Trials in Boston and Seattle indicate the network is capable of peak download speeds of 40 to 50 megabits per second (Mbps) and peak upload speeds of 20 to 25 Mbps. The speeds are significantly faster than Verizon Wireless and other wireless providers’ current or promised 3G network speeds.

Verizon Wireless has been testing its forthcoming 4G LTE network in both Boston and Seattle since August.

Successful data calls involved streaming video; file uploads and downloads, and Web browsing, as well as calls with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to enable voice transmissions over the LTE network. Verizon Wireless engineers report LTE average data rates of 5 to 12 Mbps on the downlink and 2 to 5 Mbps on the uplink in real-world environments and will offer Verizon Wireless customers mobile browsing speeds comparable to customers’ current, typical online Internet experience.

“Our LTE rollout plan positions Verizon Wireless to be a global leader in 4G LTE deployment. We are on track to deliver an outstanding wireless data experience to customers in 25 to 30 markets covering roughly 100 million people by year’s end,” said Tony Melone, senior vice president and chief technical officer at Verizon Wireless.

“As device makers, manufacturers and others around the world begin to introduce newer and faster products to take advantage of these incredible new speeds, Verizon Wireless will be positioned to offer our customers new and exciting products on the nation’s first 4G LTE network.”

By leveraging its 700 MHz spectrum for LTE deployment in the U.S., Verizon Wireless is capable of quickly deploying a high-quality wireless broadband network with excellent coverage and in-building penetration. Verizon Wireless is currently installing LTE equipment at existing cell sites and switching centers around the U.S. as part of its extensive, ongoing investment in its voice and data network infrastructure.

Visit www.verizonwireless.com/lte for more information about Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network.

Today, the inappropriate disposal of electronics has become a global epidemic. Computers, cell phones, and other electronics contain a high concentration of dangerous toxins. Spiritel Wireless has a strict ‘no landfill’ policy and only uses federally regulated and certified e-scrappers who demanufacture the devices to reusable parts and commodities. If your retired technology is discovered in landfills and traced back to your company you run the risk of multiple sanctions and fines.

If you would like a free analysis of your existing electronic inventory, please visit us online at www.spiritelwireless.com. We provide real-time quotes offering you the highest value for your unused electronic devices. Take a green approach when it comes to unused equipment and use our Enterprise Buy Back program.

AOTMP Releases Benchmarking Report on Total Cost of Wireless Mobility Management.

When you request insurance from your cell phone carrier, they typically charge you around $8 per month every single month for the life of the contract. Oh, and don’t forget to read the fine print because there are a ton of restrictions and conditions in order to file a claim. So if you sign a 2 year agreement, the total cost of the insurance plan is around $190. You will pay the $190 over 2 years regardless of any claims or repairs.

So, your number one saleperson is walking to the car having a conversation with mom while texting her boy friend and she slips on a banana, drops the phone and the screen cracks. The broken phone needs repair pronto but the phone is out of warranty. You need to file a claim with the insurance carrier and send the phone in for repair. The customer service rep informs you of the $89 deductible fee in order to send out a replacement. And by the way, it will take a few days for the phone to arrive. What the insurance company is sending out is a fully refurbished phone that is not “brand-new” but “like-new.”

With just one claim in 2 years you will have to pay around $280. What if I told you that you can get the same level of service and support without having to pay $8 per month for insurance? Ditching the handset insurance would help save BIG money, especially for companies with hundreds of smartphones. If your company has 100 phones with insurance, you are looking at a savings of approximately $9,600 each year.

With Spiritel, you get the same fully refurbished phone for less along with a personal account manager. Spiritel offers a repair contract for smartphones that is reasonable and cost effective. Spiritel fully refurbishes your phone with original manufacturer parts and completes the repair within 24-48 hours. Our certified technicians run a complete diagnostic service on the phone and are able to fix just about anything. Spiritel repairs all of the popular cell phone brands; including, Blackberry, Motorola, HTC, and iPhone.

The real surprise is that you are drastically overpaying every single month! If we do the math, then we can illustrate HUGE monthly savings just by switching users over to plans that fit their usage profile. If you have 100 mobile broadband users, then you probably pay about $60 per month on the low end for unlimited usage. So if we assume $60 per month for unlimited and there are 100 employees, the monthly mobile broadband bill will be $6,000.

Let’s say that out of the 100 employees, only 10 need an unlimited plan and 80 can  go with a 5GB plan. The remaining 10 can go with a pay as you go plan otherwise known as pay by the megabyte plan. I have a provider that will offer a 5GB plan for $35 per month on a national carrier. They also offer a pay as you go plan that costs $5 per month and then you pay by the megabyte to use it.

So if we continue with the math, the new bill will look a lot better. The heavy users with unlimited usage will cost $600 per month. The average user base, who make up the majority of the user population, will cost $2,800 and the low usage employees will run about $425 per month. The total bill using a more targeted pricing model will cost the company $3,825 per month. This is a total savings of $2,175 per month or 36% savings. In one year the total savings will be $26,100!

WOW that is a lot of money just by taking the time to review your monthly mobile broadband invoice and implementing a few changes. Is a 36% reduction on your monthly bill worth 30 minutes of your time? Let’s get started, just gather all of your invoices and hand them over for a complimentary review. We will tell you what your potential savings will look like even before you sign any agreements. Give us a call to discuss your situation at 866-770-0300.

Cell phones are an essential business tool and every successful business offers the latest handsets to their employees. As the use of cell phones and other wireless devices dominate the business world, telecom expense management solutions develop more sophisticated functionality to properly account for inventory and constant updates in pricing and service plans. Whether a company assigns mobile phones to some or all employees, telecom expense management is a necessary tool for keeping track of cellular and wireless assets.

As wireless grows and starts to become a monster to manage, then you will quickly see the value in implementing a telecom expense management system to handle all of the wireless components. Consider a traditional telecom network with a mountain of invoices and a sea of wired lines including voice, data, Internet, private line, MPLS, 800 numbers, etc. and how telecom expense management helps keep things in order. The wireless inventory may not be as large but it may be even more difficult to manage because of the constant changes, modifications and additions. A telecom expense management system incorporates the entire telecom lifecycle including inventory management, provisioning, tracking services, and negotiating service contracts. All of these telecom expense management components apply to mobile phones and wireless services as well. Sometimes these aspects of telecom expense management are even more important for wireless than for traditional telecom services.

If you don’t have a telecom expense management system to manage your wireless assets, then you are in danger of paying far too much for your cell phone service due to unnecessary costs. If it is possible for minor, traditional telecom services oversights to add up to 15 percent of a telecom budget, just think how much more is lost without a telecom expense management solution to keep track of the ever changing wireless inventory, service rates and various plans. Unlike traditional telecommunications services where services are used primarily in the office, making telecom expense management relatively easy, wireless assets are much harder to track and manage because they are mobile.

Instead of just letting the chaos continue with a lack of wireless asset control, growing companies with telecom expense management solutions can now incorporate the wireless assets and keep track of expenses with the same control as any other telecommunications service. Telecom expense management can help save money not just for wired telecom services like voice, Internet and data but also cell phone services, provisioning, wireless service contracts, and geographically dispersed mobile phone inventory.

When it comes to effectively aligning a company’s business goals with its people, processes and technology investments, telecom expense management is the way to go. Today, that means choosing a telecom expense management solution that handles not only traditional telecom services but wireless as well. With telecom expense management, companies are able to stay on top of telecom inventory, improve business processes, and drastically reduce expenses for both wired and wireless assets. With Spiritel guiding your company, we guarantee significant savings on wired and wireless expenses with our proven telecom expense management solution. For more information on how you can save money, time and energy managing your telecom assets, please visit www.spiritelsolutions.com and check out the slideshow on mobility management at http://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhtdp29w_5cwd5pndk.

Since August, Verizon Wireless has been testing the LTE network in both Boston and Seattle. The network is getting a solid work out with a variety of testing scenarios. Engineers are uploading and downloading large files, surfing the web, streaming live video and testing out VoIP calls. The early results indicate that the LTE average data rates will range from 5 to 12 Mbps down and 2 to 5 Mbps up for the average Joe/Jane user in the real world.

“Our LTE rollout plan positions Verizon Wireless to be a global leader in 4G LTE deployment. We are on track to deliver an outstanding wireless data experience to customers in 25 to 30 markets covering roughly 100 million people by year’s end,” said Tony Melone, senior vice president and chief technical officer at Verizon Wireless.

“As device makers, manufacturers and others around the world begin to introduce newer and faster products to take advantage of these incredible new speeds, Verizon Wireless will be positioned to offer our customers new and exciting products on the nation’s first 4G LTE network.”

By leveraging its 700 MHz spectrum for LTE deployment in the U.S., Verizon Wireless is in good position to deploy  a high-quality wireless broadband network with excellent coverage and in-building penetration. Verizon Wireless is currently installing LTE equipment at existing cell sites and switching centers around the U.S.

Visit www.verizonwireless.com/lte for more information about Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network.

In the complex kitchen sink of fees AT&T has built up around the iPhone, with separate billing for phone minutes, text messages, and even AT&T Navigator, the obligatory unlimited data plan has been like a Swiss Army knife taped shut: Technically, it can replace many paid features – including voice functionality – but Apple’s strict rules for apps have prevented it from doing so.

Slice that red tape and get ready to pop open the corkscrew, because those days are over.

In late January, Apple has lifted its ban on voice-over-IP (VoIP) apps using AT&T’s cellular data network. In other words, the tunnel out of AT&T’s fee structure has been opened: You can now place calls through the Web without paying the company another dime for minutes. Wondering how to get started? Here are a few of the best VoIP apps for the iPhone, along with rates.

Skype is FREE

The same great app you know from the desktop has landed on the iPhone, and very soon, will allow you place calls over AT&T’s 3G network when you don’t have Wi-Fi. Unlike Google Voice, Skype actually charges a small monthly fee to place outgoing calls from the app, but in return, it won’t bite into your monthly minutes. You can get unlimited calls to the U.S. and Canada for $2.95 a month, to one country for $5.95, and to the world for $12.95. Like Google Voice, you can also place long-distance calls for bargain basement prices. Calls to Spain, for instance, will run you 2.4 cents per minute. You can also buy a Skype In number (a phone number others can dial into to reach you on Skype) for as low as $30 a year, with the purchase of a monthly outgoing subscription

Fring is FREE

This all-in-one instant messaging client goes beyond simple text to offer two voice options: Skype and SIP. Skype will allow you to log in to your account and use the same options outlined above, but SIP (which is a protocol, not a service) represents a whole other can of worms. In order to use it, you’ll need to sign up with one of dozens of VoIP providers that support that SIP protocol and Fring, which you can find on Fring’s partners page. Get an account with one, like VoIPCheap, sign in with your details through Fring, then dial away at rates that make AT&T look like thieves.

Google Voice is FREE

Google managed to burrow out from under Apple’s rejection of this Google Voice by putting it on the Web rather than in the App Store, which means that technically, this isn’t an app. But it works the same way. After signing up for a Google Voice account, you’ll receive a personal number allowing you to both send and receive calls through Google Voice. Unfortunately, numbers placed through the “app” actually have to be handed to the iPhone’s dialer, which quickly dials a local access number and puts you through to your intended contact, meaning it will deduct minutes. That said the access number is always local, so for international calling, Google Voice rates absolutely flog AT&T. Call to Spain on AT&T: $1.49 a minute. Call to Spain on Google Voice: 2 cents a minute. You can also send and receive text messages for free, and try cool features like voicemail transcription

iCall is FREE

pay-as-you-go minutes start at 2.1 cents per minute (considering AT&T’s cheapest calling plan breaks down to 11.25 cents per minute for domestic calling, that’s still a bargain.) You can also make international calls for rates that closely mirror Google Voice’s (read: cheap).

Vonage Mobile is FREE

The mobile app from this well-established provider of VoIP-based landlines offers one of the most polished iPhone apps we’ve seen. For instance, it allows you to dial directly from your iPhone’s standards contacts without any “import” process, making it feel familiar in many ways to the standard iPhone dialer – without the high rates. Per-minute prices closely mirror Skype’s, but Vonage offers only one monthly pricy service plan: unlimited “world” calling for $24.99 a month. Although this place includes access to over 60 countries compared to the 40 or so available through Skype’s $12.95 world plan, both seem to offer the same spotty restrictions on international cell lines (you’ll pay extra to call cell phones in some countries, and not in others). The most notable exception that might warrant paying almost double for Vonage versus Skype: landlines in Mexico are included, while Skype’s unlimited world subscription only discounts Mexican landlines to 4 cents per minute.

Truphone is FREE

Similar in many ways to Fring, Truphone allows access to IM clients like Yahoo, AIM and Gtalk, also works with Skype, and offers outbound calling plans through its own service. Truphone offers three service tiers: basic per-minute calling with no monthly fees, a $4 monthly subscription that uses discounted per-minute rates, and a $17 monthly option that includes unlimited landline calls within its most popular countries, and to mobile lines as well within the U.S. On the no-subscription model, per-minute rates are generally higher than many competitors (for instance, domestic calls are billed at 5.1 cents per minute while Skype and iCall will both make them for 2.1).

From beginning to end a TEM provider can help you get better control over your telecom lifecycle. For more information on how a TEM can help your company gain control of your telecom expenses, please visit http://www.lowermytelecom.us.

There are more types of lines and services as well, such as Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), cable, VoIP, T1’s and T3’s. More vendors: There used to be just one service provider – a local monopoly such as AT&T, Baby Bells, etc. Now, many more providers compete for your business, and each has a different name for similar products.

More pricing changes: Contract and tariff pricing make telecom one of the most difficult costs to understand. As well, many organization s are locked into higher-priced long-term agreements while current prices are much lower.

The telecom collapse: Telecommunication companies struggle to cut costs, resulting in a deterioration of service levels. This means that, even if a service provider has agreed to lower the price, it may be too under-staffed to implement the change promptly, if at all.

Organizations can take several steps to reduce their total telecom expenses:

Consolidate: Especially if you have multiple locations, you may get dozens of invoices each month. This makes it costly to administer and keep accounts up to date. Fewer bills to pay means that your staff can concentrate on other matters, including checking telecom bills for accuracy. Consolidate vendors as well. When you reduce the number of vendors, you can offer more business to them, and negotiate better pricing based on larger volume. Negotiate more straightforward contracts: By insisting on simplified agreements, you reduce your chances of being billed in error for service, and it’s easier for you to manage your costs.

Check rates: Even if you just want to keep your present service provider honest, you should issue Requests for Proposals to see what other companies have to offer. In checking rates, you should also verify that the pricing you agreed upon is what you’re actually being billed.

Electronic billing: Receiving your bills electronically, even if each vendor uses its own proprietary software, helps you cost-effectively analyze your cost structure and look for possible savings. With the right third-party tools, you can really manage and monitor your costs. In fact, an increasingly common practice today is to outsource management of telecom invoices.

Inventory your services: Be sure you’re actually using all the services for which you’re paying. You may have closed an office recently, or cut back on the number of lines being used in another office. Are these changes being reflected in your bill? Watch those cell phones: Company provided cell phones can be a huge cash drain. In some cases, companies issue phones unnecessarily – for example, to staff who don’t leave the premises as part of their work. You need to set policies on who requires a phone, and how much talk time or costs you allow them. More sophisticated management tools allow you to spot inconsistencies, such as too many personal long distance calls.

Breaking down silos: We often find that telecom costs aren’t being watched effectively, because this category falls between the IT department, procurement and accounting. IT’s main interest is ensuring that the organization has the services it needs on a reliable basis; procurement negotiates the contracts; and accounting is responsible for paying the invoices. Often information is not communicated effectively when new rates are negotiated or when services have been disconnected, resulting in billing errors going unnoticed.

Outside assistance: Because of the complex and fast-changing picture, it is often difficult for an organization to make sure it is getting the best possible service and pricing arrangements. Outside professional assistance can help. You should look for a company with solid experience evaluating telecom requirements and expenditures. Some work on a flat fee basis, some on a percentage-of-savings model, and some will let you choose which you prefer. You can also obtain software that allows you to do much of the work yourself. Please take a look at http://www.lowermytelecom.us to learn more about telecom expense management.