Tech Beat : cell phone

Landlines Declining Among Internet Users

chrisn — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:41:00 GMT

by Chris Neiger

It's not hard to assume that more and more people are using their cell phones as their primary phone of choice, rather than a fixed landline at their home, but it's always nice to have some information to back up that idea. The Nielsen Company recently published a report that shows that 17% of U.S. households are using wireless substitution (using cell phones as the primary phone instead of landlines); that percentage equates to just over 20 million U.S. households.

The 12-page report also mentioned information about how much cell phone-only users save each month compared to those with landlines and also includes television habits of wireless substitutors (see below).

To find out more about the decline of landline phones, read the full Nielson report.

Key findings in the report:
(Information and findings come from The Nielsen Company)

• Wireless substitution has increased in the United States and has reached 20.2 million homes in June 2008.

• Wireless substitutors pay 10 percent more for their cell phone service but use 45 percent more minutes on their wireless phone compared to non-wireless substitutors; which actually nets them $33 in savings per month in a single-person household (less $6.69 for each additional wireless subscriber).

• In the second quarter of 2008, 10 percent of U.S. households with a landline phone had previously ended their landline service, only to sign back up for it again.

• Wireless substitutors are more likely to have over-the-air or broadcast TV (rather than satellite TV) compared to average wireless subscribers.

Cell Phones, Contracts, and Capitalism

chrisn — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:05:00 GMT

By Chris Neiger

T-Mobile has finally jumped on board with other cell phone providers and is reducing the costs of its early termination fees (ETFs) by setting up a prorated system of contract termination. Verizon Wireless implemented a similar system almost two years ago and AT&T set up its reduced ETF system this past May. Which leaves Sprint/Nextel as one of the major cell phone carriers that as of yet has only announced they will cut their ETFs but hasn't set up any plan. The new T-mobile ETFs will start on June 28 with all new customers that have a one or two-year contract, or existing customers renewing their contract. Here's the breakdown of the new fees:

91-180 days left on contract: ETF drops from $200 to $100

Fewer than 91 days: $50 fee

Last 30 days: Either $50 fee or your standard monthly charge, whichever is cheaper

Instead of beating up on the big bad cell phone companies, which can easily be done by just about anyone who's owned a cell phone, we need to keep in mind that these are contracts. They aren't just pieces of paper we sign so they will let us walk out the door with a free phone. At the same time, the cell phone industry needs a refresher course on Competition 101 to realize that consumers will eventually go elsewhere when they find a better deal.

Let's talk about the contracts for brief moment.

They're a pain. We walk into the cell phone store, browse around for a cool phone (or for some of us, the cheapest one we can find), and pick out a plan from those tri-fold U.S. maps with about 27 different shades of the same color showing you different coverage levels. Finally they start typing on the computer and 10 hours later we have a new phone, a new company, and most likely a two-year commitment to some provider that may or may not have "best calling network" in the area. Side note: Is it me, or does every single carrier literally claim that their network is the largest, strongest, most advanced receive-a-signal-in-the-ice-caps-of-mars network?

So we've got our new phone and we've got our new company, now what? Well, we squint our eyes, hold our breath and call our friend to make sure everything is working on that expensive phone that looked like brushed aluminum (but we'll learn it's just cheap painted plastic when we drop it for the first time) and hope that it will actually sound halfway decent. Herein lies the problem. We've had to agree to something before we can actually use it. We've signed away hundreds of dollars, or thousands, in our one or two year contract before we could even turn the phone on and listen to what the ear-piece quality sounds like. It's not really a fair proposition, so some cell phone companies have set up a 15 or 30-day trial period to let people test out their network and phones. Now that may seem like it's a fair system, but that trial period usually isn't enough time to find out things like:

Your carrier drops calls as often as Samuel L. Jackson stars in movies
You won't get that text message until days after your friend wanted to see that cool new movie
You live in the 27th shade of color on their coverage map but you thought that meant you had the best coverage

OK, so I beat up on the cell phone companies just a little bit. But here's my counterpoint... we still signed the agreement. When we enter into our cell contracts, we're entering into a legally binding agreement with a company. As lame as that may be, we're still responsible to fulfill our part of the agreement; which is to pay our monthly bill on time and for a set amount of months. If we want out, they have every right to charge us money for breaking the agreement. We all know this, but when problems start happening with our phone or we're being charged for packages we didn't agree to we all feel liked we've been had.

Recently, a class action suit filed by some customers against Sprint/Nextel claiming that their ETFs were too harsh, was struck down by a California state jury. The customers weren't awarded anything, not even the satisfaction of winning, because the jury ruled that the fines were legal.

Consumer Options

Luckily for us all, things are starting to go more in the consumer direction. Some companies have plans that don't require any contract, T-Mobile is one of them. Today, Virgin Atlantic also announced that they would start a no-contract plan on July 1 that will be one of the cheapest flat-rate plans available right now. On top of that, the FCC is starting to look into cell phone affairs more when it comes to ETFs and is also pushing for consumers to have the option of buying what cell phones they want and use them for any company they like. These may seem like small steps, but they allow us to have more options of where we go for our service and what phones we can buy. And eventually, it gives us the freedom to shop for the best quality at the best price. So the next time you're overcharged on your bill or your company's customer service representative doesn't understand the meaning of the word "service', just keep in mind that things are moving ahead in cell phone business, and both the consumers and the companies will be the better for it.

The iPhone Revolution 2.0

chrisn — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:27:00 GMT

By Chris Neiger

It’s here.

It seems like ever since the first iPhone was launched technophiles and business gurus have been talking about the next generation iPhone and how much better it will be than the first one. Not that the first generation iPhone wasn’t already an interface revolution, graphically ground-breaking, and simply all-together awesome. But the tech-savants knew right away that the iPhone needed the already available, reliable and fast 3G wireless network in order to be a serious contender with the likes of BlackBerry and other smart phones dominating the market.

Their year of jubilee is finally here. Apple will start selling the second generation iPhone on July 11th and are shooting for a projected sales bonanza of selling 10 million in 2008 (the first iPhone has sold six million to date).

Let’s take a brief look at the iPhone’s new threads:

3G Wireless Technology: I already mentioned this, but what it means for users is that their Internet speed on the phone will take a leap from 1990’s dial-up to 21st Century download and streaming capabilities similar to Wi-Fi speeds.

New price: The new iPhone is available for $199 (8 Gig models) and $299 (16 Gig models). A steep drop from the original $600 and $400 a pop for the original.

Build and Purchase Apps: iPhone users will be able to purchase applications for their phone that are built by third-party developers. Apple’s original closed-fisted approach to producing all the software themselves has evolved into a system that will benefit both users and Apple in the long run.

MobileMe: In order to compete more directly with smartphones, Apple has come up with MobileMe, which allows the iPhone to sync with your PC, Mac and other applications and devices. You can check your MS Outlook mail, update your Mac iCal and update your contact list all in one place and have it sync on all your devices. This will be very useful for corporate accounts.

GPS: Another anticipated and sought-after upgrade is the new GPS chip in the new iPhone. Instead of figuring out your location through triangulation like before, the GPS chip allows real time and accurate positioning for directions.

In addition to these new main features, the phone also reads PowerPoint presentations, boasts a longer battery life, and also allows you to take a call, browse the Web and check email all at the same time… for hundreds less than the original.

You Paid WHAT for Your iPhone!?
That’s right, as if the people who waited in line for days and then paid $600 for the original iPhone only to find out two months later the price went down to $400 haven’t had it bad enough already. The new pricing is sure to draw in people who have been put off by the original phone’s prices or haven’t considering purchasing a smartphone in the past.

By creating an innovative machine and selling it at prices that tempt even the best of the money conscious, Apple is positioning themselves to grab a larger share of the cell phone industry… and fast. Currently, Apple only sells their little wonder in six countries; this year they’ll move across the globe into 70 countries faster than you can say Genghis Khan. BlackBerrys beware.