Good news for Sprint users with LTE-enabled devices today. The carrier announced this morning that it has flipped out the 4G tech for a handful of major new markets including San Diego and St. Louis, and several smaller ones.
Today's rollout pushes Sprint's LTE network into over 300 US cities, covering close to 200 million people—a significant milestone for the company, although it's still well behind its much larger competitors Verizon and AT&T...
The Wall Street Journal is reporting this afternoon that Sprint is working on a potential T-Mobile USA purchase. The carrier is said to be looking into regulatory concerns right now, and a bid in upwards of $20 billion could come in early 2014.
A merger of these two wireless providers would be significant for a few reasons. For one, it would leave just 3 major competing carriers in the US. And two, Sprint and T-Mobile have a combined subscriber base close to that of AT&T and Verizon...
According to research by Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley, the iPhone 5s has been the top-selling smartphone at the four major US carriers for the past 3 months. That's not too surprising, considering new iPhones usually fair well right after launch.
But what did surprise me was the fact that the iPhone 5c has also been in the top 3 selling smartphones at AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile since September. You know, the same handset that Apple has reportedly been cutting production for due to poor sales...
Threatening regulatory action, the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was able to drive U.S. wireless carriers into a corner concerning their stance on cell phone unlocking. As much as carriers would want to lock phones to their network to make switching service that much harder, the FCC and major U.S. wireless companies have reached an agreement which will make it easier for people to unlock their devices and switch from one carrier to another.
The wireless association called CTIA, which represents U.S. carriers like AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and U.S. Cellular, released a statement on Thursday confirming that all named carriers have agreed to the new cell phone unlocking principles put forth by the government...
It would seem that T-Mobile was onto something when it announced that it was doing away with device subsidies earlier this year, because that appears to be where the whole industry is headed. Carriers simply can't afford to continue heavily subsidizing phones and tablets.
That's what AT&T's Randall Stephenson thinks anyway. Speaking at an investor conference this week, the CEO said that the current model is not economically viable. More customers are upgrading to smartphones now than ever before, and they're upgrading more frequently...
Good news this weekend for T-Mobile customers. The carrier is finally taking advantage of its recent MetroPCS merger, and has begun rolling out higher-speed LTE service by tapping the airwaves it acquired as part of the acquisition.
According to a report from AllThingsD, T-Mobile quietly turned on the faster service in parts of North Dallas just before Thanksgiving. The higher speeds come by combining the spectrum from both T-Mobile’s and MetroPCS' networks...
Back in September, Verizon announced that it had reached an agreement with Vodafone to purchase its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless. The carrier, which was founded in April of 2000, has thus far been a joint venture between the two companies.
With a purchase price believed to be approaching $130 billion, the deal will go down as one of the largest acquisitions in history. And it looks like it will be happening sooner, rather than later, as the FCC has just given the transaction its approval..
Late yesterday evening, China Mobile quietly launched a reservation for the iPhone 5s and 5c via its subsidiary in Suzhou—a major city in Eastern China. This serves as one of the first concrete traces that Apple has in fact reached a deal with the world's largest carrier.
Rumors about the partnership have intensified in recent months, and in November, the state-run news outlet Xinhua reported that an official announcement would be made on December 18. The two sides have been negotiating an iPhone deal for more than 5 years...
AT&T has hit some major milestones in its LTE quest this fall. As of early September its 4G network covered over 240 million people, in over 400 markets. And it’s not showing any signs of slowing down.
The carrier announced another major expansion of its LTE network this week, giving folks in 14 markets access to the speedy connection for the first time. We've posted a list of the new areas after the fold...
Sprint today revealed that it has developed a new wireless technology that could allow it to surpass the data speeds of its competitors. Dubbed 'Sprint Spark,' the ultra-fast LTE service is currently capable of delivering peak speeds of up to 60Mbp .
But the company says that's just the beginning. Spark's speed will increase as the technology matures, and will eventually reach staggering 1Gbps download speeds. And to prove that, Sprint demonstrated a 1Gbps connection today at one of its labs...
AT&T announced this afternoon that it will be 'streamlining' the plans that it offers to its new customers later this month. That's essentially corporate jargon for 'getting rid of,' and in this case it refers to per-device data plans.
Starting October 25, the carrier will no longer offer traditional monthly voice and data plans to new customers. Instead they will have to choose from one of the newer mobile share plans, which come with various levels of data...
Last month, AT&T hit some major milestones in its LTE rollout. As of early September its 4G network covered over 240 million people, in over 400 markets. And it's not showing any signs of slowing down.
The carrier announced another major expansion of its LTE network this week, flipping the proverbial switch on in 11 new markets. These areas are scattered throughout the US, so check the list after the fold...