Visa’s new partnership with Samsung to embed its PayWave technology directly into Samsung devices could help kick-start NFC-enabled payments around the world. But U.S. wireless subscribers may be left out of the frenzy. Bill Gadja, head of mobile for Visa, makes a payment with his Galaxy S III at the Olympics. Visa Samsung and Visa …

Owning a smartphone usually means being stuck in an expensive two-year contract, but Republic Wireless is offering an unlimited everything service that will cost you as little as $19 a month. Most smartphone services start at about $70 a month on one of the major carrier networks. Prepaid providers, like MetroPCS, offer similar unlimited everything deals for $50 a month. …

Mobile handset maker HTC has agreed to settle a complaint filed against it by the Federal Trade Commission accusing the company of failing to take “reasonable steps” to patch a security flaw in software running on its smartphones. As part of this settlement, HTC has agreed to patch handsets that were left vulnerable to the security risks. And the company …

AT&T is spending $780 million in cash to scoop up more wireless spectrum. The company announced Tuesday that it is buying the U.S. retail wireless operations of a carrier called Atlantic Tele-Network or ATNI. As part of the deal, AT&T will acquire wireless spectrum licenses, network assets, retail stores and approximately 585,000 subscribers. ATNI operates under the Alltel name in …

Some Verizon Wireless subscribers will do almost anything to keep their unlimited data plans. And that includes buying a new device at full price instead of signing a two-year contract and taking a sweet subsidy on that new phone. But what happens when a Verizon subscriber who bought a 3G iPhone realizes she may still see her unlimited data service …

Wi-Fi is quickly becoming a key part of almost every broadband providers’ network strategy. But is the day soon coming when Wi-Fi will no longer be free? That’s a big unanswered question as operators signal they’d like to get more value out of their Wi-Fi networks. According to a recent survey from Analysys Mason, on behalf of Amdocs, more wireless …

AT&T said today that it will allow any wireless customer with a tiered-data plan to use Apple’s FaceTime videoconferencing app over AT&T’s cellular network. Apple This is yet another change to AT&T’s policy for this app, which when it was first introduced on the iPhone 4 was restricted to Wi-Fi networks only. In Apple’s iOS 6 release of software, all …

eBay’s payment division PayPal will soon add deeper integration with retailers into its digital wallet that will result in a richer shopping experiences from consumers’ phones thanks in part to a new partnership with point of sale company NCR. PayPal’s iPhone app. PayPal The companies are teaming up to bring PayPal’s digital wallet app into stores that are already using …

Smartphones are hitting the mainstream market. And that means old and young want a piece of the action. But at more than $1,000 per year for service, a smartphone may not be the best choice for every consumer. In this edition of Ask Maggie, I help a reader decide if he should get his parents smartphones or if he should …

Remember that hard-hitting, fast-shooting, comic strip police detective Dick Tracy, who wore the wrist watch with a two-way radio? Now you can be like Dick Tracy too with your own smartwatch that lets you answer phone calls and keep track of how far you’ve walked. OK, I’ll admit I am far too young to remember when Dick Tracy sported his …