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FCC fines AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon nearly $200 million for illegally sharing location data

2024-04-29T15:43:49-04:00

The Federal Communications Commission is fining the largest US mobile carriers a combined nearly $200 million for allegedly illegally sharing customers' location data without their consent.

The FCC says it found the carriers "sold access to its customers' location information to 'aggregators,' who then resold access to such information to third-party location-based service providers." The agency says the carriers effectively "attempted to offload" their responsibility to get customers' consent to share their location data with "downstream recipients." Even after being made aware of the issue, the FCC claims, the carriers still failed to lim …

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The road to 5G: the biggest news on next-gen mobile networks

2025-12-10T18:00:28-05:00

Carriers around the world are preparing to move on from 4G LTE to 5G, the next era of mobile networking that promises ultra-fast data speeds and low latency between device and network. Consumers in the US can expect to start seeing 5G networks light up in 2019. All four major providers — Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint — have promised to make 5G a reality in the new year. Even before those networks are switched on, smartphones from Samsung, LG, and other 5G-capable devices have already been announced.

The evolution and standardization of 5G has been a long process, but the technology could lead to major advancements in numerous areas like the smart home, media consumption, augmented reality, self-driving cars, telemedicine, and more.

T-Mobile and Sprint: all the news about the merger

2025-01-22T07:58:53-05:00

After years of on-again, off-again discussions, T-Mobile and Sprint finally came to an agreement in April 2018 to merge into a single company. The ultimate product will be a much larger T-Mobile that rivals the size of its biggest two wireless competitors, Verizon and AT&T, and is led by existing T-Mobile CEO John Legere, while Sprint’s leadership takes seats on the board.

What will this mean for consumers and the wireless industry at large? Does the agreement stand a chance of clearing regulatory scrutiny? Follow along here for the latest news and analysis on the long-in-the-making merger.

AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile could avoid $200 million in fines thanks to FCC deadlock

2022-12-27T13:26:48-05:00

Mobile carriers, including AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, could temporarily avoid paying $200 million in privacy penalties because of the Federal Communications Commission's partisan split, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. Sources familiar with the situation told the WSJ that the FCC, which has two Democratic commissioners and two Republican ones, needs one more vote of approval to levy the fines, and both Republican members haven't voted yet.

Although Gigi Sohn, the person the Biden administration nominated to fill the FCC's empty seat over a year ago, could potentially provide the tie-breaking vote to fine the companies, …

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T-Mobile’s latest 5G coverage hails from the era of Sprint, 3G, and 4G

2022-12-13T16:56:45-05:00

T-Mobile is doing spectrum stuff again. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

T-Mobile has enjoyed an undeniable head start in 5G in the US, thanks to its lucrative Sprint deal, and it's turning some old spectrum around to pad out its lead. The company has deployed its 1,900MHz spectrum nationwide on its mid-band Ultra Capacity 5G network. The 1,900MHz band has a new lease on life after previously serving the now-defunct Sprint LTE and T-Mobile 3G networks.

T-Mobile used its 1,900MHz holdings in a past life to host 3G HSPA+ service while it built out an LTE network using 1,700MHz spectrum. This was also instrumental in making sure unlocked 3G iPhones could use T-Mobile's network - the 1,700MHz spectrum it relied on f …

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Sprint’s network has been officially retired

2022-07-01T15:17:16-04:00

The Sprint shutdown is fully underway. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The remnants of Sprint's network have been put out to pasture. As of yesterday, Sprint's LTE network has been retired by its new owner, T-Mobile. That's along with Sprint's 3G CDMA network, which was shut down earlier this year, and what remained of T-Mobile's own 3G network, which enters retirement today. T-Mobile spokesperson Justin Paulsen confirmed to The Verge that the network shutdowns are now underway.

It may come as a surprise that any part of Sprint's network was still operational so recently. In April 2020, T-Mobile officially took ownership of the company, including all of its spectrum and network towers, which would ultimately b …

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T-Mobile delays shutdown of Sprint 3G network

2021-10-25T13:46:36-04:00

T-Mobile has delayed its plans to shut down Sprint’s CDMA network | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

T-Mobile said it will delay its planned shutdown of Sprint's 3G network by three months to ensure its "partners" have time to help customers with the transition. It had originally planned to phase out the network in January; that date has now been pushed to March 31st, 2022.

"Recently it's become increasingly clear that some of those partners haven't followed through on their responsibility to help their customers through this shift," the company said in a statement. "So, we're stepping up on their behalf."

T-Mobile's statement doesn't mention it by name, but likely is referring to Dish Network. The two sides have tangled over T-Mobile's a …

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How to stop annoying robocalls on your iPhone or Android phone

2025-01-28T10:39:36-05:00

{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "HowTo", "name": "How to stop annoying robocalls on your iPhone or Android phone", "description": "So if you're as sick as I am of pulling a vibrating phone out of your pocket only to see a random, suspicious number, let's go over the options for fighting back and restoring some sense of peace.", "step": [ { "@type": "HowToSection", "position": "1", "name": "First, I'll review some definitions since the carriers make important distinctions between these calls", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": "1", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToTip", "position": "1", "text": "Robocallers: Automated, prerecorded phone messages\n" } ] }, { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": "2", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToTip", "position": "1", "text": "Spammers: Unwanted callers that may be calling indiscriminately to a large number of recipients; sometimes includes callers to whom you've given consent to contact you\n" } ] }, { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": "3", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToTip", "position": "1", "text": "Fraud calls: An entity likely pretending to be someone they're not with malicious intent\n" } ] } ] }, { "@type": "HowToSection", "position": "2", "name": "Block individual numbers one by one", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": "1", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToDirection", "position": "1", "text": "On iOS, just go to the Phone app, then your Recents, tap the blue information icon to the right of the number you want to block, and select \"Block this Caller.\"\n" } ] }, { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": "2", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToDirection", "position": "1", "text": "For Android, the process isn't much different: go to the Recents section of the Phone app, long press on the bothersome number, and choose \"Block.\"\n\n" } ] } ] }, { "@type": "HowToSection", "position": "3", "name": "Trust (or pay) your carrier to protect you", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": "1", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToTip", "position": "1", "text": "All of the major US carriers offer some level of spam blocking for free as part of your wireless plan." } ] }, { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": "2", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToTip", "position": "1", "text": "AT&T: Call Protect\nAvailable for free for all postpaid customers. $3.99 / month for the Plus version." } ] }, { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": "3", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToTip", "position": "1", "text": "T-Mobile: Scam Shield and Scam Block\nAvailable for free for all postpaid customers. $4 / month for Scam Shield Premium." } ] }, { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": "4", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToTip", "position": "1", "text": "Verizon Wireless: Call Filter\nAvailable free for all postpaid customers" } ] } ] }, { "@type": "HowToSection", "position": "4", "name": "Protect yourself with third-party apps", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": "1", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToTip", "position": "1", "text": "I'd recommend looking into each of these services to see which one you like best. All of them are largely well-reviewed by customers, and all offer free trials to get started. One of these will ultimately be what you need to really fight back against the robocalls. It's just a matter of finding your favorite." } ] }, { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": "2", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToTip", "position": "1", "text": "Nomorobo: 14-day free trial. After that, $1.99 / month. Free for landlines." } ] }, { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": "3", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToTip", "position": "1", "text": "RoboKiller: Free 7-day trial. After that, $4.99 / month or $39.99 / year\n" } ] }, { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": "4", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToTip", "position": "1", "text": "Hiya: Hiya partners with Samsung, AT&T, Spectrum Mobile, and others to provide their spam ID services." } ] } ] }, { "@type": "HowToSection", "position": "5", "name": "Depend on your mobile OS to protect you", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": "1", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToDirection", "position": "1", "text": "If you've got a Google Pixel device, the entire screen will turn red when a spammer rings you, which is an easy way of knowing to ignore the call if you're across the room from your phone." } ] }, { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": "2", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToDirection", "position": "1", "text": "On Pixel phones, you can also tap the three dots in the upper right corner of the Phone app and then go to Settings > Caller ID & spam; you can then see spam IDs and filter spam calls. " } ] }, { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": "3", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToDirection", "position": "1", "text": "iOS 13 introduced its own app called Silence Unknown Callers, which blocks any callers that aren't in your contact list, haven't been in contact with, or haven't texted. Instead, those calls will go straight to voicemail. You can enable it by selecting Settings > Phone > Silence Unknown Callers." } ] } ] }, { "@type": "HowToSection", "position": "6", "name": "Use Do Not Disturb to only allow calls from your contacts", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": "1", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToDirection", "position": "1", "text": "On both Android and iOS, you can set each operating system's Do Not Disturb mode to allow phone calls from only those people and businesses in your contacts list." }, { "@type": "HowToTip", "position": "2", "text": "This is a pretty drastic, sledgehammer solution to the problem of robocalls, and you're almost certain to miss calls that you would've liked to have answered. But those calls will go through to voicemail, and then you can add that number to your contacts for the future. I'd still only recommend this option if you're completely fed up, and only if you're very good and meticulous about keeping contacts up to date." } ] } ] }, { "@type": "HowToSection", "position": "7", "name": "Don't forget to add yourself to the Do Not Call Registry", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": "1", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToDirection", "position": "1", "text": "You can add yourself to the list by visiting www.donotcall.gov." }, { "@type": "HowToTip", "position": "2", "text": "The FTC says to allow 31 days for legitimate telemarketer sales calls to stop. Once you've signed up, your presence on the Do Not Call Registry never lapses or expires, contrary to some recent rumors. " } ] } ] }, { "@type": "HowToSection", "position": "8", "name": "Never let the robots know you're a real human", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": "1", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToTip", "position": "1", "text": "Don't say anything. Don't push buttons — even if the robotic voice says doing so will prevent further calls. Put no faith or trust in the robot voice. Either just let it go through to voicemail or hang up immediately if you mistakenly picked up." } ] } ] }, { "@type": "HowToSection", "position": "9", "name": "Complain to the FTC", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToStep", "position": "1", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "HowToDirection", "position": "1", "text": "When all else fails and you’re consumed by despair and anger over the never-ending interruptions, you can always report callers to the FTC. They’re not going to pursue every individual complaint, but it’s certainly important to keep the commission aware of the magnitude of this problem. And as I said earlier, sometimes the FTC does actually take down some of these scammers. " } ] } ] } ] }

Mobile spam calls have been a nuisance for years. I get between four and six robocalls daily, and a quick survey of friends shows that I'm not alone. Every waking day brings with it a new barrage.

Robocallers have upped their game by masking their spam with local, genuine-looking phone numbers. Sometimes their nonsense is amusing - like when you get a threatening voicemail about your impending arrest over owed back taxes - but the vast majority of the time, it's an unwelcome distraction. It's all too easy for these scammers to wield the power of the internet and fire off countless calls with ease. And once even just a few people fall for a …

Read the full story at The Verge.

T-Mobile confirms it will shut down Sprint’s LTE network next year

2021-08-03T19:51:11-04:00

T-Mobile has wasted no time consolidating Sprint’s network and spectrum with its own. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

As reported by Light Reading and confirmed to The Verge, T-Mobile has committed to a June 30, 2022 shutdown date for Sprint's LTE network. It's an expected move as T-Mobile continues to absorb Sprint's network and customers into its own base, and comes six months after its contentious planned January 1, 2022 shutdown of Sprint's 3G CDMA network.

A third of Sprint customers have already been moved onto the T-Mobile network, according to T-Mobile. The company expects to be able to migrate the remaining two thirds by that mid-2022 deadline, according to CFO Peter Osvaldik's remarks at an investor conference last month. Some of those customers …

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T-Mobile will pay $200 million to settle FCC investigation into misuse of phone subsidies

2020-11-04T12:19:28-05:00

T-Mobile will pay $200 million to end an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission into misuse of funds from its low-income phone and internet subsidy program. The commission says the payment represents the "largest fixed-amount settlement" it's ever secured to resolve an investigation.

The subsidy issues stem from Sprint before the company was acquired by T-Mobile. The commission says that more than 1 million Sprint customers on subsidized plans should have had their service cut off for non-usage. Instead, Sprint continued collecting subsidies for service it wasn't providing for "an extended period of time." Service providers …

Read the full story at The Verge.