Both AT&T and the FCC continue to make headlines today, as reports are surfacing that the Federal Communications Commission has just approved the carrier's purchase of 700MHz wireless spectrum from Qualcomm.
You may recall that the FCC recently announced its disapproval of AT&T's T-Mobile buyout, eventually forcing the carrier to pull out of the deal. But it seems like the two organizations are on the same page this time around...
Sprint on-contract subscribers that are hoping to get themselves or someone special an iPhone for the holidays might be in luck. It seems as though the carrier is offering some of its customers the opportunity to upgrade early.
Popular Sprint blog SprintFeed has obtained an internal memo from the cell phone provider that explains the limited time early-upgrade promotion...
T-Mobile customers hoping for a chance to carry the iPhone have had a rough last couple of months. First of all, rumors that the carrier would be offering Apple's handset this year have been effectively debunked. And then there was that whole AT&T takeover debacle.
So it looks like T-Mobile subscribers will have to stick to carrying unlocked iPhones. This has been possible for years, but due to the lack of 3G data, it's kind of unpopular. However, a recent report says that 3G data is actually possible on an unlocked T-Mobile iPhone...
Bjango, the company behind great apps like iStat, has released Consume 2.0 in the App Store. The huge update introduces an iPad version of the popular usage tracker and iCloud support.
Consume is a gorgeous app that lets you easily track your data usage, packages, and even reward cards. Version 2.0 makes an already-fantastic app even better.
Not everyone needs everything for an extended amount of time. That's why you can rent pretty much anything these days. Cars, houses, washing machines, furniture and the like can all be leased for short amounts of time and then returned.
Now the European-based operator O2 is looking to bring this business model to the smartphone market as it has just announced its new rental program: O2 Lease. With the service, customers will now be able to rent the iPhone 4S instead of purchasing it...
As smartphones have become more and more popular over the last few years, so has wireless data. The more features that manufacturers add to their handsets, the more wireless data they consume.
This has caused several cell phone providers to preserve their bandwidth by discontinuing their unlimited data plans. Verizon seems to have come up with another way to deal with its data-intensive customers...
Prior to this year, AT&T was in a pretty sweet spot. As the only carrier in the United States with Apple's coveted handset, generating new smartphone customers wasn't very difficult.
But now that Verizon and Sprint are in the mix, AT&T might want to think about stepping up its game. Consumer Reports just named the carrier the worst in the US in customer satisfaction, again.
Wireless carriers will typically do anything and everything to become an iPhone partner. But there have been some operators that have turned down the opportunity to carry the handset, such as US Cellular.
America's 6th largest wireless carrier told investors last month that it had just turned down a deal from Apple regarding its smartphone, citing "unacceptable terms." Now the operator is saying the iPhone's lack of "cutting edge" technology also played a factor in its decision to walk...
We all saw this coming. BGR is reporting that multiple law firms from the north eastern region of the United States have just filed class action lawsuits against Apple and several other manufacturers and wireless carriers due to their part in the Carrier IQ scandal.
Carrier IQ's IQRD app comes pre-installed on millions of handsets each year, and was recently exposed for secretly collecting private user data. The software is hidden within mobile operating systems and never asks for a user's permission to collect their information.
The Carrier IQ fallout continues as more and more information surfaces about the smartphone spyware. The user-tracking software was exposed earlier this week when a 25 year old systems administrator posted a startling video of it in action.
The video has prompted investigations, both here in the States and abroad, as government officials seek out more information on the eery application. In fact, Apple is having to answer questions from German regulators regarding the Carrier IQ agent...
Following the carrier IQ debacle, Apple was relatively quick to comment on the matter, when it issued a statement a few minutes ago:
We stopped supporting Carrier IQ with iOS 5 in most of our products and will remove it completely in a future software update. With any diagnostic data sent to Apple, customers must actively opt-in to share this information, and if they do, the data is sent in an anonymous and encrypted form and does not include any personal information. We never recorded keystrokes, messages or any other personal information for diagnostic data and have no plans to ever do so.
Move along. Nothing more to see here.
Since the iPhone 4S debuted in October, Sprint subscribers have been complaining about slow data speeds on the new handset. Several owners have been reporting dismal 3G download speeds of less than 1mbps on America's third largest wireless network.
Sprint commented on the situation earlier this month, stating that it was taking the issue seriously. And it seems to have made good on its word, as CNET is reporting that the carrier has started rolling out network enhancements to fix the problem...