Thanksgiving holiday travelers will pay an average price of $1.61 per gallon of unleaded gasoline in Washington state. That’s a dramatic change from Labor Day weekend’s $1.95 per gallon, but still 20 cents higher than one year ago. The national average of self-serve regular unleaded is $1.50 per gallon. The Seattle-Bellevue-Everett average is the same as the statewide price, AAA Washington reported Friday.
A federal appeals court on Friday cleared the way for consumers to transfer home phone numbers to cell phones beginning Monday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied the United States Telecom Association’s request to block the rule from taking effect Monday for people living in the 100 most populous metropolitan areas. It did, however, agree to hear the lawsuit brought by the association, the trade group for local phone companies, which claims the new rule favors wireless carriers. FCC spokesman David Fiske said the agency would vigorously defend the rule. The FCC says that allowing consumers to keep their home numbers even if they trade in their corded handset for a cell phone will boost competition.
United Parcel Service Inc. is raising its ground shipping rates 1.9 percent effective Jan. 5. The rate increase announced Friday is lower than in previous years – 3.9 percent in 2003 and 3.5 percent in 2002. While some analysts said the lower rate increase reflected the level of industry competition, UPS officials noted there have been larger increases for distant deliveries and deliveries to uncommon destinations. The new rates include a dollar delivery charge for commercial shipments headed for remote ZIP codes. There also are increases on the company’s C.O.D. and Saturday pickup charges.
RealNetworks Inc. has stepped up its efforts to spread its Internet audio and video technology to wireless phone users, announcing a new service offered through AT&T Wireless. For $4.95 a month plus usage fees, AT&T Wireless customers who subscribe to the carrier’s mMode data service can get full-motion video and audio of news, sports highlights, weather forecasts and other content from ABC News, National Public Radio, Fox Sports and others. Seattle-based RealNetworks has already built a subscriber base of more than
1 million customers who pay to view exclusive music, news or other content over the Internet on their personal computers. It has since expanded into wireless phones and devices, including a deal in August with Sprint to offer similar news and information subscriptions to mobile phone users.
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