Verizon Wireless Endorses CTIA Consumer Code For Wireless Service

Verizon Wireless today threw its wholehearted endorsement behind the updated CTIA Consumer Code for Wireless Service. Dan Mead, chief operating officer of Verizon Wireless, said, “It’s important for American consumers to have trust in their interactions with their wireless company, and Verizon Wireless works day in and day out to exceed those expectations.”

The updated CTIA Code includes new provisions covering messaging, multimedia and data services for both prepaid and postpaid wireless customers.

Mead added, “Treating customers right is just a start. To win loyalty, Verizon Wireless goes the extra mile – advocating for positive public policies that favor consumer choice and strengthening customer privacy.”

Today, Verizon Wireless complies with and exceeds CTIA’s Consumer Code for Wireless Service, including offering the following to customers:

• Detailed coverage maps at www.verizonwireless.com, including address-level maps for voice and data services and coverage for additional specific features and services
• An extension of the Code’s 14-day trial period for service with its 30-day Worry Free Guarantee®
• Extended business hours for customer service and 24-hour technical support assistance for general inquiries, reporting of lost or stolen devices, and basic troubleshooting
• 24-hour customer access to personal account and service information through My Verizon with self-management options for billing, calling plan and equipment changes, upgrading service, devices and adding features, and managing Friends & Family® and Usage Controls

In the 10 years since it was formed, Verizon Wireless has been the industry leader in creating a great experience and environment for wireless consumers.

In 2006, the company became the first major U.S. wireless company to commit to a national policy to pro-rate Early Termination Fees (ETFs), which progressively reduces the amount customers have to pay if they terminate their contracts before their committed terms expire. Earlier, Verizon Wireless broke with the wireless industry to support wireless local number portability (LNP), recognizing that it should be easy for customers to choose among wireless companies while keeping their phone numbers.

Verizon Wireless also has a long-standing policy of guarding personal customer information that puts it at the forefront of the U.S. wireless industry. In 2004, Verizon Wireless broke from the wireless industry by becoming the first to announce it would protect customer privacy by refusing to participate in a national wireless phone directory.

Verizon Wireless has brought nearly 20 lawsuits against wireless spammers, telemarketers and pretexters, winning permanent injunctions against individuals and companies that have engaged in illegal telemarketing and text message spamming to Verizon Wireless customers and against those who have attempted to obtain information about Verizon Wireless customers to sell to third parties. Verizon Wireless has donated more than $100,000 to domestic violence prevention, law enforcement, and other non-profit organizations as a result of these settlements.

via Verizon Wireless

When AT&T first inked a deal with Apple they had to have known that they were going to take a massive undertaking that would not only grow their business at an immensely rapid pace but also further pad the wallets of everyone involved. Today, the company has posted some Q2 2010 numbers and we are certainly liking what we see.

According to these numbers, AT&T has managed to activate 3.2 million iPhones in a single quarter along with seeing the revenue they are generating from their wireless data grow a healthy 27%. Both of these numbers can most likely be attributed to the fact that the iPhone 4 has just recently hit the scene and the fact that they did away with unlimited data plans – much to the dismay of pretty much every customer under the sun.

I can’t help but wonder, considering AT&T has gotten a terrible reputation for being not exactly the best wireless carrier around, what is going to happen when Apple makes the shift to another carrier with their iPhone? Are these numbers going to drop or is AT&T going to continue chugging along at a healthy pace? I suppose only time can tell.

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As to when these new phones would start pouring in is a big question mark but you can bet it will come pretty soon. The year is practically half over, but you can bet they can release new Android smartphones any time now, something they have already done in the past.

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I’d like to personally thank every single visitor who has come to cellfanatic.com over the past 2 years.  Thanks to your voting Cellfanatic.com won a 2010 Golden Retrevo Award for outstanding achievements in the “Mobile Gadgets” space.  For those that are not familiar with the award, Retrevo is one of the top consumer electronics shopping and review sites in the world, with more than 5 million visitors a month.  As part of the award, we have received an invitation to have Cellfanatic articles regularly promoted across Retrevo’s Network.

Thanks again,
Nick.

Related posts:

1. Vote for Cellfanatic for the Golden Retrevo Awards
2. Verizon Wireless Receives the Readers’ Choice Award for Cell Services by PCMag
3. N97 mini wins GSM ‘Best Mobile Handset’ Award

At this year’s LG Mobile World Cup in New York City Yeong-ho Bae, 18, and Mok-min Ha, 17, of South Korea defeated a host of challengers to become the world texting champions at the LG Mobile World Cup in New York City. The fruits of their labor was a $100K check- not too shabby if you ask me. All contestants texted in their native language using two of LG’s current mobile phones: the LG BL20, which has a numeric keypad, and the LG GW520, which features a QWERTY keyboard. Morgan Dynda and Kate Moore from the United States placed second, winning USD 20,000, and Juan Ignacio Aufranc and Agustina Montegna from Argentina took third place and USD 10,000.

In addition to the main competition, the players attempted to set a new Guinness World Records® record for fastest texting, using the LG enV3 handset on the Verizon Wireless network. Pedro Matias, 27, from Portugal set a new record by typing a 264-character text in just 1 minute 59 seconds, shaving 23 seconds off the previous record set by Finland’s Arttu Harkki in 2005.

[via LG]

At CES 2010 Verizon’s Chief Technology Officer Dick Lynch spoke about the company’s future, specifically he focused on data consumption.  Mr. Lynch made it very clear that the wireless company will be able to handle increasing Internet usage over the new few years by upgrading to the next generation of wireless technology, LTE.  What he also said several times is that Verizon will end up billing differently in the future and he is sticking to his long-held view that the carrier should charge on a metered basis just like water and power companies.  The underlying reason behind his mindset is that current unlimited data plans encourage overuse of the network, albeit by a small number of “bandwidth hogs” who send and receive lots of large files.

Fast forward to last night when BGR was leaked screenshots of the Verizon Wireless 2010 Plan Changes interactive online course.  Verizon will dump their all-inclusive Premium Plan and rename the current Basic plan to Nationwide Talk and the Select Plan to Nationwide Talk & Text.  Additionally a 30% drop in pricing on the unlimited minutes options for each of these plans is also expected – Unlimited Voice Plans will be $69.99/month, with a $89.99 per month option that includes unlimited Voice & Text.  Verizon will be changing their data plans to reflect a new $9.99 data plan with 25MB and mobile email, a $29.99 unlimited plan with mobile email and overage charges for their $9.99 plan are down from 50 cents to 20 cents per MB.  The 3G multimedia phone category has been expanded to include the enV3, Chocolate Touch and others and will not require a data plan of $9.99 or higher.  The online course concluded with details on a new unlimited prepaid plan offering Talk & Text for $94.99 a month.  If you are looking for details on the new Family Plans it looks like $119.99 per month for the first line and $49.99 for each additional line are going to be standard with unlimited text and data options as well.

[via WSJ, BGR]

A screenshot has just been posted on PhoneArena outlining the 2010 Sprint Device Roadmap.  There are plenty of devices listed here so we’ll just rundown the devices that we feel show the most promise.  First up is the HTC A9292, a WiMax candybar phone which will pair nicely with Sprint’s upcoming 3G/4G mobile hotspot. The BlackBerry Tour 2 aka 9650 is listed with rumored WiFi and BlackBerry 5.0 OS along with a Flip version of the BlackBerry Pearl.  One really interesting device is the Motorola MS400 which should be running Windows Mobile, although Motorola confirmed they would not be releasing any Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphones- does this mean it has Windows Mobile 7?  Nextel subscribers will be happy to see the Motorola Opus One, the world’s first iDEN Android smartphone, is listed.  There is also a black version of the Clutch, along with the i680 and i890.  The i680 should be a rugged military-grade phone with 2.0-megapixel camera and flash while the i890 is a bit of a mystery at the moment.

[via PhoneArena]

Today, at its annual Capital Markets Day event, Nokia set key targets and forecasts for the company and its industry for 2010. Senior company executives outlined how Nokia’s focus on execution combined with its core competitive advantages, position the company to achieve and sustain broad-based success in the mobile devices market. At the event, Nokia also demonstrated significant improvements to its forthcoming version of the Symbian user interface.

Nokia CFO, Timo Ihamuotila, described Nokia’s view of the industry and competitive environment: “Going into 2010, the overall mobile devices market is stabilizing and it is growing more in the areas where Nokia has competitive advantages. We believe that by executing on the operational priorities we have set, Nokia will be competitive in both mobile phones and smartphones and will improve its value share.”

Targets and forecasts for Nokia and the mobile device industry
- Nokia expects industry mobile device volumes to be up approximately 10% in 2010, compared to 2009.
- Nokia targets its mobile device volume market share to be flat in 2010, compared to 2009.
- Nokia targets lower average selling price (ASP) erosion of its mobile devices in 2010, compared to recent years.
- Nokia targets to increase its mobile device value market share slightly in 2010, compared to 2009.
- Nokia targets non-IFRS* operating expenses in Devices & Services of approximately EUR 5.7 billion in 2010.
- Nokia targets bringing Devices & Services non-IFRS* research and development expenses below 10% of net sales in 2010.
- Nokia targets Devices & Services non-IFRS* operating margin of 12% to 14% in 2010.
- Nokia continues to target Services net sales of EUR 2 billion or more in 2011.
- Nokia continues to target to have 300 million active users for its services by the end of 2011.

[via Nokia]

We knew that Motorola was looking to end ties with Windows Mobile in favor of Android, but we never expected the following news.  Motorola’s Sanjay Jha has promised that Motorola will produce at least 20 new smartphones running Android in 2010.  For a manufacturer that has fallen from the lime light of mobile market share in the past few years it seems almost impossible that they could produce 10 Android smartphones in 2010, nonetheless 20.   We hope that Motorola delivers on their promise and even if they fall short of 20 devices we won’t hold it against them.  It looks like 2010 is going to be quite the year for Google and Android and we’ll be along for the ride.

[via]