The Top 10 Ways Mobile Carriers Tried to Screw Us in 2011

[Commentary] Another year, another 12 months in which the mobile carriers did their best to screw us.

AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon do so many bad, annoying and anti-consumer things that it's almost impossible to document it all. So below is a catalog of simply the most egregious acts the carriers perpetrated this year. Each company has its own special way of screwing its customers. But some trends emerged. All of the carriers tried to charge us more for text messaging and data. They were all keen to grab our sensitive data to sell to marketers or -- in some cases -- give to the government. And Verizon twice showed that it's willing to block apps from reaching our phones -- even when those apps come straight from the Googleplex. Above all, AT&T showed that squeezing every last penny out of us isn't enough to satisfy its bottomless need for profits, so it decided it needed to buy T-Mobile to kill wireless competition for good. Thankfully, the FCC and the Justice Department -- along with millions of Americans -- saw the light and the deal is as good as dead.

• The Carriers Hold Customer Data for Years
• Apple Files Patent to Block iPhone Cameras
• AT&T Raises Texting Rates
• Unlimited Data Plans Are Dead. Long Live Unlimited Data!
• MetroPCS Fires Shot at Network Neutrality
• Verizon Sues to Kill Network Neutrality
• Carrier IQ and Cellphone Spying
• Verizon Blocks Tethering App, Breaks Law
• Verizon Blocks Google Wallet
• AT&T's Failed Merger with T-Mobile