Verizon Wireless made amends with a customer who received a $9,100 bill resulting from data overage charges. Verizon owned up to its mistake, Vice President-Customer Service Lou Sigillo said in a news release Tuesday. After learning about the bill, “we reached out directly to our customer, explained what had happened and resolved the issue quickly,” he said.

The Enterprise Wireless Alliance urged the FCC to streamline Part 20 rules, via a July NPRM. CTIA also supported the change, which would end the presumption that all applicants and licensees in the services identified in the section intend to operate as commercial mobile radio service (CMRS) providers (see 1610170056). EWA also said the FCC should issue a declaratory ruling clarifying that 800 MHz and 900 MHz specialized mobile radio systems that aren't interconnected with the public switched network can't be classified as CMRS or fall under common-carrier rules. “The Commission is correct that Rule Section 20.9 serves no useful regulatory or public interest purpose,” EWA said in docket 16-240. “The presumptions embodied in it have proven inaccurate as entities other than CMRS operators have made substantial, productive use of certain categories of spectrum identified in that rule. The FCC routinely grants waivers of the presumption upon proper showings, allowing non-CMRS entities to utilize that spectrum, but the waiver process imposes burdens both on the Commission and applicants for no useful purpose.” Motorola Solutions agreed. “As the Commission correctly notes, the services identified in Section 20.9 have evolved significantly over time,” the company commented. Motorola warned the FCC of what it sees as the potential for unintended consequences: “The Commission also should make clear that elimination of Sections 20.7 and 20.9 (as well as adoption of the other technical corrections outlined in the NPRM) will not alter the regulatory classification of or modify the regulatory obligations applicable to current licensees.”

ZTE began taking preorders Monday for the Axon 7 Mini, a scaled-down 5.2-inch version of its Axon 7 smartphone, it said in a Monday news release. The $299 no-contract phone will be sold through Amazon, Best Buy, direct from ZTE and elsewhere.

The FCC Wireless Bureau denied a request by Intelligent Transportation & Monitoring Wireless, Skybridge Spectrum Foundation and V2G to extend the five-year construction deadline for 2,132 paging licenses an additional five years, from Nov. 3, 2015, to Nov. 3, 2020. Most of the licenses are in the 35 and 43 MHz paging bands and were bought in a 2010 auction. “(1) Licensees have not provided actual service in their licensed areas; (2) this failure was not caused by circumstances beyond their control; (3) extensions would not serve the underlying purpose of the construction and coverage requirements and Licensees have not shown unique or unusual circumstances that would warrant waiver of the construction deadlines,” the order said. The bureau also said granting the extensions would undermine FCC rules and Section 309(j) of the Communications Act. The companies are controlled by Warren Havens. The FCC earlier sought comment on the requested waiver. The bureau said then that the Havens-controlled companies were examining a “nationwide multi-cell system based on Meteor Burst propagation technology deployed in the 35-50 megahertz range that could be used for non-profit services in support of Federal and other governmental agency programs.” The Enterprise Wireless Alliance opposed the extension (see 1512210041).

Americase, which is supplying the thermally lined “return kits” for consumers to ground ship their recalled Samsung Galaxy Note7s back to where they bought their devices (see 1610130044), is “precluded from disclosing any information related to Samsung’s recall,” CEO Robby Kinsala emailed us Saturday. But the “DOT-SP 16011" special permit revision that Americase was granted Oct. 5 from the Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration was “not related to Samsung in any way,” Kinsala said. The revision, the fourth such agency revision authorizing Americase to distribute specially designed boxes to consumers for safely ground-shipping damaged or defective lithium-ion batteries, was “only a clerical revision by PHMSA," he said. The revision "did not affect the operational conditions of the special permit nor did it change anything” about the Sept. 15 recall of the original Note7s that “was already underway,” or the recall of the replacement Note7s, which wasn't announced until Oct. 13, he said. “Americase was granted the special permit by PHMSA before the Note 7 issues started, therefore the thermal boxes were already authorized for distribution to consumers for the ground transport of damaged or defective lithium ion batteries,” he said. “This is not the first time these thermal boxes have been utilized for a recall. And no, I can’t mention who the other recalls were for.” A copy of the DOT-SP 16011 special permit, printed on PHMSA letterhead, sealed inside a plastic sleeve and affixed to the return kit's outermost Americase "recovery box," is plainly visible in the video Samsung released Oct. 13 instructing consumers how to pack and ground ship their recalled Note7s to their place of purchase.

CTIA supported an FCC proposal to streamline Part 20 rules, made as part of a July NPRM: “CTIA agrees that Section 20.9’s structure and purpose no longer match the highly competitive and innovative wireless marketplace and encourages the Commission to move forward with harmonizing and streamlining its regulations in this regard.” The rules would harmonize rules for services like PCS with rules for the 600 MHz, 700 MHz and AWS bands, CTIA said. The FCC should be aware of unintended consequences, CTIA said. “In implementing harmonization, the Commission must ensure that it does not inadvertently disrupt licensees’ expectations regarding their existing licenses," the group said. "As the Commission explains, the proposal to eliminate Section 20.9 ‘is narrow’ and is intended ‘to eliminate an unnecessary burden upon certain licensees and applicants in services named in that section. There would be no change in the obligations imposed upon entities providing commercial or private mobile radio service.’” The comments were filed in docket 16-240.

Qualcomm made the world’s first over-the-air connection via MulteFire using listen-before-talk (LBT) technology, it said Monday. MulteFire is a form of LTE unlicensed that operates only in unlicensed spectrum and doesn't require a control channel anchored in a licensed band (see 1506220058). Qualcomm unveiled the technology last year (see 1506100057). It demonstrated that MulteFire, “with full co-existence capability in operation at all times, can provide LTE-like performance while fairly co-existing with Wi-Fi on the same 5 GHz channel in unlicensed spectrum,” Qualcomm said in a news release. Similar to licensed assisted access (LAA) and enhanced LAA, “MulteFire is inherently designed to share the unlicensed spectrum fairly with Wi-Fi and other technologies by using the LBT standard,” Qualcomm said. “Leveraging LTE technology in unlicensed spectrum brings enhanced performance to MulteFire users that will experience better capacity, improved coverage and seamless mobility.” Nearby Wi-Fi connections get better performance than with another Wi-Fi station as a neighbor, the company said. The FCC recently authorized the first device that uses LAA (see 1609260074); it was built by Qualcomm. "Most Wi-Fi users are less concerned about MulteFire," said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America. "Unlike LTE-U and LAA, the incentives to avoid a tragedy of the unlicensed commons are far more aligned with Wi-Fi and other existing unlicensed operations. LTE-U is restricted to carriers, for asymmetric download-only use, and with control channels insulated from interference on licensed spectrum. In contrast, MulteFire is a purely Part 15 technology potentially useable by anyone and will presumably have greater incentives to co-exist with Wi-Fi."

The ITU approved a standard for a universal charger for laptops and other portable devices that’s designed to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and e-waste, it said in a news release. Recommendation ITU-T L.1002, "External universal power adapter solutions for portable ICT devices," specifies principles for the “eco-design” of laptop chargers to reduce no-load power consumption by five times lower than the norm, said ITU. The applicability of the charger to multiple devices, plus design principles for the efficient use of raw materials, will “greatly increase their lifetime and reduce the e-waste resulting from their disposal,” it said.

Rivada Networks said the Patent and Trademark Office allowed Patent 14/961,088: “Enhanced Location-Based Services using a single device with pseudo location positioning for improved 3D positioning.” The technology will enable a mobile or IoT device to improve its position by “triangulating its location on itself,” without being dependent on other devices, Rivada said in a Friday news release. The patented technology enables location software to work on lower power consumption than other location-based services technologies and has the potential to improve the battery life of mobile devices and reduce battery drainage problems, it said. Location-based technologies currently consume battery power “at an alarming rate, which renders their use in a disaster situation difficult,” said Rivada Chief Scientist Clint Smith.

A new Verizon program designed to help women and minorities own and operate Verizon Wireless premium stores in fast-growing markets is getting an enthusiastic reaction, Emilio Gonzalez, Verizon executive director-strategic alliances, said in a news release. More than 150 “Latino entrepreneurs” attended a workshop at the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Convention, he said Friday. “Verizon has developed a program that reduces several of the traditional barriers facing budding entrepreneurs to help enable them to participate in a key part of the American dream -- owning your own business,” Gonzalez said: The carrier "understands that diversity is not just the right thing to do, it is smart business and connects us closer to our customers.” He listed Miami, Los Angeles and New York as the kinds of areas where the program could have success.