“No call, no text, no update is worth a human life,” said NTSB chairman Deborah Hersan.

The Finnish handset vendor, eager for a comeback, is testing a 4G LTE version of its Lumia 800 smartphone, CNET has learned. That's despite the fact that the Windows Phone operating system powering the Lumia doesn't yet officially support LTE.

The lack of LTE support has been seen as a critical issue for the U.S. carriers, which are increasingly focusing on 4G devices and services. As a result, anyone supporting Windows Phone, including Nokia, faces hurdles getting approval. But Nokia has been running a 4G LTE version of the Lumia 800 in an effort to get the ball rolling on carrier approval, according to several people familiar with the situation.

Sprint is the least attractive network for the iPhone 4S despite its offer of unlimited data, according to a study, suggesting consumers may be better off with AT&T or Verizon.

The iPhone’s top data speed on AT&T’s network was twice as fast the top speed it reached on Verizon and Sprint, according to a study done by Apple Insider. Meanwhile, Verizon proved to offer the best overall coverage on the device, providing service in the most areas.

Sprint, however, offered the slowest data speeds and worst overall coverage “by far” in the areas tested in the study.

Windows Phone needs LTE, stat

While Android and the iOS are taking off for Verizon, one platform that has stalled at the carrier is Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. Verizon quietly put out one Windows Phone handset in the market this year, and Walden didn't seem particularly excited to be adding more.

For Verizon, the biggest problem with Windows Phone is the lack of support for LTE. Microsoft has said it would add LTE support, but hasn't been specified as to when.

"We've communicated to Microsoft that LTE is critical to us," she said. "We need to see a timeline that makes sense if we want to continue to represent them."

Given Verizon's LTE focus, it'll be hard to see a handset maker successfully convince Verizon to take a chance on a 3G Windows Phone product.

Verizon continues to work with Microsoft on this issue, Walden said, but didn't have anything new to discuss.

Reuters now reveals how that redacted portion of the court order came to light, as the initially-posted court order had mistakenly allowed the redacted text to be visible upon copying and pasting.

Perhaps most significantly, Koh cites as part of her rationale Apple's admission that Samsung is more likely to take market share from other Android manufacturers than it is from Apple.

Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) intends to launch its first LTE handsets running on its forthcoming FDD-LTE network sometime in the second half of 2012, according to Sprint CFO Joseph Euteneuer.

In a wide-ranging interview at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference, Euteneuer also said Sprint's LTE network will be "very competitive to what's out in the marketplace" in terms of LTE network speeds when the company does launch LTE service by mid-2012. Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) have said that their LTE networks deliver average downlink speeds of 5-12 Mbps.

Sprint plans to first launch FDD-LTE on its 1900 MHz spectrum next year as part of its Network Vision network modernization project. Euteneuer also said that starting in 2012 Sprint will deploy LTE service on its 800 MHz spectrum as it moves iDEN customers on that spectrum to Sprint's CDMA push-to-talk service. Euteneuer said Sprint just deployed its first multi-mode base station as part of its Network Vision project, which is being constructed by Alcatel-Lucent (NASDAQ:ALU), Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) and Samsung.

SpectrumCo, LLC, a joint venture between Comcast Corporation, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks, today announced it has entered into an agreement pursuant to which Verizon Wireless will acquire its 122 Advanced Wireless Services spectrum licenses covering 259 million POPs for $3.6 billion. Comcast owns 63.6% of SpectrumCo and will receive approximately $2.3 billion from the sale. Time Warner Cable owns 31.2% of SpectrumCo and will receive approximately $1.1 billion. Bright House Networks owns 5.3% of SpectrumCo and will receive approximately $189 million.

The agreement comes at a time when consumer demand for wireless services and bandwidth is increasing rapidly. This sale of spectrum is an important step toward ensuring that the needs and desires of consumers for additional mobile services will not be thwarted by the current spectrum shortage. While government action to free more spectrum is expected, this transaction ensures that the spectrum which is already available for mobile services is used effectively to serve customers.

The companies also announced that they have entered into several agreements, providing for the sale of various products and services. Through these agreements, the cable companies, on the one hand, and Verizon Wireless, on the other, will become agents to sell one another's products and, over time, the cable companies will have the option of selling Verizon Wireless' service on a wholesale basis. Additionally, the cable companies and Verizon Wireless have formed an innovation technology joint venture for the development of technology to better integrate wireline and wireless products and services.

AT&T is reportedly considering a joint venture with T-Mobile USA parent company Deutsche Telekom instead of buying T-Mobile USA outright. Sources speaking to wsj said the plans are far from final, but such a deal could be looked at more closely now that AT&T is facing a number of roadblocks with its planned merger.