Carriers news

Verizon iPhone gets Carrier Update via Apple

Attention Verizon Wireless iPhone users, welcome to iOS! TiPb Forums are buzzing with iPhone users, on the big red network, finding a carrier update in their settings app. There doesn’t seem to be any information available on the reason behind the update, but users are reporting it to be quick and painless.

To me that’s typical Apple. Well not always quick (depending on your connection), but compared to some of the nightmare stories you hear about OTA software updates for Google’s Android OS, definitely painless…

So if you’re an early adopter of the iPhone on Verizon, the update can be found by going to your ‘Settings’ app -> General -> About. Forum posters are reporting that the download upgrades your carrier version from Verizon 9 to 10.1. It’s also important to note that some jailbroken users aren’t seeing the update available.

Yes, The iPad 2 Is Carrier Unlocked

Over the weekend there were some reports that WiFi+3G iPad 2′s would be locked to a specific carrier after people (read on the Canadian Apple site) that “the iPad model you purchase is specially configured to work with either Bell, Rogers, or Telus.” It turns out that this wordage, whilst technically correct, is very confusing in that whilst the iPad is initially configured to work with a specific carrier, it can be reconfigured to work with other carriers at any stage.

This has been confirmed by a number of people from iPadinCanada to TUAW that have all confirmed from a variety of sources including Rogers Wireless, Apple Experts and Apple Support that you can swap SIMs and carriers with the iPad 2. The only issue (a very minor one) is that the iPad will need to connect to iTunes after the SIM has been swapped to download the new carrier settings, which is required for the 3G service to be usable.

So to be totally clear to all those interested, the iPad 2 is not carrier locked, rather Apple has just over-simplified the information it provided, because you can indeed reconfigure the iPad to work with another carrier with a simple SIM swap and iTunes sync. The one caveat to all this is of course the Verizon (CDMA) iPad 2 which will not be able to switch to any carrier using a GSM network because it does not contain a 3G chipset compatible with GSM networks.

The War Between Verizon and AT&T Gets Petty

It’s no secret that Verizon and AT&T are at war. They are constantly battling over the best network, and ultimately the most customers. Even though Verizon has generally had a larger customer base and better call quality, AT&T has generally had faster 3G speeds (depending on location) and of course the iPhone.

That all changed on February 11th of this year, when Verizon launched their version of the iPhone 4. But it seems snagging Apple’s popular smart phone wasn’t enough for Big Red. They took this wireless war to a tiny little battlefield called predictive text…

BGR‘s Jonathon Geller reported earlier today that he came across a tiny alteration in his Verizon iPhone 4 that he hadn’t noticed before. It appears that unlike the AT&T iPhone 4, Verizon’s version won’t correct ‘att’ to ‘AT&T’ automatically. As microscopic as the change is, it fascinates me. This little detail was obviously talked about at some point by some very important people.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know why AT&T was taken out of the Verizon model, but ‘Verizon’ is still recognized by my AT&T iPhone 4, so go figure. It all seems so silly to me, but I’m sure there are legal reasons behind it.

Exclusive: AT&T To Impose Caps, Overages

Notices To Go Out This Week, Capping Begins May 2

 

Broadband Reports was the first to learn, and has confirmed with AT&T, that the company will be implementing a new 150GB monthly usage cap for all DSL customers and a new 250 GB cap on all U-Verse users starting on May 2. From March 18 to March 31, AT&T users are going to be receiving notices informing them of the change in the company's terms of service. AT&T spokesman Seth Bloom confirmed the news to Broadband Reports after we initially contacted him last Friday concerning a leaked copy of the upcoming user notification. According to Bloom, the cap will involve overage charges. However, only users who consistently exceed the new caps will have to deal with these charges.

 

This is how it will work: only users who exceed the new usage cap three times -- across the life of your account, not per month -- will be forced to pay these new per byte overages. Overages will be $10 for every 50GB over the 150 GB or 250GB limit they travel.

 

AT&T claims their average DSL customer uses around 18GB a month, and these changes will only impact about 2% of all DSL customers -- who the company states consume "a disproportionate amount of bandwidth."

 

"Using a notification structure similar to our new wireless data plans, we'll proactively notify customers when they exceed 65%, 90% and 100% of the monthly usage allowance," AT&T tells us. The company also says they'll provide users with a number of different usage tools, including a usage monitor that tracks historical usage over time, and a number of different usage tools aimed at identifying bandwidth-hungry services.

 

Regular readers will recall that this isn't AT&T's first experimentation with usage-based-billing. The company conducted trials of capped services and overages in Reno, Nevada and Beaumont, Texas in 2008. Those trials involved users facing caps ranging from 20GB to 150GB -- and per gigabyte overages up to $1 per gigabyte. The efforts were discontinued in early 2010. In contrast to those trials, which involved capturing nearly all users in an overage net -- this effort is aimed squarely at what AT&T considers consistently heavy users.

 

"We are committed to providing a great experience for all of our Internet customers," AT&T tells Broadband Reports. "We will communicate early and often with these customers so they are well aware of their options before they incur any additional usage charges," the company says. "Importantly, we are not reducing the speeds, terminating service or limiting available data like some others in the industry."

AT&T Cracking Down on MyWi Tethering?

We've gotten a couple of tips today from users saying that they are receiving notices from AT&T regarding tethering. These users have been using MyWi for tethering, and are grandfathered into AT&T's old unlimited iPhone data plan.

For one user, the notices began as a simple text message:
"AT&T Free Msg: Did you know tethering your Smartphone to a computer requires a tethering plan? Pls call 888-860-6789 for details or visit att.com/dataplans."


AT&T then followed up with this message via email:

Dear [Customer],

We've noticed your service plan may need updating.

Many AT&T customers use their smartphones as a broadband connection for other devices, like laptops, netbooks or other smartphones– a practice commonly known as tethering. Tethering can be an efficient way for our customers to enjoy the benefits of AT&T's mobile broadband network and use more than one device to stay in touch with important people and information. To take advantage of this feature, we require that in addition to a data plan, you also have a tethering plan.

Our records show that you use this capability, but are not subscribed to our tethering plan.

If you would like to continue tethering, please log into
your account online at Cell Phones and Cell Phone Plans - Wireless from AT&T, or call us
at 1-888-860-6789 Monday - Friday, 7 a.m. - 9 p.m. CST
or Saturday, 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. CST, by March 27, 2011
to sign up for DataPro 4GB for Smartphone Tethering.
Here are details on the plan:

DataPro 4GB for Smartphone Tethering
• $45 per month
(this gives you 4GB in total, combining both your smartphone data plan for $25 and the tethering feature, $20)
• $10 per each additional GB thereafter, added automatically as needed
• Mobile Hotspot capabilities are included for compatible Smartphones

If we don't hear from you, we'll plan to automatically enroll you into DataPro 4GB afterMarch 27, 2011. The new plan – whether you sign up on your own or we automatically enroll you – will replace your current smartphone data plan, including if you are on an unlimited data plan.

If you discontinue tethering, no changes to your current plan will be required.

It's easy to track your usage throughout the month so there are no bill surprises. For example, we send you free text messages when you reach 65, 90, and 100 percent of your plan's threshold. If you would like to monitor your account more closely, go towww.att.com/dataplans to learn about other ways to track your data usage.

As a reminder, our smartphone data plans also include unlimited usage of Wi-Fi at no additional charge. AT&T smartphone customers can use Wi-Fi at home or on-the-go at any one of our more than 23,000 U.S. hotspots already included in your data plan.

Thank you for bringing your account up to date. We appreciate the opportunity to continue to serve your mobile broadband needs.

Sincerely,

AT&T

This is the first we've heard about users receiving messages regarding MyWi tethering from AT&T. One speculation as to how AT&T may know about tethering is the iOS 4.3 update, which allows the iPhone to be used a personal hotspot. It's possible that AT&T can now track data usage specifically to the device that's being tethered, regardless of whether its done through the personal hotspot feature in 4.3 or via MyWi.

We'll keep you posted if we hear anything more on this issue. Thank you very much to the readers who sent this in to our tips email!

Based on user comments that some users are getting the message that don't tether at all, it looks like AT&T is targeting users who have high data usage. As it turns out, MyWi show ups as 0 tether bytes.

AT&T to Acquire T-Mobile and Become the Largest US Wireless Provider

In a surprise announcement that has rocked the mobile world Sunday, AT&T has announced what's being called a definitive agreement to acquire T-Mobile USA Deutsche Telekom for $39 billion in cash and stock combo. With this transaction, the wireless giant says in a formal statement heralding the buy, "AT&T commits to a significant expansion of robust 4G LTE deployment to 95 percent of the U.S. population to reach an additional 46.5 million Americans beyond current plans – including rural communities and small towns."

If the deal is ultimately given the green light via regulatory approval, AT&T will effectively become the largest wireless provider in the US. The move comes as a major blow to Verizon as the carriers (both of which now boast the iPhone) duke it out to an entirely new degree for mobile supremacy. By bringing T-Mobile customers into the fold at AT&T, the carrier is poised to potentially regain some of the mobile mojo it lost to Verizon earlier this year.

“This transaction represents a major commitment to strengthen and expand critical infrastructure for our nation’s future,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T Chairman and CEO. “It will improve network quality, and it will bring advanced LTE capabilities to more than 294 million people. Mobile broadband networks drive economic opportunity everywhere, and they enable the expanding high-tech ecosystem that includes device makers, cloud and content providers, app developers, customers, and more. During the past few years, America’s high-tech industry has delivered innovation at unprecedented speed, and this combination will accelerate its continued growth.”

AT&T CEO Says T-Mobile Deal Will Instantly Boost iPhone Service

The world rejoiced on January 11th of this year as Verizon Wireless announced it would become the 2nd U.S. carrier to sell Apple’s popular iPhone. People weren’t excited because it would bring new features to the iPhone, they were excited because a different carrier was finally offering the device.

Since its introduction in 2007, the iPhone has been exclusive to AT&T. Because of that, they have taken a lot of heat over their network’s ability to withstand the heavy data usage. They’ve even recently lost coverage battles with Verizon, as they just haven’t had the network capacity to support all of the extra traffic…

That is, until now. On March 20th of this year, we told you that AT&T had entered an agreement with Deutsche Telekom to acquire T-Mobile and all of its assets. In the wireless industry, assets generally consist of customer base, real estate, and towers. Businessweek is reporting that AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson made some bold comments at the Council on Foreign Relations Event in New York yesterday morning.

Defending the merger, Stephenson claimed the deal would instantly improve network capacity for AT&T by about 30 percent. He states that New York would see a 30 percent lift in capacity on “Virtually the day the deal is closed,” and would see a significant improvement in call quality and data throughput.

“This would improve services for such devices as Apple Inc.’s iPhone.” Would it really be as easy as flipping a switch? I would figure they’d have to give out hybrid SIM cards to everyone at the minimum.

When questioned about the merger potentially creating a duopoly with Verizon, Stephenson was quick to mention cities like New York and San Francisco where there were five or more carriers available. This would be carriers such as U.S. Cellular and Cricket, which don’t have as much nationwide coverage as the larger company.

The bottom line of his comments today seemed to be that the merger would be good for all customers involved. Someone should tell that to the 2,000+ T-Mobile customers who have started a petition to try and block the AT&T takeover. I still don’t see how the FCC could approve this without hundreds of amendments.

AT&T Increasing Early Upgrade Pricing For iPhone?

If you’re a person that likes to upgrade to the newest iPhone each year, still having not completed the previous 2-year commitment you signed, AT&T offers an early upgrade price. That upgrade price is usually about double that of the full 2-year contract pricing for new customer/eligible ugprades.

The guys over at AndroidCentral seem to have obtained an internal AT&T document that shows early upgrade price increased for the iPhone by $50.

If you think $50 is a lot, AT&T is increasing early upgrade pricing for Android, Windows Phone 7, and and BlackBerry smartphones by $150 for a one year contract, and $50 if purchased outright. According to the document, the increase goes into effect beginning April 3rd 2011.

Survey says AT&T drops more calls than Verizon, these bar charts don't lie

Wondering which carrier you should buy your iPhone on? There's a survey for that. ChangeWave Research has released the results of a poll that hit 4,068 users distributed across Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint. Among those four, VZW came out ahead when it comes to dropped calls, with 1.4 percent of respondents indicating they'd received one in the past three months. AT&T, meanwhile, came in last with 4.6 percent. If you look only at the iPhone 4 users the numbers change a little, 1.8 percent vs. 4.8, but the conclusion stays the same. No, this conclusion sadly will not get you around your ETF, but maybe making a pouty face at the AT&T store will help.

Update: AT&T let us know it has some doubts about these results. We're not statisticians but we will, out of fairness, link over to this GWS survey from last year that showed 98.59 percent success rate for non-dropped calls.

AT&T’s Q1 iPhone Sales Up 33%, Unaffected by Verizon iPhone

AT&T posted its first-quarter earnings this morning, and the U.S. carrier saw a 33% increase in iPhone activations during the first quarter of 2011. A grand total of 3.6 million iPhones were activated on AT&T, helping to give the carrier a 10.2% overall increase in wireless revenue.

Since the iPhone was made available on Verizon, a drop in iPhone sales on AT&T has been expected. Instead, AT&T announced that this past quarter was its best first-quarter earnings ever. Looks like the Verizon iPhone isn’t really enticing customers away from AT&T…

A few points from AT&T’s press release,

• Best-ever first-quarter smartphone sales of more than 5.5 million
• iPhone activations increased nearly 1 million year over year to 3.6 million, with 23 percent of subscribers new to AT&T; iPhone subscriber churn unchanged year over year

Smartphone Sales Remain Strong. AT&T had another strong quarter of smartphone sales. More than 5.5 million smartphones were sold in the first quarter, the third-highest quarter ever and an increase of more than 60 percent year over year. During the quarter, 3.6 million iPhones were activated. Approximately 65 percent of postpaid sales were smartphones.

It’s interesting to see how well AT&T is doing in iPhone sales against Verizon. 23% of iPhone sales this past quarter were from new AT&T customers. The thought was that many people would jump ship and move to Verizon when the iPhone was made available, but it appears that most people are happy with the service AT&T provides.

Although Verizon’s iPhone sales have not been released, the numbers are supposed to be lower than expected.

AT&T Can Easily Identify Unauthorized Tethering?

AT&T is able to easily identify unauthorized tetherers resulting in warning notices for customers, according to a new report. Android Police says that this is because of the tethering technique employed by iOS that uses an alternate APN.

Jailbroken iPhones typically use the same tethering technique as a standard iPhone, the one that's already present in iOS. This method exposes tethering activity quite readily, because the iPhone, when in tethering mode, sends traffic through an alternate APN (AT&T access point/router) for the express purpose of identifying the traffic as tethered data. This makes it extremely easy for AT&T to identify whether or not an iOS device is utilizing tethering, and just how much of their data is consumed via tethering.

Some tethering applications for iOS make use of alternative methods and route tethered traffic through the phone's normal data APN, but by and large, most jailbreakers stick with the stock application because it's easy to use and doesn't require any complicated setup. In fact, many iPhone users jailbreak for the sole purpose of avoiding AT&T's tethering fees (for why, see next section). These are the people AT&T's is going after.

Recently JuneFabrics released an update to their PdaNet tethering app for iPhone which claims to be able to hide your tethering usage from carriers. There have been mixed reports on its success.