The deals on wireless service keep getting better, thanks to T-Mobile’s Uncarrier strategy. The smallest of the four major wireless carriers in the US, which last week unveiled a new promotional plan offering a family of four 10 gigabytes of data for $100 a month, has had an effect on the market. In fact, it …

Verizon Wireless CEO Daniel Mead at CTIA 2012. Lynn La/CNET Verizon Wireless CEO Daniel Mead says he was “very surprised” to receive a cutting letter from the FCC last week that accused the wireless giant of unfairly singling out its unlimited data customers as it expands a network management tactic it’s used since 2011. Mead defended his company’s policy in …

Unlocking a cell phone is officially legal again. On Friday, President Obama signed the “Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act” (S.517) into law. The new law repeals a 2012 decision by the Library of Congress that made cell phone unlocking a violation of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The DMCA, which prohibits Americans from “circumventing” technologies that protect …

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler addresses attendees at the 2014 Cable Show. CNET/Joan Solsman Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler, who has been skewered publicly for his handling of the Net neutrality rules rewrite, is showing he can stand up to big broadband companies he thinks are taking advantage of consumers. On Wednesday, he sent a letter to Verizon’s top wireless …

Mark Wilson, Getty Images Republicans and Democrats in Washington have finally found an issue they can rally around: making cell phone unlocking legal again. The big question is whether the new soon-to-be-law will actually do what politicians promise it will do, which is offer more consumer choices. On Friday, the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill that …

It’s taken a while, but it’s finally getting easier and more affordable to use your cell phone almost anywhere in the world. Network and device technologies have evolved, making it simple and cost-effective to pop a SIM card into almost any unlocked phone and get service, whether you’re an American traveling abroad or a foreigner visiting the States. In Europe, …

Consumers are one tiny step closer to being able to take their phones to another carrier when they switch service providers. Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday unanimously voted to approve a bill that will make it easier for consumers to unlock their cell phones. Once unlocked, wireless subscribers can then take those phones to a different wireless …

Google is the latest technology giant to make some noise about smartwatches and the broader realm of “wearable” technology. But is now the right time for consumers to jump on the bandwagon? During the Google’s opening keynote for its Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco this week, the company took the wraps off Android Wear, software that will power …

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse sits down with CNET in Chicago for an interview. CNET/Sarah Tew Consolidation in the wireless market could finally result in a third major wireless operator with the network footprint to finally rival AT&T and Verizon, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said in a CNET interview. Networks that offer loads of capacity and fast speeds are important when …

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse takes the stage at a media event in Chicago June 2014. CNET/Sarah Tew CHICAGO — Sprint is so confident that the hard work it’s put in over the past couple of years to improve its network is bearing fruit that it’s offering customers a 30-day money-back guarantee for trying the service. Sprint made this announcement and …