[PLUG] Verizon & sudo from PLUG W Dinner

[JP Vossen <jp@jpsdomain.org>]

Follow-up of some items we discussed earlier in the week at dinner after 
PLUG W.

______________________________________________________________________
MOBILE: Verizon Doubles Early Termination Fee and More
	Posted by timothy on 2009-11-12 21:27:00 +00:00
	from the "infuriating-design" dept.
	http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/09/11/12/2059238/Verizon-Doubles-Early-Termination-Fee-and-More

An anonymous reader writes "If you buy a smartphone through Verizon, be 
prepared for an increase in the early termination fee. Verizon is 
doubling the phone-subsidy to $350. What's more, is that Verizon also 
actively charges customers for accidental data transmissions of as 
little as 0.02kb. 'They configure the phones to have multiple easily hit 
keystrokes to launch 'Get it now' or 'Mobile Web'--usually a single key 
like an arrow key. [...] The instant you call the function, they charge 
you the data fee. We cancel these unintended requests as fast as we can 
hit the End key, but it doesn't matter; they've told me that ANY 
data--even one kilobyte--is billed as 1MB. The damage is done.'"


______________________________________________________________________
MOBILE: Verizon Droid Tethering Comes At a Hefty Price
	Posted by timothy on 2009-11-09 12:55:00 +00:00
	from the "unlimited-and-5GB-are-not-the-same" dept.
	http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/09/11/09/068255/Verizon-Droid-Tethering-Comes-At-a-Hefty-Price

Pickens writes "Tom Bradley reports in PC World that the new Motorola 
Droid smartphone will cost users $199.99 with a 2-year contract, with an 
additional $30 per month for the mandatory 'unlimited' data plan that 
has a monthly cap of 5Gb. Verizon will charge $50 for each additional 
gigabyte over the 5Gb limit on the unlimited data plan. Verizon has 
confirmed that tethering will cost another $30 per month for an 
additional unlimited data plan that is also limited to 5Gb. If you want 
tethering you will pay $60 above and beyond the monthly contract for 
service for an 'unlimited' 10Gb of data per month, and if you plan on 
connecting with an Microsoft Exchange email account you have to pay 
another $15 a month. 'Verizon seems to be doing everything it can to 
make the Droid as unappealing as possible by nickel and diming customers 
so that actually using it is not cost-effective,' writes Bradley. 'After 
all of the hype around Verizon's marketing efforts, and generally 
favorable reviews of the Motorola Droid, users that rush out to get the 
new device may be in for a shock.' Droid users will have to wait until 
sometime in 2010 for tethering. 'That service is on our schedule for 
next year,' says Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Raney. The delay is because 
'the service has to be tested on the phone so until we know it works, we 
don't offer the service. It is not uncommon for us to introduce the 
phone and continue to test the service and offer it later.'"


______________________________________________________________________
YRO: Microsoft Patents Sudo's Behavior
	Posted by timothy on 2009-11-11 21:38:00 +00:00
	from the "rusty-shotgun's-right-twice-a-day" dept.
	http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/11/11/2055226/Microsoft-Patents-Sudos-Behavior

Foofoobar writes "Just when you thought all was safe on the crazy patent 
front, Microsoft has come out of the obvious patent closet to file 
patent number 7617530, which basically duplicates the functionality of 
'sudo' which is found in all Linux systems. PJ over at groklaw has a 
wonderful writeup on the entire fiasco."


Enjoy,
JP
----------------------------|:::======|-------------------------------
JP Vossen, CISSP            |:::======|      http://bashcookbook.com/
My Account, My Opinions     |=========|      http://www.jpsdomain.org/
----------------------------|=========|-------------------------------
"Microsoft Tax" = the additional hardware & yearly fees for the add-on
software required to protect Windows from its own poorly designed and
implemented self, while the overhead incidentally flattens Moore's Law.
___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug