AP Exclusive: Google Tracks Your Movements, Like it or Not

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Google wants to know where you go so badly that it records your movements even when you explicitly tell it not to.

An Associated Press investigation found that many Google services on Android devices and iPhones store your location data even if you’ve used privacy settings that say they will prevent it from doing so.

Computer-science researchers at Princeton confirmed these findings at the AP’s request.

For the most part, Google is upfront about asking permission to use your location information. An app like Google Maps will remind you to allow access to location if you use it for navigating. If you agree to let it record your location over time, Google Maps will display that history for you in a “timeline” that maps out your daily movements.

Storing your minute-by-minute travels carries privacy risks and has been used by police to determine the location of suspects — such as a warrant that police in Raleigh, North Carolina, served on Google last year to find devices near a murder scene. So the company will let you “pause” a setting called Location History.

Google says that will prevent the company from remembering where you’ve been. Google’s support page on the subject states: “You can turn off Location History at any time. With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored.”

Read More from Wireless Week Here

Passive DAS Uses Innovative Formula To Improve Receptions In Buildings

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There’s no denying that technological innovation is affecting almost every aspect of people’s lives and individuals of all age groups, especially when it comes to communicating with each other. More than 40 percent of seniors 65 or older for example, own a smartphone, with applications like Skype and FaceTime that let people to keep in touch regularly. While these advances have made communication more accessible and convenient, there are still some situations where that isn’t the case.

One of the top concerns when choosing long-term care institutions for elderly relatives is the ability to stay in touch, which can be very difficult since many of these institutions suffer from poor reception. As someone whose grandmother spent more than a year in a nursing home before passing, I can attest to these frustrations. To make matters worse, facility owners are unable or unwilling to improve reception because of high costs (with some upgrades costing $2-4 per square foot) and the disruption such renovations will be to residents.

Read More from Wireless Design Mag

Verizon, Motorola Debut Smartphone with 5G-capable Add-on Mod

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With carriers promising mobile 5G network coverage early next year, Verizon and Motorola have introduced a new smartphone capable of upgrading to 5G when the time comes via a clip-on module housing a 5G-capable modem.

Motorola’s new Moto Z3 will be available starting Aug. 16, exclusively at Verizon stores, for $480. The 5G moto mod, which snaps on and supports 5G over millimeter wave spectrum, will likely come out in early 2019 – about the time Verizon said its mobile 5G service will debut. Pricing for the 5G moto mod has yet to be announced.

Verizon’s initial 5G rollouts will be focused on residential broadband using fixed wireless, with Houston, Los Angeles, and Sacramento, along with one additional city yet to be disclosed, the first markets to get the service during the second half of 2018. Verizon then plans to deploy mobile 5G services in 2019.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere on a quarterly earnings call this week reiterated plans to bring 5G to 30 cities this year, initially launching in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Las Vegas, with nationwide coverage happening by 2020.

Read More from Wireless Week Here

Sprint Adds 87K Postpaid Phone Customers as It Works Toward T-Mobile Merger

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Sprint on Wednesday announced adding 87,000 net postpaid phone subscribers in the latest quarter, as the carrier works to gain approval for its proposed merger with T-Mobile.

Additions in the lucrative postpaid phone category improved sequentially and beat analysts’ estimates of 40,000 gains, but were similar to what the No. 4 U.S. wireless carrier reported in the year ago period. Sprint posted 3,000 prepaid additions, down from the 35,000 it added last year. The carrier indicated that its pre-paid unit Boost Mobile saw continued strength, but was partially offset by losses in other brands. The company said 71,000 prepaid customers moved to non-Sprint postpaid services during the quarter.

Overall, Sprint added a net 57,000 wireless subscribers for the three-month period ending June 30, leaving it with a total of 54.6 million customers.

Postpaid churn, and postpaid phone-only churn, while still high compared to peers, were both down for the third consecutive quarter at 1.63 percent and 1.55 percent, respectively. A year ago postpaid phone churn was at 1.50 percent.

Read More from Wireless Week Here

5G is coming to Houston. Here’s why that’s a big deal

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Verizon recently announced it will bring a broadband-like version of its 5G wireless technology to the city sometime this year. The technology, heralded as the next generation of internet speeds, will make the process of loading websites, downloading songs and streaming movies at least 10 times faster than 4G.

The carrier plans to bring the same type of fixed wireless 5G to Sacramento, California, and Los Angeles later this year and launch mobile 5G in select cities in 2019.

CNN’s parent company AT&T (T), along with Sprint (S) and T-Mobile (TMUS), have also set their sights on 5G. AT&T says it’s on track to debut a small mobile 5G wifi hotspot device that fits in the palm of your hand. The device, which can be placed in homes or cars and provide 5G to mobile phones, is expected to launch in 12 cities by the end of 2018.

Read More from CNN Here