Sprint’s plans to migrate its 4G server from its current WiMax standard to the more common LTE already in use by Verizon and AT&T. The move should allow Sprint to offer LTE iPads as well as future LTE iPhones. That’s good new for the carrier and Sprint customers.
Unfortunately, there’s also some bad news. Sprint’s LTE network won’t be able to match the performance of its competitors.
Four apps enter, but only one can reign supreme! Listen to us passionately pitch our favorite apps of the week then vote on which one conquers them all on the latest CultCast.
Plus — is the iPhone 5 getting a 4-inch retina screen? And is Apple about to kill off Macbook DVD drives? Don’t miss us Yay and Nay our way through all those rumors and more – subscribe to The CultCast now on iTunes.
Would you like to share your monthly data allotment between you and your partner, or your iPhone and your iPad? AT&T and Verizon have been hemming and hawing about shared data plans since 2011, but recent comments by Ralph de la Vega, CEO of AT&T’s mobile business, seemingly indicate that for Ma Bell’s customers, shared data plans may be coming very soon indeed.
Is Apple secretly plotting to become your next wireless carrier? It could happen sooner than you think. And will the iPhone 5 sport a widescreen 4-inch retina display? It’s a rumor rundown on our brand new CultCast!
And you asked for it, you got it — we’ve gathered a list of our most-loved apps of the week, and we’re ready to pick the best of the bunch.
Catch all that and more on this week’s CultCast.
Practically every mobile phone carrier in the U.S. has relied on the iPhone to boost their sales numbers and increase customer satisfaction in recent years (sorry, T-Mobile). It turns out that betting on the iPhone isn’t just great because it gives customers the pretty device they want, but converting users into iPhone owners might mean that they will be more likely to stay with your carrier in the long run even when your service sucks. On the other hand, BlackBerry and Android owners are quicker to jump ship when the service has problems.
Despite steady demand since the device made its debut back in March, Apple has still been able to maintain a speedy international rollout for its latest iPad. The new device is now available in 57 countries around the world, and what’s more, its shipping delay in the U.S. has now dropped to just 3-5 days.
AT&T today announced it would be adding Salt Lake City to its list of markets expected to get 4G LTE later in the year. AT&T continues expanding other areas, with Austin, TX seeing additional coverage just the other day. It’s going to be a slow and steady pace with AT&T so if you’re looking for 4G LTE right away, you may want to consider Verizon, otherwise sit tight and be happy you’re not on Sprint.
AT&T seemingly snubbed the iPhone earlier this year, choosing instead to focus its efforts on Nokia’s latest Lumia 900 handset running Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system. The carrier promised the device would be a “notch above” Apple’s popular handset, but as things currently stand, the iPhone is still its bread and butter, making up over 78% of its smartphone activations in the last quarter.
AT&T is finally unlocking iPhones at the end of a completed contract, but if you bought the new iPhone 4S you’re going to be waiting another 18 months or so until your phone is eligible for an official carrier unlock. What if you want to use your iPhone on T-Mobile, or maybe go overseas and use a local carrier rather than pay for some crazy out of coverage fees? Fortunately, hacker Loktar_Sun has discovered an incredibly easy way to unlock your iPhone 4S or any other iPhone. The process is super easy – all you need is a jailbroken iPhone, and these 13 easy-to-follow steps.
Continuing with their 12 city rollout, AT&T has added three new cities to the LTE club today. Those living in Akron, Ohio; Canton, Ohio; and Lafayette, Ind will now be able to take advantage of the fantastic speeds LTE has to offer. While AT&T doesn’t come close to having the LTE coverage that Verizon does, they certainly have the speed — as shown by PC World’s independent testing.
This is the default signature on AT&T’s new Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket. Sorry. Rather, what I meant to say was, this is the default signature on the Samsung Galaxy SS™ II Skyrocket™, an AT&T:P 4Gℌ LTE℞ smartphone℃!!!!!!
[via Daring Fireball and Jason Prell]
Just about every major carrier seems to boast the “fastest network speeds,” while bombarding us with acronyms like LTE and buzzwords such as “lightning fast.” When it’s all said and done, we’re left confused and none the closer to the truth of which network actually has the fastest speeds. So how do we find out the truth? Well, it’s not as simple as we’d like it to be and there are near infinite variables to the equation, but one way to get a general idea of how fast a network’s speeds will be in a real-world environment is to test them out.
AT&T customers living in St. Louis have just had their LTE jetpacks filled and should be able to start flying through downloads and web pages — not to mention battery life. Along with St. Louis, Staten Island, NY was added to the AT&T LTE club with 4G LTE being expanded to the 5 boroughs. AT&T is certainly playing LTE catch up and while the rollout may seem like it’s running at a turtle’s pace, AT&T has already pushed out LTE to five of the twelve promised markets. Those remaining include:
Stolen phones could soon be a thing of the past thanks to a collaboration between the U.S government and the four biggest mobile carriers. The new scheme will use a central database of stolen handsets, and the carriers will use this to block their reactivation.
The idea is that it will reduce cellphone theft by making stolen phones virtually useless.
AT&T finally began unlocking iPhones for customers whose contracts had now expired over the weekend, allowing the device to be used with other SIM-cards from GSM carriers. But for deployed military personnel, the carrier will unlock iPhones still tied to a contract so that they can be used with others carriers abroad.
On Friday AT&T made an announcement that surprised many of us who had given up waiting: customers with an out-of-contract iPhone can unlock it to work with any other GSM SIM — like from T-Mobile. Now the official unlock is here, and the process is actually pretty simple.
Before you attempt to unlock you need to make sure your account isn’t in a longterm contract, your iPhone isn’t on a contract, and that your account is in good standing with AT&T. After that, the process is pretty straightforward.
Those of you who have purchased your iPhone off-contract, aka for the full price, will be happy to hear that AT&T will begin unlocking iPhones at customers’ request this Sunday. Carrier unlocking will allow customers “in good standing” to switch out the AT&T SIM for a SIM on another network, as long as the bands are supported. This is great for customers who want to travel with their AT&T iPhone internationally.
Chances are to save on your 3G dataplan, you’ve enabled Wi-Fi on your iPhone. However, if you’re an Android user, you’re less likely to do so. According to a new study by ComScore, 71% of iPhone users are connected to a Wi-Fi hotspot, while only 32% of Android users are. So what could be the reason? Perhaps connecting to Wi-Fi on an iPhone is a bit easier.
AT&T’s twelve market 4G LTE rollout is scheduled to begin on April 8th. Of the twelve markets we reported on last month, only three appear to be receiving 4G LTE on the 8th. The following markets will be the first ones to receive the upgrade:
AT&T’s head device guy Jeff Bradley made a bold statement today regarding the upcoming launch of Nokia’s Lumia 900 Windows phone. The device is widely expected to be the first Windows phone to hold a candle to the iPhone, and AT&T thinks it has a massive hit on its hands.
“Before you walk into the store, you know this is our hero phone,” said Bradley. AT&T thinks the Lumia 900 has the potential to be its new heavy-hitter. Where does that leave the iPhone?
LTE is one of the key features available on the new iPad. All that extra speed can be a great feature for consumers and business users alike, although the ability to burn through data that quickly means that all LTE iPad users need to be more conscious of their data use than with the previous 3G iPads (the same will no doubt be true for the next iPhone).
A new study claims that most iPad Internet access (94%) still takes place over Wi-Fi networks, however. That seems like bad news for carriers and it sounds like comforting news for CIOs and IT professionals worried about unknown iPads in their companies. After all, if only 6% of iPad connections occur over 3G/4G, then most iPads in the office are using a corporate network and can be tracked and monitored to ensure data and network security.
Unfortunately digging into the actual data from the study reveals iPad users with 3G and LTE models are actually spending a lot more than 6% of their time using their cellular connection.
Apple’s decision to make Best Buy an official partner for the iPhone is certainly paying off. With 1,100 outlets across the U.S. and an online store, the retailer is now selling almost as many iPhones as Apple itself, according to a survey of customers who purchased the device between December 2011 and February 2012.
Earlier this week, NetZero launched a new freemium mobile broadband service using Clearwire’s WiMax 4G network. Although NetZero is the first U.S. company to launch a “free” 4G service, it isn’t going to be the last. Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom has begun work on a similar service called FreedomPop that will launch this summer.
FreedomPop plans to offer more monthly data for free than NetZero’s paltry 200MB. It will also target iPhone owners as a major part of its user base.
Dealing with customer service representatives can be one of the world’s most torturous experiences. Apple isn’t perfect, but they usually give customers the best experience possible, no matter. Proving that point, earlier today a story surfaced of Tim Cook stepping in and forcing AT&T to make a special exception to a request the deny to most customers.
NetZero made a name for itself in the late nineties by offering free ad-supported dialup Internet access before turning to a low-cost model (still available for dialup and and basic DSL). NetZero is returning to its free/freemium roots with today’s announcement of a contract-free 4G service. The service offers several tiers of data use with the first one being free beyond purchasing a 4G device.
While intriguing, the free service tier definitely illustrates the “you get what you pay for” addage. Some of the other tiers are attractive, but there are some downsides and, quite frankly, a Verizon 4G iPad may be a much smarter investment in the long run.