Qwest

Qwest begins offering Verizon Wireless services

by Teresa von Fuchs on July 30, 2008

Qwest and Verizon made it official: as of now, Qwest will be reselling Verizon Wireless phones and service to its residential and business customers.

Qwest announced plans earlier this year to dump Sprint Nextel, saying that it was exploring other partnership options. As part of today’s announcement Qwest said its current wireless customers (who use handsets and service from Sprint) will be “notified directly about all Verizon Wireless plans and handset options,” but are “not required to do anything at this time.”

Senate approves new spying bill

by Teresa von Fuchs on July 10, 2008

Thank your Senators, a new wiretapping bill passed yesterday, 69 to 28. The new bill not only protects phone companies from having to admit or apologize about allowing the government to listen in on calls and net communications in the post September 11, war on terror, warrantless wiretapping program, but it also expanded the government’s surveillance abilities going forward.

At least the new bill, an update the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, ‘clarifies’ surveillance protocols, depending on communications medium and where you are calling/e-mailing/texting/IMing/telegraphing from. While it ups the government’s access to foreign terrorism suspects’ communications, it requires the government get a warrant before listening in on any U.S. citizen, here or abroad.

One sticking point for the last 2 plus years has been the immunity portion, for phone companies and ISPs who may or may not have participated in the NSA’s early warrantless program. Verizon, Qwest, AT&T and others are facing multiple suits claiming they invaded customer’s privacy by allowing snoops access to their calls and e-correspondence. But now they may be off the hook.

One of the 69 votes in favor of the bill was Illinois Senator and Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama, who opposed the immunity clause in early versions of the bill. Republican Presidential nominee John McCain’s campaign pointed its finger at Obama saying he flip-flopped on “campaign commitments.” McCain was not present to vote.

See more details in the New York Times.

Qwest dumps Sprint in favor of Verizon for cell service

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by Doug Aamoth on May 6, 2008

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For the three of you that get your cell phone service through Qwest, it seems that the sun is slowly setting on its relationship with Sprint. Qwest has found a new beau in Verizon Wireless and starting next February, “Customers will have access to the full line of Verizon phones and devices, PC cards and multimedia services, and even be able to choose a ‘wireless only’ option,” according to mocoNews.net.

The existing Sprint/Qwest agreement is of the MVNO variety and handset options are pretty limited, whereas the Verizon deal sounds like it’ll basically be Qwest saying, “Hey, you want wireless with your landline service? Use Verizon and we’ll get a kickback.” You’ll apparently be able to choose to get a separate bill from Verizon or get everything on one bill from Qwest. Qwest offers a similar option for TV service in certain areas that’s pretty much like a referral to DirecTV. Same idea here with Verizon.

Qwest to see how many suckers live in Minneapolis

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by Doug Aamoth on April 25, 2008

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Looking to put a nail in its own coffin, Qwest is now offering 20Mbps DSL service in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area for $119.99 per month ($109.99 per month for the first year) in order to compete with Comcast’s high speed internet service, which offers speeds of up to 12, 16, or 50Mbps for $42.95, $52.95, or $152.95, respectively.