Including Everything Blog

Verizon Wireless responded today to a lawsuit filed by AT&T earlier this month that accused Verizon’s “There’s a map for that” marketing campaign of misleading consumers about AT&T’s 3G coverage in the United States.

In a nutshell, Verizon said AT&T’s request to have the ads pulled is without merit. From the court filing (PDF):

AT&T did not file this lawsuit because Verizon’s “There’s A Map For That” advertisements are untrue; AT&T sued because Verizon’s ads are true and the truth hurts… AT&T now is attempting to silence Verizon’s ads that include maps graphically depicting the geographic reach of AT&T’s 3G network as compared to Verizon’s own 3G network because AT&T does not like the truthful picture painted by that comparison.

In the court filing, Verizon outlines the reasons that AT&T’s arguments are without merit. They include:

• Because the ads are truthful, AT&T is attacking them under faulty theories, including a claim that they are misleading. But Verizon says there’s no real evidence – aside from an AT&T commissioned survey – that proves that consumers are misled by the ad.
• There is no emergency that would require the court to issue an immediate restraining order – as AT&T has requested – without giving Verizon the opportunity to conduct its own research and present evidence to prove that consumers are not being misled.
• The harm to Verizon and the public, in general, caused by pulling the ads is greater than any alleged harm being inflicted on AT&T.

Read more about this topic by Sam Diaz at ZDNet

Rackspace has been building and supporting Microsoft solutions for years. Now, The Rackspace Cloud is marrying the power of our on demand Cloud Servers offering with our expertise in Windows hosting by bringing enterprise-class Windows to the cloud. Launching early in 2010, the Cloud Servers for Windows Beta will be released specifically so we can gather early feedback from users and have it drive development of features. We have made it a priority to deliver the Cloud Servers for Windows Beta the way it is meant to be delivered- 100 percent customer driven.

If you want to be one of the first to get your hands on the Cloud Servers for Windows Beta, sign up at http://rackspacecloud.com/beta.

Microsoft Backed: Cloud Servers for Windows is based on a Microsoft-supported hypervisor that is part of the Server Virtualization Validation Program.

This means that:

• Customers can benefit from the support provided by Microsoft as part of the regular Windows Server technical support framework
• Customers can benefit from the support provided by Microsoft for subsequent service packs
• Customers will enjoy faster time-to-market releases of Windows versions on The Rackspace Cloud

Sign up for the upcoming Cloud Servers for Windows Beta >> http://www.rackspacecloud.com/beta

Anyone that signs up will also get updates on our progress as we move towards our public beta launch in early 2010. Get yourself on the list today!

About The Rackspace Cloud
The Rackspace Cloud provides on-demand scalable website, application and storage hosting backed by Fanatical Support®. Through its suite of cloud solutions, Cloud Sites™, Cloud Files™ and Cloud Servers™, The Rackspace Cloud enables astute developers and IT managers to minimize the hassles, upfront investments and high costs associated with dedicated hardware while offering the ability to easily scale hosting resources. For more information about The Rackspace Cloud, visit www.rackspacecloud.com or call 1-877-934-0409.

About Rackspace Hosting
Rackspace Hosting is the world’s leader in hosting and cloud computing and is ranked #43 on FORTUNE Magazine’s 100 Best Companies to work for in the United States for 2009. Rackspace provides its customers with Fanatical Support ® in delivering their portfolio of hosted IT services, including Managed Hosting, Cloud Computing and Email and Apps. For more information, visit www.rackspace.com.

Rackspace announced on their blog today that they’re sending out free t-shirts to those that link to them using the below information. Give it a shot to receive a free t-shirt from the world’s leading cloud services provider.

Link and get your t-shirt now: http://www.rackspacecloud.com/tshirt

Here is a cool customer, Michael Fidler, in his Rackspace Cloud T-shirt!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rackspacecloud/3965141868/

About The Rackspace Cloud
The Rackspace Cloud provides on-demand scalable website, application and storage hosting backed by Fanatical Support®. Through its suite of cloud solutions, Cloud Sites™, Cloud Files™ and Cloud Servers™, The Rackspace Cloud enables astute developers and IT managers to minimize the hassles, upfront investments and high costs associated with dedicated hardware while offering the ability to easily scale hosting resources. For more information about The Rackspace Cloud, visit www.rackspacecloud.com or call 1-877-934-0409.

About Rackspace Hosting
Rackspace Hosting is the world’s leader in hosting and cloud computing and is ranked #43 on FORTUNE Magazine’s 100 Best Companies to work for in the United States for 2009. Rackspace provides its customers with Fanatical Support ® in delivering their portfolio of hosted IT services, including Managed Hosting, Cloud Computing and Email and Apps. For more information, visit www.rackspace.com.

ATT Wireless recently launched its A-List, which is their version of “your 5″ (or 10 if you have a large family talk plan). A-List lets you add commonly used phone numbers (landline or mobile) to your “A-List” and essentially have those minutes be unlimited and not count against your plan. While this works so far for most people, others have noticed that it worked early on and not any longer with Google Voice numbers.

I personally use a Google Voice number as a mobile office number. Not primarily for the free calls, but more so for the transcription features it offers. When a user calls in to my Google Voice number, if they leave a message, Google will translate that as best it can to text and send me an email or SMS text message with the attached audio file and text from the message. This has proven invaluable when in a meeting, watching a movie, etc.

Here are the promoted features for this service:

So now for the good part. ATT, being the typical large corporation that they are, is blocking heavy users from using an in-bound Google Voice number. They are letting you your Google Voice number to your A-List, but tagging it in their system as an anytime-minutes call, while reducing your monthly available minutes if you receive a call to your Google Voice number.

I fail to see how this is in any way different from my choosing to forward an office phone (which I do via follow me features) when out of the office. To me, there’s no difference. I have a choice as a consumer to let my customers reach me wherever I am.

For some additional background, when ATT first came out with its A-List offering (which is only available to larger plans, by the way), I called up ATT and asked if they cared that I planned to add my Google Voice number to my A-List, explaining that it would ultimately lead to unlimited calls if customers or friends called me through my Google Voice number. One two separate occasions when talking to an ATT customer service representative, the unified reply was “We don’t care. That’s what it was designed for” (to sum it up in so many words).

How then, does ATT reserve the right to publicize an offering with clearly spelled out rules on its website, yet go against those rules? I (for one) feel another FCC investigation coming, along with the possibility of another class-action lawsuit. Just because you’re a large company doesn’t mean you can walk all over your customers.

Join the discussion here.

I welcome discussion from ATT on this post and invite them to comment. I’d like to know how they can justify something like this. It doesn’t seem right.

Informational Resources:

• ATT A-List landing page
• A-List FAQs

Other News:

• NY Times’ Pogue: Verizon, AT&T scamming mobile customers by charging for…
• FCC considers realigning access charge rules

About Blog Contests is running a new contest for Thanksgiving.

Contest URL: $1,500 Thanksgiving Giveaway
Prize: Various
Deadline: 30th November 2009

Thanksgiving Giveaway from Jaypeeonline. Cash, premium WordPress themes and web hosting ($1,500 worth) as prizes. Below the full list:

1st Prize
Pro Plus All-Theme Package from StudioPress ($199.95)
Single Theme License from Pro Theme Design ($79)
Single Theme License from Press75 ($75)
Single Theme License from WP Zoom ($49)
1 Year Theme Club Membership from Elegant Themes ($19.95)
1 Year Hosting w/ Free Domain from DreamHost courtesy of Jehzeel Laurente
$50 Cash via PayPal from Jehzeel Laurente

2nd Prize
Single Theme License from Pro Theme Design ($79)
Single Theme License from Press75 ($75)
Single Theme Package from StudioPress ($59.95)
Single Theme License from WP Zoom ($49)
1 Year Freedom Plan Hosting from WP Web Host ($80)
$25 Cash via PayPal from JaypeeOnline

3rd Prize
Single Theme License from Pro Theme Design ($79)
Single Theme Package from StudioPress ($59.95)
Single Theme License from WP Zoom ($49)
Single Theme Licenses from WP Now ($29)
1 Year Freedom Plan Hosting from WP Web Host ($80)
$10 Cash via PayPal from JaypeeOnline

Consolation Prizes
Single Theme Package from StudioPress ($59.95)
Single Theme Licenses from WP Now ($29)

And the sponsors that made this possible are.

1. StudioPress
2. Pro Theme Design
3. Press75
4. WP Zoom
5. WP Now
6. Elegant Themes
7. WP WebHost
8. Jehzeel Laurente
9. Batang Yagit

To enter this contest, follow these simple rules:

1. Subscribe to JaypeeOnline’s RSS feed via email
2. Write a post about this contest, including a link to the original contest post, list of prizes and sponsors
3. Leave a comment on the original contest post

If you want to gain more points and increase your chances of winning, do the following:

1. Follow him on Twitter and Retweet this post (+2)
2. Write a review for JaypeeOnline on Alexa (+2)
3. Join JaypeeOnline’s Facebook Fan Page (+1)

Original post located here.