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.”

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.

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.

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.

Qwest’s 12Mbps offering, for comparison, carries a regular price of $69.99 per month, about 34% more expensive than Comcast’s comparable plan. To be fair, you can lock in 12-Mbps Qwest service at $56.99 per month if you sign a two year contract. You also get $5 off of your monthly internet service if you have a landline through Qwest.

According to the Star Tribune, “The higher speeds are made possible by installing fiber-optic lines as far as Qwest’s neighborhood ‘nodes.’ Qwest can’t afford to run fiber-optic lines all the way to customers’ homes, so copper wire handles the last part of the trip.” Classy.

I tried both Qwest and Comcast when I lived in Minneapolis. I went with Qwest’s basic $34.99 per month plan (1.5Mbps) to try to save a little money but after taxes and modem rental and all that stuff, I was still paying $50 per month. And it was slooooow.

It’s really the lesser of two evils here. Comcast charges up the wazoo for internet service, but at least it’s pretty fast. Paying over $100 per month for 20Mbps DSL seems downright ludicrous, though. I’m really interested to see what happens to DSL providers once WiMax starts rolling out everywhere.

Thanks to windexh8er for the tip.

Qwest users can now get some decent wireless Internet on the go. Using Sprint’s EV-DO Revision A network, Qwest is offering users over-priced wireless mobile broadband plans. For $69.99, you can get a paltry 500MB of data a month. According to the report, Qwest will offer a 600MB plan and an unlimited plan as well, which makes no sense considering that 500MB and 600MB aren’t that far apart in terms of data transferred.

If you’re currently using Qwest for home broadband and telephone service, you’re eligible for a $20 discount on the mobile broadband service. Why you’d even bother with Qwest when Verizon and Sprint both offer cheaper, equal services is beyond me, but hey, to each his own.

Qwest Adds Mobile Broadband to Its Offering [Phone Scoop]

We may block access to certain categories of numbers (e.g. 976, 900 and certain international destinations) or certain web sites if, in our sole discretion, we are experiencing excessive billing, collection, fraud problems or other misuse of our network.

AT&T spokesperson Mark Siegel said the company is blocking “certain numbers” for conferecing services, including FreeConferece.com’s, an action it feels appropriate under its wireless terms of service agreements. AT&T’s wireless service, he said, is for calls “between one person and another person, not between one person and many.”

The whole arbitrage scheme is pretty creepy, but until the laws and FCC regulations are changed, these services have a right to exist. Is this not capitalism? Are we not free?

Cingular, Qwest blocking ‘Free’ Calls [GigaOm]