Carriers

AT&T, Verizon and Sprint won’t support the iPhone 5 HD voice at launch

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 13, 2012

Of all the three major carriers in the United States, none is able to support the iPhone 5 high-definition voice technology at launch. Specifically, carriers AT&T and Verizon don't yet support wideband audio and Sprint's HD Voice technology is only compatible with CDMA x1 technology whereas the iPhone 5 taps WCDMA networks for the feature. There is, of course, hope that major U.S. telcos will catch up and update their backend for the iPhone 5 wideband audio...

Cricket, C Spire, GCI, Bluegrass Cellular and Appalachian Wireless landing the iPhone 5 on September 28

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Regional United States carriers C Spire and prepaid wireless operator Cricket Wireless will begin offering Apple's latest iPhone 5 on Friday, September 28, it has been confirmed. Additionally, Alaska's GCI, Bluegrass Cellular and Appalachian Wireless announced September 28 availability of the iPhone 5, a week after the device becomes available on AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint in the United States...

Verizon says yes to FaceTime, but no to unlimited data

Cody Lee ∙ September 13, 2012

AT&T kickstarted some controversy last month when it announced that customers would have to switch to one of its Shared data plans to utilize iOS 6's new FaceTime over Cellular feature.

But it looks like if this is a deal-breaker for you, you can head over to Verizon. The carrier has just confirmed that FaceTime over Cellular will work with any of its available data plans...

LTE tech forced Apple to produce three versions of the iPhone 5

Cody Lee ∙ September 12, 2012

Apple may have only announced two versions of the new iPhone 5, CDMA and GSM, but some sharp folks have pointed out that there are actually three different versions of the handset.

As it turns out, fragmented LTE technology has forced the company to manufacture not one, but two different versions of the GSM iPhone, in addition to the CDMA one. Here's why...

AT&T reportedly unlocking under-contract iPhones

Cody Lee ∙ September 7, 2012

Earlier this year, AT&T started unlocking iPhones for subscribers that were out of contract. Prior to that, users had to be jailbroken, or utilize third-party services to unlock their handsets.

Well, good news for folks with AT&T iPhones that aren't quite out of contract yet. According to a new report, the carrier has started unlocking iPhones that are still under commitment...

The next iPhone could hit Sprint on October 15, training manual indicates

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 6, 2012

Sprint Nextel, the nation's third-largest wireless operator, could start offering Apple's next iPhone beginning October 15, a leaked training document indicates. According to an alleged Sprint Training Manual, that's when the carrier will begin offering in-store iPhone support.

October 15 contradicts the assumed September 21 availability, as reported by iMore's Rene Richie who accurately predicted the next Wednesday's iPhone presser, so perhaps not all major U.S. carriers will get the device simultaneously?

T-Mobile launches unlimited “4G” data plan

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 24, 2016

T-Mobile USA, the nation's fourth-largest wireless company and the sole major U.S. carrier without the iPhone, today announced new unlimited "4G" data plan, as promised last month. The new plan will set you back $20 a month if you're on T-Mobile's Value plan or $30 a month for those on the Classic voice and text plan.

The new plans do away with speed limits or bandwidth throttling, the carrier said. Though T-Mobile continues with its dubious practice of advertising its network and these new plans under the "4G" moniker, in the carrier's terminology this really means iPhone-compatible high-speed 3G HSPA+ as T-Mobile is way overdue with 4G LTE deployment...

Alleged iPhone 5 cases pop up in AT&T’s internal accessory systems

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 5, 2012

Right on time, the first batch of cases modeled after the leaked two-tone iPhone 5 design are beginning to make an appearance at a major U.S. carrier. We wouldn't normally report on this, but this is AT&T, originally Apple's first and exclusive iPhone carrier in the United States.

Company of this size surely wouldn't screw customers by putting cases on store shelves that may not fit the final iPhone 5 design. With just a week until Apple's iPhone 5 presser, this is yet another indication that the two-tone design is in fact the real deal...

T-Mobile preparing “Bring your iPhone to T-Mobile” campaign

Cody Lee ∙ August 28, 2012

It's starting to look more and more likely that T-Mobile will once again not be receiving an iPhone nod from Apple this year, making it the last major carrier in the US without the handset.

But it's not going to take this lying down. Recently-leaked flyers show that the carrier is about to launch a "Bring Your iPhone to T-Mobile" campaign, with an emphasis on plan price."

AT&T denies rumors of employee vacation blackout

Cody Lee ∙ August 27, 2012

Over the weekend, it was reported that AT&T employees were seeing a blackout on vacation dates in late September, likely due to the new iPhone launch. Apple is widely expected to roll out the handset on September 21.

The information seemed spot-on, considering the timeframe matched up with both Verizon blackout dates and previous reports. But it looks like, for whatever reason, AT&T is denying the employee blackout rumors...

AT&T’s new Mobile Share data plans now available

Cody Lee ∙ August 23, 2012

AT&T made good on its promise today and rolled out its new Mobile Share data plans. The launch comes amidst swirling controversy regarding the plans, and the new FaceTime over Cellular feature in iOS 6.

The new plans look extremely similar to Verizon's Share plans, where subscribers start with unlimited talk and text, and then pay extra according to how much data and how many smartphones they need...

JD Power: Verizon most reliable carrier with AT&T far behind

Ed Sutherland ∙ August 23, 2012

Once again, Verizon Wireless is ranked the top U.S. carrier in fewest complaints of dropped calls, transmission problems and slow text messages. This is the 14th time the carrier has led J.D. Power's U.S. Wireless Network Quality Performance Study. AT&T and other major carriers landed further down in the cellular reliability survey.

While Verizon Wireless led in the busy Northeast corridor, it also trumped competition in the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Southwest and Westerns sections of the country. U.S. Cellular was picked as the best carrier in the North Central U.S. for the 12th time. AT&T's reliability was consistently ranked the lowest, except in the Mid-Atlantic and Southwest areas, where it was second to Verizon...