Carriers are mitigating “cell-phone bill shock”—and keeping customers
Valerie Coffey, Online Industry Editor

The overages most people have accrued for going over their minutes or texting too much pale in comparison to the amount seen by Yahaya Wahad in Mayalsia. When he opened his recently deceased father’s cell phone bill (an account that had paid in full and closed), the charges were a world record $218 trillion. The notice stated he had ten days to pay up or face legal action! Telekom Malaysia admitted a billing error and settled the matter. (Read more about massive cell-phone and data charges here).

These are just the kind of mistakes that convergent billing providers want to prevent. Wireless carriers are starting to get a handle on how to manage out-of-sight overages or billing errors that cause “cell-phone bill shock.” … Read More



California law firm investigating class-action suit against T-Mobile for its 4G claims
Valerie Coffey, Online Industry Editor

The law firm of Gallo & Associates (San Rafael, CA) is investigating whether T-Mobile‘s practice of marketing its HSPA+ network as a 4G network is false advertising under California law.

According to industry analyst Alan Reiter in the ietv video channel Reiter’s Block, “It’s one thing to market ’4G speeds,’ but claiming to be ‘America’s largest 4G network’ is as if saying Chevrolet’s Camero with a V6 engine was faster than other automobile manufacturer’s V8 engines… Read More



Want 4G? Too bad. We only have “FauxG.”
Valerie Coffey, Online Industry Editor

In yesterday’s blog, we posed the question of whether carriers like Verizon, Clearwire, Sprint, and T-Mobile will continue their claims of “4G” networks and “4G” service, in spite of the fact that the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a standards body, ratified only the LTE-Advanced standard as 4G technology last week. Another network standard, WirelessMAN-Advanced ( the next-gen WiMAX, or IEEE 802.16m) was also given the 4G blessing. Neither of these 4G technologies are yet available from a global telecom company, nor are they even close to deployment… Read More



Want 4G? 4geddaboudit!
Valerie Coffey, Online Industry Editor

Final ratification of the 4G standards took place at the ITU’s Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) Study Group meeting on November 22 and 23 in Geneva, Switzerland. The ITU also voted that WirelessMAN-Advanced, a key part to WiMAX IEEE 802.16m standard (next-generation WiMAX), satisfies the 4G criteria.

Unfortunately, these technologies are not what most of the major carriers are calling 4G. The ITU recently said that all US wireless networks being called 4G today aren’t really 4G. The ITU reserves “true 4G” for networks that achieve speeds of 100 Mbps, or roughly ten times the performance offered by any carrier in the US today… Read More



Wireless backhaul system replaces fiber-optics in St. Thomas broadband network
Valerie Coffey, Online Industry Editor

DragonWave (Ottawa, Ontario), a provider of packet microwave radio systems for next-generation IP networks, announced on Nov. 8 that Choice Communications, LLC (St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands; USVI) chose them as the provider of a high-capacity, next-generation wireless backhaul system for its converged mobile-services network in the USVI. The system, launched in November, is part of the first 4G mobile-broadband network in the USVI… Read More



Dropped calls at home? Enter femtocells.
Valerie Coffey, Online Industry Editor

Does your cell phone signal cut out just as you enter your home? A femtocell may be the answer.

A new report from Strategy Analytics (Newton, MA) and its RF & Wireless Component market research service estimates that shipments of femtocells, a signal-booster for improved cellular coverage, are on track to reach almost two million units this year… Read More