First, let’s set the scene: In one corner, you have Verizon (VZ). The company recently launched a series of ads attacking AT&T’s (T) 3G network. The spots, revolving around the phrase “there’s a map for that,” show side-by-side maps of AT&T’s and Verizon’s networks and claim Verizon has five times more 3G coverage. Combine those with the ongoing series of iPhone-bashing Droid commercials, and you’ve got a powerful one-two punch heading straight toward AT&T’s kisser.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Verizon (VZ) began advertising its 3G coverage against AT&T’s (T) in a series of ads poking fun at Apple’s (AAPL) “there’s an app for that” iPhone commercials, presenting coverage maps of its own 3G CDMA/EVDO network in red against much more limited 3G service coverage maps for AT&T’s 3G network presented in blue.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Verizon Wireless’s (VZ) “There’s a Map For That” ads are already a fading memory for those eyeing the newer Droid campaign, but AT&T (T) hasn’t forgotten them.

The telecommunications provider sued Verizon Wireless Tuesday, calling the advertisements “misleading.” Verizon Wireless called the lawsuit without merit, telling The Journal that the ads “clearly explain that non-3G coverage is available elsewhere.”

Here’s how AT&T describes the campaign, from its complaint:

Read the rest of this post on the original site

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has mounted a recent push to turn network neutrality “principles” into official regulations–and in doing so has stirred up the net neutrality hornet’s nest once again. The issues involved are thorny when you wade deep into the weeds, but consumer-level support for network neutrality seems largely driven by simple principle: AT&T (ATT) should not be “speeding up” websites with deep pockets, leaving everyone else to languish in the slow lane.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

In the early years of the Internet, the more time people spent online, the more they paid a provider like AOL for their connection. But as customers have shifted to always-on broadband services, many Web surfers have enjoyed all-you-can-eat Internet for a flat rate.

Some cable and telecommunications providers are trying to turn back the clock and return to usage-based pricing for Internet connections. Carriers including AT&T Inc. (T) and Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) say they may have to switch amid a surge in Internet traffic as more people go online to watch videos and download movies.

Recent efforts to introduce usage-based, or metered, broadband services have met stiff resistance from consumers. But a new push by the federal government to adopt rules that would force Internet providers to treat all Web traffic equally, no matter how much bandwidth they take up, could give ammunition to the broadband providers that want to change how they charge for Web access, Internet experts and consumer advocates say.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

AT&T’s (ATT) top lobbyist, Jim Cicconi, sent a letter to all of the telecom giant’s 300,000 employees on Sunday, urging them to express their concerns over a net neutrality proposal under consideration by the Federal Communications Commission. Check out his letter and comments on the Actuarian Outpost Web site.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Wow, this is pretty strange behavior for a company that is hemorrhaging access lines.

AT&T (T) has unveiled plans to raise landline phone rates by more than 20 percent in California, according to both the San Jose Mercury News and the San Francisco Chronicle.

The company plans to start telling customers next week that charges for basic phone service will jump to $16.45 from $13.50 effective January 2.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

The already intensively competitive wireless sector today finds itself with a tough new player: Wal-Mart (WMT). The retailing giant has teamed up with American Movil (AMX) to sell low-cost service under the Straight Talk brand. The company is offering unlimited voice and text minutes for $45 a month, or 1,000 minutes and 1,000 text messages for $30 a month.

WMT is rolling out the plans nationwide after previously testing service via 234 stores, according to Reuters.

This is something of a nightmare for the pure-play pre-paid wireless companies, including MetroPCS (PCS) and Leap Wireless (LEAP), which just a few days ago found themselves facing the prospect of AT&T (T) jumping into the pre-paid market.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

The Department of Justice has finally admitted it in court papers: The nation’s telecom companies are an arm of the government–at least when it comes to secret spying.

Fortunately, a judge says that relationship isn’t enough to squash a rights group’s open records request for communications between the nation’s telecoms and the feds.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation wanted to see what role telecom lobbying of the Justice Department played when the government began its year-long, and ultimately successful, push to win retroactive immunity for AT&T (T) and others being sued for unlawfully spying on American citizens.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

On Wednesday, a startup called OnLive that’s generating a lot of buzz–and skepticism–in the videogame world raised a new round of financing from AT&T (T), Warner Bros. and others. We spoke to OnLive founder Steve Perlman, a well-known serial entrepreneur, about the investment (which wasn’t quantified) and some of the implications if OnLive or startups like it are successful.

OnLive has developed technology that it says will allow consumers to play graphically rich videogames without owning high-end PCs or consoles like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 that are normally required for such titles. Instead, OnLive plans to run games on powerful remote servers in data centers and pipe high-definition game graphics over the Internet to consumers, who can play them on low-end PCs and Macs or through an inexpensive OnLive device connected to their televisions.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Three weeks ago, I got a call on a friend’s iPhone while in the middle of a desert; cell phone coverage had come to Burning Man. By contrast, several calls I made last night to my parents from my San Francisco apartment were dropped and a subsequent connection became garbled.

That happens daily when I try to converse on my first-generation iPhone in my apartment and in certain other neighborhoods. I’ve come to anticipate that if I can even make a call it’s likely to be short-lived or poor quality.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Top U.S. telecommunications executives Thursday gave a mixed outlook on the economy, saying business conditions have stabilized but they don’t see signs of a quick recovery.

The telecom industry has been relatively shielded from the worst effects of the downturn thanks to the growing need for wireless and Internet services. But it isn’t completely immune, as carriers face continued landline losses, weak demand from businesses and pricing pressure in wireless.

“Stabilization” was the key buzzword for the heads of AT&T Inc. (T), Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ), Sprint Nextel Corp (S). and Qwest Communications International Inc. (Q), all of whom spoke Thursday at an investor conference hosted by Goldman Sachs.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

So, AT&T (T) has jumped into action in response to the growing chorus of complaints about the deteriorating quality of the company’s wireless network: they’ve posted a video by someone called Seth the Blogger Guy. (He’s actually Seth Bloom, who works in the telco’s PR group.)

Sayeth Seth: “The bottom line is this: we have heard you. We are on it. And we will use this hard-won experience to lead the industry into the future.”

Read the rest of this post on the original site

I see a trend.

Back in July, I wrote a post based on a Bernstein Research report which considered the question of whether the Apple (AAPL) iPhone has been a blessing or a curse for AT&T (T), citing among other factors the strain the data-happy iPhone users are placing on the company’s 3G network. The theme cropped up again earlier this week, in a Heard on the Street column in the Wall Street Journal, which asserted that AT&T is not getting much out of its position as the exclusive U.S. iPhone carrier.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

In the latest, weirdest twist to the crazy trading in Vonage (VG), there apparently are rumors that the company could be acquired by AT&T (T). That just might be the dumbest rumor I’ve ever heard.

For starters, AT&T a few years ago started its own voice over IP service called CallVantage–but quietly shut down the service earlier this year. True, AT&T and other telcos have been seeing a rapid fall in their residential land lines. But that has more to do with people substituting wireless phones for landlines than it does with the invasion of voice over IP services.

Auriga USA analyst Chandan Sarkar this morning took a look at the theoretical combination, and finds the concept lacking.

Read the rest of this post on the original site