Verizon Wireless Agrees to Roll out Update to Brick Samsung’s Galaxy Note7

Verizon Wireless seems to be changing its tunes very soon. The cellular service provider has decided to issue a software update. This software update will affect its remaining customers using the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phones.

What is actually cooking?

Samsung had issued a worldwide Note7 recall during the month of September 2016 because of battery issues. The compact body of the Note7 was causing some of those smartphones to catch fire in many parts of the world. An overheating problem was also identified. The company somehow came up with some solutions to the problem but, those solutions did not work at all. Samsung even tried to solve the problem by giving replacement units to the customers who returned their phones to the company. But even the replacement units had their own problems. This forced Samsung to issue a second global recall of the Note7 and permanently stop its production. Almost 93% of Samsung Galaxy Note7 owners returned their phones to Samsung and to their respective cellular phone service providers.

Samsung officially announced its plan about issuing an update for the rest of the 7% of the Galaxy Note7 owners. The company took this step with the objective of ensuring that the remaining 7% of the Galaxy Note7 owners turn their phones in. This specific update prevents the phone from charging and functioning as a mobile device.

Verizon Wireless Initially Refused to Issue This Update:

The largest cellular phone service provider in United States had initially refused to issue this update for its customers using the Samsung Galaxy Note7 phone because it will be a huge inconvenience for those that chose not to switch to some other phone. 

Verizon Wireless has Delayed This Update

However, Verizon Wireless Cell Phone Service users will not get this update because the company has delayed it. The company wants its customers using the Samsung Galaxy Note7 phone to be able to stay connected to their personal and professional contacts, first responders and all sorts of medical emergencies during the holiday travel season. This news has been confirmed by the largest cellular phone service provider in United States on its Note7 Recall website. Verizon Wireless customers having Samsung Galaxy Note7 will get this update either on 5th January 2017 or a little later.

What about the Rest of the Carriers in US?

Other leading cellular phone service providers in United States such as AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, are also pushing this specific software update from Samsung for their customers having the Note7 phone. T-Mobile cell Phone Service users may get this update on December 27, 2016. Talking about AT&T cellular phone service subscribers, they will get this update on 5th January 2017 whereas Sprint will push out this new software updates for its customers on 8th January 2017.

Final Words:

It looks like Verizon Wireless cell phone service users must gear themselves up for returning their expensive Samsung Galaxy Note7 smartphones to their carrier. Verizon Wireless is already going through a topsy-turvy time in the wireless sector and this update from Samsung has suddenly come like a bolt from the blue for the company. Nothing can be said about the impact of Verizon Wireless’s decision to provide this update to its customers. Only the time will tell. Keep coming back here as we will keep on updating you in this regard.

Meet T-Mobile’s ‘Called Digits’ Technology to Share a Single Phone Number Across Multiple Devices

Cell phone carriers in the United States are doing every possible thing within or even beyond their reach to seek new growth in the wireless sector. Companies like Sprint, Verizon Wireless and AT&T are introducing less expensive plans and many more services. T-Mobile has gone a step beyond anyone’s imagination in this regard.

T-Mobile Develops Called Digits:

The company has successfully developed and designed a new technology. T-Mobile has named this technology “Called Digits”. Gone are the days when an incoming phone call meant that only one cell phone will ring. Now all of your electronics will ring at an incoming phone call.  In simple words, if someone calls you then your computer, cellphone, landline phone, laptops, tablets and even your ears will ring. But that’s just if you want them to ring.

Calls for Cell phone Service Users on Any Devices Regardless of the Operating System:

This technology is very powerful and allows customers to use a single phone number across multiple devices. Moreover, customers don’t have to worry about the type of operating system.

Called Digits is Useful in the Reverse:

This powerful technology also allows cell phone service users to carry multiple phone numbers to relieve them of the need to have separate professional and personal cell phones.

This is to Be Totally Different from Other Carriers:

Mike Sievert (Chief Operating Officer at T-Mobile) and Neville Ray (Chief Technical Officer at T-Mobile) talked about this amazing technology through a magenta heavy video of almost 15 minutes. This is a very new kind of technology for gaining competitive a advantage over carriers like Verizon Wireless and AT&T for growing their customer base. The company has successfully added over 2 million customers during the third quarter.

It will be a Replacement to Existing Similar Products:

T-Mobile’s technical team burnt the midnight oil for two years to come up with this unique technology, says Ray. This technology will also serve cell phone service users across the United States as the perfect replacement to similar products like Google Voice and Number Sync of AT&T. This technology is capable of working on any device regardless of the cell phone service provider. Even customers of AT&T and Verizon Wireless can use the Called Digits application.

It is in the Testing Phase:

The company is testing the technology with a small number of cellular phone service users. The company has not spoken much about its price. However, this technology will surely be available for the public in 2017.

Called Digits will be an Advantage for Sales Teams:

Sales teams within businesses are likely to be a potential group of customers of this technology. With Called Digits technology, an incoming call will ring a number of members of a team. Therefore, the phone number registered must be tied to a cellular phone service user instead of a device. According to T-Mobile, Called Digits is an identity management platform which is connected to the login of every cellular phone service user. 

Free Cell Phone Service in Illinois

Final Words:

T-Mobile easily surpassed the cut-throat competition posed by Sprint. Moreover, the lengthy video of T-Mobile did not convey anything in this regard. T-Mobile shot to the headlines as a top 3 carrier as the Trump Administration may possibly favor deregulation and pave a way for a T-Mobile and Sprint merger. Moreover, it is too early to say anything about the success and failure of Called Digits as it is yet to be launched. Only time will tell next year.

FCC Reprimands AT&T and Verizon Wireless for Exempting Their Own Video Applications from Data Caps

AT&T and Verizon Wireless are already facing tough market competition from T-Mobile and other industrial competitors. The time seems to be getting tough for both the companies. Regulators in the United States are reprimanding both AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

What is the Story?

Verizon Wireless and AT&T have decided to exempt their own video applications from data caps of their cell phone service users. This is certainly not going to affect the way carriers conduct their operations. Howbeit, agency leaders appointed by Mr. Donald Trump, the President in waiting, are likely to monitor such practices strictly and very closely.

FCC Warned AT&T and Verizon Wireless:

The Federal Communications Commissions warned both of the carriers via letters in this regard on Saturday about the way they conduct and handle the increasingly popular practice known as “Zero Rating”. The FCC is concerned that it will seriously hurt industry competition and many cell phone service subscribers severely. AT&T had been dispatched a warning during the month of November of 2016. In a letter drafted to AT&T on Thursday, the FCC openly said that AT&T’s response did not provide any solution to the concern raised.

FCC’s Concern:

There are a number of other services like Hulu and Netflix that can pay Verizon Wireless and AT&T. This will make sure the customers are able to make use of those applications without any consumption of cell phone data. In accordance with the FCC, this is definitely going to make competition harder and more expensive for internet service providers. In simple words, internet service providers active in the market will surely find it very hard to compete with Video services owned by the carriers. This is likely to be harmful for the market of streaming services.

For Instance:

The FCC estimates that video service providers will be forced to pay the amount of $16 to AT&T on a monthly basis for a cellular phone service user streaming videos for about 10 minutes a day and that is without the consumption of any data. It could even go up to the amount of $47 a month for a user streaming videos for about a half-an-hour a day.

It will become very difficult for rivals to compete in terms of price with the new online TV application Launched by AT&T. This TV app of AT&T is known as DirectTV Now. Customers using this service have to pay the minimum amount of $35 to AT&T. Competing video service providers will have to zero their rates. If they don’t, they will surely face a lot of disadvantage.

Verizon Wireless allows its cellular phone service users to use its go90 video application without any consumption of their cell phone data.

AT&T’s Reply:

Exemption of applications such as DirectTV Now from data caps helps customers save their money. Therefore, the FCC should not try to put a stop to it.

Verizon Wireless Said…

Its practices are beneficial for cellular phone service users. Moreover, the practices are also fully in compliance with regulations.

Final Words:

This warning has come during the final days of Barrack Obama’s administration. Now Mr. Donald Trump, the president Elect, may roll back or enforce such measures with considerable leniency. The FCC still has not been able to determine whether the zero rating practices adopted/conducted by both of these carriers are a problem or not. Both Verizon Wireless and AT&T could appeal.

Rush to T-Mobile Stores for Mouth-Watering Black Friday Deals 2016

The festive season has started in the US with Black Friday on November 25, 2016. This is why T-Mobile, one of the major cellular phone service providers in the United States, is all set to feed on your hefty wallet with mouth-watering deals. T-Mobile Black Friday deals have been up and running since Thanksgiving Day on November 24, 2016.

Don’t Worry!

Are you late on grabbing these deals? It happens to most of the late comers, at least to the best of our knowledge. However, it’s still not too late. Rush to a T-Mobile store and grab any one of the following deals before the time runs out.

Black Friday Deals by T-Mobile for its Customers

Sync Drive Deal: The Company has branded this deal as the easiest way to monitor cars, safe driving and connection to Wi-Fi while you are travelling. If you are a T-Mobile cellular phone service subscriber then you can get this for free for a limited time. However, you must have a 2 year financing agreement and an eligible data plan for this service.

Google Pixel Deal:

The company has been doing its best to inspire you to bring your Google pixel phones to its stores. The company is making the deal mouthwatering with a $325 discount through a two year monthly bill credit after joining a T-Mobile One Unlimited plan. It is your chance to get everything unlimited at the cost of $70 on first line. T-Mobile cell phone service users can also get all this at the cost of $50 on the second line and $20 on third line.

Deal of $100 off on Samsung Galaxy On5:

Rush to your nearest T-Mobile Store immediately to get $100 off on a Samsung Galaxy On5 smartphone. This is one of the best holiday deals of the year by T-Mobile for its cell phone service subscribers. 

$200 for Every Line You Bring to The Un-Carrier through a Trade-in:

The list of deals does not end here. The company is also offering the deal of $200 for every line brought to the Un-carrier via trade-in. It means that cell phone service users bringing their line to T-Mobile will get a $200 prepaid MasterCard. More importantly, you are not going to be capped unless you hit the amount of $2400.

Earlier, T-Mobile was offering a lot more deals. These mouthwatering deals were for those using one of the following three phones:

•    Apple iPhone  7 32GB
•    Samsung Galaxy S7 32GB
•    LG V20 64GB

However, the company has now discontinued this deal.

Summary of the News:

Be on your toes post turkey and rush to your nearest T-Mobile store to get the leftover black Friday deals. Coming to the point, the company has launched these deals for better revenue and to grow its subscriber base. These are very attractive deals. Let’s see how many customers ditch their carriers and join T-Mobile in order to get these deals.

AT&T and Verizon Wireless Agree on the Deployment of Initial 5G Models; Standards Timing Becomes an Issue

It looks as if both AT&T and Verizon Wireless are getting on the same page about the initial 5G deployment models. Last week, representatives from both companies discussed this thoroughly during the 5G North America event. The Event kicked off with a keynote address and panel discussion specifically directed towards 5G’s current state.

Detail of the Event’s Key Highlights

Talking about 5G deployments, they were mainly expected to center on the fixed use of broadband. It was mainly noted during the early panel discussion conducted on topic. Its main purpose is to help carriers make use of technical specifications for powering technically superior equipment capable of supporting both higher speed of data and greater capacity for the government cellphone plans and the rest of the users.
 

Representatives from both companies welcomed this agreement. They openly spoke their mind in this regard.

Mr. Brian Daly Says…

According to Mr. Brian Daly, the director of core government and regulatory standards at AT&T, the company was waiting for such a fantastic opportunity to get some command on consistently increasing demand for video streaming services. Taking video support into consideration, it was perhaps one of the big use cases that all of us see. Moreover, the company was thinking about taking advantage of its diverse portfolio of fixed, mobile and satellite assets for meeting the demands of government cellphone plan users.

Mr. Alexander Khalin Says…

According to Mr. Alexander Khalin, the Director of Corporate Strategy at Verizon Wireless, the company agreed on initial development plans about all sorts of fixed wireless broadband services.

Twist in the Tale:

Recently, there has been a controversy between the companies about the move towards 5G standards and, the perceived difference of opinions in terms of timing for those standards is mainly responsible.

AT&T Asked for Some Extra Time:

According to some reports, AT&T has led a group at a recently conducted standards meeting for securing some form of 5G standards booked by the end of 2017. It is way ahead of the initial timeline finalized for the third-generation partnership projects of mid-2018. AT&T explained this move as the company requires some extra time for testing some standards to get ready for further testing and commercial deployments by mid-2018 for government cellphone service and other users.

Verizon Wants to Keep the Schedule as is:

The company seems to have its eyes set on promoting its own 5G agenda related to plans for network trials starting in 2017. This is why the company has come up with a counter proposal stating it would like to keep the schedule totally unchanged. Mr. Khalin did not comment on this week’s event.         

AT&T’s Explanation            

The company was waiting for an opportunity to get some form of standard committed between the time period of December 2017 and March 2018. It could possibly be for a non-standalone radio specification to help inform silicon vendors as they get ready for the development of chipsets early to support network trials. AT&T mentioned this effort under the guise of a carrier waiting for an opportunity to ensure “Learnings” from all of the existing and thought-out trials for 5G networks that could possibly be driven into a kind of standards process.

Summary of the Story:

If everything goes right, then the government cellphone service subscribers of both the companies would benefit. However, fortunes don’t seem to be supporting both the companies in this regard. It is turning out to be full of controversy between the two largest cell phone service providers in the US. It will be very interesting to see which way the decisions go.

AT&T And Verizon Communications Plan to Get Back to the Top with Three Things

AT&T and Verizon Communications are soon likely to join hands to extend their reach to new consumers for new growth. This seems to be a tough call taken by the two free government cell phones service providers. Most of the business analysts in the global telecom industry are biting their nails to see if this alliance can survive the fierce market competition from T-mobile US or not.

Both of the telecom giants focused on investing on their network and additional spectrum. This allowed AT&T and Verizon Communications to generate a huge amount of profit in operating cash flow to secure enough funds to pay a generous dividend and reduce debt to ensure free government cellphone service. Verizon Communications had invested $7.7 billion and generated the amount of $12.8 billion whereas AT&T capital expenditure of $10.6 billion ensured the recovery of $18.2 billion in operating cash.

This is certainly helping both of the free cellular phone service providers survive fierce market competition from T-Mobile. A number of other factors mentioned below are also equally responsible:

•    Wise investments
•    Efforts to seek regulatory approval for Acquiring XO Communications
•    Digesting

Let’s see how these factors bring the both of the free cellular service providers close for extending their reach to new customers for new growth.

1.    Wise investments:
AT&T has recently taken over DirectTV as a parent company whereas Verizon Communications has acquired Yahoo INC and Fleetmatics. Now both of the companies are working out a plan to roll out 5G wireless network across the nation in 2017. The alliance of these two free cellular service providers and their financial investments for acquiring companies like Yahoo INC, Fleetmatics, and DirectTV is a strategic move to increase their capital expenditures so as not to lag behind in the race for the best coverage and quality of network.

2.    Efforts to seek regulatory approval for Acquiring Xo Communications:
Verizon Communications has been trying to seek regulatory approval for acquiring XO Communications at the cost of $1.8 billion for 20000 fiber optic miles in 40 major markets connecting almost 85 cities in the United States. This has certainly forced all of the rivals to do some serious thinking. The company is planning to complete the entire acquisition process of XO Communications before 30th June 2017 whereas Fleetmatics will be acquired fully by the end of 2016. As for the Yahoo acquisition, the whole process should be a cakewalk for Verizon Communications.

On the other hand, AT&T plans to complete the entire acquisition process of DirectTV at the earliest for securing cross selling opportunities.

Check your Lifetime Qualification for Free Government Cell Phone Plans

3.    Digesting:Both AT&T and Verizon Communications have always been strong on strategic front. Their efforts to complete their entire acquisition plans well within the time reflects exactly that. It is very easy for both of the free cellular service providers to complete the accusation process without any financial hiccups. Most importantly, future earnings of these two free government cellphone service provider will not get affected at any cost to stay on top of the market through constant innovations.

Now it is just a matter of time when AT&T and Verizon Communications get back at the top of the telecom market to consolidate their position. 

Analysis of Yahoo INC., AOL and Fleetmatics's Acquisition by Verizon Communications - Its Business Growth in the Wireless Service Sector

The period from 2006 to 2015 can easily be called a golden period in the history of Verizon Communications. The company witnessed the compounded growth of at least 4% on a yearly basis in its revenue on the New York Stock Exchange. This golden period for Verizon has contributed to sales of almost $88 billion in the government assisted cellphone sector. 

Verizon’s wireless service subscribers increased at a rate of 9% every year from 2006 to 2015. In simple words, the company’s consumer pool grew from 59.1 million subscribers in 2006 to almost 140 million subscribers in 2015. Coming to the revenue, it grew at a pace of 9.2% every year.

To be honest, it is not so easy to continue consistent growth in the wireless business sector. There are not many subscribers available in the market for the company to switch subscribers from their current government assisted cellphone service providers to Verizon’s free cellphone plans.

This is perhaps why the company is facing a snail’s pace growth going forward in the wireless sector. And this just seems to be the icing on the cake. There could more serious reasons responsible for leading the company towards potential financial disaster in the times to come. Let’s now go through those reasons and analyze Verizon’s financial future in the government assisted cellphone sector.

The company lacked patience for seeking new growth in wireless advertising and IoT (Internet of Things) considerably. Rapid acquisitions by Verizon Communications cannot be ignored. How? See below:

• AOL’s acquisition at a cost of $4.4 billion in the month July 2015.
• The company took no time in buying a privately held company named Telesis at the start of 2016.
• Recently the company has paid almost $2.4 billion for taking over Fleetmatics.
• The biggest announcement came when Verizon Communication announced the acquisition of Yahoo INC, one of the largest e-mail service provider in the world, at a cost of $4.8 billion.
• Increasing market impact of new business has also played an important role.

 Most experts, including the entire management of Verizon Communications, are very positive about finding new business growth, especially in the domain of government assisted cellphone and free cellphone plans including the Internet of Things.  

Order Free Cell Phone Service

Verizon communication’s acquisition of AOL and Yahoo INC indicates that free cellphone plans had been setup for ripping through the internet and all forms of media in future. The combined acquisition of Yahoo INC and AOL is a golden opportunity for new growth in the wireless sector via more than 600 million mobile users and almost 280 million e-mail users.

Most importantly, Verizon’s revenue will increase to help the company increase its market share up to 10%. In this way, the company will only be behind Facebook with 30% and Google with 16% market share.  These Acquisitions must help Verizon’s advertisement business on wireless devices through free cellphone plans without much problems.

T-Mobile Recorded 890K Postpaid Subscriber Additions in Recent Quarter

T-Mobile lead other carriers by adding a considerable number of post-paid customers in the latest quarter.

The post-paid customer additions did not reach the standards set in last year’s quarter, but the customer increase is way ahead of the combined number of AT&T, Sprint and Verizon additions. Not only this, there is a remarkable growth in prepaid customers as well. The company’s post-paid phone additions correlates with Wall Street estimates and the total revenue as well as service escalated annually.

Jennifer Fritzsche, analyst at Wells Fargo said the numbers are “solid” and stressed over the significance of free cash flow in near future for the company. T-Mobile is also a provider of government cell phone service or government assisted cell phone plans.

Fritzsche commented "While gross adds for the industry were slow overall (and growth driven more by lower churn), TMUS lead the industry by a wide margin in handset adds,"  "The Free Cash flow metric is becoming increasingly meaningful for TMUS and (depending on the auction spending) is a metric which should see a significant ramp in 2017. Free cash flow expectations for the remainder of 2016 should largely depend on the amount of working capital outflows from handset purchases and its spend in the upcoming broadcast auction." 

Book your Free Government Cell Phone in Iowa

The company gained 890,000 net post-paid customers, including 646,000 post-paid phone adds in the second quarter. T-Mobile's latest quarter revenues surged 12 percent year over year to $6.9 billion and the total revenues mounted 13 percent year-over-year to $9.2 billion.

As a result of another successful quarter due to continued strong customer growth and improved revenues, the company’s shares rose slightly. The carrier also provides services for the Lifeline program which is known as government cell phone service.

Moffett said "For the record, we've never thought T-Mobile would be acquired. But more importantly, we've never though that one need to think it would be in order to want to own the stock," "T-Mobile's remarkable growth rate -- service revenues were up 12.1 percent from a year in today's report in a market that is down year-over-year -- and free cash flow trajectory make the case without one having to believe it will be acquired."

Sprint Beats Expectations by Adding a Significant Bulk of Subscribers

The fourth largest telecom giant in the nation rose above expectations with a net gain of 173,000 postpaid subscribers in the second quarter of the year, which also includes several government cell phone plans. With the aid of heavy discounts and free cell phone services, the company managed to attract more subscribers for any first quarter in the past nine years. In contrast to a pervious net loss of 12,000 customers last year at this time, the company seems to be on cloud nine with the significant addition this quarter which ended June 30.

The company also faced a lower postpaid phone churn of 1.39 percent in the second quarter which is an improved churn over the last five quarters. Another achievement was that it’s postpaid base is net positive against the other three rivals. For the first time in the more than 5 years it has gained more subscribers from each of the rivals than it lost.

Though the company reported a considerable number of customer gains with certain plans including government cell phone plans, these came at a good cost. The loss figures soared to $302M, which is much larger than its $20M loss last year for the same period. Not only this, the wireless revenue topped at $6.1 billion rather than expected $6.2 billion expected by those at Wells Fargo Securities.

CEO Marcelo Claure shared "We had another quarter of solid progress in our turnaround, with the highest first-quarter postpaid phone net additions in nine years, the lowest postpaid phone churn in company history, and finally being postpaid net port positive against all three national carriers after five years," "We also grew wireless net operating revenue year-over-year while aggressively reducing the cash operating expenses of the business and our network is performing better than ever."

The contract termination charges totaled $113M, mostly related to a deal with Ntelos. The net operating revenue dropped to $8.01 billion, against $7.98 billion predicted by the analysts at Thomson Reuters. 

Order your Free Cell Phone Now

With a close at $4.62, the telecom company’s shares rose 27.6% since the beginning of the year.

Though the company has won postpaid customers in the country, but the analysts show doubt about how it is going to improve its network without increasing the capital expenditure.

Sprint and T-Mobile Swoop Down on Price Hike by Verizon

Verizon ups the charges for its monthly plans as well as the amount of data offered in these plans, to which the competitors, namely T-Mobile and Sprint were quick to react.

The United States' largest carrier hikes its monthly service by $5 to $10 monthly along with adding supplementary data in each of these plans. Some additional features were also introduced such as "Safety Mode" feature that lets users stay connected even if they reach their monthly allocations, while decreasing speed to 128 Kbps and enabling users to keep unused data from the last month.

But several offers were already sailed out by its competitors, to which the competitors pounced upon quickly. John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile tweeted that his company has introduced a data rollover feature through its Data Stash offering long before.

He tweeted "If you're going to copy #DataStash, why copy @att's sad version of it?" "A copy of a copy = a terrible @verizon version of @TMobile #DataStash."

Marcelo Claure, Sprint CEO also mentioned "GREAT strategy @Verizon," "Step 1: Raise prices. Step 2: Tell them you aren't raising prices. Step 3: Tell them to be thankful. #SwitchtoSprint."

While this seems to be a price hike, some analysts noted that the company actually dropped the prices in terms of cost per gigabyte of data. And the move is looked at as an effort to better monetize its users. For instance, "Safety Mode" charges $5 per month for customers who are not currently on the company’s two costliest data plans. 

Read more: Free Cell Phone Lifeline Program

As per a research note written by Wells Fargo Securities analysts "While Verizon continues to lead the industry in network performance (as shown from numerous third-party studies), in some ways a case could be made with these new plans and offerings Verizon is acting more 'me too' to meet some of the perks which Verizon's competitors are already offering." "While an increase in the monthly recurring charge is a positive for ARPU – with things like Data Rollover and Safety Mode offered – there are more opportunities for customers to be smarter with their data usage and limit the upsell capability of this ARPU."