AT&T - page 15

AT&T has been forcing the same crappy $25 for 2GB plan down everyone’s throat since June 2010, but now they’re upgrading it for the first time. Starting Sunday, AT&T will be upgrading all their new smartphone data plans with larger data allocations… and larger prices. Yes, pay-by-the-month iPad users, that means you too.

When you suck up too much data on your iPhone on AT&T, they will eventually throttle you, especially if you’re on a legacy unlimited data plan (and especially especially if they think you’re tethering through a jailbreak).

Want to know what it’s like to be throttled, though? As this video walkthrough by AppAdvice makes clear, it’s hell, a total nightmare.

As iPhone sales continue to climb, U.S. carriers should expect Apple to also require increased subsidies, one observer writes. Verizon could pay nearly 28 percent more in 2012, with Sprint and AT&T also facing double-digit hikes in payments for the popular smartphone.

LAS VEGAS, CES 2012 – In the aftermath of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, there are going to be hundreds of awards — some official, some decidedly not-so — declaring the best product of CES.

Why wait? We can already tell you what we think the best product of CES is: Verizon Wireless’s network, which is the only one that has not been frickin’ smeared into jelly by the insane data and voice demands of the show’s technical elite.

Apple’s iPhone is now available on AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon in the U.S., but T-Mobile customers are still waiting for the popular smartphone to come to them. According to the company’s CEO, Philipp Humm, the reason the device still hasn’t arrived is T-Mobile’s unique 3G band, which isn’t used by other carriers.

What’s this? Android news on Cult of Mac?! Who the hell cares?! Maybe you don’t, maybe you do. Point is: these are a few of the popular topics going on in the Android world today. Maybe you’d like to know what the competition is up to, or perhaps your aunt received a Kindle Fire she needs to update. Regardless of the reason, having a resource such as Cult of Android allows you to learn more about what’s going on in the ecosystem powered by the world’s leading mobile OS.

What’s this? Android news on Cult of Mac?! Who the hell cares?! Maybe you don’t, maybe you do. Point is: these are a few of the popular topics going on in the Android world today. Maybe you’d like to know what the competition is up to, or perhaps your aunt received a Kindle Fire she needs to update. Regardless of the reason, having a resource such as Cult of Android allows you to learn more about what’s going on in the ecosystem powered by the world’s leading mobile OS.

The prevailing Wall Street consensus is that Apple will report later this month iPhone sales of around 29 million handsets. But one expert is questioning that figure, suggesting official analysts could be way too conservative amid yet another historic sales period for the Cupertino, Calif. tech giant.

Just how important is the iPhone to U.S. carriers? Verizon’s financial chief provided some insight Wednesday, announcing the provider sold 4.2 million Apple smartphones during the holiday fourth quarter. While the October launch of the iPhone 4S likely spurred many of those purchases, the cost is a smaller profit in exchange for hefty data contracts and a piece of the Apple halo.

What’s this? Android news on Cult of Mac?! Who the hell cares?! Maybe you don’t, maybe you do. Point is: these are a few of the popular topics going on in the Android world today. Maybe you’d like to know what the competition is up to, or perhaps your aunt received a Kindle Fire she needs to update. Regardless of the reason, having a resource such as Cult of Android allows you to learn more about what’s going on in the ecosystem powered by the world’s leading mobile OS.

Wow! 2011 has been one of the most interesting years in recent memory for Apple Inc. Of course the death of Apple’s co-founder, Steve Jobs, stands out as one of the most important events of the year for Apple, but there have been a load of other stories too that have made 2011 a very memorable year for the fruit company. From one controversy to the next, to record-breaking earnings, and new products, Apple has plowed through 2011 with a steady determination to be the best technology company on the planet. Only one device underwent a redesign (the iPad), while other form factors stayed the same. Instead of focusing on making pivotal leaps forward with hardware, Apple’s main focus of 2011 was to fortify their strong foundation in the software game.

Here’s Cult of Mac’s look back on the Apple in the year 2011.

Yesterday we told you about AT&T’s decision to back out of its proposed $39 billion merger with T-Mobile. After facing heated scrutiny and antitrust concerns from both the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice, AT&T couldn’t take the heat any longer.

As part of the deal falling through, AT&T has agreed to pay T-Mobile $3 billion in cash for breakup fees. The money combined with the two carriers’ spectrum and roaming deal makes T-Mobile the only winner of the failed merger.

AT&T has officially backed out its proposed merger with T-Mobile. The deal has been undergoing intense scrutiny from the FCC and DOJ. A $4 billion pre-tax fee charge will be paid by AT&T as agreed upon.

AT&T’s plan to gobble up the fourth largest carrier in America is, for all intents and purposes, dead. After the Department of Justice moved to block the deal, AT&T began to back out of the deal.

So here’s a question. How does one of the biggest companies on Earth, with more lobbyists and politicians in its pocket than you can count, find itself incapable of closing a merger deal with a fourth-rate carrier, even after spending millions on campaign contributions, kickbacks and lobbying?

The simple answer? AT&T done $%!@ed up.

If you’ve been whining about why the iPhone 4S has no 4G, get ready for a real letdown — 2G speeds. The move by AT&T to throttle its top 5 percent of data users to a snail’s pace is an unwelcome Christmas present for many iPhone users.

AT&T appears to be the latest announcing higher iPhone sales. Continued “strong” demand for iPhone 4S likely will push the carrier beyond its previous single-quarter record sales of 6.1 million smartphones — and a month still remains before the end of the fourth quarter. The news isn’t too surprising, given in October AT&T activated 1 million iPhone 4S handsets in just five days.

Sprint may want to rename its “Now Network” to the “Later Is Better Than Never Network” after the carrier’s finance chief pushed back 4G LTE to late 2012. Although the new delay puts the third-place wireless carrier further behind Verizon and AT&T, the new rollout date for the faster network should coincide with Apple’s iPhone 5, expected to use LTE.

For the second year running, AT&T has ranked as the worst carrier in the United States in an annual satisfaction survey.

Despite the fact that Apple allows users an easy way to opt out of the service, have removed it entirely from most of their phones and that Apple’s implementation of Carrier IQ tracks no personal information whatsoever, guess what? Cupertino’s been named in a class action lawsuit over the notorious keylogging software, along with a host of other hardware makers, all of whom are way more guilty.

With the recent controversy surrounding Carrier IQ, U.S. Senator Al Franken has jumped back into the fight for privacy and sent an open letter yesterday to Carrier IQ asking the company to answer a number of questions concerning the company’s key-logger and data logging software. Senator Franken’s letter contains 11 pointed questions mostly asking why the company logs information, what type of information they’re tracking, who receives the information, and how is it used?

Carrier IQ’s software is currently running on millions of smartphones in the U.S. Apple released a statement on Thursday promising to eradicate all traces of Carrier IQ’s software with a new software update. Android manufacturer HTC released a statement today blaming carriers for the inclusion of CarrierIQ on their phones. Samsung also released a similar statement.

Not even the threat of costly early-termination fees are enough to keep many consumers from jumping ship for the newest iPhone. Some 45 percent of cell phone owners have broken their carrier’s contract in order to grab Apple’s iconic smartphone, according to a new survey showing just how loyal many people are to the Apple brand.

How did you spend your day after Thanksgiving? If you worked at any of Apple’s 358 retail locations, it was likely just a blur. Some rather outstanding statistics emerged from Black Friday sales of Apple gear, including the sale of 14.8 iPads every hour per store, and 89 every minute around the US – or 1.5 tablets each second. Stacked together, consumers bought almost a mile of iPads on the first day of holiday shopping, or a tower 900 feet taller than the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Julius Genachowski, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Communication Commission, has spoken out about AT&T’s proposed acquisition of  T-Mobile and deemed the merger to be against the public interest. Genachowski has called for commissioners to vote for an administrative public hearing against the $39 billion, which could prove to be a huge setback for the two carriers.

If you’ve wondered why AT&T recently increased the price of the iPhone 3GS from free to 99 cents, you weren’t alone. One of the best explanations so far involves the minimal price reducing a growing amount of fraud.