CNET también está disponible en español. Don't show this again. UPS is testing the new system in four hubs, and it plans to install the gear inside 1,700 U.S. package-sorting centers by 2004, Myhr said. The system uses equipment built by Symbol Technology. The $120 million project is the first large-scale deployment of a system in which Bluetooth and Wi-Fi work together on the same task, said Joyce Putcher, director of converging markets and technologies for analyst firm. "I expect a lot more of this," she said.

One of the most common concerns about such combinations is interference, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi use the same set of airwaves, posing a potential to clash in close range, But so far, Putcher said, UPS hasn't told analysts of any interference problems, Aaron Vance, a wireless analyst with Synergy Research believes Wi-Fi and Bluetooth will begin partnering not only in huge warehouses, which are already highly automated, but also in printers and personal digital assistants at home and work, Handheld computers, for instance, could use a Wi-Fi network to download a large presentation for a business meeting, then use Bluetooth to send the information to saved and remade iphone case a printer, he said, "This is just beginning."..

Combining two wireless technologies will allow United Parcel Service to cut the cords at 1,700 hubs, and analysts expect the concept to catch on elsewhere. The shipping giant, which calls itself "Brown" in its advertising, is beginning to deploy a tracking system that combines the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless technologies. Bluetooth can carry data over several feet, while Wi-Fi has a 300-foot range, making it a popular method of extending Net access in many homes and business. UPS representative Ginnie Myhr said 55,000 package handlers eventually will get Bluetooth bar code readers that are worn on the finger like a ring. The ring scans a package label and sends the information to a Wi-Fi radio attached to a handler's belt. The radio then sends the information to a central computer.

CNET también está disponible en español, Don't show this again, The practice contrasts with that of most other major wireless companies, Verizon, Sprint, Cingular and Nextel, for example, continue to bill customers on a month-to-month basis under the same terms and conditions as their original contracts after their contracts expire, In the case of AT&T Wireless, many customers become aware of the unique clause only after they receive a sizable monthly bill, Pat McNulty, a saved and remade iphone case mother of two in Monterey, Calif., said she recently received a $100 bill from AT&T Wireless for her daughter's monthly service, which is normally $29.99, When she called AT&T Wireless customer service to question the charges, she was told her daughter's contract had expired, as had the "promotional" extra weekend and evening minutes previously covered in the plan..

"Deceptive" tacticsThe service representative offered to credit McNulty $60 if she renewed her daughter's contract for another year. "The tactic is extremely deceptive and I think it was done intentionally to make you renew or pay up," McNulty said. McNulty complained that the only notification the company gave her of the impending change in her daughter's plan was in fine print on page five of a 10-page bill. Consumer advocates say McNulty's anger is justified. "We would expect that service after the expiration of the contract would be on the same terms and conditions on a month-to-month basis," said Carl Hilliard, president of the Wireless Consumers Alliance, a non-profit organization in Del Mar, Calif.