AT&T

Smartphone rumors for everyone

It's summertime and things are heating up, and we don't necessarily mean the temperature (because it certainly isn't very hot here in San Francisco, but I digress). No, we're talking more about rise in smartphone rumors, which isn't uncommon for this time of year as the carrier's start prepping for the fall and holiday seasons. As such, the blogosphere is blowing up with speculation, and looks like there's something for every carrier. Now, we must reiterate that these are just rumors and obviously, the service providers and device manufacturers haven't confirmed anything, … Read more

AT&T ends Dish satellite TV partnership

Satellite TV provider Dish Network said Tuesday that AT&T will end its agreement to bundle its TV service with AT&T's broadband and phone service at the end of the year.

AT&T and Dish have had a joint marketing deal since July 2003, which allows AT&T to package the Dish TV service with AT&T's phone and Internet packages. But AT&T has decided not to renew the agreement, and as required by the contract between the two companies, AT&T is giving Dish six months notice that … Read more

Will iPhones via China Mobile be unlocked?

Unlocked, semi-legal iPhones have proliferated in China since Apple failed to make a deal with a Chinese carrier. Now that AT&T will offer an expensive solution for those wanting iPhones in the United States on different carriers, will the unlocked market be...unlocked?

For $699, the new 16GB iPhone 3G will be available to non-AT&T customers in the United States. As I've reported, China Mobile and Apple are now in talks that are more likely to bear fruit. This post is based on a few questions I really can't answer. Let's have them.… Read more

Samsung Omnia coming to AT&T?

The folks over at the Boy Genius Report have discovered a fresh new rumor that the Samsung Omnia (which we first heard about at CommunicAsia) might be coming to AT&T this year. It's slated to be a Windows Mobile 6.1 phone with a 5-megapixel camera with face detection, quad-band, HSDPA, Bluetooth, as well as access to AT&T's array of services like AT&T Music, AT&T Video, and even AT&T Mobile TV. Of course, we're not sure whether this will come out later this year or not, but … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 757: Vista: it's not Stalin

Big thanks to one of our callers today who offers some much-needed perspective on Vista and...well, everything, really. Also, Netflix saves the profiles (yay!), AT&T releases details on iPhone 3G pricing (ouch if you don't get a contract), and Fiji objects to other things named "Fiji." Just like how we object to other things named "Buzz."

Listen now: Download today's podcast Episode 757

Happy Canada Day!

Netflix issues mulligan on profiles, won’t eliminate the feature http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-9980993-36.html http://blog.netflix.com/2008/06/profiles-feature-not-going-away.html

AT&… Read more

AT&T Wireless is gouging customers on international roaming charges

I've written before about AT&T Wireless' terrible international roaming rates for the iPhone. Well, imagine my surprise to discover that its roaming rates for its wireless cards is even worse. How much worse? Consider the bill I received from AT&T today:

Yes, that's really $1520.76 for one month's usage of my wireless card. But the shocking thing is that $1450.19 of it came from using the card for under three hours to pull down a total of 96 megabytes of data. That's roughly $15 per megabyte. What a bargain!

Given … Read more

AT&T talks iPhone 3G pricing

Update at 10:52 a.m. PDT: Information about monthly text messaging added

AT&T reaffirmed pricing for the iPhone 3G on Tuesday, noting that eligible customers can snag the new smartphone for a discount: $199 with an 8GB flash drive and $299 for 16GB.

AT&T will begin offering Apple's iPhone 3G at its retail stores beginning July 11 at 8 a.m. local time. AT&T is the exclusive iPhone carrier in the U.S.

Under the plan, the discounted price will be available to customers who have purchased any iPhone before July 11, … Read more

iPhone 3G will need 'unbricking' when purchased?

More signs are emerging that Apple is taking new steps to restrict iPhone hacking with the release of the iPhone 3G.

AppleInsider got its hands on a memo sent to AT&T retail employees that warns them to be on the lookout for a special iTunes "unbricking" utility that was supposed to be pushed to the computers of all retail employees last week. According to the memo, "this icon is for the iTunes utility that will be used for unbricking iPhone 3G devices during the activation process. ... Please note, this is not a full version of … Read more

Canadian iPhone 3G plans lack unlimited data

If you think AT&T's iPhone 3G service plans are expensive, just consider what Rogers is forcing on our Canadian friends.

Friday, the carrier announced its service plans for the iPhone 3G, none of which include unlimited data use. Instead, Rogers will cap data each month at a certain amount, which will range from 400MB for the cheapest service plan ($60 Canadian or $59.23 U.S.) to 2GB for the most expensive plan ($115 Canadian or $113.64 U.S.).

Though 2GB is a lot of data, we're not sure how a customer is supposed to … Read more