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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has sealed separate agreements with Verizon and AT&T for a combined contract price of $970.5 million.

Under the Department’s agreement with Verizon, Internet protocol (IP), security services and emergency communications services will be provided by Verizon to the Department of Homeland Security. This would greatly help the Department’s response time in a disaster situation. The deal would enable Verizon to assist the 22 agencies of the Department to combine their IP network.

This deal would add up to the previously won 10-year, $20 billion contract won by Verizon which would provide a full range of telecommunications and related network services to the whole organization of the U.S. government.

Meanwhile, the deal with AT&T calls for the company serving as the secondary network service provider in the Eastern and Western region of the U.S. Their deal will cost the Department of Homeland Security around $292 million.

Read [Reuters]

AT&T is currently working on a plan that will make their 3G wireless customers very happy. The recent announcement was a little but of a teaser, but one that should be worth the wait, as they are promising increased speed on their 3G network, offering up to 20Mbps by 2009.

Assuming the goal comes to light, this would mean the speeds would be about five times faster than what users are experiencing today. The plan would involve AT&T making the move to HSPA release 7 and according to statements from AT&T mobility chief Ralph de la Vega, this would require little hardware modifications and should make a smooth transition. Here’s hoping it all works out as planned, with potential 20Mbps speeds, mobile TV and over-the-air downloads may actually become enjoyable.

Via [Treo Central]

Verizon Wireless joins the ranks of 40 other handset suppliers such as Samsung, LG Electronics, and Korea’s SK Telecom Co as the company joined a consortium working on a Linux-based mobile operating system. The company said it would take a seat on the Limo Foundation’s board and projects to have its first phones based on the LiMo operating system in the market by 2009. The decision to join LiMo follows recent indications that rival AT&T plans to support Android, the Linux operating system being developed by Google and about 30 partners. Verizon Wireless Vice President Kyle Malady said that while the company would continue to support other operating systems—such as the one used in BlackBerry – but the LiMo system would be its primary operating system.

Read [Reuters]

It looks like AT&T will not be the only North American carrier to pick up the recently announced BlackBerry Bold, in addition it will be available for Canadian customers through Rogers Communication. The release date and pricing still remain a mystery, however there is a notification page to keep you up to date. Of course we will also keep you posted here as well. With the AT&T release coming in the beginning of this summer, we can only imagine that Rogers will not be that far away.

Read [Rogers]

The latest offering coming from Boost Mobile is the PAYGO Chat Plan, which is just $1 a day. The plan does not include any daytime minutes, but instead offers unlimited nights and weekends, unlimited texting, and unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling. Those daytime minutes will be billed at $0.10 per minute. The PAYGO Chat Plan could be a nice option for those looking for just basic calling, but be warned those extra charges can run up quickly for additional services. Wireless web will set you back an extra $0.35 a day and picture, audio or video messages will be an additional $0.25 for each that is sent or received.

Read [Boost Mobile] Via [IntoMobile]

Philips has official announced the touchscreen based X800 (pictured above) and Xenium X-Connect (pictured below) handsets. The X-Connect aims a little more at the high end of the spectrum, while the X800 seems to have a nicer look than feature set.

The X800 will feature a 2.9-inch display with a 240 x 400 resolution, 2-megapixel camera, microSD card slot and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity. Sadly even with the nice look and touchscreen, the X800 is lacking some important connectivity, namely EDGE or Wi-Fi, instead it gives just 2G GSM for all your data needs. The X800 will allow you send or receive both SMS and MMS messages but the mobile web browsing is limited, not only by the previously mentioned 2G coverage, but the WAP 2.0 browsing experience.

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J.D. Power and Associates has published their first volume of the 2008 US Wireless Retail Sales Satisfaction Study. And guess who came out on top? As if the post’s title wasn’t obvious enough, T-Mobile has been awarded the first place spot in Retail Sales Satisfaction, achieving an overall score of 716 in customer satisfaction. Alltel and Verizon claim the number 2 and 3 spot with a score of 714 and 706 respectively. Likewise, T-Mobile also received top honors in January for #1 Customer Care in the J.D. Power and Associates’ 2008 Wireless Customer Care Performance Study. With T-Mobile’s 3G roll-out plans this year, the wireless company has never looked better. Now, if only they offered the iPhone, I’d actually switch. But in the meantime, I’m stuck with the non-ranking AT&T.

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All due respect to RIM for coming up with a sleek and full-featured smartphone such as the BlackBerry Bold, but we couldn’t help feel shortchanged just a little as it doesn’t match up with the iPhone’s look and feel. So, it is but only natural to get excited over the latest rumor circulating around the BlackBerry name, the Thunder.

Yes dear readers, the group over at BGR are claiming that the latest smartphone from RIM has been codenamed the BlackBerry Thunder. And yes, this time, we just might be staring at the real iPhone killer. With its full touchscreen display and only four keys visible upfront - send/end keys, the BlackBerry menu key and the back key, the Thunder may well the next generation of what we can expect from RIM. Rumor has it that the BlackBerry Thunder will also be a worldwide lifetime exclusive on Verizon and Vodafone, so current AT&T subscribers still have plenty of time to think about shifting carriers before the Thunder arrives.

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AT&T has officially announced they will be the “exclusive carrier for the Bold in the US.” While the details are still coming in, this bit of exciting information almost seemed like just a brief mention in what was an article covering the recent increase for RIM’s stock. Of course between the 3G support in the BlackBerry Bold and the 3G coverage that AT&T has to offer I suppose we should not be all that surprised. Still unknown is an exact release date, however according to RIM’s earlier press release it will be available “beginning this summer.” We also cannot help to wonder just how much the Bold will set you back in terms of dollars.

Read [MSN Money] Via [Engadget]

Helio’s latest promotion has their Ocean for just $99. Of course there is a small catch to get that price, the phone is actually going for $199, and you will get the $100 difference back in the form of a mail-in-rebate. Which would make this a good offer only for those that are good at making sure the take care of the paperwork.

Aside from the mail-in-rebate, the offer requires a new activation which means a two year agreement, and you have to sign up for a plan that retails for $60 or more per month. Of course when you consider Helio has a 500 minute plan for $65, a 1000 minute plan for $85 and an unlimited plan for $99 that should not be an issue.

As you would expect, this latest offer is just for a limited time, the Ocean must be purchased between May 1, 2008 and June 17, 2008, the rebate form must also be mailed in no later than July 17, 2008.

Read [Helio]