T-Mobile is making another long-term price guarantee, but wireless users will rightfully be skeptical since T-Mobile refused to honor a previously offered lifetime price lock and continues to fight a lawsuit filed by customers who were harmed by that broken promise. Moreover, the new plans that come with a price guarantee will have extra fees that can be raised at any time.

T-Mobile today announced new plans with more hotspot data and a five-year price guarantee, saying that "T-Mobile and Metro customers can rest assured that the price of their talk, text and data stays the same for five whole years, from the time they sign up." The promise applies to the T-Mobile "Experience More" and "Experience Beyond" plans that will be offered starting tomorrow. The plans cost $85 or $100 for a single line after the autopay discount, which requires a debit card or bank account.

The price-lock promise also applies to four new Metro by T-Mobile plans that launch on Thursday. T-Mobile's announcement came three weeks after Verizon announced a three-year price lock.

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T-Mobile is replacing its Go5G plans with a couple of new options, complete with a five-year guarantee that it won’t raise your rate. But as always, there’s a bit of a catch.

The new Experience More and Experience Beyond plans match the outgoing plans almost feature for feature, but with more hotspot data. The Experience Beyond plan costs $100 per month (after an autopay discount) for a single line and comes with the same benefits as the Go5G Next plan, including a new phone every year and Netflix, Apple TV Plus, and Hulu bundled in. It comes with T-Mobile’s satellite service included, as well as substantially more high-speed hotspot data: 250GB, up from 50GB.

Experience More costs $85 per month for a single line after the autopay discount, which is $5 less than the Go5G Next plan it replaces, and now comes with 60GB of hotspot data rather than 50GB. Satellite connectivity is included, though only until the end of the year.

T-Mobile’s president of marketing Mike Katz tells me that the price guarantee is intended to give customers some peace of mind as prices on everything go up. “We felt like it was really important that we… gave them an assurance that for the next five years, they don’t have to worry about this category.” But the less-good news is that these plans don’t include taxes and fees like their predecessors did. Those are extra on top of the monthly rate, and are excluded from the price guarantee.

Even if T-Mobile keeps its word and keeps the plan rates locked in for five years, the company can still increase the fees it charges, add new ones, or reduce your autopay discount — things we’ve seen carriers do again and again.

On Tuesday, some parents lost the ability to track the locations of their children using a T-Mobile tracking device and app and instead were shown the exact locations of random other children around the country, 404 Media has learned.

T-Mobile sells a small GPS tracker for parents called SyncUP, which they can use to track the locations of young children who don’t  have cell phones yet. Jenna, a parent who uses SyncUP to keep track of her three-year-old and six-year-old children, logged in Tuesday and instead of seeing if her kids had left school yet, was shown the exact, real-time locations of eight random children around the country, but not the locations of her own kids. 404 Media agreed to use a pseudonym for Jenna to protect the privacy of her kids.

“I’m not comfortable giving my six-year-old a phone, but he takes a school bus and I just want to be able to see where he is in real time,” Jenna said. “I had put a 500 meter boundary around his school, so I get an alert when he’s leaving.” 

T-Mobile has officially closed its joint venture deal with the fiber provider Lumos,  after taking down its webpage dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the process, as reported by Fierce Network. The now-blank page outlined T-Mobile’s “culture of fairness, respect, and inclusion” and was online until at least March 26th, the Internet Archive shows.

Its removal seems like a direct response to the threats from Federal Communications Chair Brendan Carr, who said companies should “get busy ending any sort of their invidious forms of DEI discrimination” during an interview with Bloomberg last month. He suggested that major deals, such as T-Mobile’s plan to acquire most of US Cellular, won’t happen if DEI is still in play. 

T-Mobile executive vice president Mark Nelson has already indicated that the company plans on complying with Carr’s orders. In a March 27th letter to the FCC, he stated T-Mobile is “conducting a comprehensive review of its DEI policies, programs, and activities,” adding that the joint venture with Lumos “will not promote invidious forms of discrimination.” As pointed out by Fierce Network, the FCC signed off on the deal on March 28th. The Verge reached out to T-Mobile with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.

Since becoming FCC chair, Carr has probed the DEI practices at Comcast, Verizon, and Disney. The Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats have responded by opening an investigation of their own, which will examine the time and resources the FCC has spent on “bogus investigations.”

T-Mobile is letting some legacy plan customers know that a price increase is coming, 9to5Google reports. Many Reddit users on r/tmobile said the carrier sent them text messages that their plans will raise by $5 per month per line starting on April 2nd.

In an internal memo obtained by CNET, T-Mobile consumer group president Jon Freier says the price increase addresses “rising costs” for the company. The memo noted that affected customers would be notified by the end of the day today.

CNET says it’s unclear which legacy plans will be affected but notes that Go5G, Go5G Plus, and Go5G Next subscribers won’t be subject to the price hikes. T-Mobile had already increased the rates of some of these older plans by $2 to $5 last year, and Freier apparently notes in the memo that “no line that received a prior increase will receive an additional adjustment as part of this initiative.”

“While most customers are not included, we’re wrapping up the price adjustments that began last year in response to rising costs,” T-Mobile says on its support account on X. “We are still committed to providing low prices and the most value across all plans.” The account also says that these changes should not affect customers with Price Lock.

Springtime is a period of renewal – and that often includes new iterations of all your favorite gadgets. Laptops and phones and even game consoles are all getting a new look on the outside and new specs on the inside this year, and you might be tempted to upgrade. But if you do, that leaves the question of what to do with your old model. If it’s still in good working condition, there’s a pretty good chance someone will give you a few bucks for it — here are the best places to make that happen.

Trade-in sites

Lots of people can make good money selling old stuff online, but it’s usually a full-time job for them. You, on the other hand, probably would like it to be as easy and quick as possible. To get some money in your hand without too much fuss, we recommend an automated trade-in site. You'll select your device from a list, get a quote within minutes and send the device to the company in return for cash in a matter of days.

Decluttr

Decluttr definitely lives up to its name. Not only can you sell phones from a number of manufacturers, including Apple, Samsung and Google, but the site also takes lots of physical media, including CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays, video games and books – and yes, there are plenty of people who still collect these. For devices, you'll be asked to provide a general assessment of its condition before you’re given a quote immediately. Once you complete your order, the site will send you a free shipping label. Decluttr also will accept handsets as old as the iPhone 7, though it'll offer you only $2 for a 32GB model in excellent condition.

Back Market

Back Market has been rising in popularity the past few years, and it’s easy to see why. It offers excellent prices since it sources multiple refurbishers for quotes. You’ll just answer a few questions about your phone, then take your packaged device to a UPS Store and show the clerk a QR code in order to get your prepaid shipping label. Payment is dropped straight into your bank account, so you don’t have to wait for a check (or worry about cashing it). Back Market takes a pretty wide variety of products too, including headphones and speakers.

uSell

uSell operates as a broker, searching other sites for their best offers on a given device and taking care of the rest. Like most buyback sites, it's big on iPhones, but you can still sell off other manufacturers' devices; it really depends on who's buying them at that point. The selection is a bit of a grab bag — newer phones like the Galaxy S22 aren't listed, though you can get a quote for the iPhone 15 ($401 for an unlocked, “flawless” 128GB model). Once you complete your order the site will send you a free shipping kit to send in your device, and you can get paid for the item via PayPal, Venmo or an old-fashioned check.

ecoATM

If you don't want to have to worry about packaging up your old device and mailing it off, or would like to receive your payout right away, there's always ecoATM. It's literally all in the name: the company operates automated machines that you place your device into to get it examined, and it pays you out on the spot. It accepts the biggest brands (i.e., Apple, Google and Samsung), along with devices from a wide variety of manufacturers, including LG, Motorola and ZTE. If the machine determines that your device isn't worth anything at all, you can still use ecoATM to responsibly recycle your old gadget. You'll find ecoATM kiosks in Walmart, Dollar General and Kroger locations, as well as malls and check-cashing stores across the country.

Amazon

While browsing Amazon listings, it’s likely you’ve come across products marked as “refurbished.” Well, if you’ve ever wondered where those come from, a lot of them likely hail from Amazon’s trade-in program. The company will put its own products, like Kindle ereaders and Fire tablets front and center, but you can also send in phones and gaming products in for an Amazon gift card as well. It’s not great if you want cash, but if you’re looking to upgrade an Amazon device, this option is your best bet, as trading in an older one also nets you a 20 percent discount in addition to the store credit. You’ll need to print out a shipping label, or you can drop off your electronics at select Amazon Locker, Whole Foods or uBreakiFix locations.

Apple

This is a good option if you’re looking to upgrade to a newer Apple device. You can trade in iPhones, iPads, Macs and even Apple Watches. That’s notable as wearables are a category you don’t often see on trade-in sites. Apple will even take your old Android phone if you were thinking of making the switch. The trade-in values are on par with other sites (though occasionally Apple will offer extra credit on certain categories), but you can get a smaller payout in the form of a gift card instead if you’d rather wait before making a new purchase, want to put it toward media purchases or even just use it in an Apple Store. The latter, by the way, also accepts trade-ins in case you’re not comfortable shipping your old but still expensive device.

Target

Target used to do in-store trade-ins only, but now it’s entirely a mail-in operation. You select your product from a pretty extensive list of eligible products, including smart speakers and media players (like Zune!). As usual, you’ll answer a few questions about its condition to get a quote. Then you’ll get a prepaid shipping label to attach to any box that you’ll drop off at your nearest USPS location. Payment is only offered via an electronic gift card, which is still pretty good given that you can buy all sorts of things at Target besides electronics like groceries, clothing and furniture.

It'sWorthMore

The nice thing about It’sWorthMore is that its on-site forms handle a larger variety of gadgets than other sites, including cameras, drones and even graphics cards. It also handles products from a larger variety of companies such as LG, AMD and even GoPro in addition to standards like Apple, Samsung and Google. You’ll answer a few standard questions about your device’s condition and whether you still have the original box — obviously, the more you’ve kept from the original packaging, the better. You’ll then get a ballpark estimate of its worth and a prepaid shipping label to print out. Once your device has been received, you’ll generally get the assessment and payment via direct deposit, check, PayPal, Zelle or a gift card in under 10 days.

BuyBackWorld

The appeal of BuyBackWorld is that device assessment is a streamlined process: Instead of having to answer a barrage of detailed questions about the condition of your device you simply give it a general assessment and let the site handle the rest. Just like with It’sWorthMore, BuyBackWorld will provide a printable shipping label in your confirmation email but, if you don’t have a printer or boxes to pack your device up, you can always have the site send you a free shipping kit, which can handle everything the site takes except desktop computers. Don’t worry if you do have a larger item, though – BuyBackWorld will still cover free shipping via FedEx, you just need to provide your own packaging.

GadgetGone

If you’ve read through the other site descriptions, GadgetGone’s modus operandi should be familiar: To sell a product, you’ll have to answer a few questions about what type of device you have and what condition it’s in, after which the site will generate a prepaid shipping label. At least here you can find brands like OnePlus included among the options, and you can also sell MacBooks and Mac minis here. You can get paid a number of ways, too, including PayPal, virtual VISA card, Amazon and Target gift cards or just good, old-fashioned bank transfer.

Store trade-ins

Whether it’s because you don’t want to wait for your money, or because you’re not entirely comfortable dropping expensive electronics into a mailbox and hoping they make it to their destination, you might prefer taking your items to a retail location. Fortunately there are still plenty of brick-and-mortar locations to do just that. Even wireless carriers like Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile have gotten in on the trade-in game.

Best Buy

Best Buy also offers trade-ins both by mail and in-store — with more than 1,000 locations, this might be extremely convenient for you. You fill out the form online and bring that to customer service. It's easy, but there's one big downside: You can get your payout only via a Best Buy gift card. This is great if you spend a lot of money with them anyway, but not ideal if you need cash.

GameStop

GameStop is infamous for buying games back at ridiculously low prices and flipping them at near retail, but don't let that stop you from making some easy cash when you need to quickly clear your closet of old electronics and games. And yes, I said cash: GameStop offers store credit, a prepaid Mastercard or actual money if you want to take your bounty elsewhere. For example, you can trade in Super Mario Bros. Wonder for the Switch and get $25 in store credit or $17.50 cash, which isn't bad when new copies are going for $50 on Amazon. GameStop also accepts phones, tablets and Apple Watches, though the prices aren't going to match what you'd get from an online trade-in site. You can even sell your Amiibo collection if you just want it gone and don’t care about recouping its full value.

Consumer to consumer

Sometimes you prefer to cut out the middleman and get a bit more personal — a transaction where you're selling your device directly to another person instead of letting a faceless site flip it for you as a "refurbished" unit. In those cases, you want a site that's more user-to-user, though a few will still automate certain bits to make your sale as smooth and secure as possible.

Swappa

Swappa is a marketplace site, which means sellers can set their own price. So if you're getting rid of a newer phone, this is probably the best way to go — the iPhone 16 fetches around $400, for example. That's a huge improvement over what you'd get selling through a site like Decluttr, which is offering only $162 for a 128GB unit.

Amazon

When shopping on Amazon, you've probably been tempted by some of those marketplace deals in the past and, chances are, if you list an item on there, someone will give your old device a look. Since almost everyone on earth seems to have an Amazon account, your potential customer base is huge, and it costs only $0.99, plus a percentage based on category, to sell an item through the site. The downsides are that Amazon isn't really optimized for individual sales; you'll be competing with wholesale companies and even bots that will tweak the price of a product automatically in response to the competition.

eBay

eBay is sort of the Wild West of sales sites, but the biggest advantage is that you can sell anything there and hopefully find a buyer, regardless of how old a product is. Even so, the site has come a long way in the past decade or so, with a dedicated tech section in the top menu and a hub page highlighting current deals.

In the end, it still works as it always did: You list a product and set an end date for the listing with a minimum price, or just set a "Buy It Now" price if you don't want to wait to see how an auction turns out. Chances are you already have an eBay account with a feedback score, so there's no extra setup required on your part. Your first 250 listings are free every month, and you'll pay up to 15 percent of the purchase price (plus a small flat fee of $0.30 or $0.40) if an item sells. The biggest downside is that you're competing with a lot more sellers, and chances are there's always someone willing to undercut you on price.

Cash-back comparison

Ultimately, the site you go with should be whatever's most useful and convenient, but if you just care about how much money you'll get, we've priced out the iPhone 15 and Samsung Galaxy S22 just to give you an idea of what each site will pay out.

iPhone 15 (unlocked, 128GB, good condition)

• Amazon: N/A

• Apple: $400 (trade-in credit), $390 (gift card)

• AT&T: $190 (bill credit or promotional card)

• BackMarket: $396 (cash)

• Best Buy: $325 (gift card)

• BuyBackWorld: $340 (cash)

• Decluttr: $162 (cash)

• eBay: $315 (cash)

• ecoATM: $251 (cash)

• GadgetGone: $417 (cash)

• GameStop: $230 (cash), $256 (store credit)

• It’sWorthMore: $421 (cash)

• Swappa: $463 (cash)

• Target: $290 (gift card)

• T-Mobile $290 (bill credit)

• uSell: $371 (cash)

• Verizon: N/A

Samsung Galaxy S23 (unlocked, 128GB, good condition)

• Amazon: N/A

• Apple: $195 (trade-in credit or gift card)

• AT&T: $290 (bill credit or promotional card)

• Back Market: $203 (cash)

• Best Buy: $150 (gift card)

• BuyBackWorld: $180 (cash)

• Decluttr: $135 (cash)

• eBay: $225 (cash)

• ecoATM: $133 (cash)

• GadgetGone: $232 (cash)

• GameStop: $131 (cash), $146 (store credit)

• It’sWorthMore: $236 (cash)

• Swappa: $308 (cash)

• Target: $190

• T-Mobile: $155 (bill credit)

• uSell: N/A

• Verizon: N/A

Once you've picked a site and listed your item, there are a few important things to remember before you ship off your device. At the top of the list is to do a full factory reset before disposing of a phone or laptop (or any other device) containing personal data. That also means turning off "Find My iPhone" and the activation lock on iOS devices. See if you can unlock the phone, too; you'll actually get more money selling it carrier-free. And finally, make sure you've backed up any important data you may have, like contact info, game saves and, of course, photos. Cash is great, but it won't save your memories.

Images: Mike Blake / Reuters (ecoATM); Alamy (Gamestop); Getty Images for eBay (eBay)

Deutsche Telekom is building a new Perplexity chatbot-powered “AI Phone,” the companies announced at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona today. The new device will be revealed later this year and run “Magenta AI,” which gives users access to Perplexity Assistant, Google Cloud AI, ElevenLabs, Picsart, and a suite of AI tools.

The AI phone concept was first revealed at MWC 2024 by Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile’s parent company) as an “app-less” device primarily controlled by voice that can do things like book flights and make restaurant reservations. The capabilities are like those promised by “large action model” products, including the Rabbit R1. In a press release, Deutsche Telekom board member Claudia Nemat says the forthcoming AI phone with Perplexity Assistant can book a taxi and do your shopping without having to switch apps on your phone.

Some of the AI tools, including Perplexity’s AI-powered search engine, will also be available on other devices using the MeinMagenta app (Perplexity also recently launched an Android app for its assistant). Deutsche Telekom hasn’t said much else about the AI phone hardware, but the images show something of a budget to midrange Android device with thick forehead and chin bezels, as well as a pink sleep / wake button.

Deutsche Telekom plans to launch its AI phone in the second half of this year. And this summer, the company will add some of the AI features from Google Cloud AI, ElevenLabs, and Picsart into the MeinMagenta app, which works with other smartphones.

It was inevitable that this year at MWC in Barcelona, at least one carrier would announce a major effort at building a smartphone with a top AI company. And here it is: Deutsche Telekom (DT), said that it is building an “AI Phone,” a low-cost handset created in close collaboration with Perplexity, along with Picsart […]

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• T-Mobile and Starlink announced a satellite-to-cell service to help eliminate "dead zones."
• The service provides connectivity in areas not covered by cellular networks.
• T-Mobile Starlink will also be available to customers of other cell networks.

T-Mobile is targeting cell "dead zones" by offering satellite connectivity with Starlink for both iPhone and Android users.

The network used an ad during the Super Bowl on Sunday night to launch the beta version of the satellite-to-cell service, which will also be available for customers of competitors such as Verizon and AT&T.

CEO Mike Sievert said in a press release that T-Mobile Starlink will automatically connect to compatible devices with no cellular coverage. "It's a massive technical achievement and an absolute game changer for all wireless users ... we're officially putting 'no bars' on notice," he said.

Starlink, part of Elon Musk's SpaceX, provides coverage from satellites, meaning users will be able to send and receive text messages in areas not covered by mobile towers on the ground. About half a million square miles of the US lacks cell coverage — an area close to the equivalent of two states the size of Texas.

Data and voice call coverage will follow later, T-Mobile said.

The Starlink service will be free until July for a limited number of testers. After that, T-Mobile customers on the Go5G Next plan will continue to have free service. Those on other plans will be charged $15 a month, discounted to $10 if they sign up before the end of February.

Customers on other networks will be charged $20 a month.

Potential users can sign up here.

Mobile networks providing similar satellite coverage in conjunction with Starlink include Rogers in Canada, Japan's KDDI, Telstra and Optus in Australia, Salt in Switzerland, and Ukraine's Kyivstar.

Starlink traffic tripled in 2024 after launching in more countries including Chad, Mongolia, and Argentina.

It is also offered on flights from airlines including United, Air France, and Qatar.

Elon Musk also donated free Starlink terminals to Los Angeles when the city was battling wildfires in January.

T-Mobile shares rose 4% in premarket trading in New York. The stock has risen more than 50% over the past 12 months, valuing the company at $281 billion.

T-Mobile’s Starlink-powered direct-to-cell satellite messaging service is now open for anyone in the US to try for free — including people who aren’t T-Mobile customers. The service will be limited to text messaging at first but the company hopes to have some apps and even limited multimedia support ready by the time it goes live this summer. 

It will cost T-Mobile users $15 per month once the free testing period ends in July, or $10 for customers who participated in the beta trial. Verizon and AT&T customers can also try the service for free according to T-Mobile’s press release, and will pay $20 a month per line. T-Mobile customers paying for the carrier’s priciest Go5G Next plan (which starts at $105 per month) will have the Starlink feature baked in at no additional cost. 

If you watched last night’s Super Bowl, then you might have been misled by T-Mobile’s ad. While it showcased satellite-supported voice and multimedia messaging capabilities, the public beta test only includes texting in dead zones for now. Support for picture messages, data, and voice calls is “coming later.” 

Mike Katz, T-Mobile’s president of marketing, strategy, and products told The Washington Post that messages with photos or video clips will be added by the end of the beta period in July. Katz also expects the satellite service to work with apps that “don’t require super-fast data connections,” such as certain trail/mapping services and WhatsApp.

“We’ll be working with a bunch of app manufacturers to create features in their apps that can optimize to the available bandwidth of the satellite network,” Katz said.

Registrations for the free beta opened in December, after T-Mobile and Starlink tested direct-to-cell emergency alerts and texts in disaster zones last year. T-Mobile says it’s accepting users who register on a “rolling first-come, first-served basis,” but quietly discloses that there are “limited spots available” in the fine print. The Starlink-enabled service works on “most smartphones from the last four years” according to T-Mobile, which lists currently compatible devices from Apple, Google, Motorola, Samsung, and REVVL on its website.

SpaceX is partnering with carriers around the world for direct-to-cell Starlink services. In December it launched nationwide in New Zealand. AST SpaceMobile, which is partnering with Verizon and AT&T on their rival satellite-to-cell services, recently received regulatory approval to begin testing.

Thousands of retailers and carrier stores in the US will be stocked with the Samsung Galaxy S25 ($799.99), S25 Plus ($999.99), and S25 Ultra ($1,299.99) on Friday, February 7th. Hardware-wise, the S25 series is a marginal improvement over last year’s S24 series, with the most noteworthy changes coming in the form of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chip and an expanded 12GB of RAM. Each device also supports Qi2 Ready charging (with a magnet case) and a spate of new AI features thanks to Android 15, while the S25 Ultra gets an upgraded 50-megapixel ultrawide camera.

While you likely aren’t in danger of missing out on a day-one purchase, you’ll still want to consider preordering to cash in on some incentives if you’re planning to buy one. For example, Amazon is still offering a $100 credit with any Galaxy S25 or Galaxy S25 Plus purchase, and you’ll get a $200 gift card with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Best Buy, meanwhile, is throwing in $50, $100, or $200 gift cards with the S25, S25 Plus, and S25 Ultra, respectively.

Samsung is offering similar incentives, but they’re oddly split between an instant credit and a bonus for upgrading to the next storage tier. For example, opting for a 128GB S25 Plus for $799.99 will net you a $100 credit that you can use toward anything in Samsung’s online store after purchase, or you can step up to the 256GB model for $809.99 ($50 off) and receive an additional $50 credit.

The base S25 Plus with 256GB of storage is available with $150 in credit from Samsung, along with an extra $50 upgrade credit toward the 512GB model. The Galaxy S25 Ultra also comes with a $150 credit for its 256GB base model, but you can effectively double your storage for free with an additional $150 credit, plus get another $110 credit on top of that when jumping up to 1TB.

Carriers might be the way to go if you aren’t buying the S25 unlocked, with many offering monthly bill credits when trading in a device and activating service on an unlimited plan. Verizon is offering a free Galaxy S25 or S25 Plus, or up to $1,000 toward a Galaxy S25 Ultra with qualifying trade-ins, for example. T-Mobile is pushing a similar promotion for the Galaxy S25, S25 Plus, and S25 Ultra, as is AT&T (S25, Plus, and Ultra), with the latter also allowing you to activate additional lines with the Galaxy Watch FE or Galaxy Tab A9 Plus for $.99 each a month. You can find more details about each carrier and retailer offer in our Galaxy S25 preorder guide.

The 2021 breach affected at least 2 million Washington state residents, and tens of millions more customers around the United States.

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• The Salt Typhoon hack is one of the largest attacks on US telecommunications ever, officials say.
• The yearslong attack originated in China and targeted major telecom companies like AT&T and Verizon.
• The NSA says it believes Chinese hackers were targeting senior US political figures.

US security officials have warned that millions of people's personal information could be at risk after a yearslong hacking campaign originating in China.

The US government started investigating the hack in the summer after Microsoft — which named the hack the Salt Typhoon — sounded alarms about anomalies.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, White House Deputy national security advisor Anne Neuberger said that while data belonging to millions of Americans was likely compromised, the hack targeted senior US officials.

"We believe the calls they recorded and took was really more focused on very senior political individuals," she said.

A report from the Congressional Research Office said Chinese hackers may have sought access to presidential candidates' communications. "With that access, they could potentially retrieve unencrypted communication (e.g., voice calls and text messages)," the report says.

A senior NSA official said in October that hackers from China accessed information from AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen Technologies, according to NBC.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner told The Washington Post that the hack is the "worst telecom hack in our nation's history by far."

"This is an ongoing effort by China to infiltrate telecom systems around the world, to exfiltrate huge amounts of data," Warner told the outlet.

The New York Times reported that hackers from China went undetected inside American telecommunications companies for over a year and obtained a nearly complete list of phone numbers that the Justice Department monitors in its "lawful intercept" system. The lawful intercept system is what allows law enforcement, through a court order, to wiretap or "bug" phone calls.

The FBI warned that all US citizens should use a cellphone that automatically updates its operating system and use encryption and multifactor authentication for email and social media accounts.

Neuberger said in an earlier press call on Wednesday that the government does not believe any of the targeted telecom companies have "fully removed" the Chinese hackers from their networks, and communications are still at risk. Senior White House officials on the call said the hack has been ongoing for "likely one to two years."

"President Biden has been briefed multiple times on this compromise," Neuberger told reporters. She added that the White House "has made it a priority for the federal government to do everything it can to get to the bottom of this."

Neuberger said that White House leaders are meeting three times a week to discuss the hack.

The Senate Commerce Subcommittee will hold a hearing on December 11 to discuss security threats to communications networks and review best practices for providers to mitigate consumer risks. The committee will focus on the Salt Typhoon attacks in the hearing.

The phone giant said hackers did not access the contents or logs of customer phone calls or text messages, during an industry-wide attack on phone and internet companies.

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The FCC has granted SpaceX permission to go forward with plans to offer a direct-to-phone version of its Starlink satellite internet service, with T-Mobile as its provider and a few provisos in place. The proposal dates to summer 2022, when SpaceX and T-Mobile first announced that they were pursuing the ability for the mobile provider’s […]

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