When you see AT&T advertising the hottest new phones as being available for “$0 down,” that’s if you opt for the early upgrade/installment payments plan called AT&T Next. While stock analysts (and, we’re guessing, AT&T itself) expected the program to be a huge hit, the prospect of getting a $15/month discount and paying full sticker price for a smartphone just isn’t tempting to the average consumer. [More]
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AT&T, Where “Congestion” & Data Caps Only Apply To Existing Users
By 9.30.14
Ever since AT&T and Verizon got rid of unlimited wireless plans, both companies have used the questionable excuse of “congestion,” claiming that throttling data after remaining unlimited users pass an arbitrary threshold was necessary to keep data flowing. But in plans announced over the weekend, AT&T is effectively once again offering unlimited data (for a limited time) to new customers, which makes one wonder — what happened to all that congestion? [More]
DirecTV Shareholders Sign Off On AT&T Merger
By 9.25.14
While the rest of the world waits for regulators in D.C. to decide if AT&T and DirecTV should be allowed to live together in wedded bliss, one group of people has already given their blessing to the deal. [More]
AT&T and Verizon: Data Caps On Home Internet Service Are Great For Everyone (Especially Us)
By 9.24.14
Verizon and AT&T are big players (and getting bigger) in broadband landline service, but they seem to take a mobile phone mindset with them everywhere they go. Not only do they think that home broadband doesn’t need to be faster than your phone, but also now they’re saying that data caps on your home internet use are perfectly reasonable, too. [More]
The Only Way To Avoid Paying A Fee For iPhone Upgrade Is To Pay Full Price
By 9.12.14
Earlier this week, we looked at the various offers being thrown out by the four major wireless carriers in their attempts to attract people switching to the iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus. What was left out of that discussion — and which seems to be catching a number of customers by surprise today — is that some of them must pay a fee to upgrade. [More]
AT&T Promises 15Mbps Wireless Broadband To Rural Customers After DirecTV Merger
By 9.12.14
AT&T has dangled a big carrot out there in its attempt to lead regulators to sign off on the company’s merger with DirecTV. If the deal happens, AT&T says it could bring 15Mbps wireless data service (bundled with satellite TV of course) to rural America in 2015. [More]
Your Guide To The Major Carriers’ iPhone 6 Offers
By 9.10.14
Apple announced a couple of new phones yesterday, triggering a Pavlovian response in some consumers that can only be eased by the acquisition of one of these new phones. It also pits the four national wireless carriers against each other in a battle for Apple-hungry customers. [More]
AT&T and Verizon: Your Home Network Doesn’t Actually Need To Be As Fast As Your Phone
By 9.9.14
The FCC has been all about broadband this year. In the mix with net neutrality and the Comcast/TWC merger, they’re also taking on the dearth of broadband competition consumers face and even thinking about redefining the meaning of the term to a higher minimum network speed. But AT&T and Verizon aren’t having it: according to comments they’ve filed with the FCC, a wired network connection too slow for a solid Netflix connection, and slower than the 4G your phone uses, should be perfectly satisfactory for a bandwidth-hungry nation. [More]
Amazon Now Selling Fire Phone For $.99 With New Contract
By 9.8.14
It hasn’t even been two months since Amazon released its not-quite-3D Fire phone and it’s already slashed the price on the device like it’s a 3-year-old feature phone, announcing this morning that the Fire can be had for $.99 to customers willing to sign a two-year contract with AT&T. [More]
GameStop Gets Even Closer To AT&T, Offers Cricket Wireless Service In All Stores
By 9.8.14
Over the past year, GameStop has revamped itself to stay relevant: offering trade-ins for unwanted gift cards, uploading customers fingerprints to the national database and acting as a sort-of bank for some customers. Now, the retailer is further entering all facets of consumer life by selling Cricket Wireless prepaid services at all locations. [More]
Why Isn’t America Freaking Out About AT&T/DirecTV Merger — And Should We Be?
By 9.5.14
While pretty much everyone is scrutinizing the pending mega-merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable, not much attention is being paid to the possible marriage of the country’s second-largest wireless and pay-TV companies. And that leaves us with two big questions: What, if anything, makes these two mergers so different? And should we be more worried about a unified AT&T and DirecTV than we are? [More]
AT&T: Municipal Broadband Should Be Banned Anywhere Private Companies Might Want To Do Business Later
By 9.3.14
It’s no secret that AT&T and other big ISPs are no fans of municipal broadband projects. There are laws on the books in many states that block the expansion of municipal networks, but the FCC is considering using its authority to override those laws and let communities build networks if they wish. AT&T is also no fan of this proposal. In fact, says AT&T, not only should public networks be barred anywhere there is already a private option, but also they should be barred in any place there might possibly be a plan to build a private option in the future. [More]
How ISPs “Compete” With Municipal Networks: Lobbying and Campaign Donations That Block Them
By 8.28.14
Say you’re mayor of a small city. Your city is small enough and far enough away from other cities that the big cable companies don’t want to spend what it would cost to run wires through your town, because the amount they will make in return isn’t worth it. That’s reasonable, from a business perspective. So you and the residents of your city get together and come up with a plan to make a public broadband utility instead. Makes sense, right? You’d happily pay someone else to do it for you, but since they don’t want to take your money you’ll do it yourself. Only — surprise! In come those self-same cable companies to block you from doing that, too, and they get your state’s legislature and governor to pass a law against you for good measure, so you can never try again. [More]
Sprint Offers $60 Unlimited Data Plan That Won’t Interest Real Data Hogs
By 8.21.14
Earlier this week, Sprint’s new CEO Marcelo Claure tried to take a swing at its bigger and/or faster competition by announcing a shared data plan that gives you a ton of data… on a network that’s currently so slow you’ll never get to use it all. Now Claure and company are trying again, offering an unlimited data plan that’s cheaper than the competition but probably won’t win over savvy data devourers. [More]
AT&T To Offer Gigabit Broadband Service In Apple’s Home Turf
By 8.20.14
While Verizon’s FiOS expansion plans are apparently idling in the “to do… maybe, at some point” bin, AT&T appears to be moving forward with its plans to roll out its GigaPower gigabit broadband network to more markets. Today, the Death Star announced that it has selected its first target in California’s Silicon Valley — the city of Cupertino, better known as the home to Apple HQ. [More]
Comcast Says that Mobile Data is Competitive, but it Costs $2k to Stream ‘Breaking Bad’ Over LTE
By 8.18.14
Comcast keeps on claiming that mobile broadband is real competition for wired home broadband. But for most users, it’s just plain not. Not only is the speed and reliability of mobile broadband still hugely variable depending on location and time of day, but also mobile data is still clearly not competitive on price. [More]
Sprint Is Prepping To Start A Price War, But Will Competitors Take The Bet?
By 8.8.14
Earlier this week, Sprint abandoned months of planning for a takeover of T-Mobile and fired CEO Dan Hesse after seven years of failing to make the company competitive with Verizon or AT&T. Now Sprint’s Chairman says the new CEO is prepping to start a price war to win over customers, but is Sprint really in a position to pick that fight? [More]
T-Mobile, Where Second Place = “Undisputed” Champ
By 8.7.14
Yesterday, T-Mobile sent out a press release claiming that it is now the industry leader in prepaid wireless (we’ll get to that later). The statement from the magenta mobile provider also included the boast that T-Mobile “has maintained the undisputed title of America’s fastest nationwide 4G LTE network” and links to a recent test as evidence. Problem is, the results of that test don’t seem to back up T-Mobile’s horn-tooting. [More]
