Last week, we told you about how the new Sprint CEO was interested in making an Unlimited calling plan available to its customers. Well it would see Verizon has beat Sprint in offering such a plan because today they announced one.

For $99 dollars a month or $199 for a family plan, Verizon wireless users can enjoy unlimited calling and if the user wants unlimited data the price only jumps to $139 a month or $269 a month for a family plan. Top that Sprint!

http://estore.vzwshop.com/unlimited/

Today Samsung and Sprint announced the future availability of the Samsung Ace Smartphone. The Samsung Ace is a slim and compact smartphone running Windows Mobile 6.0.

The Samsung Ace will allow mobile professionals to communicate globally on CDMA and GSM/GPRS networks where Sprint has international roaming agreements. Sprint currently has roaming agreements in 180 countries.

“Mobile professionals and consumers alike need to stay connected wherever they are,” said Danny Bowman, vice president of customer equipment for Sprint. “The Samsung ACE combined with the benefits of SprintSpeed, competitive rates and expansive coverage through multiple technologies makes it one of the strongest Windows Mobile devices on the market today, a clear value for customers in the U.S. and just about anywhere else.”

In addition to its international capabilities, the Samsung Ace(TM) offers an impressive feature set, including:

-- Slim, light form factor with a full QWERTY keyboard - The
Samsung Ace(TM) measures 4.65” x 2.32” x 0.46” and weighs just
under four ounces

-- Large 2.3” TFT color display - perfect for viewing live and
on-demand channels available through Sprint TV, as well as
up-to-date information with On-Demand.

-- Slide Click Wheel - Experience easy navigation between a
multitude of applications

-- Stereo Bluetooth(R) Wireless Technology - Enjoy the
convenience and versatility of hands free communication by
pairing the Samsung Ace(TM) with headsets, car-kits and other
Bluetooth-enabled devices.

-- External Memory - The Samsung Ace(TM) supports up to 2GB
MicroSD card for storing music, videos and pictures.

-- 1.3 Megapixel Digital Camera and Camcorder - Capture quality
images with integrated digital camera and zoom. Shoot video
clips to share with family and friends.

-- View Documents - The Samsung ACE(TM) allows customers to view
documents and files on the phone with Microsoft Office Word,
Microsoft Office Excel and Microsoft Office PowerPoint.

The Samsung Ace will be available for $199 with a 2 year contract and $100 mail in rebate. The phone will hit Sprint stores in March.

Pictures coming soon.

If you have an Analog Cell Phone, then chances are tomorrow your phone will not work. Most Cell Service providers will be turning off their Analog signal for good tomorrow.

While most people already have Digital Cell Phones there still remain a few people with analog handsets, those people along with some OnStar users and some older alarm systems will not have any service.

The two biggest companies that will shut down their analog service is at&t wireless and Verizon wireless.

So if you have a really old cell phone and tomorrow your service does not work. This is probably why. Just call your cell phone provider to get a new phone.

In what is probably the saddest thing I have read as of late, a mentally disturbed man killed his very own daughter because she text messaged a boy.

The young girl who was 14 years old was visiting her farther Miguel Matias in New York, when apparently he snapped strangled her to death and dumped her in the woods inside a boiler after she texted a boy.

What I don’t understand is, how did this guy have joint custody of his daughter when he tried to kill her in the past? Yes he tried to kill her before by setting the car she was in on Fire.

Yesterday Starbucks announced that they will no longer provide T-Mobile hotspot service and instead switch to at&t.

Many T-Mobile Hotspot users even my self believed that meant we could no longer get free wi-fi at Starbucks, but today T-Mobile released the following statement.

“Today’s announcement regarding the Starbucks Wi-Fi operations will not impact T-Mobile HotSpot customers’ ability to use Wi-Fi services at Starbucks locations for years to come. In fact, the Wi-Fi network operations transition will not begin until later this year. Even after the transition, T-Mobile HotSpot and HotSpot@Home customers will continue to experience seamless Wi-Fi access at Starbucks locations for at least the next five years under a roaming agreement between T-Mobile USA and AT&T. There will be no additional charge for T-Mobile HotSpot and Hotspot @Home customers at Starbucks.

Research in Motion (RIM) has notified its customers of a major outage on the entire North American Continent. The outage started around noon eastern time and continues as of 7:40 PM EST.

RIM has not said when they expect the service to be back up but if previous outages are an indicator the service may be down for a day or two.

Sprint and AT&T told CNN that the outage started around 3:30 for them, however I have friends with Black Berrys and I was told by them that their service had been down since noon.

T-Mobile has upgraded its My T-Mobile user interface. They changed the way used minutes are displayed and even added your MyFaves to the home page.

Check the screen shot below. Sorry we don’t have one of what the old version looked like.

Today has been a busy Cell Phone industry news day, with Microsoft buying Danger, the new Windows Mobile SmartPhone from Sony Ericsson, an announcement that Starbucks is dropping T-Mobile for at&t and now we get word that the FCC has approved the purchase of Suncom by T-Mobile.

This will be a huge upgrade for Suncom customers who do not have access to a data network via their mobile phones, while t-mobile doesn’t offer the fastest broadband network it will be an upgrade for Sumcom customers in the US and Caribbean.

Check out the FCC ruling here (PDF doc).

Starting this Spring, Starbucks will drop T-Mobile as their wireless hotsport provider and will replace them with at&t/waypoint.

The price for the hotspot access will also change. Under T-Mobile access was 10 dollars for a day or 6 dollars an hour. Under at&t the price will change to 6 dollars per 2 hours, or you can get a monthly access plan for 20 dollars a month.

Starbucks Card holders can enjoy up to two hours of free Wi-Fi service per day at Starbucks locations offering Wi-Fi access, while more than 12 million qualifying AT&T broadband and AT&T U-verseSM Internet customers will have unlimited free access to the Wi-Fi service. In addition, more than 5 million of AT&T’s remote access services business customers will be able to access Wi-Fi service at Starbucks locations. AT&T will soon extend the benefits of Wi-Fi at Starbucks to its wireless customers.

I personally feel as my T-Mobile hotspot plan has just lost all of its value.

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse is thinking about offering a Flat Rate Unlimited calling plan. This would basically mean you could get unlimited calling anytime minutes.

If sprint does offer such a plan, would send shock waves throughout the industry and other companies are sure to follow.

Hesse said in a USA Today article that if Sprint can’t be different they cannot win.

Sprint definitely needs to do something, as their customer base has dwindled and the only good thing that came from the Nextel purchase was probably the rights to have the “Sprint” name plastered all over NASCAR events.

Sprints major competitors are adding 2 million new users each quarter, while sprint has lost close to 800,000.

Little note, no word on pricing for the Unlimited Calling Plan as of yet and Sprint says it is just a thought and they have not signed off on it yet.