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AT&T Throttling Data News for GoPhone Prepaid Plans

I remember when AT&T promised to throttle unlimited plan users with iPhone and other smartphones in the U.S. but then the company seemed to change its mind about this. Now it looks like AT&T throttling data plan is set for GoPhone prepaid data plan users. There are people, even AT&T iPhone owners, who prefer going with prepaid plans.

The most recent changes added by the Big Blue mobile company are related to AT&T GoPhone throttle “improvements” as the carrier decides that it’s time to offer its subscribers some “happy holiday” season greetings with low 128kbps download speeds. According to the new report, AT&T is no longer planning to cut off any GoPhone prepaid user if he or she reaches the certain data allotment [this relates to those people who use too much data within the billing period].

AT&T throttling prepaid plan can be implemented as follows. Let’s say you have the AT&T iPhone and you are a prepaid use with 2.5GB of data plan. Once you reach your 2.5GB data you will not be cut off even if you still have 7-12 days left on your bill, but your download speeds will be throttled. Previously you would have been capped by AT&T once reaching your data plan limit.

The changes are applied to both 1GB prepaid plan that costs $45 and 2.5GB data plan that costs $60 per month. You still have unlimited data but only a certain amount of it is now high-speed.

The AT&T Get Alltel Deal

The news about AT&T getting Alltel remains can make people who live in rural areas happy since the carrier should improve its services soon. The company has decided to get Alltel which was earlier purchased by Verizon Wireless. Does it sound weird to you? It should not. I think it is good because you will have chance to unlock AT&T and Alltel.

It happened this week, on Tuesday. This was when one of the biggest U.S. mobile operators reported the AT&T buy Telenetwork Alltel news. The agreement to acquire ATNI whose retail carrier was well-known as Alltel was signed that day. This deal will cost AT&T $780 million in cash. What does AT&T get for this price? According to announcements made by the company, it will get over 580,000 subscribers. Besides, it will be also netted wireless properties.

About the Deal

As AT&T gets Alltel it also gets wireless properties, as we have mentioned above [including Alltel retail stores, licenses and network assets]. The service improvement should be felt by customers who live in rural areas in North Carolina, Idaho, Georgia, South Carolina, Ohio and Illinois. Also AT&T have plans in Europe too.

The “AT&T get Alltel” deal also allows the carrier to harmonize its network with wireless spectrum in the three bands. They are 850MHz, 700MHz and 1900MHz. Even though Alltel is CDMA carrier, AT&T believes it will upgrade the company’s network to provide customers with a better mobile Internet services.

Review Process

The deal hasn’t been closed yet. It should be reviewed by the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] and only afterwards AT&T will be able to get its hands on Alltel. Analysts expect this deal to close in the 2nd half of 2013.

What do you think about such a deal? Do you believe that it can truly improve the service for customers who live in rural areas in the southeastern part of the United States? According to Alltel’s representative, the deal with AT&T can bring new better experience to Alltel’s clients as they will be able to access to the 4G network. It is unclear now how this can be possible since Alltel’s CDMA-based network isn’t compatible with AT&T’s GSM network. We just have to wait till the deal is closed to learn all the details.

Free Press against AT&T Because of FaceTime Policy

The new AT&T FaceTime rules couldn’t please a lot of carrier’s customers and, of course, the Net Neutrality groups. Now free press against AT&T company is launched and a petition website is developed to support users who have grandfathered unlimited data plans and cannot use FaceTime feature over cellular with this American carrier. Remember that AT&T blocked FaceTime unlimited plans and now they have problems.

Users with tiered data plans probably like the latest AT&T FaceTime rules, as they are allowed using video calls over cellular connection. As for other operator’s clients, they are unhappy because the company limits their rights to use different iOS services.

The website created by free press says “AT&T: Your World. Blocked,” and you can see these words in the website’s title. This source was launched so that everyone who uses AT&T service was able to comment on the company’s policy. It is easy to share your thoughts with others by submitting the comments, your name and email.

According to the group, the mobile operator violates Net Neutrality and even tries to change all the rules that protect customer’s “freedom to connect.” You know what? A lot of users agree with these statements, as the website can boast over 10 thousand comments already.

The first charge for violation net neutrality was received by AT&T in September. The company limited FaceTime usage over cellular to most iPhone customers. At that time this feature was available to users with Shared data plans only. Today the situation has improved; yet not all people are satisfied.

What does the company say about its AT&T FaceTime rules? It believes that carriers are not required to make available preloaded applications on phones. According to AT&T, the provider must do everything to help users download programs that compete with the carrier’s video and voice services.

No matter what the mobile operator’s opinion was, it still revised the FaceTime policy and changed the rules. Maybe the new free press against AT&T petition will help customers with unlimited data plans to also get FaceTime over cellular option. Let’s believe it will happen in the future! But if you want to join the petition go here and express your opinion.

AT&T Wants to Get a Counterpart in Europe

Since AT&T couldn’t get T-Mobile because of the FCC’s block like FaceTime, the company is searching for another counterpart in Europe. As WSJ reports, AT&T merger with Europe plan is announced, and the carrier is really looking to buy one in order to update its technology and come up with better pricing strategy on a new wireless market.

Right now the U.S. telecommunications company is studying targets. If it chooses to implement its AT&T merger with Europe plan, it should do so before the end of 2013. At least, this is what experts believe.

Who Potential Candidates Are

So who can become AT&T in Europe? Reporters mention two companies. One is the Netherlands Royal KPN NV [America Mobil owns a part of it], and the other one is Everything Everywhere located in the United Kingdom [France Telecom SA along with Deutsche Telekom AG own it].

By trying to expand the business in Europe, AT&T hopes to escape the growing constraints in its home country. At the same time, there are over 100 local operators in the European Union, so this market has a lot of businesses already.

About AT&T

The American carrier currently has the biggest 4G network in the U.S. but it wants to expand somewhere else, and Europe might be on its business map plan. At the same time analysts thing that European expansion can be a huge risk for AT&T. Why?

The answer is simple. Considering AT&T merger with Europe also makes the company play differently because local mobile carriers operate differently, as they are more reliant on calls and text messages while American companies mostly rely on data fees.

What do you think about the new AT&T’s plan? Do you believe this company can successfully enter the new markets in Europe via a merger? Right now it is hard to say if the carrier in negotiating with any European mobile operators. I guess we need to wait for a bit until the situation clears.

AT&T Restricts FaceTime Over Cellular Feature for Unlimited Plan Users

From now all most AT&T iOS customers should be able to use FaceTime over cellular. Why do we add “most” to iOS clients? Well, if previously the carrier opened up FaceTime over cellular to its users with iPhone 5 only [as well as to customers who had a Mobile Share plan with AT&T] and now any iPhone model is allowed using these features, there are still some restrictions for people who are connected to AT&T. Remember that AT&T wanted to block FaceTime calls and data sharing but it is another story.

The company announced in its blog that its testing proved there would be no problems if a lot of people start enjoying FaceTime over the cellular network. Thus it has decided to enable the feature for most customers at no extra charge. Yet, you must have one of AT&T’s tiered data plans and own a FaceTime compatible iOS gadget in order to get the new service working.

At the same time there will be no AT&T FaceTime over cellular support for unlimited plans holders so if you are a lucky owner of such a grandfathered plan you won’t be able to use FaceTime over cellular no matter what iPhone model you have. You can still get FaceTime working over Wi-Fi connection, so don’t be too upset about the news.

But if you have an iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, etc. and use a tiered plan with AT&T, you can start making FaceTime phone calls at any moment using the carrier’s cellular network and the company will not charge you a cent for doing so.

As the mobile operator states, its new AT&T service will roll out to clients during the next few weeks or months as the carrier has just started to update its systems. There is nothing to do but wait, as AT&T’s FaceTime for tiered plans update should start working automatically.

Which data plan do you have? What do you think about AT&T tiered plan users being able to get video calling option over cellular?

Exclusive AT&T Sierra Wireless Update: Mobile Internet On-the-go

From now on AT&T becomes the exclusive carrier of the AT&T Unite. Such news has been reported by the carrier in the beginning of January 2013. The update from AT&T Unite is the AT&T Sierra Wireless program, or let’s put it in other words, it is the Sierra Wireless’ 4G LTE mobile hotspot presented by one of the biggest U.S. operators to its customers.

With the AT&T Unite all users of this carrier will be able to enjoy mobile internet on-the-go that is “easy to use” according to the company.

About the New Touchscreen Hotspot

The device [AT&T Unite] has a 2.4-inch display. This touchscreen hotspot is good for LTE connections. It allows customers get the connection to 10 Wi-Fi enabled gadgets, and such an option also includes a guest hotspot available to one-time users.

The U.S. operator managed to get exclusive rights to the touchscreen hotspot from Sierra Wireless. This unit makes sure users get information about their usage allowance in-time. Besides, it provides the opportunity to change network settings with ease and control what gadgets can access and tweak these settings, what devices are not allowed joining the network, etc. Of course, no additional fiddling is necessary, which is pretty good as you can manage everything from the screen.

Pricing

The latest AT&T Sierra Wireless update program which allows 10 real-time connections at once sounds interesting. You should also know that you are able to add AT&T Unite to the Mobile Share data plan for extra monthly charge of $20, or choose any other data plan from AT&T [between individual and family].

According to the carrier, the new mobile hotspot will make it easier for families and friends to stay connected as they can communicate on any gadget that supports Wi-Fi.

While AT&T Unite allows tracking data consumption, the company hasn’t revealed the pricing on it.

FFC Will Ban AT&T’s desicion To Block FaceTime Calls and Internet Sharing

If you live in US and use your iPhone as an Wi-Fi Hotspots and FaceTime video, it’s likely you are sure to hear about special tweaks that allow you to bypass the AT&T restrictions which block FaceTime and mobile Internet share to several other devices. Latst time I wrote your about AT&T block stolen iPhone and today you can find out about more AT&T restrictions.

All subscribers who want to activate this function formally obliged to pay $ 20 per month. Now AT&T is going to impose penalties on users who have decided to unlock this feature using Cydia tweaks.

It can be that users will face disconnection from the current tariff plan to a more expensive, and then they will have to pay AT&T the price to cover the difference between contracts. While it is not known how long a user has time, before the company begins to impose penalties. Of course, quite interesting is the fact of how AT&T is going to find out the set of special jailbreak tweaks. Apparently, not only USA operators differ desire to monopolize the market.

The representatives of the U.S. operator AT&T told reporters that the network is going to block FaceTime video calls using the mobile Internet. Today it became known that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided to investigate this AT&T limitation.

This was recently stated by FCC spokesman Julius Dzhenahovski during the interview. Unfortunately Julius could not officially informed of the progress of the investigation for obvious reasons. However, there is a possibility that the FCC ban AT&T blocking FaceTime calls.

IMEI Can Be Blocked by AT&T If iPhone Is Stolen

If someone stole your iPhone, AT&T can help you: mobile operator released a new system in July 2012, which was be able to block any stolen iPhone. So the thief will not be able to use any network on your iPhone. Also it is very hard to unlock IMEI of AT&T iPhone when it is blacklisted.

The journalists reports with reference to some unnamed sources, that the AT&T block voice calls, data transfer, and the transfer of SMS-messages to devices that have been stolen. Thus the subscriber’s account will not be closed to prevent blocking the SIM-card.

According to sources, the company allegedly sent a message to some government services that support consumers, which interlock system will be introduced some changes. According to the new message AT&T will introduce a special block list of stolen devices that service will be suspended.

To add a device to the list, you will have direct contact with the client. In addition, the company will require its customers that they remotely delete all of your data from the device, if this feature is supported on their device. AT&T give the ability to subsequently remove a device from the list of blocked devices if the users will want this.

How the Deal Between Steve Jobs and AT&T Transformed the Carrier

This story is very interesting as one famous man’s dream helped the whole company to transform. We are talking about Steve Jobs AT&T deal that has truly mobilized and transformed this mobile carrier. It all began in 2006…

Apple was trying to design a smartphone, the first iPhone. Mr. Jobs wanted to learn about the device’s radio because he wished to develop a “really good phone.” So he asked Ralph de la Vega from Cingular Wireless [it later became the part of AT&T Inc.] for help as network had a huge manual that explained how to develop a mobile radio device optimized for its network.

The manual contained 1,000 pages, and de la Vega emailed it to Jobs though he was called “crazy” for doing this as people inside Cingular Wireless quickly learned that Apple got what it wanted without adhering to the specs. Mr. Ralph signed an agreement with Apple so he couldn’t describe the new phone to his bosses. Besides, this whole Steve Jobs AT&T deal was based on trust mostly.

A Win Bet on Steve Jobs

AT&T took the chance, and it managed to usher in the smartphone era when Verizon reportedly lost it. According to Forbes, Randall Stephenson, the company’s CEO, said that the the carrier was betting on Steve Jobs and not on the phone even though it was one little device that transformed the big company.

Of course, today Verizon still has a lot of benefits, yet Steve Jobs AT&T deal helped to double carrier’s traffic each year starting 2007. The mobile operator keeps spending much money developing its network and acquiring spectrum. The news states that this company has injected the most capitals into the American economy than other public firms.

One deal has changed everything. Thanks to the iPhone, AT&T started to develop the new 4G network. Yes, right now it ranks last among other huge U.S. mobile operators, but it is working and trying to improve its network and customer service.

The Perfect Deal

Mr. Stephenson is still assured that Steve Jobs AT&T deal was “the smartest thing” the company ever did. It was Stephenson who insisted to launch the new iPhone under the AT&T brand, and not Cingular Wireless. Thanks to this, even today users synonymously brand AT&T with Apple iPhone.

What did the deal bring the mobile carrier? The iPhone release allowed AT&T making its money back on customers in the first 5 months of the contract, as Apple agreed to let the company purchasing the smartphones up-front for $400 a unit and putting a 2-year contract on customers.

The 2012 brought over $120 billion sales to AT&T.

Plans for the Future

Modern smartphones are approaching saturation in America. About two-thirds of clients of AT&T have a smartphone or iPhone. The company is signing up fewer customers with each other year. Where does it plan to move?

According to Stephenson, it is time to mobilize everything. The carrier wants to work with farmers, automakers, families to push wireless sensors, automation, applications into everything possible. It is expanding its 4G LTE network across the country and investing into new fields. It goes through ups and downs, but is optimistic about the future.

The full story will be published in the issue of Forbes from January 21^st, 2013.

AT&T Brings Multi Window Feature on Galaxy Note II

Users who have Samsung Galaxy Note II will enjoy new feature from AT&T. This carrier has decided to improve life for its customers and it now adds AT&T Galaxy Note 2 Multi Window feature. What is it? How can it make your life better?

We should be honest and mention that AT&T is the only big U.S. mobile operator that waited so long before pushing the Multi Window option to its client. Other three national carriers have given this feature to Samsung Galaxy Note II devices long time ago. Finally, it has arrived to AT&T customers as well.

About Multi Window Feature

The new AT&T Galaxy Note 2 Multi Window feature lets users enjoy 2 applications at once. It is possible thanks to a split-screen option which shows two apps at the same time on one display. As company has reported it its media statement, the new AT&T feature divides your screen into 2 active “windows” and this is how you see your split screen.

Once you updated your device, start having fun with fluid multitasking between programs. Does it sound great to you? Are you an AT&T consumer with Galaxy device? You should be happy to get this option.

According to the company, the new update becomes available since December 27^th. Still as this feature rolls out, it might take some time for you to get it.

Fluid Multitasking Joy

There is no need to use your Kies desktop software in order to upgrade your Galaxy Note II and enjoy Multi Window. You can use OTA option to update your gadget. Don’t panic if you cannot update at once. You will do well eventually as the roll out has begun and it will reach each customer with AT&T Galaxy Note 2 device.

What do you think about this service? Do you like the update?