Several Verizon Wireless employees stumbled upon the Pandora's Box of personal mobile phone accounts, that of President-Elect Barack Obama, and couldn't help sneaking a peek. Luckily, the account was old and out-of-use, there's no indication that email records, voicemails or call contents were monitored, and at the very most the employees only got to see billing records, according to Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam. Oh yeah, and the employees are now fired.

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We here at Gizmodo have been getting interesting missives from several readers about how AT&T's 3G network has just plumb broke in several areas, like Boston and Hawaii. Any calls made to an iPhone 3G goes straight to voicemail,... Read More »

Netgear is launching their new GearHead service, which provides support and assistance in setting up any of your home networking gear—whether it's made by Netgear or not. The brand independent service is a service in the same vein as Best Buy's Geek Squad, except it's focused soley on home networking (and they probably won't steal your porn). It's available 24/7, and comes in two different pricing plans: An annual subscription that offer's unlimited support, or a one-off, pay-per-incident service.

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Boy Genius Report is claiming they have acquired the original two-page document that was leaked earlier concerning a rumor that Verizon could require a $US30 data plan for all new smartphones starting November 14th. Except for Government customers, this... Read More »

One of the main reasons I won't go near prepaid mobile internet options is because I hate not getting what I pay for. I mean, if I buy 1GB worth of data, I should be able to use that 1GB whenever I want, not just within the next 30 days. And although that's unlikely to change with any of the networks in the near future, 3 has just slightly improved the situation by offering pre-paid mobile internet that has a 365 day expiration period.

For $149, you get 12GB of data that you can use any time you wish over the next 12 months. Of course, you'll also have to pick yourself up an internet key ($129) to use the service, but that's not too bad. And if you, unlike me, reckon you could fly through your mobile data within 30 days, there are also a heap of other options for you, which are detailed below the fold...

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Poor Optus. It seems they can't go a full week without getting slammed for the shoddy state of their 3G network. The latest blow comes from Dan Warne at APC, who's reporting that Virgin Broadband (which uses Optus' 3G network) has had to pull their wireless home internet service from retail shelves due to the sheer volume of complaints they were getting about the quality of the service.

The product is still available to purchase from their website, which enables them to be a lot more thorough when checking coverage areas for potential customers.

Hopefully Optus will sort their network out before Virgin's broadband solution disappears completely - it's a good idea for people who don't really need a lot of bandwidth or speed from their internet.

[APCMag]

One of our Verizon sources have also told us about a new plan called Connect, which is basically aimed at web-enabled mobiles, but not smartphones. According to him, the Connect option will be available on November 16 and it... Read More »

While every other major carrier is routinely piling a million or so customers a quarter, Sprint continues its depressing custom of bleeding out a million—1.3 million, in fact, which is more than its expected loss of an even million. It also lost over $US326 million (a year ago, it made $US64 million). Apparently, Sprint's given up on efforts to dump its cancerous iDen network (which is a major source of the bleedout) too. Does that mean in effect it's given up the will to live? [NYT]

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This announcement from Telstra confuses me: We can already access email on pretty much any mobile phone these days, and I can't picture most people wanting to check their SMS messages on their PC. So what's the deal?

MyConnect is made up of three different parts: My Inbox, which is an online message, contact and calendar management service for all your various messages like email, sms, voicemail etc and is free; My Email which lets you access up to five different email accounts on your mobile for $7 a month (hang on, doesn't the HTC Touch Diamond do that for free?) and MySync, which for $3 a month will backup all your contacts and calendars and synchronise it with MyInbox.

So essentially it's like a MobileMe for Telstra customers. And it costs about the same too - for all the features you're looking at $120 a year.

Aside from the obvious bitching about price, is this something any of you guys would be interested in? Or are there other, better solutions you'd prefer?

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While AT&T U-Verse lags far, far behind Verizon FIOS in the insane bandwidth race, the boost to 18Mbps downstream for the top tier U-Verse package that starts Nov. 9 nearly doubles the relatively pokey 10Mbps they offered. To put... Read More »

While having Wi-Fi everywhere is a great way to offload traffic from its 3G network, AT&T's hard Wi-Fi push strikes me as a little anachronistic. Shouldn't we be talking about super fast, ubiquitous 3G, 4G even? Its $US275 million pickup of Wi-Fi provider Wayport now gives AT&T customers Wi-Fi access at McDonald's, Four Seasons, Marriott and Wyndham hotels, in addition to everyone's standard Wi-Fi leeching spot, Starbucks.

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At long last, Virgin America is finally bringing in-flight wireless internet access to its flights. On November 22, a beta flight above San Francisco will be the first to test the service, with it then rolling out to more flights after that at a rate of one per week. The plan is to have Wi-Fi available throughout the entire fleet by early next year, making it the first US carrier to do so. There's no word on whether or not the service will be filtered for porn. [Virgin America via PSFK]

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Telstra's been talking up their NextG network for some time as the world's fastest, and for good reason. At 14.4Mbps, it currently is the world's fastest, although there aren't a lot of devices on the market that take advantage of that speed (most HSDPA phones and modems run at 7.2Mbps).

But, at the company's annual Investor Day briefing today, they unveiled a new modem produced in conjunction with Qualcomm, Ericsson and Sierra Wireless, to blow the current network's 14.4Mbps speeds out of the water. The new modem will be capable of 21Mbps, which is the speed Telstra will be taking its NextG network to early next year, with trials starting next month.

The technology, called enhanced HSPA (or eHSPA), will not only offer much faster speeds than are currently available, but will also improve network efficiency and offer increased capacity for all the consumers that will flock trickle over to NextG.

Of course, knowing Telstra, when they do launch this super-fast modem, they'll also price it beyond the reach of us mere mortals. But still, for wireless internet that covers most of Australia and offers near ADSL2+ speeds, you'd expect to pay a premium of some kind, wouldn't you?

[Telstra]

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FCC officials approved a plan for white space wireless broadband in a vote today. For those unfamiliar, white space broadband would take the unused parts of the television broadcast spectrum and make it available for internet data transfer. Details on the specifics have yet to be announced, but this is seen as a boost for companies like Microsoft and Google, who want to provide internet for use in free programs and those in rural, hard-to-reach areas. [Yahoo]

AT&T's bandwidth caps for its high speed internet customers are here. They're conducting a "market trial" in Reno that started on Nov. 1, where users get between 20GB and 150GB a month, depending on their speed tier. Unlike Time... Read More »

I haven't eaten at McDonalds since July 2001. Let's just say a Quarter Pounder meal didn't agree with me for a few days. And while I probably still wouldn't eat there, I might just start going into their "restaurants" to hang out like a 16 year old on school holidays (it's the place to be, apparently) so I can start using their new free Wi-Fi networks.

While a number of McDonalds "restaurants" have had free Wi-Fi supplied by Telstra for a while now, they're now planning on rolling out their own networks across a majority of their stores across the country. The rollout has already begun in NSW and the ACT, and will progress across the other states, with an expected completion date of late February 2009.

There's no fudging around with logins or any need to actually buy anything (phew!), but there is a 50MB data limit, so no bittorrent for you. Hopefully we'll see all the other fast food stores join McDonalds on the free Wi-Fi bandwagon.

[Free Wi-Fi - Thanks Nathan!]

AT&T apparently realised it was elitist to only let the iPhone get free Wi-Fi at its hotspots, so they're opening it up to BlackBerry handsets too. The Bold is getting it first, though all of their other Wi-Fi-havin' BlackBerrys will pick it up later this year. So, um, what about Windows Mobile guys? Smells like elitism to me.

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The days of being asked whether some dodgy looking stranger can use my mobile to send a text message because they've run out of credit are finally numbered. Optus has today announced their emergency credit service, which will let their prepaid customers borrow $3 worth of credit by texting 'IOU' to 468. The money will automatically be deducted from their account the next time they recharge their account. This is an awesome service, if only because it means I don't have to fear for my life the next time I tell that massive bogan wanting my phone, "no".

[Optus]

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According to several independent tips we've received today, iPhone owners are slowly but surely getting notified that they can receive free Wi-Fi access at all AT&T hotspots (including Starbucks) through a text message. If you're confused by it all, you aren't alone. AT&T has had an on-again, off-again relationship with iPhone owners and their Wi-Fi hotspots for quite a while. But now, it looks like AT&T's Wi-Fi support for iPhones is fully deployed. So grab a pretentious scarf, pour some warm milk in that $4 coffee and celebrate with the rest of us. [Image]

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Most of you download-hungry Gizmodians probably won't be able to make the most of these new entry-level Naked DSL pricings from Internode, but if you have a Nanna somewhere looking for some good value broadbandand VoIP bundles, you might want to point them in this general direction. Essentially, Internode has dropped the price of its entry-level Naked DSL plans to $50.

There are two plans: the Home-NakedExtreme-5 service, which runs of Internode's own equipment and includes 5GB of data, or the Home-Naked-1, which runs of Optus' wholesale equipment and includes 1GB of data. I'm assuming that which option you get depends on where you live and what exchanges Internode's set up on.

On top of these plans you can bundle Internode's Node2Phone VoIP service, with pre-paid bundles starting at $5 a month for $10 worth of calls. And if you exceed your monthly data quota, you'll be happy to know that Internode has doubled the amount of data in their data blocks. So where $5 would have bought you 1GB, it now gives you 2GB.

It's good to see ISPs pushing the naked bandwagon. Now all we need is for one of them to set up their equipment in my local exchange so I can move away from Telstra-run equipment...

[Internode]

Before T-Mobile customers start cheering for the long-awaited 3G services which began rolling out earlier this year, they might want to stop and think twice as rumours surface that T-Mobile plans to increase their data packages as early as the beginning of November. The cost of supporting the 3G network is now being passed on to consumers.

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Things were neat and tidy before the breakup of AT&T in 1984, but after the 7-way split things got a little out of control as you will see in the Telecommunication Company Family Tree compiled by the folks at Neatorama. By their own admission, the tree is "woefully incomplete and grossly oversimplified" given the omission of minor subsidiaries, independent local phone companies and the like. However, the bare bones tree is still fairly complex—and it gives you a decent overall picture of how much things have changed over the last 24 years. Hit the link to see a detailed version of the tree. [Neatorama]

New details have emerged on #3 cable provider Cox Communication's plan to enter into the wireless business. Apparently, subscribers will be able to control their DVRs, watch television, and automatically sync their address book with home PCs via their... Read More »

A few months ago we ran a rumour in which Steve Jobs had written a reader promising that Apple was working on iPhone tethering for 3G laptop browsing. Now, according to a MacBlogz, a reliable source from inside AT&T has informed them that iPhone tethering is being delayed because AT&T isn't prepared to meet the 3G demand. According to the source:

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Comcast has announced that they have upgraded their DOCSIS 3.0 service to offer new high-speed 22Mbps/5Mbps and 50Mbps/10Mbps options. They have also increased the speed along standard tiers: 6Mbps/1Mbps will be upgraded to 12Mbps/2Mbps and 8Mbps/2Mbps will be increased... Read More »