Items tagged with cellular
Are you still enjoying that unlimited data plan on AT&T? Go on and enjoy it, because it may not be attractive for much longer. Eventually, you'll probably want to upgrade to an LTE plan, and perhaps -- if you're thinking about using an iPhone for much longer -- you'll want to make a FaceTime call over cellular data. With the introduction of iOS 6, Apple has enabled FaceTime over cellular data, but it's up to the carriers to enable it. And of course, AT&T has chosen what's perhaps the most consumer-unfriendly way possible to integrate it. The feature will be 100% free for users of AT&T's new Mobile Share data plans, which have proven to be a fairly terrible deal for all but a few folks...
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Six weeks ago, Verizon launched its new "Share Everything" data plans, declaring that everyone would henceforth use these plans or be banned from upgrading their phones at a discount, and unveiled a suite of options that range from $50 for 1GB to $100 for 10GB (not counting per-device fees). Unlimited talk and text is now baked into the per-device base fee, which means that users with minimal data needs could actually benefit from a swap. Now, the company has admitted that its usage plans stretch higher, though these plans are usually offered on customer support lines or in the event of overages. Verizon will sell you 12GB of data for $110, 14GB for $120, 16GB for $130, 18GB for $140, and 20GB...
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Another mobile carrier in the States? Well, we can't really complain about increased competition, now can we? With the MVNO library growing by the month (seemingly, anyway), here's another to consider: Voyager Mobile. After a slight delay, the startup is now "taking orders," offering such phones as the Samsung Galaxy S II and Epic 4G Touch. It's offering a nationwide network, which allows customers to actually earn goodies by talking. Best of all, wireless plans of unlimited nature start at just $19, with no contracts and "no gimmicks." That $19+tax plan includes voicemail, unlimited talk and unlimited text within America. $39+ tax (per month, of course) gets you 3G/4G internet access as well....
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Last night at the Digital Experience event in New York City, we got the chance to get some hands-on time with the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S. If you're unfamiliar with the Galaxy S, it is an Android-based smartphone, that features a 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird processor, a 4" multi-touch Super AMOLED screen, and a 5MP camera with 720P HD recording capabilities. Network HSUPA 900/1900/2100 EDGE/GPRS 850/ 900/1800/1900 Processor 1GHz CPU Speed Battery (Standard) Li-pol, 1,500mAh Talk time : 2G/ 769 minutes, 3G/ 391 minutes Standby : 2G/ 750 hours, 3G/ 625 hours Dimension 64.2 X 122.4 X 9.9 mm (119g) Display 4.0” WVGA(480x800) 16M SUPER AMOLED mDNIe(Mobile Digital Natural Image engine)...
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When it comes to 4G technologies, there are two competing standards: WiMAX and LTE. While LTE has potential to be more prevalent long-term once Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and T-Mobile all deploy the technology, Sprint and Clearwire's WiMAX offering has a head start since it's already available. Thanks to a new chip that's being developed from Beceem and Motorola, however, you may never have to choose one type of technology over the other. Beceem makes the WiMAX chips inside "every device in Clearwire's network." The company is working with Motorola to pair Motorola's 4G WiMAX infrastructure with Beceem's upcoming BCS500 4G chip. The 4G modem that will result will be able to handle both LTE and...
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Clearwire seems to be keeping its options open. It's been just days since news broke about a possible global WiMAX roaming agreement between Clearwire and a pair of international carriers, and now the company's CEO is stating that he would be open to the possibility of switching fourth-generation, or 4G, wireless technologies down the road if that helped the company. Currently, Clearwire's 4G network operates on WiMAX technology. Given that most of the world seems to be headed to a different 4G standard called LTE, the fact that Clearwire is keeping its options open could be a good thing. Clearwire and majority backer Sprint Nextel have already staked their claim to offering the first 4G wireless...
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AT&T Wireless has backtracked on changes to its Terms of Service (TOS), which were modified earlier in the week in such a way as to pretty much gimp anything from SlingPlayer to Skype, and more.As noted by the Public Knowledge Policy Blog, the changes (in bold) were: This means, by way of example only, that checking email, surfing the Internet, downloading legally acquired songs, and/or visiting corporate intranets is permitted, but downloading movies using P2P file sharing services, customer initiated redirection of television or other video or audio signals via any technology from a fixed location to a mobile device, web broadcasting, and/or for the operation of servers, telemetry devices...
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Verizon Wireless may have completed its purchase of Alltel, but that doesn’t mean the two companies are completely operating as one yet. In fact, as you’ll recall, Verizon had to agree to sell assets in 91 overlapping markets in order to gain federal approval for its acquisition. Customers in these 91 areas will continue to receive Alltel branded service until another carrier buys the assets. In the meantime, the Alltel brand is alive and kicking in 22 states. In fact, Alltel is continuing to compete against Verizon in the 91 overlapping markets. To this end, Alltel announced an upgrade to its My Circle feature that will give customers up to five additional numbers for unlimited calling. My Circle...
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TheStreet.com reports that Nokia and Verizon are setting aside their differences and have come together to create a touchscreen device for the upcoming 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. While AT&T and Apple may enjoy success today with the iPhone, the two companies are looking towards the future and are determined to lead the next generation of wireless technology by putting their talents together. People familiar with the companies say the partnership is likely to be exclusive. Although a Nokia spokesperson denied that the company had entered into an exclusive deal with Verizon, he didn’t deny that the companies were working together. If these reports are true, the pact between the companies...
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A study detailed in Nature exposes the local nature of humans: we like to hang around our homes. But that's not what caught our interest. It's the way the study was conducted.Researchers used cell phone towers to track individuals' locations whenever they made or received phone calls and text messages over six months. In a second set of records, researchers took another 206 cell phones that had tracking devices in them and got records for their locations every two hours over a week's time period.The study was based on cell phone records from a private company, whose name also was not disclosed.Study co-author Cesar Hidalgo, a physics researcher at Northeastern, said he and his colleagues didn't...
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Verizon Wireless started a price war on Tuesday by announcing a $99.99 unlimited calling plan across the United States. The ink barely had time to dry on the press release before AT&T matched the offer.Verizon Wireless introduced an unlimited calling plan for $99.99 a month on Tuesday, a move that was quickly matched by AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile USA and weighed down stock prices for all U.S. mobile carriers.Verizon Wireless was apparently the first major carrier to make an "unlimited" plan available nationwide with no domestic roaming or long-distance fees. Its announcement was all but five hours old when AT&T announced its own unlimited plan.Three hours later, T-Mobile followed...
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