Logan Abbott

According to Forrester Research, approximately 8% of cell phone households had given up their landline phone service and gone totally wireless as of the end of 2005, compared to 5% at the end of 2004. The study indicated there would be 2x that amount within 3 years.

Recent reporting by The Wireless Association showed cellular subscribers grew by a record 25.7 million in 2005 to about 208 million. This is interesting, in that many analysts have been saying that the market is mature, and subscriber growth would slow.

According to a recent article in USA Today, it took an average of 70 minutes to complete a wireless sale in a retail store during 2005. No wonder more and more people are buying online. The phones are usually cheaper as well.

During the Spanish-American War, at the end of the 19th Century (1898!), the government instituted an excise tax on phone calls to help fund the war effort. That war is long over, but the 3% federal excise tax is still in effect, 108 years later.

The AT&T name has been up and down, bought and sold since the company was broken up by the Government back in the mid 1980's. Now, it is set to become a household name again. SBC, the former Southwestern Bell, renamed itself AT&T after buying that company in 2005.

The long-running patent dispute between NTP and BlackBerry was settled Friday, with NTP agreeing to drop all claims in exchange for $612.5 million. This has been a bizarre case ---- BlackBerry lost a patent infringement trial a couple years back, and after exhausing various legal maneuvers, was about to find out if an injunction to shut down its service was going to be ordered.

It took me quite a while to figure out how to establish one of these, so figured I'd pass along the info in case anyone is in the same situation. For those unfamiliar, an HSA lets you put money aside, on a pre-tax basis, that can be used to pay for many health care expenses. If you don't use the money, you can withdraw it later in life, much like a 401k.

The date is finally set.... February 17th 2009. On that date, over the air broadcast networks (e.g., NBC) will stop broadcasting analog TV signals and return those frequencies to the government. These frequencies will be partially auctioned off for use in new technologies, and partially set aside for improved communication between public safety agencies.

Here are some phones that, according to the carrier sites, are rated M3 or M4. These ratings meet FCC requirements for hearing aid compatibility. M4 is the better of the two. Note that there is no guarantee that the phone will work with a particular individual's hearing aid device.

The wireless industry is moving ahead with plans for directory assistance for cell phone numbers. Given that there are now more wireless lines than landline, this seems like a good idea. Offsetting this, of course, is the risk of telemarketing calls, particularly annoying on cell phones since the mobile party (you) is paying for the (probably) unwanted telemarketing call.