Archive for the ‘Cellular’ Category
When AT&T announced that they were doing away with their unlimited plan back in the summer of 2010, it made us sad. Capped data just isn’t a good solution for customers. Some joy could be found, however, in the fact that unlimited data users could be grandfathered into the future with their free-for-all data plans after capped data plans took effect.
Fast forward a few months and then AT&T’s anti-consumer habits grew stronger; they started throttling customers on unlimited plans who were in the “top 5%” of data users on their network. Ok. Fair enough. How much is that? AT&T wouldn’t tell us. Eventually, AT&T relented that the throttling figure was a sliding number based on location and current network load at any given point in time — a very vague response that frankly gives them the ability to do whatever they want, when they want. Based off of numerous personal accounts on Twitter, Facebook, individual websites, forums, etc., the original throttling threshold was in the 4-5 GB range.
And now in early 2012 AT&T is once again taking another chance to screw us over by lowering the threshold for data throttling threshold further…
The time we’ve been waiting for, the death of Nextel/iDen, is getting closer. A new announcement on nextelnetwork.sprint.com foretells of changes being made to Nextel’s network infrastructure in 2012. Most importantly, Sprint is beginning the process of evaluating the number of and dismantling iDen-specific towers across the country. The reason given by Sprint is simple “cost savings”, though we’d certainly think the late-2013 EOL time frame given by CEO Dan Hesse himself might have something to do with it too.
According to the chart on Sprint’s website, iDen towers that aren’t being removed (yet) will be “optimized” as to keep coverage in affected areas as close to normal as possible. Though, Sprint does lament that indoor network quality may drop.
What was once a decent and useful network is now nothing more than an aging, spectrum hogging dinosaur that Sprint desperately needs to repurpose for newer cellular tech/service. As the year progresses, we’ll keep you informed on any and all big changes happening with Nextel as we’re sure quite a few of you out there are still forced to use it by some corporate entity day in and day out.
Head over to the link above and put in your city/zip code to see how much your area will be affected (if at all).
The upcoming 6-8 weeks are going to be busy for U.S. Cellular and friends as the company is prepping their official LTE network launch as well as two new LTE devices, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy S Aviator. Both devices will feature LTE support to make use of the new super speedy network, which according to U.S. Cellular, will cover a full 25% of their network from day 1.
The Galaxy Tab 10.1 will ship with Android 3.2, a 10.1″ WXGA display and the rest of the usual specs from Samsung’s 10″ tablets. The Aviator S will (sadly) ship with Android 2.3.6, a 4.3″ WVGA Super AMOLED display, 8-megapixel/VGA (rear/front) facing cameras, and again, standard hardware for a high-end Android device filling out the rest of the specs.
But the real meat of the store is U.S. Cellular’s new LTE network. In partnership with King Street Wireless, the duo will flip the switch in a number of cities in “select cities in Iowa, Wisconsin, Maine, North Carolina, Texas and Oklahoma”. More specifically, some of the higher profile markets include: Milwaukee, Madison and Racine, Wisconsin; Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Davenport, Iowa; Portland and Bangor, Maine; and Greenville, North Carolina.
Look for the LTE airwaves to go live beginning in March with the Galaxy Tab 10.1 launching around the same time. The Galaxy S Aviator smartphone will come a month later in April.
What do you say, U.S. Cellular customers? Ready for some LTE action?
- January 24, 2012 11:29 pm
Curious as to just how much spectrum T-Mobile is walking away with thanks to AT&T’s failed attempt to take them over? GigaOM reader Andrew Shepherd whipped up the handy map you see above, complete with each and every market T-Mobile is gobbling up. That said, residents of the west coast should begin noticing better T-Mobile service in the not too distant future — that is if T-Mobile does in fact make use of the spectrum and doesn’t sit on it for some future project (read: LTE). Though, given how constrained T-Mobile’s network is these days — they’re #4 after all — we wouldn’t be surprised if they hopped on their good foot to get more coverage/performance out the door sooner rather than later.
Not a bad ending to an imperfect love story for T-Mobile at all. They get a ton of much needed spectrum worth ~$1 billion and ~$3 billion in cash.
- January 19, 2012 11:14 pm
AT&T seemingly stole the show this week with the announcement of new data plans. And while they go a little ways towards making heavier data users happier, it is T-Mobile pulling out biggest surprise.
On January 25th the carrier will quietly launch two new promotional, “premium” and “ultra” data plans. Get ready for it — 5GB and 10GB data plans with tethering/mobile hotspot for free. In total, you’re looking at a solid ~$20 in savings. Oh, and the best part is that new and existing customers can get in on the fun.
We’re a bit disappointed T-Mobile isn’t broadcasting the upcoming data plans on every possible medium. Both plans are leaps and bounds better than any other major carrier. At the same time, we can understand the carrier wanting to protect their network. A bajillion people jumping online at the same time thanks to the crazy promotional data plans could bring things to a halt.
T-Mobile. Come on. Brag about this!
In case you hadn’t heard, details regarding AT&T’s upcoming data plan revamp were leaked last night. For those that didn’t see it:
Smartphones
- 5 GB – $50/month (With mobile hotspot + tethering)
Tablets
While we’re slightly upbeat that we can now pay $5 more every month for 3 GB of data instead of $25 + $10 when we go over, it’s hardly a vicotry. What most people will gloss over is the fact that AT&T just made it $5 more expensive to own a smartphone on their network…
The 3G/4G tango VZW (and pretty much every other LTE operator) must endure is reportedly coming to an end, according to sources of Light Reading. By “early 2013″, Verizon will begin rolling out nationwide VoLTE (Voice Over LTE) across their LTE network. The beauty of this: No more data/cellular (SMS + Voice) separation. Everything will effectively be transmitted and counted as data.
The same sources also say that VZW is currently doing wider scale testing in two U.S. cities.
The above report is somewhat disappointing depending on how you look at it. On one hand, 2013 isn’t really that far away. Conversely, previous VoLTE rumors involving Verizon claimed the carrier would begin rolling on said service in the 2H of 2012.
We’re eagerly waiting for the day that we can go into full data mode and drop the stingy minutes thing.
It’s that time of the month — time for Verizon Wireless to unleash LTE on more cities and expanding a couple to boot!
New Cities: Glens Falls and Utica, N.Y.; Lawton, Okla.; and Brownsville and McAllen, Texas.
Expanded Coverage: Atlanta, Georgia; Houston, Texas and Spokane, Wash
Did your city make the latest cut.
It’s been a few weeks since we’ve talked about Carrier IQ, the invasive logging software installed by a whole suite of carriers and manufacturers. But today, it’s actually good news.
Sprint has begun telling smartphone manufacturers that they must remove all traces of Carrier IQ in upcoming ROM updates. According to The Verge, Sprint is currently in talks with HTC to remove Carrier IQ from the EVO 3D.
Success.
