Hasta La Gadget!

Carriers test the waters on new plans all the time, but this new one from Verizon seems — at least at cursory glance — squarely aimed at its CDMA competitor. According to research from Current Analysis, the nation’s top carrier is trying out an unlimited Nationwide Talk & Text plan for $69.99 in San Diego and Los Angeles retail outlets. That’s $20 less than the current price, and coupled with a $29.99 data plan, we’re looking at a monthly fee that’s within pennies of Sprint’s Simply Everything plan. As with other network trials, this one may never expand beyond certain test markets — but needless to say, this seems to indicate Verizon’s taking its smaller CDMA rival a whole lot more seriously. Amazing what a quarter of positive subscriber growth can do, isn’t it?

Verizon testing a $99 unlimited plan that simply matches Sprint’s famous offering originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Network neutrality is the battle to keep companies from filtering your access to whatever you want on those great, united internets. But, as we explored in depth last week, Google and Verizon think they should only have to play nice when it comes to wired broadband — that wireless should be exempt from neutrality-related FCC regulation. The FCC wasn’t too pleased with that sentiment, but we found someone who is: AT&T VP Joan Marsh, who posted a lengthy statement entitled: “Wireless is Different.” In it she continues the theme of explaining how meeting demand on a wireless network is much more difficult than on wired, even going so far as to place some of the blame on local communities:

We are constantly striving to increase the efficiency of our spectrum resources, but the amount of available spectrum in any given market is finite. And while we regularly split cell sectors and add additional cell towers, there are very real limits placed on cell site construction by zoning and local approval boards.

This is surely a real problem, but what we haven’t heard yet is just how letting companies like Verizon and AT&T create premium tiers for wireless content will do anything other than allow them to make more money while still complaining about the same ‘ol problems.

Meanwhile, a company that has virtually no skin in the wireless game, Time Warner Cable, isn’t so keen on this stance regarding traditional, wired broadband. CEO Glenn Britt says his company would never throttle content in a way that would violate net neutrality, but still doesn’t want more rules put in place that would prevent them from doing so. Funny how everyone likes net neutrality until it threatens to cramp their style, isn’t it?

AT&T likes Google & Verizon’s wired-only net neutrality stance, Time Warner Cable doesn’t originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 08:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If the rumors of an August 18th Android 2.2 update prove true, we’d say Verizon Wireless couldn’t have picked a better time to get HTC’s Droid Incredible back in stock. ‘Course, we suspect you’ll think differently if you’ve been waiting for your backorder to clear over the past few weeks, but we digress. As of this moment in time, the handset — which has been tough to get thanks to AMOLED shortages — is in stock and shipping as early as today, with an unchanged $199.99-on-contract price tag. Better hurry if you’re looking to buy — who knows when those panels will hit yet another production snag.

HTC Droid Incredible finally returns to stock, not a moment too soon originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Droid’s slated for a second helping of Froyo, the Droid 2 came with one, the Droid X will see Android 2.2 by early September — when’s Droid number four getting its due? According to Mashable‘s anonymous sources, August 18th will be the day Verizon begins the Droid Incredible’s OTA rollout — which lines up pretty well with what we heard a couple weeks back, not to mention the fact that HTC just released the handset’s Android 2.2 source code. As always, dates slip and Verizon often dishes out small batches at a time, but now you’ve got a ballpark estimate to assuage your troubled mind. And hey, you can always go shoot something in 720p if you get tired of waiting.

Droid Incredible getting a spoonful of Froyo on August 18th? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 Aug 2010 23:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve already heard how Verizon expects to hit the ground running on LTE, starting this November with a launch in 30 markets — New York, LA, Philadelphia, and so forth. Now it looks like you can add San Francisco to that aggressive list, if Boy Genius Report’s leak proves true. Will it beat WiMAX to the region? Your move, Sprint.

San Francisco in Verizon’s initial 30-market LTE rollout? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 21:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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