Wireless

Behind rows of cell phone chargers and Bluetooth headsets at a kiosk in Boston's Shops at the Prudential Center, Evan Silbert is quietly loosening the grip that major telecommunications companies have on the cell phone. At his Warlox Wireless booth, Silbert unlocks customers' Razrs, BlackBerrys, Treos and other devices that start out tied to a single carrier so that, for example, a phone originally purchased through T-Mobile will work on a new AT&T account. He also uses software that can reveal menus or intrinsic capabilities that have been shut off by the carriers.

Harford County officials announced yesterday that the Americom Group will open a regional manufacturing and service center in Edgewood.The Americom Wireless Handset Processing Centers Inc. is scheduled to begin occupying a new 33,500-square-foot facility in Lakeside Business Park on July 1. Tom Sadowski, director of Harford's Office of Economic Development, said the company will bring 150 high-technology jobs to the county."

SAN DIEGO -- Shares of Qualcomm Inc., the best performer in the Standard & Poor's 500 index this year, surged $156 yesterday after PaineWebber Inc. analyst Walter Piecyk said he expects the stock to double within a year.Qualcomm, which developed the world's fastest-growing cell- phone technology, rose 31 percent to $659. The stock of the San Diego-based company has surged more than 25-fold this year.The company developed the code division multiple access, or CDMA, technology used by the wireless units of Bell Atlantic Corp.

NEW YORK -- Bell Atlantic Corp., the No. 1 U.S. local phone company, is in talks to acquire AirTouch Communications Inc., the nation's second-largest wireless phone company, for $45 billion in stock, CNBC reported yesterday, citing people close to the negotiations.The acquisition, which may be announced as early as next week, would be the eighth-largest acquisition of all time. The price would represent a premium of 10 percent to 15 percent above AirTouch's stock price, which touched a record $75 a share yesterday, CNBC said.

As a busy executive running her own television and film production company, Joelle Norwood rarely has the time for chatting at length with an investment broker about her portfolio and the stock market.But three times a day she's alerted to the trading price of three stocks she likes via a powerful two-way pager device. If she desires, Norwood can execute buy or sell orders through the device, which features a small screen and keyboard. Her brokerage, Peremel & Co. in Pikesville, began offering the Bell South devices, RIM Interactive Pagers, to customers in August.

NEW YORK -- Bell Atlantic Corp., the No. 1 U.S. local phone company, is in talks to acquire AirTouch Communications Inc., the nation's second-largest wireless phone company, for $45 billion in stock, CNBC reported yesterday, citing people close to the negotiations.The acquisition, which may be announced as early as next week, would be the eighth-largest acquisition of all time. The price would represent a premium of 10 percent to 15 percent above AirTouch's stock price, which touched a record $75 a share yesterday, CNBC said.

SAN FRANCISCO -- AirTouch Communications Inc. struck a new agreement yesterday to buy U S West Media Group Inc.'s U.S. wireless telephone business for $5.7 billion in stock and assumed debt, after an earlier transaction failed when Congress closed a tax loophole.In a $5 billion accord reached in April, U S West was going to spin off all of its assets other than the wireless business and then sell the unit to AirTouch -- a now-banned move aimed at avoiding taxes. Now, U S West Media won't have to pay taxes until it disposes of the stock it will get from AirTouch.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Alltel Corp. agreed yesterday to buy 360 Communications Co. for $5.89 billion in stock and assumed debt to expand its wireless phone business in the Southeastern United States.Alltel will swap 0.74 share for each share of Chicago-based 360 Communications, the wireless company spun off from Sprint Corp. two years ago. Holders of 360 will get $33.21 a share based on Friday's closing price.Companies in the $200 billion-a-year U.S. phone industry are teaming up to lure customers with a range of products.

The Federal Communications Commission has announced that it will temporarily stop collecting payments on more than $10 billion worth of wireless communications licenses sold at auction last year, raising doubts about the government's most favored new method for pouring money into the Treasury.The decision by the FCC, which has championed the concept of selling the public airwaves to the highest bidder, comes in the same week that one of last year's largest bidders filed for bankruptcy and others are reportedly in danger of default.

A new way to send messages to wireless telephone users through the Internet was introduced yesterday when AT&T Wireless Services launched its new Digital Personal Communication Service in the greater Baltimore and Washington metropolitan areas."

Back in prehistory, say the early 1990s, those devices we today call cell phones were more commonly called car phones. The nation's cellular phone network was designed around the premise that the devices would be used largely to keep busy workers in touch with the office even while they were on the road. The towers that make wireless phone communication possible were built along interstates and designed so one cell could hand off a call to another when the caller was driving by at 60 mph or more.

A proposal to allow prison officials to jam the signals of cell phones used illegally by inmates is about preventing crimes and saving lives. Public safety officials in Maryland and elsewhere say such technology would allow them to stop illegal phone calls at the source and save the manpower used now to search for cell phones that have been smuggled into prisons and jails. But the wireless industry has thrown up its own barrier, opposing federal legislation that would permit the jamming.

Even when his cell phone offered no bars during a storm last week and he had no other way to get a dial tone, Carlton Smith did not second-guess his 21st-century decision to cancel traditional landline phone service in his house. Smith was one of the many victims of a service outage that affected AT&T Wireless customers across the Midwest Dec. 28. The 35-year-old father of two called the experience frustrating, and he was disappointed in how AT&T handled the outage. But he wasn't worried.

When she moved to Baltimore to work at the Johns Hopkins University, Ivy Greene discovered a problem: She couldn't get cell phone reception in her Mount Vernon apartment. But when she tried to switch carriers, it cost her $150 - the price of freedom from a contract that came with a hefty early termination fee. "It's just ridiculous," said Greene, 31. Cancellation penalties have long been a frustrating and confusing "gotcha" for cell phone subscribers. The chorus of complaints is likely to swell again today as Apple's long-awaited iPhone 3G goes on sale and thousands of potential customers learn how much it will cost them to switch from their carriers to AT&T, the only company that services the popular Apple handset.

Smith Micro Software Inc. Shares rose 96 cents to $8.67. The wireless communications software maker will buy PCTEL Inc.'s cell phone and wireless Internet software unit for $59.7 million in cash.

Investors who bought into the telecommunications explosion are smiling: The sector continues to provide volatile yet superior stock results. Wireless technology continues to envelop the world, as consumers in mature and developing markets alike are becoming hooked on mobile data and entertainment at their fingertips. Consolidation has further helped to drive up telecommunications stock prices. The pending $27 billion buyout of Alltel Corp. by TPG Capital and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners is a prominent example.

We have two grown sons, ages 27 and 24. Both are gainfully employed, live in respectable apartments and have cell phones. Although both can afford one, neither has seen any reason to install a landline. This has its advantages. For example, we don't have to think about whether they're at home before we call. And at home is someplace they're usually not. On the other hand, a call answered doesn't necessarily mean a call completed. "Sorry Dad, I'm just headed down into the subway and GRRcHH*3!

Behind rows of cell phone chargers and Bluetooth headsets at a kiosk in Boston's Shops at the Prudential Center, Evan Silbert is quietly loosening the grip that major telecommunications companies have on the cell phone. At his Warlox Wireless booth, Silbert unlocks customers' Razrs, BlackBerrys, Treos and other devices that start out tied to a single carrier so that, for example, a phone originally purchased through T-Mobile will work on a new AT&T account. He also uses software that can reveal menus or intrinsic capabilities that have been shut off by the carriers.

Tech-minded consumers have an advantage for spending their telecommunications dollars smarter. If you know what you're doing with technology and know what to look for, you can save plenty of money. Here are developments that could save you telecom dollars: Text messaging. Texting refers to typing a short message on your wireless phone with the number keys and sending it to someone else's phone. It's the wireless version of instant messaging services on computers. About 12.5 billion text messages were sent in June 2006, up 71 percent from the same month the previous year, according to wireless industry association CTIA.

I work on an IBM PC, and my husband works on a Dell laptop via a wireless Internet connection. Both use a Linksys 2.4 gHz (802.11b) wireless broadband router for Web access. We connect to the Internet via a cable modem, and our Internet service provider is AOL. He has gotten messages that his signal strength is going from good to low to excellent to low, all in a matter of seconds. He is unable to connect to his office e-mail server, download files or navigate through AOL when this is happening.