The convenience store chain is selling its own prepaid cell phone service in 1,400 stores. Analysts say major retailers will soon follow. The convenience store giant on Tuesday began selling its Speak Out cell phone service in 1,400 stores and announced plans to offer the phones in the majority of its 5,300 stores by July. Speak Out is a prepaid phone service, so the phones come loaded with a finite number of minutes that can later be renewed. Consumers aren't required to sign a service contract. About 11 percent of all U.S. cell phone users are currently on prepaid service plans.

But despite the billions spent on building 2.5G data-capable networks, data services have not become that popular, Apart from sending or receiving SMS (Short Message Service) messages, no other data service was used by more than 9 percent of U.S, consumers in the second half of 2003, Physical features tiger - black & white iphone case of handsets, such as color screens, seem to be more important to consumers, The majority of cellular consumers are happy with the quality and coverage of their service, according to a study from Jupiter Research..

Despite consumer group reports that wireless coverage is spotty and unreliable, only 10 percent of consumers surveyed by Jupiter Research expressed their dissatisfaction over the service quality. Consumers' expectations are directly influenced by companies' branding and pricing campaigns, Jupiter Research said. "If you brand yourself as a low cost-carrier, you don't need to provide (the) best coverage. If you brand yourself 'the best network,' you'd better deliver good coverage," Jupiter analyst Avi Greengart said in the report.

CNET también está disponible en español, Don't show this again, Gear maker D-Link will be the among the first to design products using the component, Atheros Communications has begun shipping in large quantities its single-chip 802.11g part, Gear maker D-Link will be the among the first to design products that use the component, The chip, AR5005G, was first announced in January of this year, Atheros combined onto one component what usually takes three tiger - black & white iphone case parts to make up a wireless networking chip, thereby lowering the cost, shrinking the size and theoretically reducing the power consumption of the part, The part supports the pre-draft version of the 802.11i specification as well as the 802.11e quality of service specification..

CNET también está disponible en español. Don't show this again. Alcatel and TCL combined sold 17.5 million phones last year, making the joint venture the world's seventh largest cell phone maker, Alcatel said. A company representative said the companies expect the joint venture to climb the market rankings quickly as it enters lucrative markets in North America and Europe, where the two companies individually have been weak. "During the first year of the joint venture, we hope to be among the five top players in the world," edging out other major players, including Sony Ericsson and LG, the Alcatel representative said.