AT&T reportedly adding iPhone to GoPhone prepaid lineup today

By Cody Lee on May 24, 2013

AT&T is reportedly on the verge of significantly expanding the reach of its GoPhone prepaid brand, starting today. The carrier is said to be adding cellular data to the wireless service in both HSPA+ and LTE flavors, as well as official support for the iPhone.

This means that users will be able to activate their existing iPhone (or a new one purchased at full retail) on one of GoPhone’s 3 prepaid service plans, which start at $65 per month and include unlimited talking, unlimited texting, and 1GB of cellular data… Read More

 

AT&T slaps customers with all-new Mobility Administrative Fee

By Christian Zibreg on May 23, 2013

AT&T fanboys, beware – as of May 1, your favorite carrier has instituted a new Mobility Administrative Fee which adds an extra $0.61 per line, per month to your wireless bill.

Yes, you’ll hardly notice the additional charge, but it does work out to an extra $7.32 per phone line per year, or nearly thirty bucks annually for a family account with four lines.

But multiply the figure by AT&T’s nearly 70 million postpaid customers and that paltry $0.61 per-line charge quickly adds up to an additional hundreds of millions of extra dollars for the telco, each year. Wait, what’s a Mobility Administrative Fee, you ask… Read More

 

AT&T will enable FaceTime over cellular for everyone by year’s end

By Christian Zibreg on May 20, 2013

In a surprising move, telco AT&T is backtracking from its nonsensical policy of restricting FaceTime to its customers who subscribed to a Mobile Share data plan.

Today we learn that AT&T is promising to enable any video chatting application over cellular for all users, regardless of their data plan or device.

In a statement to The Verge, the wireless carrier said that by mid-June it will enable video chatting over cellular for its unlimited plan customers who have LTE devices from Apple, Samsung or BlackBerry, enabling these services for all customers throughout the second half of this year… Read More

 

Hacked AT&T carrier update could improve your device’s network performance

By Cody Lee on May 20, 2013

Last week, a hacked carrier update surfaced for T-Mobile subscribers that promises to increase the cellular data speeds of the iPhone 5. It claims to pull this off by increasing the handset’s bandwidth supply, allowing for “better throughput of data.”

This weekend, the same person behind the T-Mobile hack unveiled a similar workaround for AT&T customers. As before, the process installs a modded carrier file to your device that aims to improve its network performance with better band management… Read More

 

AT&T announces Aio Wireless prepaid brand with $35-$70 tiers

By Christian Zibreg on May 9, 2013

While its fierce rival Verizon has chosen to sit on the sidelines and watch T-Mobile regain consumer trust with its newly found ‘Uncarrier‘ business model and no-contract plans, AT&T has jumped on the prepaid bus with a new Aio Wireless brand rounding on T-Mobile’s offering. Just like Sprint’s Boost and Virgin, Aio Wireless is a MVNO wholly owned by AT&T and marketed as a standalone brand.

As we explained last week, Aio (as in ‘All In One’) is aimed at those eager to avoid committing their soul to AT&T at all cost by opting for a month-to-month service instead. The offering includes $40/$55/$70 tiers (pricing varies by market) with unlimited talk/text and 250MB/2GB/7GB of data.

Aio Wireless also offers Apple’s iPhone 5 and a few popular Android and Windows Phone handsets. Go past the fold for more information… Read More

 

AT&T 4G LTE coverage arrives in Manhattan, Kansas, Sedalia, Warrensburg and Missouri

By Christian Zibreg on May 7, 2013

Having expanded its fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) radio technology to include fifteen new markets (and four major U.S. cities before that), the U.S. wireless carrier AT&T has now expanded LTE coverage in five new markets. If you live in Manhattan, Kansas, Sedalia, Warrensburg or Missouri, AT&T’s LTE network should pop up on your LTE devices.

Compared to its third-generation network, AT&T’s 4G LTE offers ten times greater download speeds, always-on functionality, simultaneous talk and surf and other perks… Read More

 

AT&T to launch ‘All In One’ prepaid plan June 15

By Christian Zibreg on May 3, 2013

The nation’s second-largest wireless carrier, AT&T, is planning on introducing a new prepaid brand called ‘All In One’ in June, according to FierceWireless.

The new prepaid tiers should appeal to folks who hate long-term contracts and are expected to start at $35 for feature phones and go all the way up to $50 a month for smartphones.

Likewise, the carrier could also introduce a $70 a month tier for those whose data needs exceed two gigabytes per month, according to the report. Go past the fold for the full breakdown… Read More

 

Trust Twitter and Google, not Apple, to protect you from government data demands

By Christian Zibreg on May 1, 2013

Well, this is certainly noteworthy. According to the third annual report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) titled “Who Has Your Back?”, gadget giant Apple along with carriers AT&T and Verizon, Google’s rival Yahoo and the forgotten social network MySpace all are very likely to give in to Uncle Sam’s data demands.

Specifically, Apple and Yahoo scored one out of six possible stars, with Verizon and Yahoo rather ingloriously earning zero stars each. These companies’ weak safeguard implementation does little to circumvent data demands and protect your private information from the government’s prying eyes.

Whereas Apple and Yahoo only fight for users’ privacy rights in Congress, companies like Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft and Dropbox go to great lengths to ensure privacy of your data, earning four out of six stars each… Read More

 

AT&T will now give you $100 credit for your old smartphone

By Christian Zibreg on May 1, 2013

The nation’s second-largest carrier, AT&T, on Wednesday upgraded its cell phone trade-in program at its brick-and-mortar retail stores. The new terms incentivize customers to trade-in their old smartphone for one of the latest models and receive a $100 credit on-the-spot, which can be immediately redeemed against any AT&T smartphone or accessory purchase.

If you have an old iPhone or an Android phone that is less than three years old, the $100 trade-in credit lets you purchase a brand new iPhone 5 for just $99. Or, you could settle with an iPhone 4S wit zero bucks in upfront payment. By comparison, the entry-level 16GB iPhone 4S/5 normally sets you back $99/$199 after a two-year contract… Read More

 

AT&T U-verse subscribers can now access streams in WatchESPN, Fox Now iOS apps

By Christian Zibreg on May 1, 2013

If you’re subscribed to AT&T’s U-verse, are a sports fan and love Fox shows, good news here as the nation’s second-largest carrier has cut deals allowing users of the WathESPN and Fox Now iOS apps to stream content and watch live feeds.

The latter app also added another provider for TV episodes, Suddenlink. U-verse subscribers should go download these updates to immediately gain access to ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3 and ESPNU live feeds and such shows as Hell’s Kitchen and Family Guy, straight in these apps… Read More

 

AT&T flips the switch on LTE in 15 new markets

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 30, 2013

After adding five more cities to the list of LTE-covered places and announcing a major expansion of its fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network, the nation’s second-largest wireless carrier AT&T Mobility on Tuesday announced fifteen new LTE markets across ten U.S. states.

If you live in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania or Texas, you could be seeing increased download speeds provided AT&T’s LTE expanded to your area. Go past the fold for the full breakdown… Read More

 

Six new cities get the AT&T 4G LTE treatment

By Lory Gil on Apr 24, 2013

AT&T is making good on its promise to blanket the country with its 4G LTE coverage. Earlier this month, the mobile carrier said it plans to spread its service to more than 200 million new customers by the end of 2013. Just last week, AT&T added five more cities to the list of LTE-covered places. Today, the company has announced the addition of six new cities, plus the expansion of service in four more cities, to its list of areas supported by LTE… Read More

 

AT&T activates 4.8M iPhones in Q1

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 23, 2013

Just as we’re counting down the remaining time until Apple’s earnings release, the company’s trusted iPhone distributor AT&T reported corporate earnings related to the first three months of this year. The company added 1.2 million new subscribers and sold six million smartphones, of which 4.8 million were iPhones, accounting for a whopping 80 percent of new smartphone additions.

By contrast, rival Verizon last week said it added 677,000 net new subscribers during the first quarter. Additionally, out of the 7.2 million new smartphone owners in the quarter, Verizon reported that four million were iPhones.

Even with the slowing growth slowed, key metrics matched Wall Street expectations. That wasn’t enough to prevent shares from going down by nearly 1.25 percent in after hours trading. We’ll be listening to AT&T’s conference call later this afternoon for additional data points… Read More

 

Sprint, Verizon and AT&T announce major LTE expansion

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 19, 2013

Sprint and AT&T, respectively the nation’s third and second-largest wireless carriers, announced availability of their fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) radio technology in new markets. Sprint confirmed its customers in 21 new markets can take advantage of high-speed cellular downloads, including Los Angeles, Contra Costa County, California, Charlotte, North Carolina, Norfolk, Virginia, and Memphis, Tennessee. AT&T on its part announced it has turned on LTE in Florence, Massachusetts, Cushing, Oklahoma and Cheyenne, Wyoming. Verizon flipped the switch on LTE in two new markets… Read More

 

AT&T to light up LTE in 79 new markets by the end of summer

By Cody Lee on Apr 10, 2013

T-Mobile may be two years late to the LTE party, but it has some ambitious rollout plans for its 4G network. In a press release yesterday, the carrier said it hopes to cover 200 million+ subscribers with LTE by the end of 2013.

But not wanting to give up any ground to the Deutsche Telekom-owned company, AT&T announced today some enterprising rollout plans of its own. The carrier says it will add LTE to 79 new markets by the end of the summer… Read More

 

AT&T and Boingo team up on free Wi-Fi roaming

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 9, 2013

U.S. carrier AT&T and Wi-Fi provider Boingo Wireless Tuesday announced a new partership to provide the telco’s customers with free access to Boingo’s network of global Wi-Fi hotspots in major international airports. Los Angeles-based Boingo provides global Wi-Fi services at more than 600,000 hotspots worldwide, including hundreds of airports, thousands of hotels and tens of thousand cafes and coffee shops… Read More

 

14 new markets receive AT&T’s LTE

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 3, 2013

Last time we checked, AT&T’s fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) radio technology covered 288 million people in the United States. Today, the telco is flipping the switch on LTE in fourteen new markets as part of its ongoing network expansion, so that number is bound to go up in the following days.

Unfortunately, AT&T (for now) shows no sign of updating its sales policies to match T-Mobile’s new installment payment offering which entices people to buy the iPhone 5 separate of their wireless service for $99 down plus $20 per month over 24 months… Read More

 

Eyeing the world’s #1 telco crown, AT&T signs up Verizon for joint Vodafone bid

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 2, 2013

AT&T and Verizon, the two leading U.S. wireless carriers by subscribers and revenue, have reportedly joined forces in a massive bid to acquire London-headquartered Vodafone, a multinational telco which operates networks in over 30 countries and has partner networks in over 40 additional countries. The transaction would easily dwarf the monumental AOL/Time Warner merger as Vodafone already is a huge corporation: it’s the world’s second-largest wireless carrier after China Mobile and commands 403 million subscribers worldwide.

This compares to AT&T’s 107 million subscribers, Verizon’s 116 million customers and China Mobile’s 703 million subscribers. What’s really interesting is Vodafone’s existing U.S. partnership with Verizon Wireless: the nation’s leading telco is actually a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone where the former holds 55 percent ownership and the latter controls the remaining 45 percent ownership of the joint venture.

As Europe has traditionally been Vodafone’s stronghold, the deal would give AT&T a long-rumored entree into the European market while Verizon would get to control its own destiny without oversight from Vodafone… Read More

 

AT&T will begin rolling out HD Voice support later this year

By Cody Lee on Apr 1, 2013

Last week, T-Mobile announced that it was finally going to start offering the iPhone. It will be selling all current models, with the iPhone 5 starting at just $99 down, and will support the handset’s HD Voice (or Wideband Audio) feature.

In fact, once it launches the iPhone 5 later this month, T-Mobile will be the only US carrier to support its HD Voice option. But it won’t be that way for long. AT&T announced today that it will be rolling out support for the tech later this year… Read More

 

Comparison of iPhone ownership cost on AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile

By Christian Zibreg on Mar 27, 2013

With yesterday’s announcement that Apple’s iPhone 5 will finally start selling through T-Mobile on April 12, we can now compare the total cost of ownership across the nation’s four largest wireless carriers: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile.

A bunch of outlets ran their spreadsheets to assess the current landscape, including Zagg, best known for its line of protective coverings for consumer electronics.

In figuring out how much one saves on T-Mobile over two years versus other carriers, Zagg concluded that T-Mobile’s contract-free iPhone 5 comes in at a very cool $580 cheaper over two years. However, the difference evaporates if you switch your significant other or an entire family of four to the nation’s fourth-largest carrier… Read More

 
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