a blog about tech stuff and RustyG
Posts tagged at&t
At&t set to buy T-Mobile
010 months ago
by RustyG
in Technology
So in cased that you missed the HUGE news yesterday around 1pm CST, it seems that mobile provider AT&T will be purchasing T-Mobile for a whopping $39 billion dollars, broken up into 25 billion in cash and the other 14 billion in stock of AT&T. The purchase now has to go through the government and be approved, but it doesn’t seem that that will be any problem. The idea behind this purchase is to “…strengthen and expand critical infrastructure for our nation’s future. It will improve network quality, and it will bring advanced LTE capabilities to more than 294 million people” -AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson. The overall seems to put AT&T as the front runner and spread their “4G” footprint. With T-Mobile having roughly 35 million subscribers and AT&T having roughly 95 million, this will springboard AT&T to the largest mobile carrier in the US. Verizon is currently the US largest at 100 million, but now, this purchase will keep Verizon in a far 2nd for a long time.
This is just one of the slides from the buildout slides that shows how the merger will make AT&T better in several states, including Texas, Michigan and West Virginia. The merger with T-Mobile will definitely call off the commercials that T-Mobile likes to tout that their HSPA+ “4G” is faster than AT&T’s 3G. Even AT&T got in on the mess, calling T-Mo out and saying their “4G” wasn’t real 4G. I guess all this bickering was the pre-marital arguing and all will be forgiven for this un-holy monopoly marriage. It will combine AT&T’s 700MHz spectrum and T-Mobile AWS spectrum. T-Mo was also the last GSM competitor to AT&T, so now AT&T will be the only GSM provider in the US. T-Mo customers don’t fret just yet, it is said this purchase will take 12 months, so you have got some time. The only problem is, your customer service levels will DROP, so say goodbye to that. Oh, and the other burning question that all of the T-Mo customers have: There will be NO iPhone for you. (The GSM radios in the iPhone are not set for the T-Mo towers.)
The funny part about this is, the Sprint rumors we were hearing last week, are obviously off the table now. And Sprint has something to say about that!
Feel free to leave comments and questions below!
via [TechCrunch][PCMag][Engadget][Veronica Belmont] … i could go on and on
At&t adds 2GB wifi hotspot option for $20
012 months ago
Well with no attendance of Apple at MacWorld for the last 2 years, it seems there isn’t any Apple news coming out at all, except for this little nugget. It seems the Wifi hotspot feature that is going to be standard on the Verizon iPhone, will soon be standard as well on the AT&T iPhone as well. The developers have seen the beta version of iOS 4.3, and it seems to be good. With this update, the software does allow for the iPhone to become a hotspot, but that doesn’t mean anything on the carrier side. So one half of the idea is soon to be. It sounds like Apple will be releasing the 4.3 update on Valentines Day. The good thing is, it seems that AT&T agreed to add this option to the iPhone and well, all other smartphones that support it. In a press release from last week, it seems that date will be February 13th that this goes live. The package will be an extra 2GB for $20/month. So it seems that the 14th release date of the 4.3 seems to be right in line with the new option. So this seems to be getting more expensive to have an iPhone and have it run its full capacity.
$39.99/month minimum Voice Plan
$25/month for 2GB of Data
or
$15/month for 200MB of Data
or
$30/month for ‘unlimited’ (for original customers who are grandfathered in, or those who lost it and get it back)
Then there is texting:
$20 for unlimited
Then however you want to connect to your iPhone and share the data:
$20/month for tethering
or
$20/month for wifi hotspot
CRAP!
via [Engadget]
At&t announces a nationwide rollout of 3G Microcells
01 year ago
by RustyG
in Technology
Starting in mid-April, the iPhone exclusive carrier will be rolling out the 3G microcells we saw being tested in select cities last year. Basically this little guys gives you 5 bars in your house or place of business over your internet connection. This is part of plan that At&t is working on to improve it’s network issues that have become synonymous with it’s 3G data connection. The best part about this is, there isn’t any extra charges to use this device, all you have to do is purchase the device for $149.00. There is a premium optional package that you can add to your current wireless plan, so that you can use the microcell tower as an unlimited source for minutes, and not have to count it against your regular minutes. If you opt for this, you can get a $100 mail in rebate card, to bring the final cost down to $49!
Basically this device uses your internet to create a secure connection to the At&t network and rebroadcasts it as a personal 3G tower that you can control. The box gives you control over who is able to connect, and you can have up to 4 devices connected at once. All you have do is log into your At&t account and add approved At&t numbers to the list, and then when they come into your microcell, they are automatically connected, unless of course they are already on a call that was already on a cell tower, but it will switch once the call is over.
This is also just in time for the upcoming iPad release and possible iPhone update coming in June. Apparently At&t is looking to change their image on their poor network issues with the roll-out of this microcell; but also changing the way the iPhone connects to the 3G network. It seems some At&t network guys flew out to Cupertino to show the Apple guys some down and dirty on how the connections work and possibly relieve the load that the iPhone puts on the 3G network.
You can check to see when your city becomes available by heading over to At&t
via [AppleInsider]
