Verizon-Alltel merger: Approval expected; advocates concerned

As the country focuses on the presidential race tomorrow, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) may well be blessing the marriage of Verizon Wireless and Alltel. And the advocates at Consumers Union, the parent company of Consumer Reports, aren't happy about what they say is a rushed approval.

If it is indeed consummated on Election Day, as is widely expected, the merger will create the largest cell-phone carrier in the nation, eclipsing AT&T. And as we noted when the merger was announced in June, it does bring together the two carriers that have topped our Ratings of cell-phone carriers (available to subscribers) in recent years. Also, rural-based Alltel customers would get access to the larger Verizon Wireless network, which shares the same (CDMA) technology as Alltel.

But CU says they are issues that deserve closer study before the deal is announced:

Satellite radio: More interesting, more complicated

The merger of XM and Sirius satellite radio has started to bear fruit.

Subscribers to each service can now add a select group of channels from the other (called Best of Sirius and Best of XM) for about $4 more per month, which brings the total monthly cost to $16.99. While the selections are limited to a handful of channels that may not suit everyone's taste, Sirius XM Radio says that more new packages are on the way, although it's not yet clear how many of those will graft channels from one service onto the other.

For XM subscribers, the Best of Sirius package available now adds two full-time Howard Stern channels, NASCAR races and shows, NFL games, Martha Stewart Living, and Playboy. For Sirius, subscribers, the Best of XM adds Oprah and Friends, NBA games, the Virus (which includes Opie and Anthony), and NHL games, the PGA Tour, College Sports, and XM Public Radio.

Palin's hacked e-mail: Lessons to learn

Republican vice-president candidate Sarah Palin learned a lesson that many of us often forget: The Web isn't safe.

A hacker was able to get into Governor Palin's Yahoo Mail account through the "reset password" feature, which allows users to retrieve or change their login password if the user can confirm their identity with personal information—their birthday, spouse's name, etc. As some news outlets have reported, Palin's cyber-attacker was able to easily fool Yahoo by finding such information about the politician online.

But a word of warning: Celebrities and politicians aren't the only ones who are vulnerable to such hacker tricks. With an increasing number of people posting personal information on Web sites such as Facebook, MySpace and blogs, nearly anyone can fall victim to such online account hijacks. One security expert noted how he used such trickery on a friend (with permission) to successfully gain access to that person's e-mail—and many other online services, such as that person's bank accounts. (Read his account, "How I Stole Someone’s Identity," on Scientific American.)

To avoid becoming a victim like Sarah Palin, follow these simple tips:

Essential gadgets for emergencies

With Texans along the Gulf Coast recovering from Hurricane Dolly, we thought it would be a good time to mention electronics gear that can be invaluable to have before, during and after a natural disaster or other emergency. Of course, there are other items you'll need, such as flashlights, water, and more. For a complete checklist and other tips on preparing for—and dealing with the aftermath of—devastating storms and disasters, see our free Storm and Emergency guide on ConsumerReports.org.

On the electronics front, here's what we recommend:

• Make sure you have an emergency radio—powered by either batteries or a hand-crank—which will work even if the lights go out. A radio can pull in vital news, weather, and evacuation information from AM radio stations, which have further "reach" than TV broadcasters.
• Have at least one corded phone that doesn't require electricity. A cordless phone's base station won't run without juice.
• Keep your cell phone charged and have alternative power options—a car adapter or a portable cell phone charger that uses common AA batteries or features a hand crank or other "green" energy source.
• Consider having family members use different cell phone service providers in case one carrier goes down.
• Know how to text message. If cell towers are still up but available bandwidth is limited, a text message may be able to get through when voice calls won't.
• Learn how to browse the Web on an Internet-enabled phone. You'll have news bulletins, maps, and more at your fingertips.
• Have a portable GPS navigation system, which can be handy if you have to evacuate through unfamiliar routes and areas.

Sky-High Wi-Fi

If you're planning any air travel in the near future, you might find yourself surfing while you fly. American Airlines is one of several carriers planning to offer Wi-Fi in the sky with a broadband Internet service called Gogo.  The service will be implemented on some of its transcontinental Boeing planes. Other airlines are also implementing or planning to launch their own services.

American's Wi-Fi will be available for $12.95 on flights longer than three hours. Passengers with their own Wi-Fi-enabled devices will be able to access the Internet using Aircell's Gogo technology, which communicates with cellular towers on the ground via three antennae on the plane's exterior. Your laptop or other mobile device connects via several wireless access points within the cabin. American says Gogo is also compatible with most corporate VPNs and e-mail.

JetBlue is offering a test of limited Wi-Fi capabilities on what it calls the BetaBlue plane, a Wi-Fi-equipped Airbus 320. The service is free, but limited. You can access e-mail from services like Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail, and AOL; use your Blackberry; send instant messages; and, in case you've just got to buy the latest bestseller from 30,000 feet up, shop at Amazon.com.

Later this year, Virgin America will begin testing Wi-Fi as well, with the goal of offering it across its fleet by 2009. In addition to using your own carry-on devices, Virgin will let you access the Internet using seatback video touchscreens. Lufthansa says it will also roll out a program next year.

The spate of new on-high Wi-Fi comes a couple of years after Boeing pulled the plug on Connexions, its in-flight wireless broadband service. That program reportedly failed after the company was unable to get enough paying customers.

If you've been on a flight that offers Wi-Fi, share your experience with us. Was it worth the price (if you had to pay)? Would you be satisfied with a free service that offered limited access? Or do you think the wild blue yonder should remain Internet-free?

—Donna Tapellini

The iPhone comes to Canada, with complaints

Canada, home to more than 100,000 subscribers to ConsumerReports.org, will be getting the iPhone for the first time when Apple launches the iPhone 3G later this week.

But any jubilation among Mac fans north of the border is being dampened by anger at Rogers Wireless, the 3G's exclusive Canadian carrier. A post yesterday to an impressive protest site, iphoneincanada.ca, "Where Canadian iPhone Users Unite!," summarizes the mood:

iPhone 3G is coming on Friday! It's kind of bittersweet isn't it? Fantastic phone but disappointing data plans! Anyone going to boycott?

Fury is focused on the cost of Rogers' iPhone plans compared with those of AT&T, the exclusive U.S. carrier. For example, the $60 (Canadian) Rogers plan offers 150 minutes of talk time and 400 MB of data, compared with the 450 minutes of talk time and unlimited data access offered by AT&T for $70 (U.S.).

In addition to inspiring at least one online petition of complaint, protest T-shirts (see above), an editorial cartoon by Canada's pre-eminent cartoonist and a video featuring a puppet chastising Rogers' chairman Ted Rogers, the plans have also raised the profile of a bill in Canada's federal parliament, protesting what Liberal Member of Parliament David McGuinty says are inordinately higher cellphone costs in Canada compared with the U.S.

Fellow Canadians (I'm from Ottawa): Let us know your iMood as the debut of the iPhone in Canada approaches.

—Paul Reynolds

T-Mobile announces pro-rating of termination fees

T-Mobile has just weighed in with particulars on how it will pro-rate its early termination fee, the penalty of up to $200 it charges when subscribers cancel their service before the end of a new 12- or 24-month service contract starting June 28.

T-Mobile brings to three the number of major cell carriers who are reducing such fees, which range from $150 to $200, depending on how far subscribers are into their contract. Two other big companies, Alltel (which may soon be swallowed up by Verizon) and Sprint, are not yet making such adjustments, though they've pledged to do so.

So while T-Mobile's announcement is welcome, its pro-rating is in some ways less generous than the schemes for Verizon and AT&T, the other majors who pro-rate their termination fees. T-Mobile's $200 fee, the highest among the three companies, doesn't actually drop at all for the first year-and-a-half of two-year contracts.

Old to new iPhone: AT&T upgrade policies

AT&T will be offering various breaks to current iPhone owners to induce them to upgrade to the new iPhone 3G, which debuts July 11.

The new models will cost $200 less than comparable first-generation iPhones—potentially leaving those who recently bought the older model stuck with a fairly new, already outmoded phone.

Anyone who bought the original iPhone on or after May 27 will be able to return it and receive a refund on the price difference between comparable new and old iPhones, minus a 10 percent restocking fee.

"We just want to be fair to customers who were very, very late purchasers of the 2G iPhone," said AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel in an interview. Anyone who merely bought earlier—including merely "very late"—will be out of luck on the returning their iRelic and receiving a refund on its price difference with the new model.

Refund or not, anyone who upgrades from original to 3G iPhone will have to sign a new 2-year contract that begins when they take possession of the new phone. And, as we previously reported, they'll have to pay $10 more per month for the data plan. Those who hold on to their old iPhones won't see a data-plan increase—even when they renew their contracts, according to Siegel.

AT&T is taking a quiet approach to publicizing these policies. Siegel maintains they've been in effect since the new iPhone was introduced. Yet there's no mention of them in the iPhone press release or on AT&T's Web site.

—Mike Gikas

New iPhone: Lower price, higher cost

The new iPhone 3G, announced yesterday and available next month, costs $200 less to buy than its predecessor. But the new version (click on the image for a closer look) will actually cost a little more to buy and use in the long run than its predecessor, due to higher service costs.

The new phone is $200 in its 8-GB version and $300 in its 16-GB version, compared with $400 and $500 for the older iPhones of the same capacity. An unlimited data plan with the new device is $30, $10 a month more than with the old iPhone. (The least-expensive voice plan, with 450 minutes a month, is the same price as with the old iPhone, at $39.99 a month.) Multiply the $10-a-month extra data cost times the required 24-month contract period and you're on the hook for $240 in additional charges for owning the new iPhone rather than its predecessor.

The hike in fees may be rooted in a change in the business arrangements between AT&T and Apple for the new iPhone. With the original iPhone, subscribers paid full price for the device, even though a two-year contract commitment was required—an unusual arrangement. The new version reverts to a more traditional business model for the industry. That is, AT&T will buy the phones from Apple and sell them to customers for less than they paid. Then they'll devote a part of subscribers' bills every month to reimbursing themselves for that subsidy.

So customers will pay a little more to buy and use the new device as the old, but they'll pay that slightly higher cost more slowly. The lower upfront cost likely will, as Apple's Steve Jobs predicts, allow some people to buy the device who couldn't swallow the $400 price tag for its predecessor. And, at $200 the iPhone 3G will be very competitively priced, given that plenty of plain cell phones that lack the iPhone's versatility cost that much or more. Also, new iPhone owners are getting a faster, more capable 3G network, rather than the slower AT&T EDGE (2G) network used by the older iPhones (the data plan for which will remain priced at $20 a month, according to AT&T).

All that said, the headlines proclaiming the new phone as cheaper than the old don't quite tell the whole story.

If you're looking for other money-saving tips, see our recent post, "Cell plan extra charges: Why and what you can do." Additional information on ConsumerReports.org will also help you find the best cell phone deals as well as other ways to cut your cell phone bill (available to subscribers only).

—Paul Reynolds

The new iPhone: Some pluses, some questions

Well, we got some of our wishes, at least. The new iPhone 3G, announced today at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco, will indeed use a connection to a high-speed 3G network, one of the attributes on our top 5 wish list for the new phone, posted a few days ago. Apple chairman Steve Jobs even claimed performance would be faster than other 3G smartphones. The new phone boasts slighter thinner edges than the original, but retains a close family resemblance. (Click on the image at right for a closer look at the iPhone 3G.)

The new phone, which goes on sale on July 11 at $200 (for an 8-GB version) and $300 (for a 16-GB version) will also boast true, satellite-based GPS, another of our wish-list items, rather than the earth-based location technology of the current iPhone. (Click on image at left for a closer look at the original iPhone.)

On the other hand, the new phone will not add stereo Bluetooth capability, a feature we sought that would allow it to be used with pricey Bluetooth stereo headsets. But Apple has at least banished the old iPhone's much-derided recessed headphone jack, which demanded use of a third-party adapter to be used with any but the headphones supplied with the phone.

Less clear is whether the remaining two items on our list will be addressed. That is whether iPhone 3G will have voice command, a feature that's all-but-standard even on less pricey phones, or a last-number one-button redial. Neither feature was mentioned at the presentation or included in the online list of specifications for the device.

It's also unclear whether the phone will offer the option to operate solely on the slower AT&T EDGE (2G) network used by the current iPhone. The specifications for the iPhone 3G list talk-time figures for both 3G and 2G operation. That unusual differentiation seems to raise the possibility of being able to select 2G operation to conserve battery life, instead of the phone automatically selecting 3G operation where it's available, as is customary.

The new phone will add some other welcome features as a result of an upgrade to the iPhone's operating system. The upgrade will also be available free to owners of the original iPhone, and for $10 to owners of the iPod Touch, the iPhone-like music player. The enhancements from the new iPhone 2.0 operating system include:

• Support for Microsoft Office. For the first time, iPhone users will be able to open and edit documents in Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and more.
• Better e-mail management. This includes the ability to move, delete, or reorganize a large group of e-mails.

As usual with such announcements, much remains unclear or up in the air. Among the points we'll be watching: What, if anything, Apple or AT&T, the exclusive iPhone carrier, may do to accommodate those who want a new iPhone and are in the middle of the mandatory two-year service commitment for an old iPhone.

—Mike Gikas

The Verizon/Alltel merger: The consumer promises and issues

Verizon, one of the biggest national cell carriers, today announced plans to swallow one of the smallest, Alltel. For consumers, the possible merger raises promise. And, like many such deals, it also raises a number of issues and questions.

Despite their differing size, the companies share a number of attributes that bode well for consumers in a possible merger, beginning with high customer satisfaction. In our recent surveys of cellphone service, both carriers have been standouts for connectivity—that is, for minimizing problems with lack of service, full circuits, or dropped calls—and for customer service.

They also have networks that are technologically compatible—being heavily digital and using CDMA technology. That promises to increase the chance that customers of one company will get access to services now offered by the other, and that subscribers will more fully benefit from an expanded, joint network. It may also minimize the problems that ensued after two other recent cellphone mergers, involving companies with divergent technologies. The Sprint-Nextel merger, in 2005, brought together one company that used a CDMA network and another that used Iden technology. The 2004 merger of Cingular and AT&T married one company that used several technologies, including older analog networks, with another that had a heavily-digital GSM network.

A number of questions and uncertainties remain, however—beginning with whether federal regulators will allow the merger to proceed, and when. (The companies themselves are aiming for completion by year's end.) Consumer advocates will weigh in on the deal's benefits and pitfalls. Those groups include Consumers' Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, which is already flagging such issues as whether provisions may be required to help cell subscribers in some rural areas where Alltel is the leading carrier and Verizon may be a close competitor.

—Paul Reynolds

iPhone 2.0? Things we'd like to see.

With the one-year anniversary of the iPhone nearly upon us, rumors of a refresh for Apple's category-defining smartphone are swirling through the blogosphere. Apple is mum, as usual, but the bloggers' best intel suggests a new model will debut this Monday at the Apple Developers Conference in San Francisco.

If and when a new iPhone arrives, we'll of course buy and test it immediately and post the results soonest. Meantime, though we like and recommend the current iPhone, it's far from perfect. (If you are a ConsumerReports.org subscriber, you can see our complete review of the current iPhone as well as Consumer Reports' recommendations of cell phones online.)

So Mr. Jobs, if you're listening, here are our top five requests for a new iPhone:

1. Use a faster network. Web browsing on the iPhone's full HTML Web browser is plenty speedy over a Wi-Fi connection at home or at Starbucks. But doing so via AT&T's sluggish EDGE network—which you'll likely use more of the time—can be a real drag, especially when streaming videos or downloading graphics-heavy pages. Let's hope this new model takes advantage of the much faster HSDPA, a so-called "3G" network that AT&T is building. Note: Though AT&T has been middling in our Ratings of cellphone service (available to subscribers), we aren't putting "change carriers" on our wish list to Steve Jobs, since that's out of the question. (AT&T still has four years to run as the exclusive U.S. carrier of the iPhone.)


2. Add GPS. The current iPhone has useful Google maps and directions, with live traffic. But the device figures out where you are by triangulating with cellphone towers and Wi-Fi hotspots, and is notably less accurate than the satellite-based technology used by true GPS navigation units. Also, unlike GPS, it doesn' t provide the real-time, turn-by-turn, voice-assisted directions. Many phones, including some AT&T models, have GPS navigation. Let's hope the new iPhone adds it.


3. Enable Bluetooth stereo. A growing number of cell phones support wireless Bluetooth stereo headphones for tangle-free listening. Yet the current iPhone requires an inelegant $40 attachment to do so, a real disconnect for a phone that purports to be a multimedia powerhouse.


4. Add voice command. Another all-but-standard feature that's glaringly absent from the iPhone. This feature allows you dial numbers from your phone book by speaking the name or by pronouncing the digits—a must for hands-free users.


5. Add last-number, one-button redial. On even the simplest cell phones, tapping one button will put you in touch with those you speak to most. But not the iPhone. True, the iPhone lists recent callers and you can tap any of them to make a call. But if you're not already in that menu, finding that list can end up being a multi-step process. A simple software update could add speed dial to the virtual keypad.

We could go on—to suggest the likes of an unrecessed headphone jack (the current one requires purchase of an adapter to use standard headphones) and more. But tell us what else you'd like to see in your next iPhone.

—Mike Gikas 

Cell plan extra charges: Why and what you can do

Your cell-phone plan supposedly costs $39.99 a month, say, yet your cell-phone bill usually runs to $52 or so. Here's a quick rundown of the reasons and some remedies.

Many of the major extras are beyond your control, at least as a subscriber. The biggest bite is from state and local sales taxes. Your telecom bills are typically taxed by those jurisdictions at the same rate as other goods and services, and those rates, to say the least, show no signs of going down. (There used to be a 3-percent federal excise tax—in place since 1898 to pay for the Spanish-American war—but it was repealed in 2005.) There's also a state fee for e-911, the location-based technology that helps emergency responders find you when you dial 911 from your cell phone; you may also have to pay a separate 911 fee to your municipality for having access to those emergency responders.

Carriers also tack an assortment of administrative and regulatory surcharges onto bills to defray the costs they incur when they interface with other networks in the course of providing service, as well as other incidentals. One such fee that's attracted attention lately is one, amounting to a dollar or two a month, that reflects the carriers passing along to consumers their contributions to what's known as the Universal Service Fund, which subsidizes phone carriers operating in remote or sparsely populated areas. With more than $7 billion now in the Fund, the Federal Communications Commission has just capped a portion of it. (If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader software installed, you can see the FCC's press release on the cap on Universal Service here.) But the cap's impact on consumer fees is unclear, since the Fund still requires replenishment to remain at its current level.

But some extras that are swelling your bills are well within your control. Here's a rundown of some, and how to quell them:

Wireless data relief: Spelled W-i-M-a-x?

Net access over cell networks is still slower than with a home broadband connection, even on faster third-generation (3G) cellular data networks like EV-DO (Verizon and Sprint Nextel) and HSDPA (AT&T and T-Mobile). And those speedier networks aren't yet available in all metro centers, let alone in many rural areas. Laptop owners and those with advanced cell phones like the iPhone can get their broadband via Wi-Fi hotspots, but those are highly local, and so don’t really offer broadband access on the go.

Hoping to capitalize on these shortcomings, this week a coalition led by Sprint, Nextel, and Intel announced support for a more potent flavor of Wi-Fi called mobile WiMax. Based on the IEEE 802.16e wireless standard, mobile WiMax offers data speeds comparable to Wi-Fi (that is, about 5 to 10 times faster than today's cell data networks). WiMax also offers much greater range; indeed, some even think WiMax might one day replace cable or DSL as the home broadband access of choice.

But before you start salivating too much for a WiMax fix, consider the following issues that may yet trip up this promising technology—which, by they way, has been simmering in the wireless community for about a decade.

AT&T to pro-rate early termination fees for cell-phone contracts

In another sign of the growing consumer power in the cell phone marketplace that we reported last January, AT&T has joined Verizon in pro-rating its $175 early termination fee, a major thorn in the side of respondents to our latest survey of cellular service providers (available to subscribers).

But three other big wireless service providers, Alltel, T-Mobile, and Sprint, have yet to deliver on their promises to do likewise this year. Those providers still ding you for up to $200 if you cancel your cell phone contract before its full term is up. Consumer advocates including Consumers Union, Consumer Reports' parent organization, consider such flat fees to be unjustified, since consumers continually repay the cost of a low-priced or "free" cell phone with a portion of their bill each month.

AT&T's plan is similar to Verizon's. For both, there is no cancellation fee for the 30-day trial period at the beginning of a new cell phone contract, during which new customers can quit the service if they're dissatisfied. Thereafter, the $175 fee on one- and two-year contracts is reduced by $5 for each month you stay with the service.

Cell-phone spam: How to curb it

Cell-phone spam still trails computer spam, with the typical cell-phone user receiving at most a few spam text messages per year rather than the thousands that may bombard their computer-based e-mail accounts. But in some ways, cell spam is more annoying. It can cause your phone to ring or vibrate at inopportune times and possibly cost you money—typically 10 to 25 cents per message if you don't have a text-messaging plan.

Since 2005, the CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault on Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing) has prohibited commercial e-mail and text messages to be sent to cell phones without "express prior authorization." Unfortunately, the law leaves commercial entities lots of loopholes. For example, it doesn't prevent your carrier or its partners from sending you upgrade offers or account notices. Also, non-commercial organizations such as charities and political campaigns can shoot you all the messages they want on your dime.

Sprint’s unlimited talk—and data—is cheaper

Talkative cell phone users got a buzz last month when major carriers, Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile began offering $99.99 unlimited calling plans. Now Sprint has also announced its own unlimited plans.

Like its competition, Sprint's "Simply Everything" plan offers unlimited voice calling, free nationwide long distance, and no domestic roaming charges. But for the same $99.99 per month, subscribers also get unlimited text/picture/video messaging, mobile Internet, and walkie-talkie style push-to-talk service.

That's a better deal than, for example, Verizon's Unlimited plans, which charge $99.99 for voice, $119.99 for voice and messaging, and $139.99 for voice, messaging, and mobile Internet.

However, as we previously advised, before getting a pricey unlimited plan you should first consider less costly somewhat unlimited plans.

In the case of Sprint, its new "Everything 900" anytime voice minute plan also comes with unlimited messaging and Internet (as well as unlimited voice nights and weekends and mobile-to-mobile) for only $89.99 per month. If you can live with 900 daytime voice minutes per month—still a hefty 40 minutes or so per weekday, after all—you'll save $120 annually over the $99.99 "Simply Everything" plan or up to $600 per year over competing carrier unlimited plans.

Mostly talk: New unlimited cell plans won't pay for most

Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile are now offering unlimited talk plans for $99.99 per month. While the plans offer convenience and 'peace of mind,' few subscribers, except heavy talkers, are likely to save with these all-you-can-talk offerings.

That's because with a little consumer planning effort and discipline consumers can maximize Verizon's and AT&T's national, no-roaming-fee, no-long-distance-charge plans that cost $60 a month. Those plans ostensibly sell you 900 anytime minutes per month, but both also give you unlimited nights and weekends. With Verizon's "national IN calling" feature, there's also no charge for calls anytime of the day to some 64 million other Verizon Wireless customers. AT&T's version of this is "mobile-to-mobile" minutes, and offers free calls anytime to AT&T's more than 70 million customers.

It's pretty much the same deal as AT&T's and Verizon's with Alltel's National Freedom 900 plan, except that that carrier's "My Circle" feature also lets you make unlimited free anytime calls to 10 wireless or landline numbers on any network. T-Mobile's myFaves 1000 plan provides 1,000 whenever minutes, free roaming and long-distance and unlimited nights and weekends; but instead of unlimited minutes to other phones on the T-Mobile network, it gives unlimited "myFaves" minutes to only 5 designated numbers on any network.

The Other Digital Transition

Most of the news coverage regarding the "digital transition" has been about television, which is switching to all-digital broadcasts on February 17, 2009. But some cell-phone users and other wireless subscribers face another type of digital transition—and in just a few days. On February 18, an FCC law requiring cellular carriers to provide analog service to subscribers and roamers expires. That means some older analog phones, alarm systems, and OnStar emergency services will no longer work.

Unlike TV broadcasters, cellular carriers aren't being forced to drop analog service. Rather, they're now allowed to discontinue analog service if they already blanket their cellular geographic service areas (CGSAs) with digital coverage. You won't be blindsided by the change. Carriers have to give their analog customers adequate warning. Here's the 411 on who's affected, and what they can do about it:

Cell-phone users. The expired law primarily affects some analog customers of Verizon, Alltel, AT&T, US Cellular, and Dobson (and other companies that market their services as "Cellular One"). Fortunately, it's only customers who have older, analog-only phones—not the newer digital phones with analog backup. You can tell your phone is analog if it's more than 5 years old, or if it doesn't have the ability to access the Web or handle text messages. Customers of SprintNextel and T-Mobile, whose networks are already entirely digital, should not be affected by the change. Rural subscribers to regional analog carriers shouldn't be inconvenienced either, though their phones may no longer be able to roam in areas serviced by digital-network carriers.

CES 2008: New HD entertainment service coming soon

XStream Looks to the Sky for New HD Service

Look out DirecTV and Dish: A start-up company called XStream HD said yesterday at CES that it will launch a new satellite-based high-def entertainment service by the end of this year. The service, called XStreamHD, will deliver movies, TV, music, games, and other forms of entertainment in high-definition—including some content in Full HD 1080p resolution—and 7.1-channel surround sound.

The system consists of a small outdoor satellite antenna, an in-home media server, and an XStream media receiver. Already-orbiting satellites deliver multiple streams of Full HD content to the antenna. Signals are then routed to a wall-mountable, in-home media server, where they're stored in what the company calls a Virtual Personal Library. The library can gradually learn your preferences and  anticipate and store movies or programs matching your profile. When you want  to view a movie or show, the content is then delivered to the media receiver, which connects to a TV via an HDMI connection. When a title arrives, you have the option of renting or purchasing it.

At the heart of the system is proprietary compression technology that allows massive amounts of data to be delivered to the home. This allows for high-quality picture and sound—full 1080p video and up to 7.1 channels of lossless audio. The media server has three digital ATSC tuners plus DVR functionality, so you can record up to three HDTV broadcasts—in 720p  and 1080i—while watching a fourth program stored on the server. You can watch up to four Full HD streams simultaneously throughout the home using gigabit Ethernet. The base system, with 500MB GB of storage, is expected to be offered at an introductory price of $399.

[JAN. 18, 2007 UPDATE: The XStreamHD media server will have 500-gigabytes of storage, not, 500-megabytes as previously stated. We regret the confusion.—Ed.]

Several questions remain unanswered. It appears that cable programming won't be available via the service, so it won't be a true all-encompassing media hub. Also, pricing for the service itself wasn't  announced, nor were any of the movie studios that will be supporting the service. And at least initially, the system will be sold direct to consumers—no retail stores will carry the system—so installation will have to be handled by third-party installers.

At a press event featuring actor Michael Douglas, an investor in the company, XStream announced that launch partners would include DTS and Seagate Technology. The system will support DTS-HD Master Audio and features Seagate slide-out hard drives with up to 1 terabyte (TB) of storage.

—James K. Willcox

LG Voyager Cell Phone: First impressions

If a new cell phone is on your holiday wish list, wireless service providers and phone makers are more than happy to flood you with dozens of new models that offer a slew of new features and other goodies.

To be sure, one of the hottest wireless phones for holiday shoppers is Apple's iPhone. But if you're a Verizon customer and are hesitant to switch over to the AT&T service, there's good news. The wireless carrier now offers the LG Voyager, a cell phone that closely mimics the iPhone's touch-screen and other capabilities. (Click on the image at right for a closer look.)

On ConsumerReports.org, we've taken a closer look at this iPhone competitor as well as Verizon's other heavily-promoted phones, the LG Venus and Samsung Juke. Check out our free report all three phones.

The report also has an online video which shows the LG Voyager in action. Click on the player below or go to our most recent cell phones Ratings report on ConsumerReports.org to see the video. (You must have Macromedia Flash software installed to watch our free online videos.)

Amazon Kindle: First Impressions

In the shifting world of electronics, no one's staying neatly in their allotted corner these days. Witness the annual Consumer Electronics Show. Once strictly a hardware showcase, it's promoting the participation of movie studios and TV networks in this January's event.

So it's almost unsurprising that the newest e-book reader, the Amazon Kindle (click on images for a closer look), bears the name of a retailer rather than an equipment manufacturer. The branding actually makes sense, since a seamless link between the Kindle and Amazon.com is the most interesting aspect of the device, which Amazon began selling last week for $399. I tried it out over the Thanksgiving weekend.

The Kindle comes preloaded with your Amazon account information and with software that links, automatically and at no ongoing cost, to Sprint's high-speed cellphone data network. If all goes well, Amazon says, you simply turn it on and start browsing and ordering. Even when your account doesn't appear, as mine didn't, signing on took only seconds.

[Nov. 28, 2007 Update: We corrected the reference to the network Kindle uses; as a reader noted, it's Sprint's data network not its cellphone network. —Ed.]

(While I had no problems with the service when using my Kindle these past few days, Sprint was among the worst providers of cell phone service in our survey of Consumer Reports readers in 20 cities. If you're a ConsumerReports.org subscriber, you can check our Ratings of cell service providers to see the details.)

Then I was off and "kindling" (yes, Amazon really does "verb" the name of the device), using the Kindle's unique rolling wheel navigation device and next- and last-page bars on each side of the 6-inch screen. Orders bill seamlessly to your Amazon account—maybe too seamlessly, depending on your self-control; there isn’t even a checkout to slow you down. Downloading a book to the device took me less than a minute, as Amazon promises. There’s no ongoing monthly fee to use the Kindle.

The Kindle doesn't offer all of Amazon's features; there are no extras like author's videos or search capability. But it offers free sample chapters, which download in a matter of seconds. And it's more natural to read book pages on the Kindle than on a computer, where you must scroll through them using a cursor and read them on a screen that isn’t designed for prolonged reading.

In a fantasy world where books were read mostly on computers, the Kindle would be a must-buy. In the real world, where books remain stubbornly analog, using the device falls well short of the pleasures of holding and reading a book. The type, charcoal-colored on a light-gray background, lacks the contrast of typical book pages. The screen briefly turns black during page turns. And the display is monochrome only, and lacks the grayscale variation even to render, say, black and white photos as accurately as in print. (The Kindle shares the use of patented eInk technology with its main competitor, the Sony Reader, $299, which has been updated since we tested it last year on ConsumerReports.org.)

So is the Kindle worth $400 to you, or anyone on your gift list? An obvious pre-qualifier is a willingness to try new technology that's almost bound to drop in cost, improve in performance, or both in subsequent iterations. Then there's mobility; a book reader probably makes sense only if you often read on the move. Beyond that, here's my initial take on prime candidates for the Kindle:

Heavy hardcover buyers. It costs $9.99 to load a hardcover best-seller to the Kindle—an all-but-unbeatable price, in any format (most older titles cost more, though some venerable classics go for as little as a dollar or two). So, if you buy more than 40 hard-covers, you'll more than make up the cost of the device. But, the Kindle is also significantly smaller and lighter (at 10 ounces or so) than a single hardcover book (see image). And it holds up to 200 books, Amazon says, and so would free up some serious luggage space for a serious reader on a long trip.

News junkies. The Kindle offers subscriptions to 11 newspapers, including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and a number of magazines. And there's free access to a host of bookmarked websites, including those of BBC Radio, MSNBC, and ESPN.

Kindle critics have bashed the cost of the subscriptions—$5.99 to $13.99 a month for each newspaper, for example—when the publications are mostly available for free online. But the Kindle allows you to view news on a screen, albeit a black-and-white one, that's bigger than any smart phone and on a network that's faster than the sluggish AT&T network the iPhone uses. And there's no requirement to pay for a monthly high-speed data plan.

[Nov. 29, 2007 UPDATE: As a reader pointed out, some newspaper subscriptions are available to Kindle owners for $5.99 per month. —Ed.]

A caveat for the free sites: They're part of the "Basic Web" functionality, including a rudimentary browser, that Amazon lists under a link titled "Experimental." Translation: Web browsing, and access to the news sites, may not be a permanent feature of the Kindle, and so is a risky reason to buy one.

A final note on gifting: As of today, the Kindle is "temporarily sold out" on Amazon (the device’s only vendor, unsurprisingly).

We'll have more on the Kindle, probably next week on Consumer Reports' Electronics section, as our testing continues.

—Paul Reynolds