An eBay seller is offering the remaining supplies of Verizon’s leather cases, originally designed for the first-generation iPad. It’s a case we’ve highlighted in the past.

The case was designed to allow for the Wi-Fi first-generation iPad, as well as a Novatel MiFi, which Verizon marketed as a pairing at the time. The CDMA-based iPad would not come until iPad 2, and Verizon created special MiFi plans that would compliment the original Wi-Fi iPad.

The case has been found to perfectly fit several other tablets including the HP Touchpad and Motorola XOOM, as well as the newer iPad 2. It’s a case we use regularly in our offices.

Shipping is free on the item, and the seller also offers a return policy. While some have offered two of these for $5, it’s the best price we’ve seen for a single unit offering.

The second tablet to receive the long awaited Android 4.0 update will be Motorola’s Xoom Wi-Fi tablet, with the update being pushed out as an OTA update.

The update pushes the software version to IML77 and takes full advantage of the new operating system, being that the Xoom was the reference device for the previous Android version in Android Honeycomb. The update is also notable for being available pre-rooted for those looking to maintain such access for maximum customization options and functionality not yet available officially on stock Android 4.0 or as the gateway to custom ROMs. of which many are also available.

While this update does signal that life does remain in the original Motorola Xoom, what is not yet known is whether the same updates will be provided to the LTE version of the tablet.

When the tablet was initially announced last January, the hardware and sales copy indicated compatibility with Verizon’s then new LTE network, but the actual tablet was not capable of accessing the then new network at its launch in February.  The initial plan was for Verizon to launch the Xoom LTE without the LTE hardware in order to avoid lengthy delays while Motorola prepared the LTE modules for a late Spring/early Summer 2011 launch.

However, additional delays in LTE hardware production ironically forced more delays on the intended free upgrade program past the initial timeframe, to the point that Verizon was forced to relaunch the tablet in October of 2011 with the LTE hardware included in order to drive already slow sales, while the upgrade program for those that bought the Xoom LTE at launch wasn’t completed until later that month, almost six months after its original upgrade timeframe was first announced.

Now with the availability of the Droid Xyboard/Xoom 2 in Verizon’s lineup, it remains to be seen whether the carrier will bother updating the Xoom LTE, as they can be easily found on the myriad of deal-a-day websites for an average of 30-40% off of their MSRP while Verizon slowly moves away from supporting the tablet in favor of newer tablets.

Of course, this also raises the question of what kind of carrier support can be expected for tablets in general, as T-Mobile abandoned support for its version of the Dell Streak 7 due to low sales while Dell continuously updated its Wi-Fi only versions.

With carriers continuously releasing Android tablets in order to compete in the marketplace with more power and more features at the expense of low overall sales and lower consumer awareness, long-term support means the difference between having a satisfied customer base that would be willing to buy more from that carrier and having people completely skip over an entire product line.

Unfortunately, with the compressed development and release cycles that have become the norm for Android smartphones and tablets, having timely consistent updates being made available for older devices are now a much lower priority for carriers than developing and selling new devices with new features, as evidenced by the launch of the Droid Xyboard series shortly after the relaunch of the Xoom 4G, despite the Xyboard 10.1 and Xoom 4G being priced identically.

Following up on this morning’s announcement during the LG keynote, Verizon Wireless has officially announced the LG Spectrum while confirming pricing and launch details.

As expected the phone will launch on January 19th for $199.99 after a new 2 year agreement and data plan. In a major change from the first generation of devices, the LG Spectrum heralds the next generation of LTE smartphones that are less expensive than the first generation of phones that were ~$100 more expensive than 3G only Android smartphones and the iPhone 4 after agreement, greatly increasing the appeal of LTE smartphones.

Specifications for the phones consist of the previously confirmed 4.5-inch True HD IPS display with a 329 pixels per inch density, Corning Gorilla Glass, Android 2.3 Gingerbread  with a future update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich during the first half of 2012, Qualcomm 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, ESPN’s ScoreCenter app, Dolby Digital Plus audio processing and output, 8.0 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash and 1080p video capture, front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera for video chat, HD video editing on the device, Mobile Hotspot capability for up to 10 Wi-Fi devices, Bluetooth 3.0, 16 GB microSD card pre-installed with support for 32 GB microSD cards, SmartShare support and HDMI mirroring of phone content capable via MHL.

With the phone featuring a 720p display, many of the biggest changes will be in web browsing and multimedia, as the density of the display will make streaming content to and from the phone easier while making web browsing much easier with more desktop alike page rendering. Let’s hope this new generation of LTE smartphone also fixes the issues with Verizon’s mobile hotspot.

Verizon’s embattled LTE network has one issue that hasn’t gotten as much attention: Mobile Hotspot. Timeouts and dropped connections plague the service since its launch. Meanwhile, consumers pay $30/month hoping to be grandfathered into unlimited hotspot data, for life.

The carrier that boasts “It’s The Network” does indeed have the most pervasive LTE network in the nation, so growing pains are something that would be a bit forgivable. However, this one issue has persisted since launch, and affects not a few, but all of Verizon’s LTE phones.

Read more for the analysis, technicals, and what we’ve done to try and work with Verizon on the problem.

Background on the behind-the-scenes deal

Around when Verizon Wireless announced its LTE network, they also began capping new customers’ data, a la AT&T. Also like AT&T, they grandfathered in existing customers, although not all of them would be allowed to upgrade to LTE.

That move wasn’t much of a surprise. AT&T and Verizon both have dominant holdings of customers, and want to encourage them to stay… by making it unfavorable to give up their no-longer-available plans.

What made Verizon stand out from the pack, was sweetening the pot even more. For those with grandfathered smartphone data, the carrier offered a $30/month add-on that netted unlimited LTE Mobile Hotspot. Visions of Verizon replacing home Internet drove people to sign up for the plan. With speeds of up to 20 mbps, why not? Uncapped, unthrottled, unlimited… it beat the offerings from Comcast and others. Combined with a Wi-Fi router in bridge mode, you could power every Ethernet-connected gadget in your house to faster-than-DSL for $30 per month, all driven by your cell phone.

The issue in detail

It’s not quite clear why LTE Mobile Hotspot has frequent timeouts and disconnects. Some believe this is part of Verizon’s network management. Unlike 3G Mobile Hotspot, which requires a capped data plan, the unlimited 4G Mobile Hotspot may utilize IMS to lower the priority of mobile hotspot traffic in prolonged usage. On an impacted tower/area, this could cause the connection to timeout. Users report rebooting the phone often brings the connection back.

Indeed, while researching this report, we found hotspot data traveled through a separate IMS gateway than handset data. While this is similar to the “Modem NAI” method of having two data connections, that Verizon used in the 3G era, this is more sophisticated. It allows the handset data to use one path onto the Internet, while hotspot data uses another path… a path that Verizon can filter, throttle, and proxy more than the handset experience.

Again, we’re not saying we know why LTE Mobile Hotspot has this issue, but Verizon has had other data outages on LTE related to their advanced IMS implementation of late.

Pinging Verizon Mobile Hotspot for Info

The most common symptom by affected users is high packet loss, across all client devices. Handset traffic continues to work fine. Pings to even Verizon domains and IP addresses begin to endure packet loss around thirty to forty percent. For consumers, this is resonated in the form of pages timing out, and even DNS not resolving on domain names.

Different devices report different statuses. Our LG Revolution and HTC Thunderbolt insisted all was fine with Mobile Hotspot. Motorola and Samsung devices appear to report a cycling between connecting and disconnecting.

All devices we tested had the latest, official firmware. Some users report rooting their phones, and bypassing Verizon’s mobile hotspot gateway and software, work around this issue.

Several users have reported these incidents to PhoneNews.com, and we were able to confirm it on over five different Verizon LTE handset models.

Worse, we were able to confirm these issues in non-4G markets, while using a Verizon LTE handset on their CDMA EV-DO Rev A network. The same issues occurred with an excellent 3G EVDO signal. Much like in an LTE market, data on the handset was not affected, only hotspot data. A 3G-only iPhone with a metered mobile hotspot data plan did not reproduce these issues. We tested three LTE phones and re-created the issue… even going as far as to have our SIM cards replaced, and accounts completely reprovisioned.

We’re not alone on this…

PhoneNews.com is not alone in confirming these issues, other publications such as The Verge have also confirmed the issues. Engadget has also reported on these issues in the past as well. At the time, Verizon acknowledged Engadget’s issues as firmware-related, but updates since claiming to fix known issues with LTE Mobile Hotspot on phones like the HTC Thunderbolt, have done little to remedy widespread issues.

Verizon Wireless responded to our requests for comments, suggesting affected users contact Verizon technical support. A spokesperson for Verizon declined to comment, however, on if Verizon is aware of the hotspot issues that we chronicled to them in-depth. PhoneNews.com did offer to assist Verizon in diagnosing these issues, an offer that went unresponded to.

Unfortunately, technical support is of little help to affected users, even going as far as to blaming client Wi-Fi devices… flying right in the face of consumers who point out that the problem affects all client devices connected to the phone. PhoneNews.com staff have submitted multiple trouble tickets on this problem. Our first ticket was closed, blaming the PRL device on the handset as out of date. We quickly confirmed the PRL was up to date. Our second trouble ticket was closed, as many others have, blaming client Wi-Fi devices as the issue.

Technical support refused to allow us to talk to the trouble ticket team, claiming it was impossible. They insisted we were at fault for purchasing faulty client Wi-Fi devices.

Wrapping it up, dropping the service

In all, we’re tired of paying $30/month for a feature that just doesn’t work. It’s a pipe dream that we believe Verizon should not have rolled out, unless it was sustainable enough to utilize. We hope Verizon does respond with a more in-depth explanation, and a timeframe for when the issue will be fixed… or the feature simply scrapped.

Verizon Wireless has decided that customers weren’t paying enough on their monthly bills, so the carrier has decided to implement a new $2 fee for customers that routinely pay bills either online and over the phone starting January 15th.

In a short statement, the carrier cited increasing costs resulting from the processing of bill payments using the above methods and is conveniently suggesting that customers move to automatic bill payment to avoid the fee.

If you wish to avoid the fee, here are the seven payment methods that will not incur the fee outside of signing up for automatic bill pay:

1. Electronic check online (My Verizon Online, My Verizon Mobile/Handset). Fee waived.
2. Electronic check via telephone. Fee waived.
3. Enrollment in AutoPay using credit/debit/ATM card or electronic check; fee does not apply
4. Online from the customer’s home-banking service provider website; fee does not apply.
5. Credit/debit/ATM card, electronic check or cash at a Bill Payment Kiosk, Panel or with a representative at a Verizon Wireless Communications Store; fee does not apply.
6. Use of a Verizon Wireless Gift Card or Verizon Wireless device Rebate Card to pay a bill in-store, online or by telephone; fee does not apply
7. Paper check or money order mailed to the VZW remit address on customer’s bill; fee does not apply.

Update: Verizon Wireless has decided not to implement the fee after the outcry it caused and has released the following statement courtesy of CEO Dan Mead:

At Verizon, we take great care to listen to our customers. Based on their input, we believe the best path forward is to encourage customers to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the need to institute the fee at this time.

Noted Windows pundit Paul Thurrott has confirmed a few key details related to US Windows Phone launches planned for the coming year which center on AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

Three LTE-based Windows Phone handsets–the Nokia ACE, HTC Radiant, and Samsung Mendel–will ship on AT&T Wireless before the middle of 2012. The ACE is due March 18, 2012. What’s unclear is whether these LTE based devices will be accompanied by a software update of some kind. You may recall that the rumored “Tango” release, supposedly due in early 2012, is about low-end phones. So it’s unclear how that jives with LTE, which is obviously a high-end feature. This explains my confusion over the supposed Windows Phone roadmap leak yesterday.

Also, the Nokia Lumia 710 will ship on Verizon Wireless in April 2012. This is not an LTE device, and it’s not clear when/if we’ll see an LTE Windows Phone on Verizon. The Lumia 710 is codenamed “Sword” and will be available in April 2012. (The T-Mobile version of the Lumia 710 will be available for purchase on January 11, 2012, giving the company three months of exclusivity before the device hits Verizon.

While the above seems to correlate with leaked roadmaps, the specific nature of the information points to heavy ongoing internal testing of Nokia Windows Phone devices on US carriers before their respective launches, with T-Mobile USA being the first to launch next month.

With Verizon launching a non-LTE version of the Lumia 710 despite public statements expressing a desire for such a device, the carrier may be extending an olive branch to the Finnish manufacturer after its previous relationship with the manufacturer dissolved into nothing more than Korean ODM rebrands that had very little to do with Nokia in terms of hardware.

The same could be said of AT&T with the Ace and the other planned LTE equipped phones after it passed on Nokia’s last carrier focused smartphone in the Nokia X7, which was meant to be an exclusive phone for AT&T running Symbian^3 and makes sense as AT&T was chosen by Microsoft to promote Windows Phone.

Over the past month, Verizon has been discounting LTE batteries. However, it was at times hard, and impossible to lock in the deal.

We initially reported the half-off battery pricing with the HTC Rezound in a previous article, but the discounts were giving users errors. Namely, if a user was logged into VerizonWireless.com, they often were charged the full price for the battery at checkout. Now, it appears all issues are fixed, and the discounts are showing up for all users.

It appears Verizon is discounting the cost of batteries on LTE smartphones as a tactic acknowledgement of the significant battery drain users are encountering. The discount also applies to extended batteries on phones that support them, such as the LG Revolution, Droid Bionic, and HTC Thunderbolt.

Customers have complained about the power drain from Verizon’s LTE network. The error is not on the part of Verizon, who was pressured by partner Vodafone to embrace LTE over rival standards. LTE is inherently going to drain more power as all other 4G standards do. Orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA, or OFDM), the technology and practices that are shared nearly by all 4G standards in some form, demand high power consumption currently. Older standards such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) are able to achieve high speeds with higher latency, and slower real-world bandwidth rates.

At around $20 for an extended battery, the offer is something we have taken advantage of already in the office. LTE power consumption is a major issue, especially with features like Mobile Hotspot. I personally use a Droid Bionic and now have three batteries; two standard and one extended, with a desktop Motorola battery charger. The $45 cost for two additional batteries costs almost as much as the $39 battery charger (which oddly, Verizon does not sell on their online store).

Batteries alone however cannot help one phone; the Droid RAZR, which lacks a removable battery. Motorola is reportedly preparing an alternative Droid RAZR maxx model, continuing the RAZR maxx nameplate with a faster processor (matching Droid Bionic) and extended battery, with possibly an improved camera.

Best Buy email sent to customers this morning…

Today only, Best Buy is offering buy-one-get-one free pricing on the 32GB version of iPhone 4S. The retailer is offering the pricing on both AT&T and Verizon Wireless versions of the iPhone 4S, but not on the Sprint variant.

The offer is only valid for new two-year agreements, and both iPhones must be purchased at the same time. It is not clear if Best Buy will price match prior purchases, theoretically one could threaten to cancel and return the iPhones today.

Best Buy is operating on special Christmas Eve hours today, open from 7 AM to 5 PM. You must visit a store to purchase the iPhones, Best Buy is not offering the BOGO deal online.

At half-off the purchase of two iPhone 4S’s, it’s by far the lowest price we’ve seen for iPhone 4S to-date. The maximum discount we have seen for iPhone 4S previously was $169 at Radio Shack.

Update: We can confirm that this was intended to be only for the iPhone 4. Best Buy created chaos this morning by issuing this nation-wide offer, despite many/most stores being depleted of 32GB original iPhone 4 units. Some stores began honoring the deal for the 4S, as droves of customers began filling the Best Buy Mobile kiosks, fearing a bait-and-switch complaint.

Best Buy has begun to alert stores, and we are now seeing this curtailed to just the original iPhone 4 at a national level. In Best Buy’s defense, the retailer was caught off-guard with a large supply of original 32GB units that became obsolete when all original iPhone 4 units were discontinued, and an 8GB iPhone 4 replaced them alongside the iPhone 4S.

This follows the confusion and woes for Best Buy, which earlier this week admitted many orders dating back to Black Friday simply would not be fulfilled or delivered by Christmas. PhoneNews.com can also confirm that Best Buy decided to not expedite orders to overnight shipping, instead shipping them via ground shipping… thus missing what would have otherwise been a successful Christmas delivery.

Following the confirmation earlier this month that Verizon was set to purchase the spectrum assets from the ultimately failed SpectrumCo venture headed by cable companies, the Department of Justice is now set to look over the purchase details with additional scrutiny due to the conditions of the deal which meant that cable companies such as Time Warner would begin reselling Verizon Wireless services next year following the completion of the sale according to Reuters.

As the intention behind SpectrumCo was to set up a CDMA 3G and an eventual 4G network to compete against the incumbent operators and offer bundled services under one company, the sale of the assets to Verizon while being allowed to resell those cellular services was initially interpreted as the cable companies looking for an easy out after deciding not to proceed with planned network buildouts.

As scrutiny in the wireless industry has increased substantially following the fallout from the failure of the AT&T/T-Mobile merger,  the new probe centers around the aforementioned resale and marketing deal that the cable companies initially agreed to and whether it constitutes an actual gain for consumers, with unnamed anti trust sources stating the following:

 ”Comcast has decided not to compete and is handing spectrum over to Verizon, they decided to halt the buildout. Instead of us seeing facilities-based competition, it appears that we’re seeing collaboration.”

With increased attention paid to the wireless industry, spectrum deals will be less likely to be easily approved at the same time that AT&T and Verizon are scrambling to buy as much as possible to ease the increasing strain on data networks from the adoption of smartphones and other devices, with more companies cutting deals wherever possible. Verizon has officially submitted its bid to buy the SpectrumCo holdings to the FCC as of yesterday while announcing a smaller purchase deal with Cox Communications on Friday.

Verizon has begun to roll out the latest update for the HTC Thunderbolt. The new update features several new bugfixes and small additions along with other changes as seen below:

• Resolved issue with contact ringtones.
• Improvements to notification volume.
• Updated local streaming playback mechanism when network connection is not available.

• Updated Twitter API for Peep/FriendStream.
• Clock app included in All App list.
• Improvements in Exchange ActiveSync.