Tag Archives | Verizon Wireless

Hey, Off-Contract Smartphones Are Getting Cheaper!

Posted by Jared Newman on July 7, 2011 at 5:00 pm

As I looked over Verizon’s announcement of the Motorola Droid 3 today, one thing in particular caught my eye: Without a two-year contract, the phone costs $460.

That may look expensive next to the Droid 3’s two-year agreement price of $200, but it’s a lot cheaper than what high-end, off-contract smartphones used to cost. Last year, for example, the Droid 2 debuted for $599 without a contract. At the time, that was pretty much the standard price.

So I figured the Droid 3 was cracking the mold, until I looked around. Right now, Verizon’s Droid X2 sells for $450 without a contract, and the Droid Incredible 2 sells for $440. Over on AT&T, you can get a contract-free Motorola Atrix 4G for $450. These are all high-end phones, with dual-core processors and screens of 4 inches or higher, but you might not know it from their off-contract prices.

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Verizon Powers 32% of All iPhone 4s in the U.S.

Posted by Ed Oswald on July 7, 2011 at 2:12 pm

If you subscribe to the theory that most potential iPhone buyers on Verizon have held out on purchasing a device till the new model launches this fall, then this statistic should surprise you: 32% of all current iPhone 4 users in the U.S. are on the Verizon network.

Yep, that’s right. Research firm Localytics released data Thursday that shows the device has shown steady growth since its launch on the Verizon network in February. The iPhone 4 started out on the right foot rather quickly, quickly grabbing 20% of the market early on, but its real growth has been over the summer.

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AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon May Start Punishing File Sharers

Posted by Jared Newman on June 23, 2011 at 10:53 am

People who illegally download movies and music may soon face more than just empty threats from their Internet service providers.

Some of the largest ISPs in the United States are close to agreements with the entertainment industry to crack down on piracy with stiffer punishments, according to CNet. Repeat offenders could face throttled bandwidth speeds or limited access to the Internet, or they may have to attend programs to learn about the subtleties of copyright law.

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Verizon: “iPhone 5” Will Compete with AT&T for Global Coverage

Posted by Matt Peckham on May 20, 2011 at 3:07 pm

I noticed this story late last night, basically another ‘iPhone 5’ tease that’s even bigger news from where I sit than whatever newfangled whatsits Apple’s tucked under the hood: global Verizon iPhone support.

The tipster: my wife. She wants a phone she can take on business trips abroad (like the U.K., or more recently, the Middle East). But the phone has to be all things. It has to work across the pond, but also in her tiny northwest Iowa hometown. Actually out of town a couple miles to where her parents’ farmhouse sits, nestled behind a tower-blocking hill, flush with trees, cows, and a compost pit. Lest you think we’re asking the moon for cheese, Verizon’s had bumper voice and data coverage across the area for years, while—nothing against them otherwise—AT&T offers neither.

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Will Over-the-Air iOS Updates Render iTunes Irrelevant?

Posted by Ed Oswald on May 5, 2011 at 11:55 am

Yesterday, there was news that Mac OS X 10.7 “Lion” may be delivered through the Mac App Store. That may not be the only delivery method for updates that Apple may soon be changing. 9to5Mac reports that Verizon and Apple are working to bring over-the-air updates to iOS 5 after its release this fall.

The site’s sources could not confirm if the Cupertino company was working on a similar deal with AT&T.

Given that Android already does updates in this manner, the basic idea is nothing new. But it does take iTunes further out of the equation, long a necessary evil for iPhone owners (and now, iPadders too). Once updates come over-the-air, there’s almost no reason anymore to sync.

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Verizon’s LTE Network Goes Down For The Count

Posted by Ed Oswald on April 27, 2011 at 8:37 pm

Your “blazing fast” LTE connection with Verizon seem a whole lot less speedy? There was a reason for it — for an as yet undisclosed reason there was some type of failure that affected connections nationwide. The issues were first reported by Engadget’s Vlad Savov early this morning, and were later confirmed by the company in its official Twitter account.

Specifically, users of the company’s recently released Thunderbolt 4G device seemed to have the most issues. Data connectivity wasn’t completely out: instead the phones were connecting at slower 3G speeds, and voice calls were not affected. The issues mark the first time there has been any serious disruptions with Verizon Wireless’ high-speed network.

The issue appears pretty widespread, and there are a significant amount of tweets complaining about issues, as well as posts from customers nationwide to Verizon’s support forums.

Ina Fried over at All Things Digital mentions the ironic timing of the outage: it came just two days after Verizon vice president Nicola Palmer boasted how smoothly the rollout has gone so far. Oops.

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AT&T Is Just Fine in the Verizon iPhone Era, Thank You

Posted by Ed Oswald on April 20, 2011 at 11:17 pm

AT&T reported its quarterly numbers Wednesday morning, and they certainly showed that the iPhone is still a significant driver of growth for the carrier. 3.6 million iPhones were activated during the quarter, and iPhone subscriber churn (customers with the device who left for a competitor) was unchanged from the same period last year.

This is significant for one reason: it was the first quarter that the Verizon iPhone was available. Being able to keep churn flat is quite an accomplishment, considering that so many analysts said that Verizon would siphon customers away from Big Blue.

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