Verizon Backing Off Plans for Wireless Home Phones

After Hurricane Sandy, Verizon asked state regulators in New York for permission to substitute Voice Link, a home phone service that carries calls on a cellular network, for what it refers to as “plain old telephone service.” The first place in the state it tried broad use of Voice Link was on the west end of Fire Island, a resort community on the Atlantic Ocean that incurred heavy damage in the late October storm.

Verizon had hoped to use Fire Island as an example of how Voice Link could be installed in other areas of the state where its network of copper wires was damaged by storms or deemed too costly to repair or maintain. The regulators said they would monitor the results and decide later this year.

But Verizon did not wait for the final results. It conceded defeat this week and said it would start laying fiber-optic cable that would restore home phone service and Internet access.

Edward P. Romaine, the supervisor of the town of Brookhaven, said he was “delighted” that Verizon had been “forced into” offering an alternative to Voice Link. “I dare say there are very few residents of Fire Island that would prefer Voice Link,” he said.

The company also withdrew its request to the state Public Service Commission for permission to use Voice Link as a permanent substitute for traditional home phone service elsewhere in the state.

“What we’re basically telling the commission is we’re not going to pursue the stuff that we were pursuing,” said Tom Maguire, Verizon’s senior vice president for national operations support. “We’re going to go back to the day before Sandy.”

The Voice Link experiment was watched closely by consumer advocates because it was seen as a test of the obligations that traditional phone-service providers have to their customers. The advocates fear that acceptance of Voice Link will give Verizon an incentive to neglect its copper lines, which are expensive to maintain.

Verizon and AT&T have told federal and state regulators that the demise of “plain old” phone service is inevitable, as more Americans rely on cellphones and demand faster Internet connections than copper wires can provide.

Indeed, Verizon is not abandoning Voice Link. The company intends to continue offering it as a substitute for traditional service in Mantoloking, N.J., and other communities that have been hit hard by storms.

Some Mantoloking residents have complained about Verizon’s decision not to restore their old phone lines after Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc there. But the company said that people in Mantoloking, unlike the residents of Fire Island, have an alternative: they can get phone service and Internet access from Comcast, the local cable provider.

That answer did not satisfy Stefanie A. Brand, the director for the Division of Rate Counsel in New Jersey. A representative of utility consumers, Ms. Brand said Mantoloking residents should not have to buy a bundled service from the cable company to get home phone service that is not wireless.

“Verizon is the provider of last resort in New Jersey,” Ms. Brand said, “so they have to offer customers a basic telephone service option, and there is no telephone service option available to the customers in Mantoloking.”

AARP has called on the Federal Communications Commission and New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities to investigate Verizon’s use of Voice Link in Mantoloking. The organization argued that dependable, regulated phone service is a “lifeline” for residents, especially older ones, when a storm like Hurricane Sandy hits.

Jim Dieterle, the state director for AARP in New Jersey, called Voice Link a “third-rate” alternative. He said state officials should not accept less than what Verizon is doing on Fire Island. “Why would they do one thing in New York and then not in New Jersey? We’re not second-class citizens,” he said. “I don’t think our governor would appreciate being treated in a less admirable way.”

DealBook: Verizon in Talks to Buy Vodafone’s Stake in Its Wireless Unit

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Gadgetwise: Plantronics’ Wireless Earbuds Get an Update

With its newer model, the BackBeat GO 2, Plantronics addressed the battery life issue by adding a travel case that doubles as a charger. The company says listening time for the earbuds is still about 4.5 hours, but a fully charged case can triple that. Users get a voice alert when the earbuds’ charge is low.

The BackBeat Go 2 costs $80, and the case is another $20, which isn’t bad for Bluetooth-connected earbuds. They tuck nicely inside the case, which comes with a detachable USB charging cable. The earbuds also come with three sets of ear tips and a stabilizer to improve the fit and comfort. Plantronics also added a liquid repellent, P2i, that makes the earbuds handy for active, sweaty workouts.

The improvements are welcome, but the earbuds still need a little work. The flat cord that connects the ear buds is intended to loop around the back of your neck, but it kept getting caught on my collar and dragging on my neck. The buttons on the inline remote are tiny and face right instead of forward, making the controls difficult to manipulate. I chose to wear the cord dangling in front of me, which made the remote easier to reach.

I had a little trouble with the fit as well, but this will vary among users. Once I had a proper seal, the stabilizers helped keep the earbuds in place.

The biggest drawback, however, was the sound quality. Everything I listened to was flat and listless. And phone calls were worse, sounding distant and choppy, as if I were calling on a walkie-talkie.

Plantronics has a great concept here, but a little more time needs to be spent on development before the 3.0 version is ready.

At Verizon, Wireless Aids Earnings Rise

A surge in wireless subscribers and smartphone sales, combined with more subscribers to its digital TV and Internet services, propelled the company to a profit of $2.25 billion in the second quarter, up 23 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Verizon, which is based in New York, said investment in its fourth-generation wireless network, called LTE, helped its growth. For its wireless business, the company added 941,000 contract subscribers, the most valuable type of customer.

The company also reported improved smartphone sales, partly on the back of demand for the iPhone. In the quarter, Verizon sold 7.5 million smartphones, including 3.9 million iPhones. In the year-ago quarter it sold 5.9 million smartphones, including 2.7 million iPhones.

Like other wireless carriers, though, Verizon appears to be keeping an eye on industry data showing that fewer people are upgrading to new smartphones year after year. To combat that trend, two of its top competitors, AT&T and T-Mobile USA, recently announced plans that would make it cheaper for customers to upgrade their phones before the typical two-year wait.

On Thursday, Verizon, the No. 1 wireless carrier, announced a similar plan. Verizon’s program, called Edge, will allow customers to pick the phone they want and then sign up for a monthly payment plan. The full price of the phone will be spread over 24 months. The customer can upgrade in as little as six months by paying off 50 percent of the original phone by then.

“Our customers have been asking for another option,” said Francis J. Shammo, Verizon’s chief financial officer, on the company’s earnings call. He said some people did not want to wait two years before buying a new smartphone.

But Verizon’s early-upgrade plan appears likely to attract only a small portion of the market, the high-spenders who must have the latest and greatest smartphones. Craig Moffett, an analyst at Moffett Research, said that plan was unlikely to add much to the company’s profits. But Verizon’s move, he said, shows that it is reacting to T-Mobile, the fourth-largest American carrier, which was the first carrier to introduce early-upgrade plans.

“I think T-Mobile’s plan is taking share, and they have to do something about it,” he said.

Over all, Verizon’s revenue rose 4.3 percent, to $29.8 billion, compared with the same quarter a year ago. The company’s net income was 78 cents a share, compared with 64 cents a share in the period a year ago. After excluding a one-time gain related to pension benefits, Verizon’s net income was 73 cents a share, beating analyst expectations of 72 cents, according to data from Thomson Reuters. Shares of the company were down 1.5 percent to close at $49.97 on Thursday.

Verizon is planning to invest even more money in the 4G network. It said it would increase capital spending this year to between $16.4 billion and $16.6 billion, an increase from its original plan to spend $16.2 billion.

The company also said that it added 161,000 subscribers to its Internet service and 140,000 to its video service. Verizon’s Internet service now has 5.8 million subscribers and its video service has 5 million.

DealBook: AT&T to Buy Leap Wireless for $1.2 Billion

AT&T, thwarted by regulators nearly two years ago on a planned $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA, is back in the merger hunt, albeit with a much smaller target.

The telecommunications giant said on Friday that it had agreed to acquire its smaller rival Leap Wireless International for nearly $1.2 billion, the latest sign of consolidation in the telecommunications industry.

AT&T is paying $15 a share in cash for Leap, a prepaid cellphone service provider — a premium of 88 percent from Leap’s closing price on Friday. Under the terms of the deal, AT&T would gain 5 million new customers and acquire Leap network, licenses and retail stores. Leap had $2.8 billion of net debt as of April 15.

Leap’s stock more than doubled in after-hours trading on Friday, climbing to almost $17 a share. It closed Friday at $7.98 a share.

Leap, based in San Diego, operates under the Cricket brand name, which AT&T plans to retain. Its network covers about 96 million people in 35 states.

“Cricket’s employees, operations and distribution will jump start AT&T’s expansion into the highly competitive prepaid segment,” said Brad Burns, AT&T spokesman.

The deal comes after months of speculation about the future of AT&T and other wireless companies. Smaller carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile have recently found merger partners, fueling questions about AT&T’s strategy.

AT&T previously approached Leap in 2011 while it was pursuing a deal with T-Mobile. At that time, AT&T discussed the possibility of selling a piece of T-Mobile’s customer accounts to Leap. But the T-Mobile deal was later blocked by regulators.

Since then, analysts have wondered how AT&T would find a partner to help it grow and defend against increasing competition. In June, a Spanish newspaper reported that authorities had blocked a bid by AT&T for Telefónica, the Spanish carrier.

The deal for Leap is unlikely to solve AT&T’s challenges, said Craig Moffett, a telecommunications analyst who recently started his own firm.

“It does not really change the trajectory of AT&T or its deal making,” Mr. Moffett said. “There’s not much that AT&T can do anymore in the United States. The rest of the wireless business is probably off limits for regulatory reasons.”

But for Leap, the deal “puts them out of their misery,” Mr. Moffett said. “The only real question for Leap is whether AT&T is the best and final offer.”

Driving the urgency of the consolidation is the hunt for valuable spectrum. Under Friday’s deal, Leap shareholders will receive a contingent right to net proceeds from the sale of spectrum in Chicago that Leap bought for $204 million in 2012.

If the deal goes through, Cricket customers will get access to AT&T’s 4G mobile network, and AT&T will expand Cricket’s reach. For AT&T, the deal will give it access to the prepaid market.

“The combined company will have the financial resources, scale and spectrum to better compete with other major national providers for customers interested in low-cost prepaid service,” AT&T said in a release on Friday.

AT&T said that shareholders representing about 29.8 percent of Leap’s stock have agreed to support the transaction, which is subject to a review by regulators. AT&T expects the deal to close in the next six to nine months.

Evercore Partners advised AT&T.

Lazard and the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz advised Leap.

Michael J. de la Merced contributed reporting.

Gadgetwise Blog: Wireless Charging on the Go for the iPhone 5

The PowerSnap kit from Duracell includes the AccessCase and the SnapBattery.

Duracell wants to make sure you never have to beg for a phone charger or hunt for a power outlet again.

The copper-top battery maker recently introduced a charging case for the iPhone 5 that works with its Powermat, a charging station for mobile devices that was introduced in 2009.

The Powermat charges devices that are laid on it through inductive technology. Unfortunately, that technology has yet to be incorporated into Apple devices, so Duracell has come up with the PowerSnap Kit, which includes an AccessCase and a SnapBattery, both designed for the iPhone 5.

The case comes in two parts: the top snaps on the phone and the bottom includes a Lightning connector. They clip together, but a single unit would have been better. The case feels fragile, as if it would crack easily if the phone were dropped.

Once encased, the phone will charge when placed on a Powermat. A magnet ensures the phone is aligned properly; the mat chirps when the alignment is correct, and again when the phone is removed. I was able to fully charge my phone on the Powermat in two hours.

If a Powermat is not available, the SnapBattery is a capable backup. It attaches to the back of the AccessCase, adding a little bulk but also more protection. It was a little tricky to slide into place, but once it was there, it held firm. The battery can be charged on a Powermat or via a USB cable.

The PowerSnap Kit costs $100; it is available on Duracell’s e-commerce site and at other retailers. The Powermat is sold separately, but Duracell has partnerships with sporting arenas and airports to install Powermat stations that are free to use.

Duracell is also testing the Powermat in Starbucks locations in the Boston area. On a recent trip to Boston, I took the opportunity to check out the Powermat stations, which were inlaid in a long table inside a Starbucks. They worked remarkably well, even the one that was cracked, charging my phone the instant I laid it down.

Duracell is negotiating with wireless carriers to incorporate the technology inside smartphones, but it faces competition. Wireless charging stations could become as ubiquitous as Wi-Fi hot spots, but it remains to be seen whether Powermat will dominate.

Gadgetwise Blog: A Wireless Speaker That Offers More Listening Choices

The Minx Air 200 wireless speaker from Cambridge Audio.

The market for wireless speakers is quickly becoming saturated with products in every shape, size and color, but few device makers give consideration to the individual needs of listeners.

The high-end Minx Air 200 wireless speaker from Cambridge Audio, a London-based maker of home theater components, delivers big sound while allowing users to personalize their listening experience with features like bass control and presets for Internet radio.

The Minx Air 200, which Cambridge sells in-house for $600, streams music from a phone, tablet or computer through either AirPlay or Bluetooth; wireless speakers typically feature only one or the other. It has simple, modern design, but behind that are digital signal processing, a subwoofer and a 200-watt amplifier that can fill a large room with rich, clear sound.

The speaker can be controlled by buttons on the top, a remote control or an app, available for iOS and Android devices. The app allows you to fine-tune your preferences, like bass and EQ control and search settings. You can also use the app to select presets for Internet radio stations and set a timer to shut down the power.

Connecting to my home network via Wi-Fi was tricky, involving a lot of steps and some troubleshooting. Syncing via Bluetooth was far easier.

Once I had a connection, I streamed a selection of music from my personal collection and Pandora. The sound was intense and vibrant, so much so that I worried about disturbing my neighbor below me. I could not detect distortions at low or high volumes.

The Minx Air 200 is an impressive speaker, but it’s expensive and enormous, weighing more than 11 pounds. Its size can be prohibitive in a tiny space like my living room. Fortunately, Cambridge has smaller, cheaper offerings worth considering, like the Minx Air 100 and the Minx Go.

Gadgetwise Blog: Tip of the Week: Getting Wireless Network Details

Want quick information about your computer’s wireless connection? Clicking the Wireless Network Connection icon in the Notification area of the Windows desktop taskbar opens a panel that shows the name of the current network. Passing the mouse cursor over the network’s name displays a ScreenTip listing the signal strength, type of encryption security and other details. A link at the bottom of the panel opens the Network and Sharing control panel for wireless-network management and settings.

Taskbar icons may vary from computer to computer as some manufacturers have their own network-management utilities in the taskbar, like Lenovo’s ThinkVantage Access Connections software, but the general Windows network settings are just a couple of clicks away from the Control Panel in the Start menu. The Network and Sharing control panel in most recent versions of Windows also has a link to a troubleshooting wizard for helping with network-connection problems.

On a Mac, you can see the type of security used, the wireless channel and other details by holding down the Option key on the keyboard and clicking the Wi-Fi icon in the Mac’s menu bar. The information is displayed under the network name.

The menu also contains a shortcut to the OS X Network Preferences for settings and help assistants. In recent versions of OS X, holding down the Option key while clicking the Wi-Fi icon also reveals the Mac’s Wi-Fi Diagnostics program for additional troubleshooting.

Bits Blog: Verizon Wireless Chief Sees Hope for New BlackBerry Phones

Jessica Rinaldi/Reuters Dan Mead, president and chief executive of Verizon Wireless.

BlackBerry’s phones have been off to a weak start in Canada, the home turf of the struggling handset maker. But the new BlackBerrys are getting a warm welcome from Verizon Wireless, the biggest American carrier.

Dan Mead, chief executive of Verizon Wireless, cheered on the new BlackBerry phones at an investor conference on Wednesday morning. He said Verizon Wireless customers are especially interested in the new BlackBerry phone that includes a physical keyboard, called the Q10 (the Q stands for “qwerty”), which has yet to be released on the Verizon network.

BlackBerry’s new touch-screen smartphone, the Z10, has already turned in strong sales for Verizon, according to a recent analysis.

“We think that there is an important place for BlackBerry,” Mr. Mead said at the Jefferies 2013 Global Technology Media and Telecom Conference. “We have a lot of BlackBerry customers on our network. There seems to be a hunger for the qwerty keyboard.”

Mr. Mead said BlackBerry added diversity to the handset market, which was good for the industry and for Verizon. Last quarter, 4 million of the 7.2 million smartphones sold by Verizon were iPhones.

Apple’s Rivals See an Edge in Using Wireless Accessories

Hotels outfitted guest rooms with alarm clocks containing a telltale wedge of 30 tiny pins that could play music from Apple’s devices and charge their batteries. Retail stores were thick with sound docks and other speaker systems meant to work with Apple gadgets.

But Apple’s iron grip on the digital accessories in hotel rooms, store shelves and living rooms is starting to slip — potentially risking the royalties it earns from accessory makers and, more significant, giving Apple customers more freedom to switch to rival products. That could be an issue for a company whose stock has been shaken in recent months as investors worry that the iPhone business is slowing.

Jeremy Horwitz, editor in chief of iLounge, a Web site devoted to Apple accessories, said Apple’s aggressive control over accessories for its products drove many makers to more open means of connecting devices, which helped feed the success of mobile devices made by other companies.

“At some point Apple’s obsession with having control over everything that is associated with its products may wind up biting it,” Mr. Horwitz said.

The Bluetooth standard for wireless connections has allowed accessory makers to build products that can work with many kinds of devices because they no longer have to worry about a physical hook. Other phone makers like Samsung and tablet-computing device makers like Amazon have become strong alternatives in the eyes of gadget shoppers.

And Apple itself provided an opening for competitors when it changed the way its phones connect to other devices, aggravating both its business partners and consumers.

Now accessory makers are eager, even obliged, to think beyond Apple.

“We’ve had to adapt to new technology, support more devices and meet the growing demands of consumers looking for accessories that can accommodate multiple devices,” said Ezra S. Ashkenazi, chief executive of iHome, one of the biggest makers of iPhone clock radios and other Apple audio accessories. This year, iHome is releasing more products with Bluetooth than ever before, he said.

Apple says it is fine with the wireless direction in which accessories are headed. “Apple provides users with the best wired and wireless connectivity options to work with the broadest range of accessories,” said Tom Neumayr, a spokesman for Apple. “As a result, iOS users have access to the world’s largest ecosystem of options and the most seamless integration with our products.”

Apple expected some grumbling from customers and partners last fall when it introduced in the iPhone 5 a new way for the mobile phone to connect to other devices. But its executives defended the connector, Lightning, because the new, smaller design allowed for slimmer phones and tablets.

While the 30-pin connector can be plugged into an old iPhone in only one way, a Lightning cable works even if it is flipped over.

Apple did not tell accessory makers about the change ahead of time, which is normal for a company known for its secrecy, but it was painful for many of its partners.

“You really don’t know where Apple is going to go next, if they’re going to change to something else down the road,” said Kyle Thompson, director of marketing for Cambridge SoundWorks. “They’ve made a lot of companies like us really nervous.”

That change frustrated partners whose customers had invested in products that used Apple’s old 30-pin connector. Those older devices are incompatible with the latest Apple products without an adapter that Apple sells for $29 to connect to the latest Apple products. Also, the new Lightning connectors are more expensive to license and manufacture than the old ones, electronics makers say.

“A lot of us were bitten pretty badly by the connector transition,” said Ian Geise, senior vice president for marketing and product development at Voxx Accessories Corporation, which makes audio products under RCA, Acoustic Research and other brand names.

Wireless Lifts Profit at Verizon

For Verizon, the top American phone carrier, prolonged success is good news in the telecommunications industry, a business that is adding customers more slowly now because most people who want a cellphone already have one.

Investors in the company are probably especially happy that even though Verizon has gradually raised prices of phone plans while eliminating unlimited data over the last few years, customers have been willing to spend more on their monthly bills.

“It’s just amazing that the average revenue per account keeps growing,” said Tero Kuittinen, a telecom analyst at Alekstra, a mobile diagnostics firm. He said it was impressive that Verizon continued to squeeze more money from each customer, because its newest subscribers were “low-quality” customers — budget-conscious people who held out for many years on buying smartphones.

In its earnings call, Verizon said net income in the first quarter rose 15.8 percent to $1.95 billion, or 68 cents a share, from the same quarter a year earlier, while revenue climbed 4.2 percent to $29.4 billion.

The company, based in New York, said its wireless business earned significant revenue because of strong sales of smartphones, as well as the popularity of its shared-data subscription plans, which are more expensive for individuals but can be cost-effective for families with multiple devices.

Total revenue for wireless was $19.5 billion, up 6.8 percent from last year. The company activated 7.2 million smartphones over the quarter, and its shared-data plans helped increase revenue per account to $150.27 a month, up 6.9 percent from last year. Four million of the smartphones sold were Apple’s iPhones.

Verizon also continues to expand its customer base, while its competitors have experienced a slowdown in subscriber additions. It added 677,000 contract subscribers, the most valuable type of customer, up 35 percent from last year.

“Through solid execution of our strategy, the wireless results speak for themselves,” Francis J. Shammo, chief financial officer of Verizon, said on the earnings call.

Gadgetwise: Wireless Stereo That Really Is Stereo

The ability to separate left and right speakers gives the Soundfreaq Sound Platform 2 true stereo sound.

The problem with most speaker docks is that the left and right speakers are inches apart in a single box, even fancy ones like the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin. They might as well be monaural. Not so the Soundfreaq Sound Platform 2. When you buy two of the wireless docks ($150 each) they recognize each other and become left and right speakers that can be separated by whatever distance Bluetooth and your room allow.

Each 13- by 5- by 7-inch cabinet houses a 40-watt amplifier and two 3-inch speakers, according to the manufacturer.

The setup instructions were understandable, requiring pressing of specific buttons for a specific time. That was all it took for the docks to link.

You can run the docks remotely using your phone and tablet with the Soundfreaq app, but I found the app a bit half-baked. You can advance and replay songs, pause and change volume, but you can’t choose any particular song from your playlist – just take what is offered, one song at a time (the company said an update will fix this). You can skip the Soundfreaq app and just use iTunes instead.

There were some glitches. The left and right speakers sometimes played at different volumes until I made a manual adjustment, for example.

The sound quality can be altered through a few settings. One called UQ3 is supposed to enhance stereo separation, although it sounded like a slight bass and treble boost to me. It also has a “warm” and “bright” setting. Overall sound was good, but if you aren’t living in a dorm it probably won’t be your primary hi-fi.

One other thing this dock manages that many others don’t is a prodigious volume level. Crank up a pair of these and prepare for complaints from the neighbors.

F.C.C. Has Yen for Broadway’s Wireless Spectrum

An hour before curtain at “Mamma Mia!” at the Winter Garden Theater on Broadway, Craig Cassidy, the head sound man, starts his nightly ritual of testing the wireless microphones that the performers wear hidden in their white spandex bell bottoms.

The run-throughs by Mr. Cassidy ensure that the microphones are transmitting on their assigned frequencies, a narrow sliver of the nation’s airwaves. The same process takes place every night at nearly four dozen other Broadway theaters, where an inadvertent twist of a dial can put a cordless microphone on the wrong frequency — wreaking havoc if it should send the harmonies of Abba in “Mamma Mia!” into the speakers of a performance of “Wicked” across the street.

“It’s quite a juggling act we have to perform in this area to coordinate the use of all of those microphones,” Mr. Cassidy said.

But Broadway producers are alarmed that this carefully balanced system is about to crumble. The Federal Communications Commission is considering plans to force the users of cordless microphones — not only Broadway producers but also megachurches and the National Football League — to move to a less desirable spot on the nation’s airwaves. The F.C.C., backed by Congress, hopes to auction most of those prime airwaves now used by singers, preachers and coaches to data-gobbling smartphone companies, potentially for billions of dollars.

“We’ve been doing this for years,” said Colin Ahearn, a sound assistant on “Mamma Mia!”

“We found out how to make it work. Then the government comes along and says, ‘Hey, we can make some money from it.’ That’s not right.”

The F.C.C. counters that the airwaves are public property and that theater owners have long gotten preferential access to the frequencies. The commission also points out that the first $7 billion raised by the auction is to build a nationwide public safety communications network, and that many members of Congress have urged the commission to sell everything it can to raise money to reduce the nation’s deficit.

Still, Broadway producers say that moving to a new spot on the airwaves, or spectrum, will compromise the sound quality of “Mamma Mia!” hits like “Dancing Queen,” and “The Name of the Game,” making the melodies less full and rich. They say a failure of a wireless intercom could endanger a performer or crew member and that they will be forced to buy expensive new equipment or risk having their transmissions overwhelmed by smartphones that use the same airwaves.

“It is easy for other users of the same spectrum to overpower wireless microphones,” the Broadway League said in comments filed at the F.C.C. That interference “could devastate the sound and stagecraft at major productions, potentially causing physical harm to actors and production workers, serious artistic and cultural losses and — considering the importance of live entertainment to the American economy — significant financial damage.”

The N.F.L. has also told the F.C.C. to back off, citing the need for the use of hundreds of wireless microphones at its games. “Despite N.F.L.’s best efforts to manage its wireless microphones on its increasingly scarce spectrum,” the football league wrote in a letter to the F.C.C., “N.F.L. has received numerous recent reports of wireless microphone interference during games, rendering coaches unable to communicate plays to their quarterbacks and referees unable to consult one another on calls.”

Wireless microphones are one of a number of consumer gadgets — including baby monitors, Wi-Fi routers, garage door openers, television remote controls and electronic car key fobs — that enjoy unlicensed access to the airwaves and which have contributed billions of dollars to the economy. The gadgets can operate without an F.C.C. license, unlike a cellphone company, which must buy a license to operate on a certain segment of the airwaves, or television broadcasters, which operate free on assigned public airwaves.

Wireless Charging Mat Could Work as an iPhone Dock Someday

Prior to a number of major leaks, there were rumors the iPhone 5 would be Apple's first device with NFC and inductive charging. Instead of an NFC chip for mobile payments, Apple made the Passbook app.

And instead of including inductive wireless charging, they built a better dock connector. As Apple's Phil Schiller told AllThingsD, "having another device you have to plug into the wall (i.e., a wireless charging station) is actually, for most situations, more complicated," than using a charging cable.

Schiller went on to promise Apple will continue to use the Lightning connector "for many years to come."

 

But a new patent application, dug up by Apple Insider, shows that Apple hasn't written off wireless charging at all. The company has been researching it (and possibly developing prototypes) while its executives belie its utility.

But Apple didn't invent inductive charging! you're probably thinking. How could they get a patent for it? Good question! Apple isn't actually seeking a patent for inductive charging; the application pertains to additional docking-station type functions for a wireless charging pad, based on how various devices are oriented on it.

 

So for example, placing your (future) iPhone face-down could both charge and sync it to iCloud, whereas placing it face-up could just charge it. Make room for a second iPhone or iPod Touch or compatible camera, throw NFC into the mix, and you could do all kinds of cool things.

Of course, patent applications don't necessarily indicate a company's intentions, so it's totally possible we'll never see Apple implement anything like this. And even if we do, that doesn't mean Lightning will go the way of the buffalo.

Does wireless charging make sense for the iPhone? Let us know in the comments.

Jon Fox is a Seattle hipster who loves polar bears and climbing trees. You can follow him on Twitter and IGN.

F.C.C. Backs Plan on Reclaiming Spectrum for a Wireless Auction

WASHINGTON — The government took a big step on Friday to aid the creation of new high-speed wireless Internet networks that could fuel the development of the next generation of smartphones and tablets, and devices that haven’t even been thought of yet.

The five-member Federal Communications Commission unanimously approved a sweeping, though preliminary, proposal to reclaim public airwaves now used for broadcast television and auction them off for use in wireless broadband networks, with a portion of the proceeds paid to the broadcasters.

The initiative, which the F.C.C. said would be the first in which any government would pay to reclaim public airwaves with the intention of selling them, would help satisfy what many industry experts say is booming demand for wireless Internet capacity.

Mobile broadband traffic will increase more than thirtyfold by 2015, the commission estimates. Without additional airwaves to handle the traffic, officials say, consumers will face more dropped calls, connection delays and slower downloads of data.

The F.C.C. will issue proposed rules for what it calls incentive auctions — the sale of airwaves that are voluntarily given up by broadcasters in exchange for a portion of the auction proceeds.

A proposal detailing the program will be released next week, officials said.

The commission will seek public comments over the coming months.

“In this flat, competitive world, capital and talent can flow anywhere,” Julius Genachowski, the F.C.C. chairman, said before the vote. “We’re in a global bandwidth race. It’s similar to the space race in that success will unleash waves of innovation that will go a long way toward determining who leads our global economy in the 21st century.”

The auctions are not expected until 2014, but commission officials and Congress have estimated that the process could generate $15 billion in proceeds. About $7 billion of that would be set aside to build a nationwide emergency communications network for public safety officials, a yet-unfulfilled recommendation of the 9/11 Commission.

The auction proposal received widespread acclaim from wireless companies, Internet trade groups and telecommunications experts — just about everyone, that is, except television broadcasters. Most broadcasters want to retain their airwaves, and they have disputed a brewing shortage of spectrum.

Industry lobbyists note that broadcasters gave up significant amounts of airwaves several years ago in the conversion of television signals to digital from analog format. That spectrum was auctioned in 2008, with no compensation to broadcasters, and industry officials grumble that many of the buyers of those airwaves have not used them yet.

Gordon H. Smith, a former Republican senator from Oregon who is president of the National Association of Broadcasters, said on Friday that he thought the high expectations for the auction “may be premised on the mistaken belief that broadcasting is an industry in decline.”

Some major broadcast groups, including CBS, which owns more than two dozen broadcast channels around the country, have said they do not intend to give up their broadcast spectrum.

But Mr. Genachowski said he believed there were many small broadcasters, particularly independent, individually owned stations in urban areas, whose low profit margins and lack of original programming made them more likely to give up spectrum in the auctions.

Also casting some wariness on the auction details were the commission’s two Republican members, who warned against making the auction rules so complicated that they exclude potential bidders, lessening the chances the auctions will raise enough money for the public safety network and other uses.

Robert M. McDowell, a Republican commissioner, said that the agency must remain open to public and industry recommendations about how best to structure the auctions and the movement of broadcasters to new places on the electromagnetic spectrum.

“In the past, regulatory efforts to over-engineer spectrum auctions have caused harmful, unintended consequences,” Mr. McDowell said.

The auction process will have three parts. In the first, the F.C.C. will conduct a reverse auction to determine which holders of broadcast television licenses will submit bids to voluntarily give up their spectrum rights in exchange for payment.

In addition to seeking the broadcasters that will give up their licenses and go off the air, the agency will also consider whether to allow alternatives, like agreeing to allow broadcasters to share spectrum with another station or to move from a UHF television channel to VHF, which occupies different spots on the dial.

A second portion of the process involves repacking — essentially moving and squeezing together the remaining airwaves so they occupy a smaller portion of the spectrum band, known as UHF. Once those bands of newly available spectrum are identified, they would be auctioned in the traditional format, going to the highest bidders.

Those three parts can be conducted either consecutively or concurrently, and the F.C.C. is seeking comment on that approach as well.

The F.C.C. also voted to begin a review of its mobile spectrum ownership policies, specifically whether it should revise its limits on how much spectrum any one wireless telecommunications company can own in a geographic area.

The F.C.C. now limits companies to holding no more than one-third of an area’s available airwaves. Big wireless companies have said those rules, put in place more than a decade ago, should be changed to allow bigger holdings by dominant carriers.

Smaller wireless companies, however, say the F.C.C. should keep limits while also changing its counting method to give greater weight to the most attractive spectrum bands, on which signals travel further and more easily through obstacles like buildings.

F.C.C. Considers New Spectrum Rules for Wireless Companies

Not so in the air across the continent, where the Federal Communications Commission has long set limits on how much of the airwaves one company can control.

Now, pushed by small and medium-size telecommunications companies, the government plans to begin setting new rules to govern how much of the airwaves, or spectrum, a single carrier can hold. A big goal for those small companies, which compete with the behemoths Verizon and AT&T, is a measure that would give greater importance to so-called beachfront spectrum.

Those are the highly sought-after airwaves that travel farther between antennas and pass more easily through buildings, making them especially attractive in urban areas where the largest, most profitable clusters of mobile device users congregate.

It may sound esoteric, but the issue is known to every cellphone user who has experienced a dropped call or a smartphone browser stuck endlessly loading a Web page. After years of limiting companies to no more than one-third of the available airwaves in a given territory, the F.C.C. on Friday will begin the rule-making process on whether new technologies require limits to be redrawn, recalibrated or perhaps removed.

The F.C.C.’s decision, which probably will not be final for about a year, will have broad effects on consumers and companies. It plays a part in another matter the agency is expected to consider on Friday: rules for auctioning off newly reclaimed airwaves.

In that effort, the commission is aiming to take back portions of the airwaves used by the military or by television broadcasters. It is offering cash incentives for companies to give up their spectrum. The airwaves would be auctioned, with a portion of the proceeds going back to the original private-sector license holders.

By giving more weight to the best-performing spectrum, the F.C.C.’s overall limits could increase competition by restricting the big companies from buying too much of the airwaves, said Matt Wood, policy director for Free Press, a consumer advocacy group. “It is not the sheer amounts that matter,” he said. “It is where it is located on the radio dial that makes certain spectrum more valuable to a wireless company’s business.”

Some wireless company executives disagree, saying that the fact that some airwaves can travel farther than others is meaningless in a large city like New York, where so many users are congregated that a company already has to put in extra towers to keep airwaves from being overloaded. Overloading, of course, results in dropped calls.

Nevertheless, the quest for new rules is being welcomed by large and small mobile phone companies alike, each looking for a competitive advantage. Public interest groups that often oppose the companies’ efforts to trade spectrum also favor changes.

“There are a lot of competing interests here,” said Walter G. D. Reed, a partner at Edwards Wildman Palmer in Providence, R.I., who has worked on telecommunications issues. And the F.C.C.’s challenge is how to allow companies like AT&T and Verizon expand their businesses while ensuring that smaller carriers do not get shut out.

Wireless industry executives say that they would welcome almost any new standards because that would remove the uncertainty cast by the agency’s past practice of weighing potential spectrum deals case by case.

“Spectrum policy in this country needs to be built on a full factual record and rational economic policy,” Joan Marsh, vice president for federal regulatory issues at AT&T, said in an interview. “Carriers need a clear and reliable understanding of when and under what circumstances spectrum acquisitions will be permitted, something we do not have today. This proceeding will provide the vehicle to meet both goals, and take spectrum policy out of merger-specific proceedings and place it in an industrywide rule-making, subject to judicial review.”

The F.C.C. staff has circulated its proposals to the five-member commission, but the agency would not discuss the possible outcomes before the Friday meeting.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: September 29, 2012

An article on Wednesday about the Federal Communications Commission’s consideration of new rules governing wireless airwaves, or spectrum, described incorrectly the groups to which the agency will offer cash incentives in exchange for their giving up portions of spectrum they control. The cash payments, which will come from the proceeds of public auctions of the spectrum, are available only to companies, mainly broadcasters, that give up spectrum — not to the military and other government agencies that currently control wireless airwaves. (The F.C.C. is also trying to secure spectrum controlled by the military and those federal agencies.)

F.C.C. Considers New Spectrum Rules for Wireless Companies

Not so in the air across the continent, where the Federal Communications Commission has long set limits on how much of the airwaves one company can control.

Now, pushed by small and medium-size telecommunications companies, the government plans to begin setting new rules to govern how much of the airwaves, or spectrum, a single carrier can hold. A big goal for those small companies, which compete with the behemoths Verizon and AT&T, is a measure that would give greater importance to so-called beachfront spectrum.

Those are the highly sought-after airwaves that travel farther between antennas and pass more easily through buildings, making them especially attractive in urban areas where the largest, most profitable clusters of mobile device users congregate.

It may sound esoteric, but the issue is known to every cellphone user who has experienced a dropped call or a smartphone browser stuck endlessly loading a Web page. After years of limiting companies to no more than one-third of the available airwaves in a given territory, the F.C.C. on Friday will begin the rule-making process on whether new technologies require limits to be redrawn, recalibrated or perhaps removed.

The F.C.C.’s decision, which probably will not be final for about a year, will have broad effects on consumers and companies. It plays a part in another matter the agency is expected to consider on Friday: rules for auctioning off newly reclaimed airwaves.

In that effort, the commission is aiming to take back portions of the airwaves used by the military or by television broadcasters, offering cash incentives for companies or other groups to give up their spectrum. Those airwaves would be auctioned, with a portion of the proceeds going back to the original license holder.

By giving more weight to the best-performing spectrum, the F.C.C.’s overall limits could increase competition by restricting the big companies from buying too much of the airwaves, said Matt Wood, policy director for Free Press, a consumer advocacy group. “It is not the sheer amounts that matter,” he said. “It is where it is located on the radio dial that makes certain spectrum more valuable to a wireless company’s business.”

Some wireless company executives disagree, saying that the fact that some airwaves can travel farther than others is meaningless in a large city like New York, where so many users are congregated that a company already has to put in extra towers to keep airwaves from being overloaded. Overloading, of course, results in dropped calls.

Nevertheless, the quest for new rules is being welcomed by large and small mobile phone companies alike, each looking for a competitive advantage. Public interest groups that often oppose the companies’ efforts to trade spectrum also favor changes.

“There are a lot of competing interests here,” said Walter G. D. Reed, a partner at Edwards Wildman Palmer in Providence, R.I., who has worked on telecommunications issues. And the F.C.C.’s challenge is how to allow companies like AT&T and Verizon expand their businesses while ensuring that smaller carriers do not get shut out.

Wireless industry executives say that they would welcome almost any new standards because that would remove the uncertainty cast by the agency’s past practice of weighing potential spectrum deals case by case.

“Spectrum policy in this country needs to be built on a full factual record and rational economic policy,” Joan Marsh, vice president for federal regulatory issues at AT&T, said in an interview. “Carriers need a clear and reliable understanding of when and under what circumstances spectrum acquisitions will be permitted, something we do not have today. This proceeding will provide the vehicle to meet both goals, and take spectrum policy out of merger-specific proceedings and place it in an industrywide rule-making, subject to judicial review.”

The F.C.C. staff has circulated its proposals to the five-member commission, but the agency would not discuss the possible outcomes before the Friday meeting.