Posts Tagged ‘AT&T’

If you don’t want to buy a new smartphone for yourself, AT&T has a viral marketing campaign that lets you use a Facebook app on your desktop or smartphone that lets you build a case (as in a mock “legal case”) to convince someone you designate to buy a phone for you.
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Graphic courtesy of Wired.

Do you know how long mobile phone service providers keep records about which cell tower you used? Or, text messages? Or, call detail records? Wired took a look at a photo copy of a U.S. Department of Justice summary table titled “Retention Periods of Major Cellular Service Providers” that provides the specifics.
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Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) will be available in the U.S. within a few weeks. Microsoft said that owners of Windows Phone 7 devices can expect to see updates soon. However, based on the Dell Official Corporate Blog, Windows Phone users who are AT&T subscribers may have a longer wait.
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AT&T appears to believe that teenagers’ phone of choice is a BlackBerry (8xxx and 9xxx models). At least that is one possible theory based on the release of an app for BlackBerry phones that automatically sends customizable replies that the recipient is driving and unable to respond.
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The Android-powered HTC Status with a BlackBerry-like physical QWERTY keyboard and dedicated Facebook button seemed like a good design and phone choice for frequent Facebook users who, presumably, want to type in a lot of status updates. It made its debut just two months ago.
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Electronista doesn’t have to work too hard to convince me that mobile phone companies’ wireless data plans charge way too much for people who do not even come close to their plan’s monthly data quota. Here, they report on a study by Validas.
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Starbucks is a digital oasis for me.I usually pop in, fire up the Starbucks mobile card app, order a beverage, have my iPhone scanned to pay for it and then sit down to use the Starbucks WiFi access point (provided by AT&T) on a smartphone, iPad or notebook (or netbook). This plan usually works just fine. And, I’ve executed this plan more times that I would care to admit.
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Google Voice messaging.

1. $10 per month gets you 1,000 messages.
2. $20 per month gets you unlimited messages.

Guess which option is going to disappear in a few days?
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Blink-182, the pop punk band that asked the infamous question ‘What’s My Age Again?’ all the way back in 1999, is back with their first single in eight years and to celebrate they are rewarding fans that violated copyright by stealing their music on YouTube.

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If you are among the many AT&T Wireless customers who still have a grandfathered “unlimited” 3G data plan, you should make it a point to read this AT&T press release:

An Update for Our Smartphone Customers With Unlimited Data Plans

If you are among what AT&T classifies as those among the top 5 percent of our heaviest data users in a billing period, you might see much slower data toward the end of each billing cycle starting October.

Starting October 1, smartphone customers with unlimited data plans may experience reduced speeds once their usage in a billing cycle reaches the level that puts them among the top 5 percent of heaviest data users. These customers can still use unlimited data and their speeds will be restored with the start of the next billing cycle. Before you are affected, we will provide multiple notices, including a grace period.

AT&T notes specific activities that chew up 3G bandwidth: Streaming video apps, remote web camera apps, sending large data files (like video) and some online gaming are examples of applications that can use data quickly.. AT&T recommends heavy data users use a WiFi network as often as possible.

So, if you are consuming or sharing a lot of videos and photos and are on AT&T, be prepared to see things slow down.

Via 9to5mac.com:
- AT&T to implement data throttling in early October, just in time for iPhone 5
- AT&T verifies our throttling information officially for October 1st