Wireless service

Need support for Google's Nexus One smartphone? You can finally call Google directly -- but you might not get all the answers you're looking for.

A month after launching its so-called "superphone," Google on Monday began offering a dedicated phone support line for Nexus One customers. Consumers can call 888-48NEXUS from 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. PST to speak with a live support operator, but they may get directed elsewhere.

Need support for Google's Nexus One smartphone? You can finally call Google directly -- but you might not get all the answers you're looking for.

A month after launching its so-called "superphone," Google on Monday began offering a dedicated phone support line for Nexus One customers. Consumers can call 888-48NEXUS from 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. PST to speak with a live support operator, but they may get directed elsewhere.

The Nexus One is proving somewhat controversial, and it may be even more challenging to market the device. Some analysts are even questioning whether people will buy the Google phone without the hands-on experience Apple offers to iPhone shoppers in its brick-and-mortar stores.

Regardless of the results of Operation Chokehold -- blogger Fake Steve Jobs' call to overwhelm AT&T's wireless network at Friday afternoon -- the point has been made, at least according to the site that spearheaded the effort. Reports on The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs blog and at the Operation Chokehold Facebook page reported some slowdowns, but they weren't overwhelming and couldn't be attributed to the protest.

Move over Apple and Research In Motion. Rivalry in the smartphone market has just heated up.

For a while it seemed the bloodiest battle in smartphones would be fought between Apple, maker of the iPhone, and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion. But an emerging alliance between Google and Verizon Wireless has the potential to create a potent alternative to the BlackBerry and iPhone in the U.S. smartphone market.

How many wireless carriers do we need? It's a question that's popping up again as T-Mobile USA is said to be looking at buying Sprint Nextel Corp.

Now that most people have a cell phone and once-heady growth in the industry is slowing, analysts say carriers are going to be looking at buying each other to increase their scale and to avoid competing too much on price. Consumers have been benefiting from relentless price-cutting on cell phone service in the past few years.

I would not want to have been an AT&T employee at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference. There were at least three moments when comments by Apple executives betrayed thinly veiled criticism of the phone company, leaving me to wonder about the state of the relationship between Apple and the exclusive U.S. iPhone provider.

Both companies say they're plenty happy with the alliance, and people at Apple familiar with the matter say the speakers didn't intend to poke fun at AT&T. Nevertheless, comments by Scott Forstall and Phil Schiller underscored potential areas of strain.

Expectations that AT&T will lower the cost of wireless service for Apple's iPhone are growing. A $20-a-month data plan with limited access is a possibility for the exclusive U.S. iPhone service provider.

AT&T's monthly plan for the iPhone is currently $69 plus taxes and fees and includes a $30 unlimited data plan. A comScore study found that 43 percent of current iPhone users have incomes above $100,000, so AT&T needs a lower price for it and Apple to grab a larger share of the smartphone market.

In a bid to win over Internet-savvy travelers, AirTran Airways this summer will become the first large U.S. airline to offer wireless Internet access on every flight nationwide.

AirTran plans to have all 136 of its Boeing 737 and 717 jets equipped with in-flight wireless service by late July, CEO Bob Fornaro said Monday.

For a fee, the Orlando-based, low-fare carrier will offer Wi-Fi for passengers' wireless-enabled laptops, smartphones and personal digital assistants. The airline plans to make the announcement today.

Sprint Nextel Corp., the nation's third-largest wireless service provider, on Monday reported a larger first-quarter loss on declining revenue and a charge for job cuts announced in January.

But its adjusted results narrowly beat estimates and its shares climbed 14 percent in morning trading.

Sprint continued to lose subscribers but far fewer than it did in the last three months of 2008. The improvement, however, reflected a sharp increase in prepaid customers while the number of subscribers who sign up for annual contracts and are more valuable to Sprint fell.