Vonage on Wednesday unveiled a new mobile app for the iPhone and Android smartphones that affords free calling and messaging along with cheap international calling rates. Vonage Mobile allows users to make free “high-definition” voice over IP calls among each other over Wi-Fi, 3G or 4G data connections, and low-cost calls can also be placed through the app to any landline or cell phone globally. The New Jersey-based Telco says its international calling rates are 70% lower than rates from major ca...

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has fined Nokia for sending spam-filled text messages to its customers. Nokia had been sending messages with tips on how customers could take advantage of their phones’ features, Reuters said Tuesday, but the government agreed Nokia should allow its customers to opt out of receiving the messages. ”Some businesses are still not getting SMS marketing right,” Australian Communications and Media Authority chairman Richard Bean told Reuters. &#...

The most popular and successful multi-device communication platform is without question WhatsApp. More of a text messaging replacement than straight BlackBerry Messenger competitor, WhatsApp has been the number one service people rely on to communicate across iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone devices. We were sent a preview copy of the new version of WhatsApp for BlackBerry smartphones, our exclusive first look is after the break. (more…)

Tero Kuittinen, a senior analyst for MGI Research recently wrote a column for Forbes in which he noted that text messaging rates are declining in several countries around the globe. The Finnish wireless carrier Sonera, for example, noticed that the number of text messages sent on Christmas Eve 2011 dropped to 8.5 million messages from 10.9 million messages that were sent on the same night a year prior. The decline in text messaging was also recognized in Hong Kong, where it fell off as much as 14%. While sen...

Microsoft is reportedly testing a fix to a Windows Phone SMS security hole that was first discovered by Khaled Salameh earlier this month. “[Microsoft's] Security Team contacted me today, they’ve confirmed the WP7 SMS Bug and found the root cause, a fix is currently under testing,” Salameh tweeted on Wednesday. Here’s how the bug worked: one user could send a text message with a specific string of characters to a Windows Phone device that would automatically reboot the phone and then ...

Microsoft employee Ben Rudolph recently tweeted that any Android phone owner who has a device infected with malware can tweet his or her story with the hashtag #windowsphone upgrade for a chance to win a free Windows Phone. That sounds like an attractive promotion, especially given Microsoft’s fresh batch of powerful and solid Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) devices. Google has reportedly pulled more than 100 malware applications from the Android Market but Microsoft isn’t exactly an anti-malware poster...

AT&T will stop offering its 1,000 text message package on August 21st and will instead only offer customers a $20 individual unlimited option and a $30 family unlimited plan, Engadget reported on Wednesday. The carrier’s official statement, provided to BGR via email, is as follows:Starting August 21, we’re streamlining our text messaging plans for new customers and will offer an unlimited plan for individuals for $20 per month and an unlimited plan for families of up to five lines for $30 per ...

T-Mobile giveth, and T-Mobile taketh away. News coming down from T-Mobile enthusiast blog TmoNews suggests that the apple of AT&T’s eye has decided to cancel its “Even More Plus” plan, which never even got off the ground. T-Mobile intended to launch two promotional unlimited plans this week — Even More and Even More Plus — but the Plus plan was apparently cancelled with no explanation. T-Mobile has informed retail locations that they should not offer the plan to customers even if it ...

T-Mobile on Tuesday announced the addition of two new unlimited plans to its portfolio. Dubbed “Even More” and “Even More Plus,” both plans afford subscribers with unlimited nationwide voice calling, unlimited messaging and unlimited data. Both plans also include 2GB soft caps, so customers who go over 2GB in a single billing period will have their data speeds reduced, or throttled, until the next billing period begins. T-Mobile says its 4G smartphone users average about 1GB of data ea...

Intel gathered by blog TmoNews suggests that T-Mobile’s HSPA+, 4G mobile hotspot will be released this Wednesday, April 13th. First seen at CTIA last month, the hostspot will provide connectivity for up to five Wi-Fi enabled device’s on the company’s wireless network. While we don’t know which HSPA+ radio the device will be packing — 21Mbps or 42Mbps — we do know that it will have a built-in VPN client and “optional SMS” support. We snapped a few images of the little, p...

AT&T has dropped its requirement that all customers purchasing “quick messaging devices” — or QMDs for short –  subscribe to an unlimited texting plan. According to Fierce Wireless, AT&T implemented the rule in January 2010 before quietly discontinuing it sometime in February of this year. The unlimited texting plan was priced at $20 per month, and while it’s no longer mandatory, AT&T does recommend that customers purchasing a messaging feature phone continue to sign up for ...

According to leaked internal documents, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless may soon offer new unlimited voice/text/web plans. One image, obtained by TmoNews, suggests that T-Mobile will quietly launch a new “Truly Unlimited Data + Talk + Text” option on April 13th that will retail for $79.99 per month. T-Mobile will supposedly not cap data for this plan, but will instead reduce data throughput speeds (throttle) after a user surpasses 2GB in a single billing cycle. Another image leaked by Droid-Life sug...

Viber, the popular iPhone application that allows for free calling to other Viber users, has been updated to version 2.0.1. After applying the update, Viber users will be able to send and receive free text messages to one another, complete with notifications. Viber has also been updated with a number of UI changes — the favorites have been moved, the calling mechanism has been improved and now shows the current state of any Viber call, and the application now has a deactivation feature. The update is availa...

Following on the heels of AT&T and Verizon Wireless today, MetroPCS has announced that its customers can send free text messages and place free phone calls to landlines in Japan. MetroPCS says the offer extends throughout the next 30 days, and that it will “support free calls to mobile numbers in Japan for a timeframe to be determined.” It’s unclear if that means calls to mobile numbers in Japan will be free for more than, or less than, 30 days. (more…)