Wireless

WASHINGTON, D.C.--The Federal Communications Commission got a slap on the wrist Thursday from federal auditors for not doing enough to protect wireless subscribers.

The Government Accountability Office issued a report Thursday that said the FCC needs to improve oversight of the wireless industry to protect consumers. The agency said the FCC needs to do a better job enforcing consumer protection rules and educating the public about how they can submit complaints when they have experienced problems with their carriers.

The report was requested by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) when he was chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications … Read more

Nokia, the world's largest maker of mobile handsets, said Thursday that it plans to close two flagship stores in the U.S. as it refines its sales strategy and struggles to get a bigger foothold in the North American market.

Nokia also said it plans to close one of two stores in London. And it will look for a new location for its Sao Paolo store.

The U.S. Nokia stores that will be closed are in New York and Chicago. Nokia has 12 stores worldwide. It opened the first store in Moscow in 2005. Nokia said closing the … Read more

Correction made December 9 at 7:51 p.m. PDT: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that AT&T had announced a tiered pricing plan. The company is considering incentives to curb heavy wireless data usage.

AT&T wants its iPhone users to use less wireless data, and it may consider new pricing models to curb users' data usage as it tries to keep up with growing demand.

At an investor conference in New York on Wednesday, Ralph de la Vega, AT&T's head of wireless, said the wireless operator is considering incentives to … Read more

If you're the kind of person who feels bewildered in a pharmacy, here's a free app to test drive.

Evincii's new Pickka Med app is designed to function like an "expert pharmacist in your pocket," where people are able not only to search by phone for the best over-the-counter FDA-approved medicine in any given participating pharmacy but in the process avoid touching all the germ-addled bottles lining the shelves of the one place where sick people invariably shop.

Previously, Silicon Valley-based Evincii installed kiosks at hundreds of retail stores, providing guided-search technology to help shoppers … Read more

Would you like to let AT&T know when your iPhone has dropped a call? Well, now there is an app for that.

AT&T on Monday released a new application called "Mark the Spot," which lets iPhone users submit complaints about dropped calls, poor service coverage, and less-than-perfect voice quality.

The application is free and available in the iTunes App Store. It uses GPS technology in the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3GS to pin point where the user is when experiencing the problems. For first generation iPhones, it uses cell tower-triangulation to get a … Read more

The Federal Communications Commission opened a formal proceeding Wednesday to get feedback on whether it should reclaim some spectrum licenses held by TV broadcasters and auction them off to wireless broadband providers.

The public comment notice issued by the FCC is the first step in a process that could pit TV broadcasters against the FCC and the wireless industry.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a speech earlier in the week that he is interested in taking back some of these airwaves to re-auction them for use in building new wireless broadband services.

Broadcasters oppose a plan under which they'… Read more

Verizon Wireless and AT&T have ended their public legal spat over advertising, and have thus agreed to stop complaining about each other's advertising campaigns.

On Wednesday AT&T announced it dropped its suit against Verizon Wireless for allegedly misleading customers by showing its weak 3G coverage. And Verizon said it agreed to drop a suit it filed earlier this year against AT&T for claiming it had the "More Bars in More Places," the "Best Coverage," and the "Best Worldwide Coverage."

In its amended suit filed in August, Verizon … Read more

AT&T has dismissed its lawsuit against Verizon Wireless for using an advertisement that AT&T complained confused customers about its 3G wireless coverage.

On Wednesday, AT&T formally dismissed the lawsuit. Last month, the wireless operator suffered a major legal setback when a judge rejected the company's request to force Verizon to pull its "There's A Map For That" advertising campaign.

AT&T filed its lawsuit in federal court in Atlanta in early November asserting that Verizon Wireless' advertisements mislead customers by suggesting that AT&T subscribers cannot access wireless … Read more

The Federal Communications Commission is shaking up the communications market with bold initiatives to overhaul the $7 billion Universal Service Fund to help pay for universal broadband and reallocate wireless spectrum for new wireless broadband services.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski presented plans for revising the USF program and reallocating spectrum during a speech on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., at The Innovation Economy Conference.

The Universal Service Fund is a $7 billion federal subsidy program that is funded by fees added to consumer phone bills. The USF was originally designed to provide subsidies to pay for phone service in rural … Read more