Wireless

It has already been discussed on NBC's "Today Show."

It has apparently enjoyed more than 1 million views on YouTube. And it has already aroused cries that it is too graphic, too shocking, too much to watch.

But the police department of Gwent, Wales, felt it had to do something to highlight the realities of texting and driving, so together with filmmaker Peter Watkins-Hughes, it made a public service announcement.

The film shows a teenage girl driving some friends in her car. Engrossed in her texting, she is involved first in one crash before her car is then broadsided by another.

You have seen far worse in movies and with far less good intent. It can only go a small way to making teenagers and, frankly, half the alleged adults I've seen driving in California, consider the potential consequences of their self-involved habits.

But if it even makes one person think twice, or even once, about the consequences, then any amount of graphic content is to be applauded. There is surely nothing gratuitous about trying to save a life.

It isn't exactly breaking news that texting while driving is a bad idea. But a study released Monday night reveals just how dangerous it really can be.

After examining the behavior of truck drivers covering more than 6 million miles of road, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute concluded that people who send text messages while driving are 23 times more likely to be in a crash (or what they call a near-crash event) than nondistracted drivers.

To conduct the study, researchers mounted cameras inside drivers' vehicles. They studied where drivers' eyes were looking as they did various things, such as texting, dialing a cell phone, talking on a phone, and reaching for an object. Not surprisingly, the numbers (PDF) showed that the tasks that took people's eyes off the road caused the greatest amount of danger.

In crashes or near-crashes, texting took a driver's focus away from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds--enough time, the report point out, to travel the length of a football field at 55 mph.

By contrast, talking on a cell phone, which allows drivers to keep their eyes on the road, represented an increased risk of only 1.3 times that of a nondistracted driver.

The study's authors called into question past research that indicated driving while talking on a cell phone is as dangerous as driving drunk. While those results may have been found in lab tests and driving simulations, they say, the same was not true in real-world situations. They also noted that, contrary to popular belief, talking on a cell phone with a wireless headset is not substantially safer than talking on a regular handset. This is because the most significant factor as far as safety is concerned is to keep one's eyes on the road, the report said.

The institute says any task that takes a driver's eyes off the road should be avoided and suggests that all cell phone activity should be banned for newly licensed teenagers because they're more prone to using their phones.

(Note: For more details, The New York Times has a breakdown of the study's methodology.)

We've seen stories on the dangers of DWT (driving while texting). But are we now facing the growing problem of WWT (walking while texting)?

Alexa Longueira,a 15-year-old from Staten Island, learned a painful lesson about the hazards of texting recently. While intent on text messaging as she walked on a sidewalk along the New York borough's Victory Boulevard, she stepped right into an open manhole, sending her several feet into the raw sewage below.

Suffering some cuts and bruises, Longueira was checked out at Staten Island University Hospital and released.

The manhole had been left open briefly by the Department of Environmental Protection just as workers were grabbing some cones to cordon off the area.

"It was four or five feet, it was very painful. I kind of crawled out and the DEP guys came running and helped me," Longueria told local newspaper The Staten Island Advance. "They were just, like, 'I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"The DEP is conducting a full investigation of what happened during a manhole incident on Victory Blvd. where workers were flushing a high-pressure sewer on Wednesday evening. We regret that this happened and wish the young woman a speedy recovery," said DEP spokeswoman Mercedes Padilla.

Jumping into action, the parents have already said they're considering a lawsuit. Mother Kim Longueira holds the DEP at fault, telling FOXNews, "Something like that should never have happened. There should have been cones in place, there should have been a man in place."

Mother Longueira was particularly upset about the sewage. "Oh my God, it was putrid." she said. "One of her sneakers is still down there."

This is hardly the first case of the hazards of walking while texting. Chris Matyszczyk, a blogger for CNET News, has bumped into his share of problems with text walkers. Video from a CBS news report on CNET also points out the dangers of texting while walking, especially on crowded city streets.

To be fair, we've probably all been guilty at one time or another of focusing more on our gadgets than on the world around us. Is this something that could have happened to any of us?

CNET forums, meanwhile, have already seen comments from people weighing in on this latest incident. What's your opinion? Who's to blame? And will the DEP ever recover the lost sneaker?

I got my first SMS spam message last week and it infuriated me.

The mortgage-related text message was more than just a nuisance, like e-mail spam is. It also was a strong indication of how marketers have managed to invade every private communication space consumers have.

And it was frustrating that I didn't know what to do about it. Being an AT&T customer, I tried to register on AT&T's site figuring I could learn what to do and take action there. Unfortunately, it kept telling me that it didn't recognize my password, so I had to call customer support. The support representative directed me to a different URL where I was able to log in and she tried to walk me through the site to the place where I could set spam-blocking settings, but was unable to because of some technical issue on her end. So she just changed the settings for me.

I called the four major U.S. wireless carriers to find out exactly what they suggest their customers do when they get SMS spam. Here is what they said, along with some other basic questions and answers people may have about mobile spam.

AT&T
Customers can block text messages or calls from a specific phone number on its Web site here, as well as restrict the sources of e-mail that reach your phone on this site. Customers can also reply to text messages by typing in "BLOCK" or "STOP" to prevent future messages from that sender, and call a customer service representative if further help is needed, said AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel.

Sprint
Sprint wants customers to call customer service to report all spam messages so the company can modify its spam-filtering technology to block the phone numbers that are sending it, said Sprint spokesman John Taylor. Customers should not reply to the messages, otherwise it verifies to the spammer that the phone number is valid, he said.

T-Mobile
Postpaid and FlexPay customers can create their own filters and block chargeable text messages, MMS (multi-media service) messages, instant messages, and e-mail from being sent to their phones by calling customer service, spokeswoman Cara Walker said.

Verizon
Customers can log into the site and sign up for Usage Controls ($4.99 a month) that allow them to block certain numbers from calling or sending text messages to the phone. And if customers text only with a few people they can create an alias address here for free and receive only text messages sent to that address, said Verizon spokeswoman Debra Lewis.

Verizon has filed eight to 10 lawsuits against SMS spammers over the past four to five years, and 20 lawsuits altogether involving telemarketers, she said.

What can I do to prevent unsolicited phone calls to my mobile phone?
To block spam phone calls, customers should register their mobile numbers with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's Do Not Call Registry.

What are the carriers doing to block spam?
The mobile service providers said they are using antispam filters and antivirus technology to protect against the different types of mobile spam. They did not want to go into too much detail as to what technologies they are using.

Why am I getting spam?
Some people may be inadvertently opting in to receive text messages when they sign up for other services with merchants. Many free ringtone download sites are used to harvest mobile numbers. Spammers also use auto-dialers that randomly generate numbers or try them sequentially. Because mobile phone numbers do not appear in public directories people should be careful who they share their numbers with. Be wary of sites that promise to remove numbers from spam lists because they are often set up to collect the numbers instead. Also, read terms and conditions of sites and services carefully before giving out a mobile number.

Do I get charged for spam messages?
In general, consumers will not be charged for spam text messages and can get a credit if they report it to the company, on a case-by-case basis.

Is spam illegal?
While Verizon is suing companies for violating the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which makes it illegal to use an auto-dialer to make calls to wireless phones, there is no explicit measure outlawing SMS spam, yet. Measures in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate were introduced this year to rectify that. The m-SPAM Act, introduced by Sens. Olympia Snowe, a Maine Republican, and Bill Nelson, a Democrat from Florida, would expand the regulatory authority of the Federal Communications Commission and the FTC to intervene against SMS spammers and would explicitly bar marketers from sending text messages to any mobile number in the national Do Not Call registry. A similar measure was introduced by Rep. Phil Gingrey, a Georgia Democrat, in March after his antispam effort last year failed.

How big a problem is this?
While people in the U.S. might receive two SMS spam messages a year, things are worse in other countries like Europe where one a week is typical; India where people receive as many as two per day; and China where it's more like five to 10 each day, according to Ferris Research. Last year, Ferris Research estimated that wireless users in the U.S. received more than 1.1 billion spam text messages in 2007, up 38 percent from 2006.

Kate Moore in all her glory.

(Credit: LG)

Here's a thought that might numb more than just your fingers.

About 250,000 people entered the LG National Texting Championship, which concluded Tuesday. Yes, a quarter of a million people wanted to prove that they could text faster, more accurately, and ignore more distractions. Like insulting emoticons.

The winner, you will find it difficult to accept, was a 15-year-old girl. Her name is Kate Moore. She is from Iowa. And amid her boundless joy, she told the Associated Press: "Let your kid text during dinner! Let your kid text during school! It pays off."

Oh, Lordy.

Kate battled through rounds of texting while blindfolded, while being distracted by an actor dressed as an emoticon, while playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and simultaneously picking her nose.

Yes, I only made up the last one.

Indeed, according to CNN, the forlorn girl who came in fourth, Jordan Rowe, failed to accurately text "which wicked witch wished which more wicked witch in the well?" while having to listen to an actor dressed as an emoticon talk trash about her sister.

How did the emoticon even know she had a sister? Why would an emoticon talk trash? Why would an emoticon talk at all?

There are so many questions. But because I know many of you worship competition, you will want to know what fine texting dexterity brought Moore to digital nirvana.

Well, it all came down to a tiebreaker in the best of three final. And the two (girls, surprisingly) in the final round had to text: "Zippity Dooo Dahh Zippity Ayy...MY oh MY, what a wonderful day! Plenty of sunshine Comin' my way....Zippitty Do Dah Zippity Aay! WondeRful Feeling Wonderful day!"

Truly.

You will want to let those closest to you know that Moore told CNN she sends somewhere around 500 texts a day. And that she won $50,000 for her troubles. And that she cried.

Oh, Moore also said she's a good student and terribly sociable.

However, I am still extremely concerned about what kind of mean-spirited, insensitive souls would allow for a trash-talking emoticon. It could ruin a girl's tornado-like texting ability for life.

This unnamed girl has emoticons on her fingers. There is no evidence she uses them to talk trash.

(Credit: CC Lu Lu/Flickr)

Executives from the nation's largest phone companies went to Capitol Hill Tuesday to defend themselves against allegations that they've been fixing prices on text messaging.

Executives from AT&T and Verizon Communications testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights, saying their companies have not been involved in a conspiracy to hike text messaging rates. And they argued that competition is alive and well in the wireless market.

The hearing was called in response to a letter sent in September from Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) to the four major U.S. operators--Verizon, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile USA--asking them to explain why their text rates had all increased to 20 cents per message. Kohl noted in his letter that these rates marked a 100 percent increase since 2005.

Shortly after the letter was sent, about 37 separate class action lawsuits were filed against wireless operators alleging price-fixing on text-messaging services.

Both AT&T and Verizon have denied these claims. And the companies came to Capitol Hill to clear their names.

"Especially in light of this litigation firestorm, we want to make it perfectly clear that AT&T sets the prices for all of its products on a unilateral basis," said Wayne Watts, general counsel for AT&T, in his written testimony. "There is no evidence to support an accusation that anyone at AT&T engaged in any inappropriate, much less illegal, behavior as alleged in these lawsuits."

Watts also noted that none of the lawsuits name a time, place, or person involved in the collusion, and all but one of the suits filed cite Kohl's letter as the basis for its allegations.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuits point to the fact that all four major U.S. carriers now charge customers 20 cents to send and receive a text message if they don't have a monthly texting plan. In his September letter, Kohl pointed to the 20 cent per text price tag and asked if this price hike really justified the cost of the service.

In his letter, Kohl also suggested that the wireless industry is not competitive enough. He noted that the four carriers combined currently serve more than 90 percent of wireless subscribers in the U.S.

AT&T and Verizon executives dispute that they have colluded to fix prices on texts, but they also deny that texting rates have increased. Instead, they claim that prices have fallen for text messaging as a result of robust competition.

Verizon's general counsel, Randal Milch, said in his written testimony that there are more differences in text-messaging prices among wireless competitors than there are similarities. And he noted that most Verizon Wireless customers subscribe to a texting plan, and as a result they "pay less than a penny per message," a reduction of almost two-thirds since 2006.

"As the result of the price cuts, usage has grown six-fold," he said.

Milch also called claims that the wireless companies were improperly setting rates "absolutely false." And he said that "market evidence shows fierce competition, not collusion, in text messaging and wireless generally."

The CTIA, the trade association representing wireless carriers, also said that competition in the wireless market is thriving.

"The U.S. wireless industry is the most competitive and innovative in the world. Third-party organizations and influentials--from Consumer Reports Magazine to former Vice President Al Gore--have echoed this statement," Steve Largent, head of the CTIA, said in statement.

Despite these claims, Kohl said he is still concerned about the state of competition in the wireless market, according to a report from the Dow Jones Newswire. Specifically, he pointed out exclusivity deals for popular cell phones, such as the Apple iPhone or the Palm Pre, that limit some consumers' ability to have access to those devices.

If you're taking a car trip this Memorial Day weekend, you may feel safest driving in Arizona, but you may want to steer clear of Tennessee.

A survey just released by mobile application vendor Vlingo says 26 percent of mobile phone users questioned admit to DWT, or driving while texting. The highest number of offenders are in Tennessee, with 42 percent of people saying they text behind the wheel, while Arizona drivers came in lowest at 18.8 percent.

Driving while texting is now fully banned in seven states as well as Washington, D.C., and partially banned in a select few other states. But it's not just auto drivers who pose a threat. Earlier this month, a 24-year-old Massachusetts subway operator rammed his train into the one ahead of him, sending almost 50 people to the hospital. According to investigators, the man later admitted to authorities he had been texting with his girlfriend while operating the train.

"In just one year, the public conversation about the issue of DWT has escalated, particularly in the wake of some high-profile accidents," said Dave Grannan, CEO of Vlingo. "Texting is such an integral component of our daily lives, and the cautionary tales about DWT danger have not stemmed the tide. We predicted last year that this problem would get worse, and it has since more people are texting."

Eighty-three percent of the people surveyed said they feel texting while driving should be illegal. But 40 percent of those questioned would OK DWT with the proper safety precautions, such as voice-activated commands. Further, 70 percent would use voice technology to speak and listen to incoming messages as opposed to typing and reading.

However, a study conducted last year from Carnegie Mellon University found that just listening to cell phone messages can impair a driver's ability to concentrate on the road.

The Vlingo survey uncovered other trends based on age. Almost 60 percent of people ages 16 to 19 and 49 percent of those in their 20s admit to texting while driving. Among people in their 50s, 13 percent said they have texted behind the wheel.

The 2009 survey released on Wednesday was the second annual one that Vlingo has commissioned. Survey results were based on responses from 4,816 people living in the continental U.S. Vlingo makes a voice-activated application for mobile phones, so one can argue that it may have a vested interest in the results. However, the company says the survey was conducted by an independent research firm named Toluna.

It looks like Boost Mobile's new $50 unlimited calling plan has become a victim of its own success.

Customers using the prepaid wireless service, which is owned by Sprint Nextel, say that they've experienced delays in receiving text messages. The problem was first reported by the Associated Press. A Boost representative acknowledged that since March, some customers have experienced text delays that have lasted anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours.

"We've already diagnosed and isolated the problem," said John Votava, Boost's spokesman. "And we've been working day and night since late March to fix the problem. Our technical team has been upgrading the network, and they've told us that the work will be completed by May 7."

Boost began offering its unlimited monthly service January 22. The $50 service, which doesn't require a contract, and costs only $50 for unlimited voice, SMS, and MMS messaging, and Web browsing, has proven to be very successful, the company has said. Exactly how successful, won't be known until Monday when Boost's parent company Sprint Nextel reports first quarter 2009 results. But analysts are expecting the subsidiary to report that it's gained about 500,000 new subscribers in the first quarter. As of the end of the fourth quarter of 2008, Boost had 3.6 million subscribers.

"To be honest, we were overwhelmed by the number of people signing up for the unlimited service," Votava said. "People have really been taking advantage of the unlimited texting, as they should, and it has caused us some growing pains."

Votava said delays have occurred most often during peak hours, which are from 2 p.m. EDT to about 10 p.m. EDT.

Boost uses the Nextel portion of Sprint's network for its service. Nextel uses a technology called iDEN, which differs from Sprint's PCS network, which uses CDMA. Over the years, Nextel users have complained occasionally of delayed text messages, the AP reported. But Votava said that Boost, which has used the Nextel network for its service since it launched in 2002, has not had any problems over the past seven years with delayed text messages. He said the problems only started occurring after the $50 offer went nationwide.

The AP reported that several customers are upset and frustrated with the service, but many say they won't drop the service because it's so affordable.

At $50 a month, the service is indeed a bargain. But Boost will need to fix this problem if it expects to compete with other low-cost providers, such as MetroPCS Communications and Leap Wireless International. These regional operators have long offered unlimited calling for roughly $50 per month in some areas. And now they are expanding their services into bigger cities in the Northeast. Boost also faces competition from Virgin Mobile, which followed Boost with its own $50 all-you-can-eat prepaid plan. T-Mobile USA is also offering a similar service to its existing customers in an effort to keep those customers.