Gizmodo, citing internal Apple documentation, says that the company is allowing customers to buy iPhones without an AT&T contract. [More]
at&t
AT&T Tries To Save World With New ZERO Charger
By 3.17.10
In case you didn’t know — though if you’re a Consumerist reader, you probably do — that cell phone charger you have plugged into your wall socket is pulling power even when you’re not charging your phone. AT&T figures that enough power is wasted in the U.S. alone to power 24,000 homes for a year. That’s why they’ve gone all eco-savvy on us and announced their new ZERO charger. [More]
Join The Class Action Against AT&T's Slothly DSL Speeds
By 3.11.10
A class action has been filed against AT&T DSL for being too slow. Specifically, the suit alleges that AT&T set the maximum rate customers could get at a level that was lower than the advertised rate. The company denies these claims but has opted to settle instead of going to court. You’re eligible to join if… [More]
Report: Steve Jobs Says You Won't Be Able To Link Your WiFi iPad To Your iPhone
By 3.8.10
Anyone who currently owns an iPhone and was hoping they would be able to use it as a mobile web access point for a WiFi iPad got some bad news today, as Apple’s turtleneck-in-charge Steve Jobs has reportedly said this will not happen. [More]
AT&T Thinks You Should Pay Their Disability Claims
By 3.4.10
Not only does AT&T give you service you can’t use and then continue to bill for it, they also apparently want you to pay the disability claim when one of their employees injures himself on your property. [More]
Why Won't AT&T Cancel My Account?
By 3.3.10
Usually, when customers try to change an Internet service provider, the ISP will do things like discount the rate or offer some benefit in an attempt to retain your business. But that’s not what’s happening to Consumerist reader Addie; AT&T loves her so much, they’ve continued to bill her for six months for a service she doesn’t even have. [More]
New Report Says AT&T's 3G Network Is Fastest
By 2.25.10
Here’s the latest in the “my phone is better than your phone” war. A new test of upload and download speeds on 3G networks in 13 cities has AT&T coming out on top by a large margin over Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile. Someone cue the next round of Luke Wilson commercials… [More]
Did You Make Calls From Haiti On Verizon? Better Start Saving.
By 2.19.10
Update: Verizon won’t charge the soldiers for the calls in question.
In the weeks immediately following the Haiti earthquake, Verizon and AT&T offered free calls to Haiti as a goodwill gesture to people in the U.S. with family and friends over there. The offers weren’t identical, though, and Verizon was only offering free calls made to Haiti, not the reverse. Spc. James Crawford kept calling his pregnant wife each day from his station in Port-au-Prince, and now they have a phone bill for $1,919.44.
Verizon & Sprint's Sales Tips For Killing iPhone, Circa 2007
By 2.19.10
Let’s step into a time machine and travel through the mists of chronos to an ancient yesteryear. It was a different era, Britney Spears shaved her head, Boris Yeltsin died, and people learned how to print images on toast from the comfort of their own workshops. Oh, and a lil’ thing called an iPhone came out. The year was 2007, and Verizon and Sprint were so scared that they issued these ridiculous sheets to their frontline reps with talking points for discouraging people from buying an iPhone: [More]
After 8 iPhones And 14 SIM Cards, AT&T Still Won't Waive ETF
By 2.15.10
AT&T seems determined to fix Mike’s problem. Only they can’t, apparently, because in the past 9 months he’s gone through 8 iPhones and 14 different SIM cards, and still can’t get a phone that does everything it’s supposed to do. (Like ring when someone calls.) Normally an 8-smartphone customer might sound like someone who’s being too hard to please, and maybe that’s Mike, but let’s face it: this is AT&T and it’s the iPhone, so most of the issues he lists below sounds completely plausible. [More]
iPhone Users Sucking Up 5 Times As Much Data As Blackberry Users
By 2.10.10
Just in case you didn’t already know this from all the times you’ve seen someone bust out their iPhone just to pull up imdb.com or Wikipedia to settle a bar bet, a new study published by our hot cousins at Consumer Reports shows that users of Apple’s super phone are using up to five times more data each month than Blackberry owners and nearly double that of other smart phones. [More]
Took Matter Into Own Hands After RoboCaller Spoofed Cell
By 2.5.10
A scammy robocaller had spoofed Rodger’s phone number and angry recipients of the calls were calling him incessantly, but now it’s over. With AT&T’s help, he realized that the autodialer had spoofed his new work number, which was being forwarded to his cellphone. So he disabled the call forwarding, kept his cellphone number, and just had his new work number changed. Victory. [More]
RoboCaller Spoofed My Cell, Now Angry People Call Me Nonstop
By 2.3.10
Rodger is screwed. A telephonic bot is using his cellphone number as the caller ID as it spam calls thousands of people. It’s probably a scam, too, because the message it leaves tells people that if they’ve had their credit card canceled recently, to press “1” and then enter their credit card number. Rodger knows exactly the message that’s left because loads of these people are angrily calling back his cellphone.
UPDATE: Took Matter Into Own Hands After RoboCaller Spoofed Cell
You Can Now Make VOIP Calls On Your iPhone Using 3G
By 1.29.10
I’ll keep this short because it’s Apple-related and we all need a break from that company: Apple has removed its ban on using your iPhone’s 3G “connection” to place VOIP calls, so now you can use an app like Fring to place overseas calls even when you’re not around a Wi-Fi hotspot. Call quality in those moments will naturally depend on AT&T’s ability to provide a good 3G connection, so keep your expectations low, but still it’s good news for any iPhone/AT&T customers looking to save money on calls. [More]
Google Voice Does End Run Around Apple, Launches New Web App
By 1.26.10
Apple made it clear last year that Google Voice is not welcome on the App Store or your iPhone. “Fine,” said Google. “We’ll go through the browser!” Today the search engine revealed a new mobile web interface that uses some fancy HTML5 magic to provide voicemail, calling, and text message functionality. If you don’t already know, you can turn any page in Mobile Safari into an App icon on your home screen (click the “+” icon in Safari), meaning now you can have a legitimate Google Voice “app.” Below is a video tour. Update: There’s a down side to this: Cy writes in to let us know that this fancy new version actually breaks functionality for iPod Touch owners–the old web-based version let Touch owners make calls, but this one doesn’t. [More]
Verizon iPhone Coming In Two Days … Two Months … Two Years
By 1.25.10
Is wishful thinking driving dozens of telecom pundits to conclude that Apple will announce that the iPhone is coming to carriers other than AT&T this Wednesday? Or are they just tired of reporting the same tired iTablet rumors?
Regardless, the internets are in a frenzy about the potential for a non-AT&T version of the iPhone, after a reporter for BusinessWeek ran a quote about the possibility from Tim Horan, a telecommunications analyst at Oppenheimer & Co
AT&T Randomly Logs You Into Someone Else's Facebook Account
By 1.19.10
A glitch at AT&T is causing some mobile phone used to be randomly shuffled into other people’s Facebook accounts. Apparently the carrier has confused which phones should be logged into which accounts. Whoops. [More]
AT&T Says I Owe Big Money From A Bill Six Years Ago
By 1.19.10
Richard says AT&T tracked him down to tell him he had an unpaid bill of $1,671.98, but it doesn’t owe the phone company the money because it sold the debt to an outside agency. He fears getting dinged on his credit history for a bill he believes he doesn’t owe. [More]
