AT&T

Another round of news concerning AT&T has cropped up today: this time they’ve announced their financial results. The carrier has reported strong numbers thanks to the iPhone.

The financial results available from AT&T’s website show the iPhone giving AT&T a strong lead in revenue and a healthy addition of wireless subscribers. AT&T reported that they activated 1.6 Million iPhone 3Gs in the 4th Quarter but was down from 1.9 Million in the same quarter last year. Of those 1.6 Million activations, 1.2 Million were new to AT&T but the slow down in iPhone sales didn’t go unexpected, it lined up with AT&T’s predictions for sales as Apple readies an update to their product cycle.

Via: Macrumors

The much anticipated SlingPlayer App for the iPhone may have encountered some delays on its way to the App Store but a rumor is floating around that the iPhone’s US carrier, AT&T, is asking Apple to deny the App in fear of the unprecedented amount of network traffic it would generate.

Wireless carriers instill data caps to thwart data hemorrhaging users but AT&T may be over stepping its boundaries and exploiting their exclusive relationship with Apple to protects its interests over what would appeal to consumers. The problem AT&T would have with the SlingPlayer App is the amount of data downloaded by an iPhone users to watch video content. It all comes down to data consumption, something AT&T has been wary of since the iPhone’s launch and not so much the competition generated from a possible SlingPlayer App and AT&T’s own over the air TV packages as the later is unavailable for the iPhone.

While SlingPlayer has heard nothing from AT&T or Apple on the status of its App, BoyGenius has heard that the decision was to deny the App for the previously listed reasons: bandwidth consumption. The irony of… more...

We’ve reported before that AT&T is scrambling to upgrade its network capacity in time for the next generation iPhone’s launch this summer but an interesting tidbit of news has slipped by that may shed some more light on what Apple will be packing in its new handheld: much faster data speeds.

Scott McElroy, AT&T Mobility’s vice president of technology announced the plans to move data speeds from the current 3.6Mb/s to 7.2Mb/s through a simple Software upgrade at their cellular towers. Of course this would require a change in hardware for any cellular device that connects to it if a wireless subscribers wants to take advantage of the higher throughput but it does give some credence towards the next generation iPhone’s wireless capabilities and it would be surprising if Apple didn’t support the faster HSPA + spec with speeds of 7.2/14.4 and 21Mb/s.

McElroy didn’t give an estimation on when the faster 3G network would launch but did say that it will be tested in two markets shortly and reiterated AT&T’s focus on upgrading the cellular baseband through software upgrades within their towers to boost speed over installing… more...

AT&T is rushing to upgrade their cellular network ahead of Apple releasing a new iPhone this summer.

Last year when Apple introduced the iPhone 3G to an eager mass of consumers, the amount of new phones on AT&T’s network caused dropped signal and slowed 3G speeds for weeks on end. To ensure this doesn’t happen again, AT&T is upgrading the network to accommodate the mass of new iPhones that would flood the cellular waves a source close to the company has said. AT&T already has plans to upgrade its infrastructure to achieve faster data speeds however.

Via: iPhones Talk

In preparation of a new iPhone this summer, AT&T is taking the chance to slowly clear out its inventory of current iPhone 3Gs by allowing more customers to buy the phone at a subsidized price.

The new qualification for early upgrade pricing means customers not as far in as they should be in the contracts get the same price discounts that wouldn’t be available until they were farther in their contract. The subsidized pricing comes out to $199 and $299 for the 8GB and 16GB models respectively which is the original early upgrade price for the iPhone and the discount available to those upgrade from a 1st generation iPhone. The extended availability for this offer comes alongside Apple and AT&T allowing contract free iPhone sales starting this week. This offer is limited to current subscribers who can only buy one iPhone 3G using the offer.

An accidental slip from an AT&T executive has signaled that the next generation iPhone will come this June starting a trend of a summer release cycle for the handset.

According to Boy Genius, mid-June will mark the release of the second generation iPhone. Expected in the next release is a faster network connection enabling 3G speeds of 7.2Mbps and 802.11N Wi-Fi networking and a pattern of summer releases for the iPhone. Releasing a new revision once a year could give Apple an edge in the smartphone market but may fall out as manufacturers update their products more frequently.

Via: AppleInsider

You know that for some reason SMS data is magic. Send all the e-mail you want with the iPhone and it is included in the plan but go crazy texting and you’ll either have a huge bill or pay up front for the unlimited text option. What you might not know is just how magic that text data is. Billshrink.com has it all figured out and the number they arrive is that data for text is 412,500 times more expensive than the standard ISP rate.

Wow, that is some magic data! how can that possibly be justified? The answer is that you aren’t paying for the data, you’re paying for convenience and that is based solely on what consumers are willing to pay.

I spend a good deal of money on my 3G iPhone, and I don’t even get 3G in my area! Fortunately, I save at least 15%, and here is how you can do it too.

According to AT&T, college and university students, as well as employees of certain companies, are eligible for a 15% discount on their entire monthly plan.

I was able to ask an AT&T employee and he told me, “For those colleges/universities and some employers who are eligible, you are in return eligible for a service discounts. No phone discounts.” I graduated college 3 years ago and my college email address was, of course, no longer available, however, the company I work for was eligible.

To take advantage of the discount, go to AT&T’s discount page and use your student or work email to verify your eligibility. If your email doesn’t work, you’ll need to stop by a corporate AT&T store with proof of employment/enrollment. Once verified, it will take a few bill cycles to take effect.

Good luck!

Couldn’t say how many iPhoners got this:

But more than one did. And in my informal poll so far it turns out that everyone surveyed hates it. Even if you love American Karaoke the idea that AT&T would waste your time with an ad for it extremely annoying. Okay AT&T this is exactly what not to do with your iPhone list. See, the idea that you’re going to feed iPhone users ads and generate a little revenue sounds like a great idea in the boardroom but it really angers the iPhone users. Everyone loves the iPhone but not many are enamored with AT&T (witness the success of the Storm, the only thing that thing has going for it is Verizon). Don’t give us more reasons to hate you.

In short: The iPhone is great for advertising but do it on Mobile Safari. Buy some ad space on sites and go crazy. Don’t force feed it to your customers via text. I know replying “stop” will supposedly make it go away (until the next time you decide an ad is really important) but it would be far preferable for everyone involved to have… more...

If you bought the original iPhone you remember how great it was to roll into the store, get a box and head home for activation. No waiting while your info was entered, no lines of other people waiting to get their information entered, etc.

Good news, according to Gadgetell at home activation has returned. It only works for iPhones bought online from AT&T (Apple doesn’t sell the iPhone online) but now you can get an iPhone and activate without ever leaving the house. Isn’t that the way all tech should be?