Share your experiences with TV, Internet, and phone bundles

We’d like your help as we prepare our annual report, on bundled telecom services—those packages of television, Internet and telephone service sold by cable, phone, and satellite-TV companies.

Specifically, we’d like to know your experiences with, and some details about, your home telecom service. We’ve prepared a questionnaire that asks about how you get these services, whether they're bundled, and how easy or hard it was to sign up for them. The 20 questions—any or all of which you can answer—include queries about how you selected providers and whether you negotiated with them over prices.

Begin the quiz by clicking here. After you’re done, you’ll be taken to the results page, where you’ll get an early look at what other readers have reported.

Verizon's sky-high ETF: Do the math

Bloggers have speculated that Verizon's fat new $350 fee for breaking its smart phone contracts is intended to thwart phone flipping, a scheme in which you take the two-for-one deal, quit the contract on the second phone, then sell the handset on eBay at a profit, even after you pay the old $175 early termination fee (or "ETF").

Verizon didn't directly answer when we put that theory for the $350 ETF to them. "Our general reasoning is that it reflects the higher cost associated with the phone," said Tom Pica, a Verizon spokesman.

That suggests Verizon is giving customers bigger savings in the form of a bigger subsidy for those devices out of its own pocket, right?

Wrong.

In China, an iPhone will run you $730 (Wi-Fi not included)

And you thought your cell plan was expensive. The iPhone, released last week in China, will cost upwards of $730 per unit, reports the Wall Street Journal. Oh, and that doesn’t include Wi-Fi. Unsurprisingly, the Chinese aren't exactly fighting tooth and nail to get their hands on one.

From the WSJ:

“Hundreds of people braved cold and rain to attend a Friday night party thrown by China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd., the state-owned carrier selling the iPhone, at a Beijing shopping center. Still, the crowd seemed subdued compared with the thousands who turned up at stores when the iPhone was introduced in markets such as the U.S. and Japan, where it quickly sold out in many locations. As of Sunday night, stores around Beijing still had the iPhone in stock.

“Apple and Unicom charge $730 to $1,020 for the iPhone, not including discounts on service, making it more expensive than gray-market iPhones in China and legitimate iPhones in many other markets. And an important feature, Wi-Fi Internet service, has been disabled on Unicom's iPhones to comply with Chinese government rules."

Beware of 'phishy' text messages on your cell phone

This is the text message some spammer/phisher sent to my cell phone today. Has anyone else gotten one of these SMS messages? (Click to enlarge.)
[PHOTO: P. Eng, Consumer Reports]

I almost fell for a rather clever phishing message sent to my cell phone, not my computer's e-mail inbox. A text message from "Unknown" popped up on my cell phone, warning me that my "Card" with Chase had been deactivated. To reactivate it, all I had to do was call the toll-free number listed in the message. (See image at right.)

Because I have several accounts with Chase—and I do take advantage of "Chase Mobile Banking"—I nearly pressed the "Call" button to reactivate my card.

But on closer look, I realized this was a scam. Here's what tipped me off:

• The "Unknown" sender. All the previous official alerts from Chase to my cell phone were clearly identified by a specific ID number clearly linked to "Chase" in my phone's address book.
• The "Card starting with..." text. Most banks use "Your account ending with..." not, "starting with."
• The improper capitalization. "...has been Deactivated."
• The incorrect account number. I don't have any Chase accounts starting with 511182.

Thankfully, I didn’t press the "Call" button on my cell phone. But I did phone Chase's official customer service line (1-800-436-7927) and was quickly connected with the Chase bank's online fraud and security center. The Chase representative told me the bank is aware of these phishing text messages, but the version of the phish they had on record had a different toll-free number. They noted the details of the phishing message I received and said they'd monitor my Chase accounts for any suspicious activity since this appeared to be a "new type of fraudulent e-mail."

Verizon's first Droid ad goes on the iPhone attack

Click for the the Droid promo site (with ad).

Verizon has begun running a hard-hitting ad aimed at building excitement for its first phone powered by Google's Android-operating system. Dubbed the Droid, the phone, which until recently went by the code name "Sholes," is expected in early November. It joins other Android-powered phones already on the market, including T-Mobile's G1 and myTouch, HTC's Hero on the Sprint network, and the Motorola Cliq, which debuts this Friday.

The ad, which first appeared on network TV over the weekend promotes the Droid mostly by assaulting the iPhone, the Apple smart phone.Over happy pop music and rapid-fire images, apparently to emulate Apple's own advertisements, the ad highlights the iPhone's limitations, including these:

• The lack of a physical keyboard
• An inability to run simultaneous applications
• The absence of a 5-megapixel camera
• It's hard to personalize
• Its batteries are not replaceable by the user

The happy music ends abruptly, and the ad shifts to emulating a futuristic broadcast alerting the masses that a new mobile challenger will arrive in November. Viewers are directed to DroidDoes.com, a Verizon site that brags that the Droid possesses the missing iPhone features. It also highlights the new 2.0 version of the Android operating system, which succeeds the existing 1.5 version.

Some people who’ve handled the device say the Droid is the most sophisticated mobile device to hit the market to date from a hardware standpoint. When you combine that with the Verizon network, a consistent leader in our cell-phone service Ratings, available to subscribers, you’ve got a promising challenger to the iPhone.

Extra Extra: Consumer Reports Electronics Buying Guide is on sale

(Click to enlarge.)

It may be a tad early to start your holiday shopping, but there’s a good chance you’ve at least been thinking about it. Maybe you’ve had a big-ticket gift—like a new TV or home theater—in mind for a while now, but are putting off the purchase till November or December. If it’s sales you’re waiting for, you probably know what you want and how much you’re willing to pay. On the other hand, you might just a teeny bit leery of throwing so much cash at something you know very little about. Which is better: a plasma or LCD TV? Should you upgrade to a Blu-ray player or stick with standard-def DVDs?

If you find yourself in need of expert advice, consider the newest edition of the Consumer Reports Electronics Buying Guide. Inside you’ll find a wealth of information on everything from televisions and computers to smart phones, GPS units, and much more. For each product, the Consumer Reports editors walk you through the basics, explaining what’s available, which features matter, brand profiles, and offering tried-and-true shopping tips.

In addition to product information, the guide offers advice on how to shop smarter, including:

• Netting the best deals online, and protecting yourself when you shop on the Web


• When to repair and when to replace a broken item


• How to haggle effectively


• Finding the best electronics retailer based on our comprehensive annual survey


• How to save—and what to be wary of—with refurbished or open-box products on store shelves


• Where to get free office software, free computer security programs, and more useful freeware

Samsung adds Blockbuster, Amazon on-demand video services

Samsung Series 7 7000 LED-backlit LCD TV. (Click to enlarge.)
[ PHOTO: Courtesy of Samsung ]

Tired of playing wallflower while other TV brands did the streaming-movie tango, Samsung today hit the dance floor with deals with both Blockbuster and Amazon to bring their respective on-demand movie services to select Samsung TVs, and in the case of Blockbuster, Blu-ray players and home-theater-in-a-box systems (HTIBs).

We've been waiting several months for Blockbuster On Demand, the video giant's streaming movie service, to appear on Samsung TVs, but weren't aware the service would be rolled out to other Internet-enabled devices. The deal with Amazon was also a surprise, as the company offers Netflix's instant-movie service on some Blu-ray players.

The Blockbuster On Demand service, which requires a firmware update, will be available on all Internet-enabled Series 650 and above LCD and plasma TVs, plus Series 7000 and above LCD models with LED backlights. In addition to the TVs, the service can be added to three Samsung Blu-ray players—models BD-P1600, BD-P3600 and BD-P4600—and Samsung’s HT-BD1250, HT-BD3252, HT-BD7200 and HT-BD8200 HTIB systems.

T-Mobile Sidekicks lose data, with lessons for phone carriers and users

Phones need to make it relatively easy to back up the data they carry, preferably locally to your computer, and cell phone owners should take advantage of those methods.

Those are among the lessons of the past weekend's T-Mobile sidekick incident, in which Microsoft irreparably wiped out the contacts, call history, and other data for an specified number of Sidekick owners.

Yesterday, T-Mobile said that Microsoft—whose operating system, with the now-ironic name of "Danger," developed a glitch that caused the mishap—was still working to retrieve data from affected Sidekicks. Meanwhile, sales of the popular smart phone have seemingly been halted. (T-Mobile's Web site was this morning listing Sidekick models as "temporarily out of stock.") T-Mobile also said those whose data proved irretrievable would receive a $100 gift certificate to apply against their monthly service charges or any other T-Mobile expense.

The company has also posted tips on how at least some Sidekick owners might be able to recover some of their data, even as the T-Mobile/Microsoft data-recovery efforts continue. The tips include ways you might be able to retrieve old messages containing contacts or obtain contact information that was sent via vCards, electronics business cards that are sometimes attached to e-mails.

T-Mobile has also warned Sidekick owners not to allow their phone to lose power as Microsoft struggles to retrieve data.

Movie streaming: Vudu can do HD

A comparison of HDX (left) and SD (right) streaming video quality, provided by Vudu, for the movie "Chronicles of Riddick." One might argue the quality of the picture exceeds the quality of the film. (Click to enlarge.)
[ PHOTO: Courtesy of Vudu ]

We recently had a chance to try out some of the newer streaming movies services that are available to owners of newer Internet-enabled TVs (as well as some Blu-ray players). What we've found, as we did several month ago when we tested a number of standalone streaming players supporting services such as Blockbuster OnDemand, Netflix and Amazon Video On Demand, is that all of the services are capable of sending decent-looking, DVD-quality video streams. However, none lived up their their HD billing.

The sole exception was Vudu's HDX-format video. When we tested it previously, it did look like real HD but was available only as a download, which could take several hours to process before it was stored on the playback device's internal hard drive. More recently, however, HDX video has become available as a stream on TVs from LG and Mitsubishi, as well as on LG's BD390 Blu-ray player. So naturally we were curious to see if the streaming version of HDX could match the picture quality we saw as a download.

Much to our—well, at least my—surprise, our preliminary tests showed the Vudu HDX movie streams continue to be head-and-shoulders above the other streaming offerings in terms of picture quality. They also include the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtracks that were available on the downloads. During our preliminary testing of streaming HDX, performed on LG's 60-inch 60PS80 plasma TV, the HDX version of "Lord of War" started up quickly, and image quality was impressive. We were able to pause, rewind, and fast-forward with no buffering delays, just as you do on a disc player or DVR, and return to the movie at the point we left off.

Cybersecurity: FBI warns of social networking risks

The number of hijacked social networking accounts is on the rise, according to a warning issued by the FBI this week. (For free advice on how to protect yourself online, see our Online Security Guide.)

The warning addresses one of the more popular online scams, perpetrated on sites like Facebook and Myspace: Criminals plant malicious software on a victim’s computer, hijack their social networking account, then use the account to send emergency distress messages, for example claiming they are in legal or medical peril, requesting money from their social network contacts.

The FBI’s announcement also describes several other online scams, such as spamming to promote phishing sites and distributing malicious software via social-networking “applications.”

One of the best ways to protect yourself against malicious software is to use an effective security software suite. Our Ratings of security software (available to subscribers) provide recommendations on which products offer the best protection.

If you’re looking for a free antivirus, be aware that Microsoft has just released its own called Microsoft Security Essentials. We haven’t tested it yet; we will be posting more details on this product in this blog very shortly.

For the rest of October, which is National Cyber Security Awareness Month, we’ll continue to post the latest news and advice about online security. —Jeff Fox