It seems like the four major wireless providers are changing their plans daily to undercut each other and steal customers, but one prepaid wireless company is basically trying to out-promo everyone else by paring down to just one phone and offering a year of data for just(ish) $1. [More]
wireless carriers
Sprint Offers Free Year Of Unlimited Service To Verizon Users. What’s The Catch?
By 6.13.17
In a bid to lure customers from Verizon Wireless, Sprint is now offering a free year of its Unlimited service for anyone who makes the switch. But with all such “free” offers, there are costs involved. [More]
T-Mobile Will Pay Off Verizon Customers’ iPhones If They Switch (And Pay For Insurance)
By 5.24.17
T-Mobile is once again trying to lure away customers from a bigger wireless provider, this time offering to pay off the remaining iPhone (or Google Pixel) payments for Verizon customers willing to jump ship… and also willing to toss away $15/month on insurance. [More]
It’ll Now Cost You $5 More To Activate Or Upgrade A Phone On AT&T’s Network
By 1.20.17
If you don’t have a contract with AT&T prepare to pay $5 more than you would have in the past to upgrade your phone, or activate a new one on the carrier’s network. [More]
T-Mobile: Apple Has Fixed iOS 10 Connectivity Issues, So Go Ahead And Update
By 9.16.16
T-Mobile customers using the iPhone 6, 6S, and SE can now go ahead and install to iOS 10, as the company says Apple has issued a fix to address connectivity issues some folks reported this week after updating their phones. [More]
Major Wireless Carriers Offering Free Calls, Texts To Turkey After Istanbul Airport Attack
By 6.29.16
In the wake of a suspected terrorist attack at Istanbul’s airport that killed 41 people and wounded 239 more, the four major wireless carriers in the U.S. are offering to connect customers with their loved ones in Turkey for free. [More]
AT&T Trimming Its Phone Financing Plans Down From Four Options To Two
By 5.23.16
Now that all four of the major wireless carriers are firmly on the installment plan bandwagon, AT&T is trying to set itself apart by simplifying its phone financing options.
[More]
Report: Sprint Changes Its Mind Again, Will Kill Off Two-Year Contracts After All
By 5.20.16
Sprint can’t seem to decide what it wants to do with two-year contracts: after announcing in January that it would join the other major carriers in ditching the two-year deals, Sprint backtracked a month later and said it would still offer them to existing customers. That resolve may not have stuck, as a new report claims the wireless company is again preparing to eliminate two-year contracts. [More]
Sprint Offering A Free Year Of Cell Service To DirecTV Subscribers
By 8.28.15
We’ve got a possible love triangle on our hands, friends: Sprint is taking aim at new couple AT&T and its $49 billion beloved, DirecTV, dangling a free year of cell service for satellite subscribers who switch their service. [More]
How Does Your Cell Phone Service Stack Up? Rate Your Carrier And Help With A Handy Project
By 10.22.14
A team at our parent company, Consumer Reports, is working on a project that needs your help. Click over to Crowdsignal.org and take a short quiz about your mobile phone carrier’s performance to contribute. [More]
FCC Wants First-Responders To Know Exactly Where 911 Calls Are Coming From
By 2.21.14
No one wants to be in a position where calling 911 is necessary, but if the situation does occur we’d all like to think first-responders could easily find us. But that’s just not the case now that more consumers are using cell phones to make emergency calls. Especially when those calls are being made indoors, out of the view of GPS satellites. [More]
Is It Time For Wireless Companies To Offer Data-Only Plans?
By 6.4.12
When was the last time you saw someone under the age of 21 willingly make a phone call when texting or e-mailing was an option? And reports show that free messaging apps are growing in popularity. So at what point will society just give up on voice and text services and go data-only? [More]
Airman Racks Up $16,000 In Roaming Charges In 6 Days
By 4.26.12
Usually when we write about someone racking up insanely high phone charges, it involves a trip outside the U.S. borders, but here’s a post about a member of the U.S. Air Force who found himself facing more than $16,000 in roaming charges after short visit to his family in Sacramento. [More]
Wireless Carriers Band Together To Form Theft-Prevention Database
By 4.10.12
It appears someone has produced a magic ring and activated it, calling U.S. wireless carriers together to create a database that will help protect consumers against cell phone theft. And while the carriers, representing 90% of phone service subscribers, aren’t really superheroes, there are high hopes that this new database will help thwart thieves. [More]
