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Verizon Hardware Caused New York City Phone Outage

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:40:41 +0000

eWeek
Verizon experienced an outage July 26 that knocked out landline calls in a portion of midtown Manhattan. AT&T’s wireless network in the area was also affected. “A piece of communications equipment (a digital cross connect, to be specific) in one of our Manhattan central offices did not operate normally Monday. Verizon technical teams and our vendor troubleshot the issue,” a Verizon spokesperson e-mailed to eWEEK on July 27. “Not all voice calls in the area were impacted by this piece of equipment.”

Topics: wireless, Verizon, AT&T, landline, telecom, outage, New York

Verizon Smart-Phone Users Average More Data Usage Than AT&T’s, Study Says

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:34:28 +0000

Los Angeles Times
Thought your iPhone-toting friends were always buried in their phones? Seems Droid users are even more active Web surfers, according to a report released this week.

Topics: smartphone, USA, iPhone, 3G, AT&T, telecom, wireless, Apple, Verizon

American Lawmakers May Use Skype

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:34:22 +0000

Korea Times
Skype may soon join Facebook and Twitter as tools that members of Congress are using to communicate with their constituents. A free program used to make video and phone calls, Skype has been banned from House computers since 2006 for security reasons.

Topics: telecom, Washington, Skype

Mexico’s Megacable Could Delay Phone Service Launch

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:28:46 +0000

Reuters
Megacable, one of Mexico’s top cable television providers, said on Wednesday it could delay the launch of mobile phone services, possibly until early 2011, as it has yet to sign a final deal with a partner.

Topics: telecom, Mexico, Megacable

Freebinar Announces Availability of VoIP Broadcasting for Free Webinar Platform

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:25:35 +0000

Marketwire
Freebinar.com, the completely free web conferencing and webinar service, announced today the release of its latest feature, VoIP audio broadcasting. This new feature allows presenters to use their computer microphone or headset to deliver the audio portion of their webinars, eliminating the need for phone conferencing.

Topics: VoIP

Telecom to Acquire Fiber Network

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:22:21 +0000

Northern Virginia Daily
Telecommunitions provider nTelos announced this week that it plans to acquire One Communications Corp.’s FiberNet business for $170 million in cash. The fiber optic network consists of approximately 3,500 route miles and covers all of West Virginia and parts of Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky, according to a news release.

Topics: nTelos, One Communications

State Plans To Build Fiber Optic Along Interstate Highways

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:22:16 +0000

Vermont Public Radio
A fiber optic cable will eventually follow the length of Vermont’s interstate highways. And as VPR’s John Dillon reports, that could be the foundation for extending high-speed Internet services to more areas of the state.

Topics: telecom, fiber optic, telecommunications

ISPs Shamed by UK Broadband Speed Tests

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:21:59 +0000

Light Reading
The marketing sham that is the UK’s broadband market was exposed today by a report from regulator Office of Communications (Ofcom) , which elucidates the chasm between the “up to” speeds advertised by service providers and the actual broadband connections that customers experience.

Topics: ISP, broadband

AT&T Will Support Straight Talk Prepaid Service

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:19:17 +0000

Fierce Wireless News
Wal-Mart will sell TracFone’s Straight Talk service with phones that run on AT&T Mobility’s network, a sign that AT&T is getting further enmeshed in the prepaid wireless business.

Topics: AT&T, carrier, prepaid, reseller, wireless

Apple Keeps Up ‘Death Grip’ Onslaught

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:11:28 +0000

Telephony Unfiltered
No phone is safe in Apple’s campaign to spread the problem of its signal-dropping iPhone 4 among the entire industry. Following up on its press conference earlier this month, in which CEO Steve Jobs said all phones suffered from the same signal degradation when their antennas were covered, Apple has been posting videos to YouTube and its own Web site demonstrating the phenomenon. It’s latest target: Motorola’s popular Droid X.

Topics: 3G, Steve Jobs, Motorola, iPhone, Apple

Hutchison Brings Fixed Broadband, Telephony Under ‘3′ Brand

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:10:41 +0000

TeleGeography
Hutchison Whampoa’s domestic subsidiary Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong Holdings (HTHKH) has rebranded the group’s residential fixed broadband and telephony services under the ‘3’ umbrella made famous by its mobile voice/internet services.

Topics: broadband, Hutchison Telecom, telecommunications, launch, Hong Kong, telecom

Panasonic to Buy Out Sanyo, Panasonic Electric

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:10:32 +0000

eTaiwanNews
Panasonic is planning to take 100 percent ownership of its subsidiaries Sanyo Electric and Panasonic Electric Works in a move costing up to $9.4 billion to strengthen green businesses such as electric cars and solar panels. Japan’s biggest consumer electronics maker said in a statement Thursday it will buy shares in the two companies through a public tender offer, aiming for a complete purchase by April 2011. Shares in the target companies soared while Panasonic tumbled.

Topics: Sanyo, telecom, Panasonic, Taiwan

Is Your Smartphone Conflict-Free?

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:55:49 +0000

Mobile Tech Today
Does that smart phone in your pocket contribute to rape and murder in the depths of Africa? Soon, you’ll know: A new U.S. law requires companies to certify whether their products contain minerals from rebel-controlled mines in Congo and surrounding countries.

Topics: Africa, legislation, regulation, smartphone, wireless

AT&T to Issue Fix For Slow iPhone Upload Speeds

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:55:32 +0000

CNET
After a software glitch in some Alcatel-Lucent equipment slowed upload data speeds for some iPhone users, AT&T should issue a fix in the next three weeks.

Topics: 3G, AT&T, iPhone, NextG, telecom, WiMax, wireless

Verizon Outage Hits Parts of New York City

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:54:57 +0000

CNET
Company says that some Manhattan landline customers were unable to make calls due to an equipment issue. Some AT&T wireless customers also affected.

Topics: 3G, AT&T, NextG, outage, telecom, Verizon, WiMax, wireless

A Reality Check On Jobs’ 3G Network Complaint

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:54:51 +0000

CNET
The Apple CEO said it can take years to add new cell sites in cities like San Francisco. We set out to discover if that’s true.

Topics: 3G, Apple, NextG, San Francisco, telecom, WiMax, wireless

Satellite Backhaul is on the Rise

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:54:43 +0000

Fierce Wireless News
Research firm NSR said the satellite backhaul market made tremendous gains from wireless subscriber growth in 2009 and the first half of 2010.

Topics: carrier, satellite, wireless

Just Two Chinese ISPs Serve 20% of World Broadband Users

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:49:09 +0000

Ars Technica
If you need a reminder of just how big China is—and just how important the Internet has become there—consider this stat: between them, two Chinese ISPs serve 20 percent of all broadband subscribers in the entire world.

Topics: ISP, broadband, telecom, China Telecom, China, wireless

China Poised to Become Asia’s Largest Fibre Market

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:48:50 +0000

Rapid tv news
In a move that could provide a boost to cable-delivered rich media services such as TV in the still rapidly growing territory, China is set to become Asia’s largest fibre market within the next twelve months. The development is predicted in a survey by Pyramid Research who found that by 2011, China will overtake Japan to become Asia’s largest fibre market, with 25.9 million access lines in service at year-end 2011, overtaking the 25.2 million which will likely be installed in Japan.

Topics: China, Asia, Hong Kong, China Telecom, telecom, wireless, Japan

Is Apple Reneging on Some Free iPhone 4 Cases and Bumpers? [update]

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:36:37 +0000

IntoMobile
Most users quickly downloaded the iPhone app that aided in the process and waited patiently as notices were sent out saying the iPhone bumper or case would be shipped out September 1. Unfortunately, it turns out some won’t be getting them at all.

Topics: 4G, wireless, Apple, handset, Steve Jobs, iPhone, United States