CommsXpressUSA

Verizon Hardware Caused New York City Phone Outage

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:39:58 +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: AT&T, landline, wireless, New York, Verizon, outage, telecom

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

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:33:41 +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: USA, wireless, iPhone, telecom, smartphone, Apple, AT&T, Verizon, 3G

American Lawmakers May Use Skype

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:30:31 +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: Skype, Washington, telecom

Mexico’s Megacable Could Delay Phone Service Launch

editor — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:28:12 +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: Mexico, telecom, Megacable

SIP Trunking Installations to Nearly Triple by 2013, Fueled by SMB Growth

editor — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:01:32 +0000

TMCnet News
Despite lingering questions about overall quality of service, enterprises are becoming more comfortable with the use of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking as a low-cost alternative to legacy telecom services, a change that will result in a growth in deployment from 8.5 million SIP trunks in 2009 to 24.3 million trunks in 2013, according to the latest report published by Heavy Reading IP Services Insider.

Topics: United States, trunking, telecom, SIP trunk

Verizon Loses $198M on Layoffs, Asset Sales

editor — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:31:36 +0000

Phone+ News, USA
Employee layoffs and asset divestitures cost Verizon Communications Inc. big in the second quarter, pushing earnings to a $198 million loss.

Topics: Verizon, layoffs, telecommunications, USA

Va. Beach Drops Phone-Lines Suit Against Verizon

editor — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:30:55 +0000

TMCnet News
A lawsuit was filed. Names were called. But in the end, it proved to be a case of faulty communication. The city withdrew its lawsuit against Verizon Communications Inc. on Tuesday after discovering that the lines it was suing over didn’t exist.

Topics: telecom, Verizon, United States

Communities To Lose Free Intranet

editor — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:18:28 +0000

TMCnet News
The communities of Bath, Copley and Richfield have never had to pay for the so-called I-Net service — a fiber-optic connection — that linked computers and phones inside various schools and government buildings. The intranet connections were free thanks to franchise agreements penned with cable services in the 1980s.

Topics: United States, broadband, telecom, voip

Poor Could Lose Phone Service

editor — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:09:35 +0000

News & Observer
Tens of thousands of low-income residents in the state could lose their phone service because their prepaid phone providers are mired in a contract dispute with AT&T. AT&T, the state’s biggest phone company, claims it is owed millions of dollars from three companies that it sells phone services to and wants to quit doing business with them. It is also trying to recover unpaid bills from four other phone companies but hasn’t yet tried to disconnect their service.

Topics: USA, telecom, prepaid

FBI Urges FCC to Protect Its Ability To Wiretap

editor — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:52:56 +0000

Washington Post
The FBI told the Federal Communications Commission that no matter how the battle for authority over Internet access ends up, the agency should not change law enforcement’s ability to wiretap. In comments due Thursday to the FCC on a proposal to move broadband access services into the same category as phone services, the FBI said the FCC should not strip away law enforcement authorities’ access to communications networks.

Topics: Washington, FBI, voip, broadband, regulation, telecom, FCC, wiretap

North Carolina: Cable TV, ATT Cellphone Users Caught Up In Widespread Outages

editor — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:42:30 +0000

TMCnet News
Time Warner Cable and AT&T customers in the area may have found their high-tech communications offline Wednesday as the two companies reported unrelated service problems here.

Topics: outage, Time Warner, cellular, AT&T, cellphone, United States, telecom, North Carolina

MainOne Fibre Optic Cable Launched

editor — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:35:38 +0000

TMCnet News
Chairman of the of the company, Mr. Fola Adeola, said the submarine cables were laid from Portugal to Lagos covering a distance of about 7,200 kilometres. Adeola, who is the former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, added that the firm currently has a solid base in London, South Africa, Bangalore and Tenerife.

Topics: voip, telecom, broadband, Africa, United States

Frontier, Verizon Transition Not Without Problems

editor — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:01:03 +0000

Journal and Courier
One unhappy local customer is Jeananne Forgey of West Lafayette, who has experienced disruption to her phone and Internet service. She said her phone and computer connections were unreliable for three weeks leading up to the Frontier takeover.

Topics: telecom, Virginia, Verizon

Verizon Tackles Droid X Shortage Concerns… Sort Of

editor — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:55:10 +0000

Phone+ News, USA
Not long after Sprint acknowledged shortages of the HTC Evo, one of the hottest new smartphones on the market, Verizon Wireless sounds only somewhat confident that the same fate won’t befall its latest Android phone, the Droid X, which goes on sale Thursday.

Topics: wireless, telecommunications, Droid, USA, Verizon, telecom, Google

AT&T’s Insane Service Plan Strategy

editor — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:50:47 +0000

PC Magazine
Is AT&T trying to kill feature phones? Recently, the company started charging less per month for full-fledged smartphones than for crippled texting phones. This would seem to deprive the carrier’s 85.1 million customers of a useful, inexpensive mobile device choice.

Topics: telecom, iPhone, AT&T, smartphone, Apple