4G

Verizon launches unlimited data plan with 10GB of LTE tethering, offers free iPhone 7/Plus

Verizon is no longer the only major US carrier without an unlimited data plan. As announced yesterday, the carrier’s newly launched Unlimited plan gives you unlimited 4G data, texts and minutes on a single smartphone or tablet in exchange for $80 per month, or $45 per month for four lines ($180 total).

Those prices entail paper-free billing and AutoPay and exclude taxes. It’s unclear if Verizon’s access fees of $20 per month per smartphone and $10 per month per tablet apply to the new plan.

Like with other carriers, you don’t really get truly unlimited data: consume more than 22 gigabytes of 4G LTE data per line in any given month and the system begins prioritizing usage behind other customers in the event of network congestion. For a limited time only, the big red carrier is offering a free iPhone 7/Plus, Google Pixel or another flagship smartphone to those who’d switch to the new plan.

Apple sues Qualcomm over withholding $1B as ransom in Korean legal investigation

Apple on Friday announced it’s suing iPhone modem supplier Qualcomm, which owns many wireless patents, “after years of disagreement over what constitutes a fair and reasonable royalty”. The suit argues Qualcomm withheld nearly $1 billion in payments it owes to Apple as retaliation because Apple cooperated with the Korea Fair Trade Commission. Last month, Korean regulators slapped Qualcomm with a $850 million fine over its patent-licensing practices.

Apple’s suit, filed in federal district court in the Southern District of California, accuses Qualcomm of charging royalties for technologies “they have nothing to do with.” Responding to the complaint, Qualcomm called Apple’s claims groundless and said they “misrepresented facts”.

Qualcomm denies FTC’s claims it bribed Apple into using its modem chips

Yesterday, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged Qualcomm with monopolizing baseband modems used in smartphones, basically saying the company bribed Apple into not making a WiMAX iPhone in exchange for better royalties. The chip maker in a subsequent press release denied any wrongdoing, saying the FTC doesn’t really understand how the mobile industry works.

Qualcomm under fire from FTC over allegedly forcing Apple to use its baseband modem chips

Now we know why Apple has made the controversial decision to dual-source baseband modem chips for iPhone 7 from both Intel and Qualcomm. Tuesday, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charged Qualcomm with monopolizing baseband modems used in smartphones, saying the firm’s leveraged its position to force Apple to use its baseband chips in exchange for lower patent royalties.

Apple denies throttling LTE performance of Verizon iPhone 7

Bloomberg today shared research conducted by Twin Prime and Cellular Insights in a story suggestively headlined “Apple’s Chip Choices May Leave Some iPhone Users in Slow Lane” which asserts Apple may have throttled LTE performance of the Verizon iPhone 7 handsets to make them perform about as well as the AT&T iPhone 7 models.

Apple in a statement shot down the report and denied throttling, insisting there’s “no discernible difference” in wireless performance between various iPhone 7 models.

How to use less cellular data in the Instagram app

If you’re an Instagram user, then you probably understand how all the photos and videos you view in the app can be a serious cellular data hog whenever you’re not connected to a Wi-Fi network.

For the most part, the nature of the app is to load a feed of photos and videos, so there’s nothing data-friendly about this app to begin with, but there is a way to mitigate data usage in Instagram and we’ll show you how in this tutorial.

Sprint’s new tablet-exclusive unlimited plan degrades your video, music and gaming streams

I don’t trust “unlimited” wireless plans because they’re all but unlimited and often come with a bunch of caveats one needs to consider carefully. The latest example: Sprint’s newly announced data plan for tablets which promises unlimited 4G LTE data in exchange for $20 per month. So far so good, but the devil—as always—is in the detail.

If you take a closer look at the fine print, you soon realize that the plan limits video streaming to DVD-like 480p resolution, music streaming quality to 500kbps and your online gaming streams to up to 2Mbps.

How to optimize the Spotify app to use less cellular data

Spotify is one of the most popular alternatives to Apple Music on the iOS platform, but like all music streaming apps, it can really take a bite out of your cellular data if you’re not careful.

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to configure your Spotify premium subscription responsibly so you can use it to your liking without blowing through all of your cellular data.

Apple SIM partner AlwaysOnline Wireless unveils new UK plans, expands in 29 countries

Apple SIM is available in 140+ countries via GigSky, but now customers traveling abroad have additional choices when it comes to buying short-term data plans on the go, directly from their cellular-enabled iPad, thanks to a company called AlwaysOnline Wireless which today announced that its 4G LTE roaming network is now available via Apple SIM in the United States and 28 additional countries.

The company also launched new data plans in the United Kingdom via a partnership with British wireless carrier Three: an hourly plan with 100MB of 4G LTE for $0.49 (£0.37), a daily plan with 500MB of 4G LTE for $5.99 (£4.50), a 1GB plan for $10.99 (£8.26), a 3GB plan for $18.99 (£14.28) and a 5GB plan for $29.99 (£22.55).

Verizon rolls out LTE Advanced with 50% faster peak speeds in 461 U.S. cities

Verizon, the nation’s leading telecommunications company, today said that mobile users in 461 cities across the United States now get fifty percent faster peak wireless data speeds thanks to LTE Advanced, the next generation of wireless technology.

A major enhancement of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard, LTE Advanced uses existing cell towers and a software technique called carrier aggregation which combines multiple channels to transfer data more quickly than with LTE.

Sprint reveals its own unlimited data plan

Joining a chorus of carrier updates, U.S. wireless carrier Sprint today revealed an unlimited plan of its own. Called Unlimited Freedom and available starting at $60 per month, it offers unlimited 4G LTE data, talk and text, with the ability to add a second line for an extra $40 per month, or up to eight lines for an additional $30 per month each.

Additionally, Sprint’s prepaid subsidiary Boost Mobile revealed a similar plan of its own. Both plans are available for new and existing customers starting tomorrow.