Federal regulators continued their fight against unscrupulous debt collectors today, ordering a Massachusetts organization to pay $2.5 million in refunds and penalties for illegally collecting unverified debt and providing inaccurate information to national credit reporting agencies. [More]
at&t
T-Mobile Offering 128GB iPhone 6S For Price Of 16GB Model To AT&T Customers Who Jump Ship
By 12.3.15
T-Mobile continues to pick on the company it once planned to spend eternity with, once again launching a promotion intended to lure AT&T customers away to the pugnacious little wireless provider. [More]
AT&T Exec Claims Net Neutrality Delayed “A Bunch Of Stuff”
By 12.3.15
Tomorrow, the FCC will square off in court against the telecom industry over the recently enacted Open Internet order (aka “net neutrality), which allows the government to regulate broadband in a way similar to its oversight of telephone lines. AT&T, which has sued the government over the neutrality rules, is now making vague claims that the FCC’s actions caused it to hold off on releasing a “bunch of stuff.” [More]
AT&T To Begin Slow Process Of Killing Off DirecTV, U-Verse Names
By 12.2.15
With AT&T now owning DirecTV and still operating its U-Verse network, the company has two separate pay-TV brands. But that won’t last forever, with AT&T telling employees that both brands will eventually be phased out in favor of a new, unified name covering both satellite and cable TV service. [More]
AT&T’s Remaining Unlimited Data Customers Getting $5/Month Rate Hike In 2016
By 11.30.15
It’s been years since AT&T stopped offering new unlimited data plans, but a number of customers have held onto their grandfathered plans for years — even as the company throttled their access for actually trying to use the “unlimited” data that was promised. Come February, AT&T will raise the price on unlimited plans for the first time in years. [More]
AT&T, Verizon Tell FCC That They Should Be Able To Block Texts When They Want To, For Your Own Good
By 11.25.15
Texting isn’t just the purview of teenagers. Bulk texting is a huge business. Sometimes they’re scam spam in about the same category of usefulness as emails from a wealthy Nigerian prince who doesn’t exist, granted, but sometimes they’re useful blasts from businesses or public entities that let a whole bunch of people get useful information quickly in a low-bandwidth way. But what they aren’t, quite yet, is clearly regulated. A case moving through the FCC right now, however, may change that. [More]
iPhone User Blames “WiFi Assist” Feature For $2,000 Phone Bill
By 11.19.15
Not even two months ago, we warned iPhone users that the new “WiFi Assist” feature in iOS9 could result in data overages if you weren’t careful. This tale of on San Francisco-area family shows just how bad it can be. [More]
Sprint Promises To Actually Cut Your Bill In Half This Time, Maybe
By 11.18.15
Last year, Sprint started its “cut your bill in half” promotion, even though customers’ actual savings turned out to be more like 20% once customers acquired a new phone for Sprint. Today, Sprint announced that they’re continuing the deal and expanding it to T-Mobile customers. But not all T-Mobile customers. [More]
AT&T Expands High-Speed Fiber Network, Still Overcharges In Areas Without Competition
By 11.9.15
Remember how AT&T made its grand case for the DirecTV merger? All that revenue from the 20-plus million DirecTV subscribers would help AT&T build out a high-speed broadband network that competes with the local cable monopolies. And so far that’s been true with the continued expansion of AT&T’s GigaPower service… except when those established cable monopolies don’t match GigaPower’s top speeds, customers are still paying top dollar. [More]
AT&T Will Trade You Data For Doing Surveys & Buying Stuff
By 10.26.15
Wireless data has officially become a form of virtual currency thanks to a new AT&T program that rewards users with additional megabytes of data in exchange for doing stuff like taking surveys and shopping. [More]
AT&T, Uber Team Up To Stream College Football Games On Your Next Ride Across Town
By 10.16.15
The next time you have to trek across down during the big game, you might not have to worry about missing any extraordinary plays: Uber and AT&T have struck a deal to stream college football games in some of the vehicles operated through the ride-hailing service. [More]
T-Mobile CEO Rips AT&T CEO, Asks AT&T Customers To E-Mail Him Their Suggestions
By 10.14.15
Yesterday, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson made it clear that he has no interest in hearing from customers who might have a suggestion for a new product or service. And because T-Mobile CEO John Legere will take every opportunity he can get to needle AT&T, he’s using this news to point out that he’s slightly more receptive than Dandy Randy from the Death Star — and that he’s also willing to field suggestions for AT&T. [More]
AT&T CEO Really Doesn’t Want To Hear Your Suggestions. At All
By 10.13.15
If you’re thinking of sending a helpful note to AT&T CEO and resident Sith Lord Randall “Milhouse” Stephenson about a product his company might want to offer, just don’t. He not only doesn’t want to hear from you, he’ll sic his legal team on you to drive home the point that he doesn’t want to hear about your idea. [More]
AT&T Tells Unlimited Data Customer Who Isn’t Tethering To Quit Tethering
By 10.9.15
Tethering is using your smartphone as a mobile wi-fi hotspot. It’s a handy way to get online when you’re, say, stuck at the dentist’s office and need to turn in some work. It’s also against the rules for customers with legacy unlimited-data plans from AT&T, for obvious reasons. One customer who has one of these plans is currently fighting with AT&T: they want him to stop tethering, and he says that he isn’t. [More]
AT&T Gets The Go-Ahead From FCC To Enable WiFi Calling For iPhones
By 10.7.15
After AT&T had to delay enabling WiFi calling on iPhones — a move it was expected to make, but didn’t, with the release of iOS 9 recently — the carrier is finally getting the go-ahead it needed from the Federal Communications Commission to roll out the feature to its customers. [More]
AT&T Testing Wireless Home Broadband In At Least 4 States
By 10.2.15
AT&T helped grease the wheels for its recent acquisition of DirecTV by promising to bring high-speed wireless broadband to homes in rural America. Now that the merger is official, it’s look like AT&T is beginning to make good on that promise, though a number of questions about the new service still remain. [More]
AT&T Touts “Lower Prices” For Gigabit Internet; Still Charges $40 More If Google Fiber Isn’t Around
By 9.30.15
If you have AT&T wireless service, your voice/data plan is going to cost you the same amount of money each month regardless of your home address. But AT&T’s broadband division isn’t taking this one-price-fits-all approach, and is continuing to sell broadband access that can range in price by $40/month, depending on where you live… and apparently whether Google Fiber is in the area. [More]
How Wireless Carriers Are Prepping To Handle Texts, Tweets & Data Of 1M Pope Watchers
By 9.24.15
The last time a pontiff visited Philadelphia, it was 1979 and the throng of onlookers — my family included — jostled to get photos with our film cameras (only to find out days later after getting the photos printed that all we had was a motion blur of part of Pope John Paul II’s car). It will be a very different story for the expected million people who will pack Philly’s Ben Franklin Parkway on Saturday and Sunday. [More]
