Carriers

AT&T’s LTE expands into new markets

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 20, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjCvY4utV-o

Hot on the heels of announcing new 30/40/50GB shared data tiers on Monday, U.S. wireless carrier AT&T today said its fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network has expanded coverage in Mobile, Bowling Green and the Waterbury and Meriden areas, including parts of Cheshire, Meriden, Prospect, Waterbury and Wolcott.

As part of the ongoing rollout across the country, AT&T's LTE now covers 288 million people in the United States. The carrier also flipped the switch on LTE in Dyersburg and Ripley, Sebring and Athens and announced a new prepaid option for its Wireless Home Phone service...

AT&T launches 30/40/50GB shared data tiers

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 18, 2013

The U.S. wireless carrier AT&T this morning introduced its data-hungry subscribers to some powerful new tiers.

Going beyond AT&T's existing options topping out at twenty gigs, the new options are now available to add thirty, forty or fifty gigabytes of cellular data to your shared plan of choice. Beware, however - these come at high prices.

The $30GB a month tier will set you back an unsettling $300 a month, with the 40GB and 50GB tiers commanding an alarming $400 a month and a whopping $500 a month, respectively. These prices include unlimited calling and texting. Should you need only data, AT&T will happily sell you data-only tiers for your tablet and laptop, with the top 50GB plan running $335 a month...

T-Mobile plans March 26 event: we’re not going to act like a wireless company anymore

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 28, 2016

Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile USA this morning sent out invites for a March 26 event in New York, where the telco should announce some big news and update us on its technology and business. "We're still a wireless company," reads the invitation, "We're just not going to act like one anymore".

We know that the carrier, as part of its system-wide modernization effort, is planning to finally flip the switch on 4G LTE before the end of this month in Las Vegas and Kansas City (plus, it's been spotted in New York City). Another thing we know is that Apple's iPhone is officially landing on T-Mobile's network this year...

$149 iPhone 5 now available from Strata Networks

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 15, 2013

As promised last week, Strata Networks, a regional U.S. wireless carrier, finally landed the iPhone 5 today. And, in emulating fellow rural telcos, Strata is offering Apple's device with a $50 discount compared to the asking prices at Verizon, AT&T and Sprint. Specifically, the iPhone 5 is available for $149 for the 16GB model, $249 for the 32GB model and $349 for the high-end model with 64 gigabytes of storage. The iPhone 5 is available in all Strata stores in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming.

They don't mention web sales, though Strata did update its web site this morning to reflect the devices' availability. The carrier is also selling the iPhone 4S for $49 and the iPhone 4 for free, with a qualifying contract. Would-be subscribers should be pleased to know that the iPhone 5 is compatible with Strata's 4G LTE network that the company started deploying ahead of Christmas 2012...

China Mobile announces major LTE push ahead of rumored iPhone launch

Cody Lee ∙ March 14, 2013

China Mobile announced today that it's going to be spending a staggering $7 billion on its LTE network this year, setting the stage for what could be a late iPhone 5 launch. The carrier's current network standard doesn't properly support the popular popular handset.

In fact, China Mobile—the largest wireless provider in the world by subscriber base—is one of the few remaining major carriers in the world that doesn't offer Apple's smartphone. But recent chatter indicates that there's a good chance that could change this year...

AT&T’s LTE is the fastest, Verizon rules coverage

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 20, 2013

Aren't you sick and tired of top U.S. carriers advertising their 4G LTE service as the nation's fastest and most reliable? This mostly false advertising has been ticking me off for quite some time, especially how T-Mobile promotes its 3G HSPA+ network as 4G. Time for a reality check.

Research firm Rootmetrics yesterday published the results of its survey of U.S. carriers and their fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks. Surprisingly or not, AT&T's LTE came on top as the fastest, but rival Verizon grabbed the title of the nation's best LTE coverage. More tidbits right after the break..

Regional carriers voice support for cell phone unlocking

Christian Zibreg ∙ March 13, 2013

I find it peculiar that regional wireless carriers in the United States have traditionally been way more vocal in their support of Apple and sound business practices than the corporate behemoths like AT&T, Verizon, Sprint or T-Mobile, the nation's top carriers.

A new report out this morning praises some regional carriers for having the guts to back a broader initiative to make cell phone unlocking legal again. Contrast the move to AT&T's "straightforward" policy of locking your device to its network until you've met the terms of your service agreement.

Specifically, rural carriers such as U.S. Cellular and Bluegrass Cellular are now backing these looming bills, likely in a bid to appease to its iPhone customers. Remember, these same guys happily undercut major carriers' iPhone deals by at least $50...

FCC approves T-Mobile and MetroPCS merger

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has just approved a merger between Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile and MetroPCS, an American mobile phone service provider formerly known as General Wireless. Though FCC head Julius Genachowski clearing the merger, it still has to be approved by MetroPCS shareholders to become official.

The FCC told Bloomberg that the merger will "benefit millions of American consumers and help the US maintain the global leadership in mobile it has regained in recent years." At any rate, it should help bring T-Mobile's struggling 4G LTE network online sooner than later...

Change or hide your status bar carrier name with ‘CarrierPigeon’

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

There are literally about a million and one ways to change the carrier name on an iPhone, and CarrierPigeon is the latest such jailbreak tweak to hit Cydia. As you would imagine, CarrierPigeon is a simple and straightforward jailbreak tweak. Its settings panel contains options to allow you to outright hide the iPhone's carrier name in the status bar, and of course, an option that allows you to customize the carrier name with your own text.

AT&T issues statement on unlocking policy

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 2, 2017

There's been a lot of commotion lately regarding the recent expiration of a DMCA exemption that makes the unlocking of smartphones illegal. The people are talking about it, the government is talking about it, and the word is, it could lead to new legislation.

Today, AT&T issued a statement on the topic, reassuring customers that the DMCA rule has no effect on its unlocking stance. The whole thing comes off as a bit garish, as no one was really worried about that in the first place. But it does offer clarity on their policy...

T-Mobile to AT&T: if our network sucks, why did you try to buy us?

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

Everyone loves a good fight, especially in the highly-contentious mobile carrier arena. Not to disappoint, spunky T-Mobile is expected to wallop one-time suitor AT&T in a series of upcoming newspaper ads.

The ads feature the corner of AT&T's recent 'Truth about T-Mobile' advertisements, asking readers whether the rival carrier may be getting nervous. In another, a snarky T-Mobile asks if their network performance is so bad, why did AT&T try to acquire the smaller network in 2011...

iPhone 5 coming soon to regional carrier Strata Networks

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

With the release of iPhone 5, Apple has tweaked its sales tactics, making the handset available across more than a dozen regional carriers in the United States, in addition to major wireless operators like AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint that have traditionally served as the most important iPhone distributors in the country. You can now add Strata Networks to your list of iPhone-friendly regional carriers because the company started advertising it will be offering the iPhone 5 soon...