percent of Internet users get news. In January 2005 only one in ten Internet users had wireless at home, but by the end of 2006 nearly one in five had wireless at home. Of the nearly 2,500 U.S. adults surveyed, 37 percent had connected wirelessly from any location, 40 percent have laptops, 26 percent have wireless networks at home, and 40 percent have Internet-enabled mobile phones.

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Sprint to launch Rev. A card with GPS

Sprint will offer what it calls the first Rev. A data card with GPS functionality early next month when it launches the Merlin EX720 by Novatel Wireless. Sprint Rev. A data card users with the new card and an enhanced version of the Sprint Connection Manager software will be able to perform location-based searches to find a nearby restaurant, gas station, bank and other points of interest without having to input their current location. When the GPS functionality is engaged, the data card will obtain a location reading and launch one of the online mapping programs. Sprint plans to offer other devices with GPS-LBS capability later in the year.

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Verizon matches Unity with bundle

Less than two weeks after AT&T unveiled it Unity bundled offering, which includes unlimited calls to both wireline AT&T customers and wireless Cingular subscribers, Verizon Wireless has unveiled a nearly identical offerings called Verizon Double Freedom, Verizon Triple Freedom and Verizon Ultimate Freedom.

* Verizon Double Freedom. Customers have three options: Verizon’s unlimited landline service coupled with high-speed Internet (up to 3 Mbps), with DirecTV service (billed through Verizon), or with an existing Verizon Wireless plan. Each two-service combination is priced from $64.99 to $74.99 a month, depending on service area and which combination is chosen.
* Verizon Triple Freedom. Customers get Verizon’s unlimited landline service coupled with high-speed Internet with a choice of either DirecTV service or an existing Verizon Wireless plan. Priced $94.99 to $104.99.
* Verizon Ultimate Freedom. All four services priced from $134.99 to $144.99.

These bundled services are sure to prove popular with customers, so you have to wonder how a “landline-less” T-Mobile USA can compete with Unity and Freedom?

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China’s 4G wireless launch leapfrogs 3G

China, still working on its long-delayed homegrown third-generation wireless standard, has leapfrogged itself by launching the world’s first fourth-generation standard, state media said on Monday.

Data-rich 3G telephony–which allows high-speed transmission of data and images–is not yet available in mainland China.

But a group of 10 “leading domestic institutions” called the “FuTURE Project” on Sunday rolled out 4G in Shanghai, the official China Daily reported.

China aims to hold field tests for the 4G system–whose rollout has cost 150 million yuan ($19.3 million) and will allow data transmission at up to 100 megabytes per second, several times faster than current technology–and put it into trial commercial use up until 2010, the paper added.

Most analysts expect China’s long-anticipated issue of third-generation licenses to begin later this year.

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