After throttling our video quality automatically to ensure we didn’t burn through our data in two episodes of Breaking Bad, Netflix is finally giving users control over the video quality they get when using a data connection.
The latest version of its iOS app adds four playback options — plus handy 3D Touch shortcuts that make it faster to access content from the home screen.
Why would you want to disable the fast mobile network speeds of LTE? Sometimes you’ll hit an area with spotty LTE coverage and your iPhone will bounce between 3G, LTE or even EDGE. That can kill your battery and you’ll want to disable LTE to avoid that.
Or maybe you just want to turn off your data to avoid any overages, or because you feel better when not constantly connected while on the go. Whatever your personal reason, here’s how to disable LTE on your iPhone.
AT&T and Verizon usually get all the blame when it comes to throttling mobile data speeds, but in the case of Netflix, the service has revealed that it is to blame for lowering the video quality on mobile streaming videos.
Netflix says it has been limiting video speaks on AT&T, Verizon, and most other wireless carriers across the globe for the last five years, in order to “protect consumers from exceeding mobile data caps” that would stop them from binging on all of the service’s shows.
AT&T wants you! So much so that the carrier is currently offering $650 per line when you switch from Sprint, T-Mobile, or Verizon and bring your number with you.
What’s more, if you buy one of the latest devices, you’ll get a second handset free.
The war between mobile carriers in the U.S. continues to heat up and with the latest battle, it’s personal. Sprint came out with a new ad that directly targets Verizon’s from just a few weeks ago. Using big, colorful balls to symbolize network quality and performance, Sprint claims Verizon’s ad is rubbish and outdated while the yellow network is the true champion.
Apple is a fierce defender of its customers’ privacy, which is why every iPhone and iPad has its data encrypted by default. But according to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, Apple and CEO Tim Cook should show their bellies and let Congress decide whether encrypted data should be accessible through backdoors by government agencies.
If you want to buy the iPhone 6s on a two-year contract with AT&T you better hurry.
Internal documents from AT&T leaked online this morning revealing the carrier plans to finally kill the two-year contracts it’s offered long before it become the first carrier to sell the iPhone.
If you’re still subscribed to Beats Music instead of Apple Music, your days are numbered. Until January 19, you have the opportunity to save all of your playlists and migrate your account data over to Apple Music if you wish to do so. But after that, Apple will discard of your current data.
If you’re one of the lucky sods who is still grandfathered into an AT&T unlimited data plan, you’re about to pay a little bit more for it.
AT&T finally activated Wi-Fi calling on its network, allowing iPhone users to seamlessly switch to their local wireless network to place calls when their LTE signal is weak.
Apple added WiFi Calling in iOS 8, but you probably haven’t had a chance to use it yet because the only carrier in the U.S. to support it has been T-Mobile. Now that the nation’s second-largest carrier is getting on board, more iPhone users than ever can take advantage of the feature to place calls anywhere in the United States, free of charge.
Here’s how to turn it on:
AT&T is increasing its data cap to 22GB for customers who are still grandfathered into unlimited data plans. This is more than four times the 5GB cap previously offered to LTE subscribers, and more than seven times the 3GB cap offered to 3G subscribers.
The absolute worst part of buying an iPhone every year is having to deal with AT&T and Verizon in order to qualify for Apple’s latest device. That could soon be a thing of the past, though, as Apple is looking to launch its own wireless network so users wouldn’t have to deal with traditional carriers any longer.
AT&T is asking the FCC to not make it pay the largest proposed fine in the agency’s history as punishment for throttling customers’ data speeds.
After being slammed with the $100 million fine by the FCC last month when the government agency found the carrier had throttled speeds for customers with ‘unlimited’ data plans, AT&T says it didn’t really harm anyone, so it shouldn’t have to pay up.
The carrier that’s built up quite an army of discontent from its customers over the years probably didn’t win over anyone with its latest announcement. AT&T is raising its upgrade fees for postpaid customers and tacking on a weird, unnecessary activation fee for new AT&T Next customers.
The Federal Communications Commission announced today that it’s slapping AT&T with a hefty fine for misleading subscribers about unlimited data plans. At a grand total of $100 million, it’s the largest fine the agency has proposed, after AT&T was caught throttling speeds of unlimited data plans without telling them.
Looking to buy a new iPhone 6 or 6 Plus from Apple on AT&T but don’t want to sign up for the carrier’s Next plan? Too damn bad.
Just days after AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega promised subsidized phones are going away, the company has completely removed subsidized options for the iPhone from the Apple Store as well.
Some of the biggest companies that power America’s Internet, including Apple’s new enterprise partner IBM, have come out in opposition of President Obama’s proposal to reclassify broadband as a “Title II” service.
In an open letter written to the FCC, Congress, and Senate leaders, over 60 of the biggest companies that build the technology that make the Internet possible have advised that such a “dramatic reversal” in policy would significantly hurt their businesses. The list of companies include Intel, IBM, Qualcomm, Cisco, Corning and tons of others who aren’t going to let the FCC’s big decision next year go down without a fight.
Here’s the full roster of anti-Title II companies:
Today AT&T announced a Next 24 plan that allows you to pay for your phone in small payments over the course of 30 months, with the option to upgrade after two years.
The new 24-month plan joins Next’s current 12 and 18-month upgrade options, which AT&T has been promoting heavily to get subscribers off traditional two-year contracts.
The Federal Trade Commission is finally going after AT&T for throttling customer’s data speeds, by filing an official complaint that the company has lowered speeds on LTE up to 95% on unlimited data plans.
FTC chairwoman Edith Ramirez expounded on the lawsuit today stating, “the issue is simple: Unlimited means unlimited.” The FTC also alleges that AT&T engaged in unfair or deceptive acts and practices that affected commerce. And they’ve got the numbers to back up their lawsuit, with claims that AT&T illegally capped users’ data speeds at 128 Kbps.
Here’s AT&T’s response to the lawsuit:
The Apple SIM in the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 is based on an awesome idea—who doesn’t want to switch carriers with a tap of the screen? But the actual utility of the Apple SIM is pretty muddled, as evidenced by AT&T locking the SIM to its network.
AT&T has a confirmed that it suffered a data breach back in August, carried out by one of its own employees.
The now-former employee accessed personal information relating to an unspecified number of users (thought to be in the region of 1,600), such as their Social Security and driver’s licence info, along with customer metadata — including time, duration and destination of phone calls.
Did you buy a shiny new iPhone 6 from AT&T Wireless? You might want to check your next monthly bill for an increased charge.
Some AT&T customers upgrading to the iPhone 6 received a surprising text alert this morning saying the carrier has hiked the monthly “smartphone access charge” to $40 for anyone renewing a two-year Mobile Share Value plan agreement. Naturally, the carrier waited until it was swamped with an unprecedented amount of iPhone 6 pre-orders before telling customers they’d be paying an extra $600 over two years — nearly enough to buy an unlocked iPhone 6 outright.
Apple fans hoping to skip the iPhone 6 line on launch day were shocked to see preorder times plummet within the first hours of what Apple dubbed a record breaking weekend of preorder sales. Many started with shipping estimates of 7-10 days or worse for the iPhone 6 Plus, but if you ordered through AT&T, your shipping times may have just improved.
AT&T sales reps say the company has moved up shipment times on some orders by pulling stock from different regions that would normally be sold in-store.
One of the best underrated features of iOS 8 is the addition of Wi-Fi calling, and while carriers like T-Mobile and EE have been quick to jump on Apple’s new technology that makes transition calls from LTE to WiFi seamless, AT&T is dragging its heels and says it doesn’t plan to enable the feature until 2015.
AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega doesn’t see an urgent need to add WiFi calling, reports LightReading, after attending Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference where Ralph said AT&T will only add Wi-Fi calling 2015 as a compliment to VoLTE and 3G voice.
iPhone 6 and 6 Plus preorders have already started selling out around the world and the shipping dates are slipping.
Spokes people for Apple say that they’re seeing an unprecedented demand for the new phones already, and carriers like AT&T are getting crushed by the unfathomable number of customers looking for an upgrade.
