The federal government owes wireless phone subscribers about $9 billion in tax refunds for the 3% federal excise tax charged on their bills, which was ruled illegal by a federal court today; however, the paperwork is likely to put off most people from filing for the refund, according to USA TODAY.

AT&T Inc., which recently merged with SBC Communications, said on Sunday it had reached an agreement for a new contract with the union representing some 11,000 employees of the pre-merger AT&T.

Back in 1898, Congress passed a levy of one cent per telephone call to help raise money to fund the Spanish-American War. The tax, while temporary, has been on-again, off-again throughout the years, and was reinstated in 1990. Now it is three percent (3%) of your overall telephone bill. And some people are refusing to pay it.

BellSouth and 8×8 Inc. have reached an agreement to provide Voice over Internet Protocol services under the BellSouth brand name.

Coming in March, a company will begin offering the first cell phone designed specifically for dogs.

Cingular announced Tuesday the launch of its nationwide 3G wireless broadband network in 16 major metropolitan areas.

BellSouth on Monday announced that its 6Mbps DSL service, FastAccess DSL 6.0, is now available to small business customers across its 9-state footprint.

This story is getting way too much attention for how completely stupid it is. I wasn’t even going to comment on it, but after seeing it all over the net, I think at this point I have to say something.

The story goes like this:

Members of the Communications Workers of America authorized a strike against AT&T Inc., the union said on Saturday, but the company is optimistic that it can reach a new agreement before the current contract expires December 10.

AT&T announced this week that 230 operators in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin would lose their jobs in 2006, and over 100 operators in Illinois will also be laid off.