Items tagged with ATT
T-Mobile has announced something, and it's anyone's guess if it's an elaborate April Fool's prank kicking off a bit early or if it's just a hardcore troll of AT&T's 5G E service. At any rate, it's natural to be dubious of this but the T-Mobile Phone BoothE is also sort of plausible so here is what T-Mobile has to say about it. The T-Mobile Phone BoothE is "the next evolution in telecom" and will launch in New York City, Washington D.C., and in Seattle with more locations to come. The BoothE is a "vertical vestibule" that anyone around long enough to remember the days of public phone booths will recognize. Here's hoping that the BoothE aren't frequented by the sort of folks who can't...
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AT&T is already embroiled in lawsuits over its “5G Evolution” service, or 5G E, which the company claims enables speeds up to 2x faster than traditional 4G LTE on compatible devices. Competitors, however, have taken AT&T to task over this claim, and allege that 5G E is nothing more than a misleading marketing tactic designed to deceive consumers and gain a leg-up as true, next-generation 5G networks begin rolling out. A study that was just released by Opensignal seems to jibe with what AT&T's competitors have to say. AT&T’s 5G Evolution service is enabled by a handful of key upgrades to the company’s existing 4G LTE network: carrier aggregation, 4x4...
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Although rumors of a price hike from AT&T for its popular DirecTV Now streaming packages were brewing earlier this week, the company confirmed the move today. After raising prices by $5 back in July 2018 shortly after its merger with Time Warner was approved (and after it promised to lower prices for customers), AT&T is delivering a double whammy today. For starters, pricing for its DirecTV Now streaming plans are increasing by a whopping $10 across the board. With the $10 increase taken into account, this is how much existing customers can expect to pay for their current DirecTV Now plans: Live a Little (65+ channels): $50/month Just Right (85+ channels): $65/month...
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AT&T has been hit with backlash from nearly every corner of the tech sphere for its 5G Evolution (5G E) branding, which has almost universally been deemed misleading to customers. In fact, Sprint filed a lawsuit against AT&T over its 5G E campaign, stating in its filing, "AT&T has sought to gain an unfair advantage in the race to 5G by embarking on a nationwide advertising campaign to deceive consumers into believing that its existing 4G LTE Advanced network is now a 5G network." In the end, this all comes down to AT&T's customers and how they're either positively or negatively impacted by the company's fake 5G branding. But if you take AT&T's...
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T-Mobile has been talking up its new 600MHz 5G network that will give coverage using different types of bandwidths around the nation. T-Mobile has stated that its 5G network needs all spectrum bands to provide the best coverage. The company says that its millimeter wave (mmWave) tech is for dense urban areas, mid-band is for metropolitan areas, and the low-band is for nationwide coverage. T-Mobile had hoped that the network would be ready to launch, but announced at MWC 2019 that the full launch won't happen until the second half of 2019. The reason for the second half of 2019 launch isn't that T-Mobile is having an issue with its network or the network hardware; rather, no phones on the market...
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AT&T is giving a status update of sorts on its nascent 5G wireless network. The second-place U.S. wireless carrier first lit up its network in December in the following markets: Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Louisville, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Raleigh, San Antonio and Waco. 5G service is currently limited to select AT&T customers, who are all accessing the network using Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot. AT&T today announced that it will expand its 5G footprint later in 2019 with the addition of two more cities: Chicago And Minneapolis. These are key markets for AT&T to spread its 5G goodness, and join other previously announced...
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The war of words between America's top carriers over 5G branding has now devolved into a lawsuit. AT&T started this whole mess then it decided to relabel its LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network as 5G Evolution (5G E). Competing carriers cried foul as 5G E is little more than extension of 4G LTE technology and is in no way true 5G. Sprint, the fourth-place wireless carrier, has now filed a lawsuit against AT&T for its blatantly misleading advertising. "AT&T has sought to gain an unfair advantage in the race to 5G by embarking on a nationwide advertising campaign to deceive consumers into believing that its existing 4G LTE Advanced network is now a 5G network," says Sprint in...
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We have a lot to look forward to with 5G wireless technology, which is the successor to current generation 4G LTE networks deployed by America's four major wireless carriers. Carriers are promising a lot with their 5G rollouts, with AT&T and Verizon jumping the gun with limited 5G network availability in some of the largest U.S. markets. AT&T lit up its first mobile 5G network at the end of the 2018, but it is only available in 12 markets currently (Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Fla., Louisville, Ky., Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Raleigh, N.C., San Antonio and Waco, Texas). AT&T is using 39 MHz spectrum, with theoretical peak speeds...
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AT&T is planning to replace the "4G LTE" logo on some smartphones with a "5G E" logo when they are connected to faster portions of its network, a decision that has caused a bit of an uproar on social media, and by the wireless carrier's competitors. The company's response to all that criticism essentially boils down to 'Sorry, not sorry'. "If I now occupy beachfront real estate in our competitors' heads, that makes me smile," AT&T Communications CEO John Donovan said at CES. What AT&T calls "5G Evolution," or 5G E, is not true 5G. It's still LTE, but with some optimizations to speed things up, otherwise known as LTE Advanced and LTE Advanced Pro. From the outside looking in, it appears...
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Earlier today we reported that T-Mobile was taking AT&T to task for its decision to seemingly deceive customers by changing 4G LTE labels on consumers' smartphones to ”5G E” with a software update. 5G E stands for 5G Evolution, which in AT&T parlance is a speed-boosted extension of existing 4G LTE wireless technology. Now, the nation's largest wireless carrier, Verizon Wireless, is also calling out AT&T. While Verizon technically launched a 5G wireless network, it is limited to just a few cities in the United States at the moment and is only available for a fixed home broadband connection. So, while AT&T might have the only "true" operational...
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Out of the four major wireless carriers in the United States, it is fair to say that T-Mobile is the snarkiest, with social media often serving as a podium for company CEO John Legere's outspoken antics. It is sometimes funny and other times over the top. In a recent Twitter post, however, T-Mobile throws shade at AT&T over its "5G E" marketing, and it's both funny and over the top. What is ultimately at issue here is that 5G E, or 5G Evolution, is not true 5G. What AT&T refers to as such is basically 4G LTE with some speed optimizations, otherwise known as LTE Advanced and LTE Advanced Pro. It's indeed faster than regular 4G LTE, but nowhere near the speeds that real 5G will eventually...
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Verizon Wireless and AT&T have been boasting about their 5G wireless networks, even if they are extremely limited in availability at the moment. Verizon launched its 5G home internet service back in early October, while AT&T's 5G wireless counterpart launched in late December. 5G promises greatly improved download/upload speeds, lower latency, and greater overall capacity for the growing number of internet-connected devices around the globe. But the initial tests of AT&T's 5G network show that current customers aren't really getting much greater than 4G speeds at best. In a Reddit post first spotted by PCMag, mwb6d reported on the results they were receiving in...
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A new AT&T device has been seen passing through the FCC that isn't a phone or a smart wearable. Instead, it is a very slick charger aiming directly at Apple device users that can charge the iPhone and Apple Watch on the go, at the same time. The gadget is called the Power Drum Wireless Charger & Apple Watch Power Bank, and it was spied at both the FCC and in documentation from the Qi Wireless Power Consortium. The Power Drum has a flat section around the perimeter of the device that is meant to wirelessly charge the Apple Watch. The iPhone would be placed flat on top of the Power Drum to receive its wireless power; the Power Drum would also charge any Qi-enabled smartphone. The wireless...
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In a move that is sure to cause confusion with consumers, AT&T will soon start replacing the 4G LTE logos that customers see on their smartphones with “5G E” in select markets. According to AT&T, its shift towards 4x4 MIMO, 256 QAM and other further advances to its 4G LTE technology gives it the justification for marketing 5G Evolution, or 5G E. AT&T's 5G Evolution service is already "operational" in select markets across the United States (400 markets will be covered by the end of 2019), and was widely panned when announced last year as being "fake 5G". 5G Evolution promises data speeds of up to 1Gbps, although the ability to reach those speeds in the real world with...
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If you are itching to be one of the first on the block with 5G wireless connectivity, AT&T is getting ready to turn on its network in a few select cities. Unlike Verizon's 5G service, which is using proprietary technology -- at least initially -- AT&T says that its 5G network is "standards-based". At the moment, there is only one device that is certified for use on AT&T's 5G network, and that's the Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot. This little device will allow your notebook, tablet, or any other Wi-Fi capable device to hop on AT&T's network and enjoy the faster data speeds and incredibly low latency. Unfortunately, AT&T isn't giving us any concrete details on how fast...
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You didn't really think that AT&T was gonna sit by and let Verizon hog the limelight with 5G announcements, did you? Of course not. Yesterday, Verizon announced that it would be bringing a Samsung smartphone to market during the first half of 2019 with 5G connectivity. Today, AT&T parroted that move with an announcement of its own. Unfortunately, like the Verizon press release from yesterday, AT&T is incredibly light on details with regards to the phone and the 5G modem that will be used. However, we're confident that the smartphone in question is the unannounced flagship Galaxy S10, while these U.S. market devices will be using the Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 5G NR modem....
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People across the country are using LTE 4G networks today, but soon those networks will be replaced with faster networks using 5G technology. Most major wireless carriers in the U.S. are gearing up for 5G rollout with some carriers expecting to launch their networks in a few cities this year, and others looking to 2019 for 5G rollout. AT&T recently predicted that 5G rollout might mean that smartphones go back to being carrier locked due to the lack of technology allowing the different 5G frequencies to be supported in a single modem. AT&T has announced a 5G mobile hotspot that will be the first 5G device consumers can buy; it is called the Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot, and it will...
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If you consume data on your smartphone frequently or use it to tether to your laptop, you are likely looking forward to the 5G rollout with anticipation. Some of these 5G networks are expected to land later this year with others coming in 2019. These 5G networks will bring faster data speeds and larger data caps, both a good thing for consumers. The rollout of 5G will also bring the return of something no one likes: carrier-locked devices. AT&T wants people to know that these carrier locked devices aren't returning to spite customers. Instead, AT&T VP of radio networks and device design Gordon Mansfield says that the carrier locking is because of limits with [early] 5G implementations....
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A security oversight at Apple's online store exposed tens of millions of T-Mobile customer PIN codes, but did not affect AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon customers. However, in a separate security incident that occurred on the website for Asurion, a company that provides insurance for cell phones, passcodes for AT&T customers were exposed as well. The security gaffe that affected T-Mobile customers is related to Apple's online purchase system when buying an iPhone. When a customer buys an iPhone through Apple's online store, they are asked to select a monthly payment installment option, in this case through T-Mobile, and are presented with an authentication form that asks for their T-Mobile phone...
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What at one timed seemed to many like vaporware to many is finally coming closer to release. RED's Hydrogen One holographic smartphone just gained approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which paves the way for it to be sold in the United States. Some additional details about the phone were gleaned from the FCC's report including the fact that the device supports all current U.S. wireless carrier LTE bands (with the exception of T-Mobile's Band 71) and that it has a relatively large 4,510 mAh battery. It also has dual SIM slots, which are popular with international travelers. Powering the smartphone is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, which was all the rage with...
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If you thought that cutting the cord would absolve you from the price hike tomfoolery that has become commonplace in the cable/satellite TV industry; guess again. Some of the most popular streaming TV services for cord-cutters are raising prices, and AT&T's DirecTV Now is the latest to hop on that bandwagon. All of AT&T's DirecTV Now plans will see a $5 increase, meaning that the most basic "Live a Little" plan will now cost you $45. The next step up, "Just Right", rises to $55 (from $50) while the "Go Big" plan has increased to $65. For those that want everything including the kitchen sink, the "Gotta Have It" plan is now $75. According to cordcutters,...
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AT&T is riding high after its big win against the U.S. Justice Department in its effort to acquire Time Warner. While the transaction was able to go through without any stipulations placed on the combined companies, some of AT&T's past bad acts are rising to the surface thanks to some investigative reporting. AT&T employees -- with direction from their superiors -- are accused of using unethical sales practices in order to drive up subscription numbers for the DirecTV Now streaming service. DirecTV Now is a paid service that is competitive with Sling TV, YouTube TVand Hulu Live TV. As more cord-cuttersdrop their traditional cable and satellite TV packages, streaming...
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