Category Archives: AT&T

U-Verse: TV on your iPhone

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U-Verse: TV on your iPhone is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

AT&T U-verse customers, you lucky dogs, are now able to watch on-demand video from the newly updated U-verse mobile app.

On top of being able to “browse the U-verse TV program guide, view program descriptions, and schedule and manage your DVR recordings,” you can now download full TV shows from the U-verse network over any available Wi-Fi network.

“We’re making it possible for you to watch TV shows on your iPhone at no extra charge. It’s just one more valuable and innovative feature available on U-verse TV,” said David Christopher, chief marketing officer, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “Our U-verse multi-screen promise is now a reality for millions of U-verse TV customers, with content available on U-verse TV, U-verse Online, and today, U-verse Mobile. No cable provider comes close to matching the cross-platform experience we’re delivering today, and we’ll continue to add unique features that further integrate these screens.”

In an effort to get existing iPhone users to sign up for yet another AT&T contract, they are offering a $75 gift card for new users that order AT&T U-verse U300 or U450. In case you are weary of selling your digital souls to AT&T, they were the “Highest in Residential Television Service Satisfaction in the South and West Regions Two Years in a Row,” according to the J.D. Power and Associates for 2008 and 2009.

For those of you who have already made the leap, be sure to pick up U-verse Mobile from the App Store ASAP, it’s totally free.

[Source: PR Newswire]

FREE!

AT&T U-verse TV Mobile Remote Access

iPhone App – Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2009-06-18 :: Category: Entertainment

[ U-Verse: TV on your iPhone is a post from 148Apps ]


An iPhone Owner’s Travel Lessons Learned From Comic-Con

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An iPhone Owner’s Travel Lessons Learned From Comic-Con is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

As iPhone owners may know, it’s far from a perfect device, and its US carrier is far from perfect either. Heading out to one of the biggest celebrations of geek culture, the infamous San Diego Comic-Con, for the first time, I realized how much these issues will come to light when you’re out and about with thousands of your closest fellow geeks, nerds, otaku, et cetera. I came back with 4 important things to remember the next time I or any other iPhone owner heads out to a big trip with their iPhone in tow.

1. Phones will die. Prepare accordingly.

The iPhone is not a paragon of extensive battery life. Thankfully, the various extended life battery packs that are available can be a lifesaver for the iPhone owner. If you’re heading out to Comic-Con, picking up a couple is a very good idea, as otherwise your phone will die. Some columnists would make it a point to say “you’re hanging out with real people, enjoy their presence,” but we all know sometimes you need to check your tweets, or text someone to figure out what’s going on. Having an actual working phone is better than not having one, and a backup battery will go a long way towards preventing that from happening.

Now, you’ll want to make sure that your backup battery actually works. I had 2 batteries to help charge my iPhone, a 1900 mAh battery, and an 800 mAh battery that was small enough to carry around as a key fob. I hadn’t charged my larger capacity backup battery in months, and a few days before I left, I decided to charge it up, only to discover that I hadn’t used it in so long that it wouldn’t hold a charge. Well, no matter, I still had my 800 mAh backup battery, which charges via mini USB, and I had a mini USB wall charger that I brought along with my camera. But the fool in me failed to make sure said wall charger would work with my backup battery. I sure regretted this when I discovered it wouldn’t charge, and I had no mini USB cable with me as well, somehow. I was at the mercy of my 2 year old iPhone 3G’s stock battery. It suffered at times, to say the least.

Of course, even if you can keep your phone alive, other people’s phones won’t be so lucky. Set up times and places to meet so that if you do lose contact with them, you won’t be lost and wandering a strange city looking for people out amongst thousands and thousands of geeks.

2. Cellular data access will be spotty.

Speaking of thousands and thousands of geeks, let’s just say that trying to access the internet will often be problematic. Between spotty signal areas and people desperately trying to access whatever open wifi hotspot is available, you will often be without internet. At SDCC, there were often spots where I dropped to EDGE or lost data access entirely in and around the convention center. Amazingly, the speeds when 3G was available were not too bad, but this may be due to the fact that no one was on it because they couldn’t get access from where they most wanted to use it, like in Ballroom 20, where many popular panels were, and wifi access was reportedly spotty. And if you are an iPhone owner, stay away from the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton Bayfront entirely. You will get no service in the room, and the wifi did not work at all. Those were the scariest 5 hours of my life being ’stuck’ in that room attending panels I wanted to see, but could tell no one about.

3. Wifi: More reliable, but only slightly.

While cellular data services are often interrupted, there’s at least wifi available, right? Well, it depends. At the San Diego Convention Center, there were spots where the provided free wifi worked spectacularly, especially on the second floor and in certain areas of the show floor. Tweeting, checking email, and writing up reports on panels was reliable, and it worked well. But then there were times where wifi would be unavailable, or my iPad and iPhone would not connect to the networks at all. While it still trumped AT&T’s reception at times, just remember whenever you see wifi networks around that any idiot can plug in a router and get it broadcasting a connection. Getting it to work properly is a bigger challenge, and one that many people apparently aren’t set to accomplish.

Also, any network named “Free Public Wifi” isn’t going to work. Just trust me on this one.

Now, while internet access on the go may be a sticky situation, at least you have the comfort of your hotel room’s wifi, right? Well, sadly, most hotels have decided to charge you for wifi, such as the Marriott Hotel & Marina which wanted $12.95 for daily wifi access. This is where you might want to shell out for tethering, even if it’s just for one month, that $20 you spend to just use your iPhone as your internet access is well worth it, especially if you can find a way to share it with other devices besides a laptop. If you have a jailbroken iPhone, MyWi is a great alternative: it costs $19.95, but the utility of being able to use your iPhone as a wifi router can’t be overstated. Also, you could recoup your costs by loaning other people temporary access to your tethered internet connection.

4. Bring a real camera.

This especially applies to older iPhones, but bring yourself a camera that can quickly and reliably take pictures. San Diego Comic-Con especially is a place where unique picture opportunities can pop up, and you don’t want to spend half a minute trying to open up the camera on your iPhone to take a picture of Captain America fighting Blanka while you wait in line for free ice cream bars. This is a weird alternate universe where people wearing strange costumes is almost normal, where you could easily run into celebrities just wandering around, and you want to make sure you can take good footage. Your iPhone just isn’t reliable enough for that. Bring a real camera.

If you keep these tips in mind, the only thing stopping you from having an enjoyable experience at the next San Diego Comic-Con or whatever trip you take will be whatever stupid things you or other people do. And of course, it’s more opportunities to blame AT&T for making your life one huge first world problem. Take it and enjoy it, people.

[ An iPhone Owner’s Travel Lessons Learned From Comic-Con is a post from 148Apps ]


Yankee Group Finds That 73% of iPhone Users Love AT&T

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Yankee Group Finds That 73% of iPhone Users Love AT&T is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

In a surprising finding, given the insane amount of media negativity towards AT&T, the Yankee Group reports that 73% of iPhone users are “very satisfied with AT&T’s service”, a higher number than any smartphone group feels about their various wireless carriers.

Despite the fact that the tethering feature was MIA for a good year despite being offered on other worldwide carriers, people suffered (and still are suffering) through periods where it was easier to drop a call then make one, and the fact that “iPhone owners pay AT&T nearly $12 a month more for service than the average smartphone user”, people still seem to love their service.

According to Carl Howe of the Yankee Group, “Consumers transfer the high gloss of their Apple iPhone experience to AT&T. The iPhone creates a halo effect that rubs off.”

AT&T obviously doesn’t believe in “reality distortion fields”, and instead says that “There’s a gap between what people hear about us and what their experience is with us. We think that gap is beginning to close. It doesn’t mean we’re perfect; we still have work to do. But that’s no surprise to us, because we have a great network.”

Whatever the reason is, it’ll be interesting to see how many people abandon AT&T when/if the iPhone moves to multiple networks. “Drake Johnstone, an analyst with Davenport & Co., forecasted that poor experiences with AT&T would drive as many as 40% of iPhone customers to Verizon once that network gets the iPhone.” After this finding, I’m not so sure.

[Source: CNN Money]

[ Yankee Group Finds That 73% of iPhone Users Love AT&T is a post from 148Apps ]


AT&T Already Modifying iPad Data Plans

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AT&T Already Modifying iPad Data Plans is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

In a very odd move, less than a month after the launch of the iPad 3G, AT&T are changing the iPad data plans and getting rid of the unlimited data plan. As mentioned in a previous article, AT&T are modifying their data plans and going forward will only support a 200MB for $15/mo and 2GB for $25/mo plans.

Since iPad users are not under contract, AT&T has the right to change the plans as often as they like. But if you are currently subscribed to one of the old plans, you can keep using that plan. Going forward though, instead of the 250MB and unlimited data plans, customers will have the option to purchase 2GB of data for $25/month. And instead of $15 for 250MB, iPad users will only get 200MB for $15/month.

I’m found it hard use up the 250MB plan in the first month of use. I only used around 150MB on my iPad 3G, so I don’t think I’ll switch to the unlimited plan. But I’m happy to keep getting and extra 50 MB for my $15 per month.

[ AT&T Already Modifying iPad Data Plans is a post from 148Apps ]


Skype 2.0 Can Now Make Calls on 3G & EDGE

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Skype 2.0 Can Now Make Calls on 3G & EDGE is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website


… [visit site to read more]




AT&T Actually Rolling Upgrade Eligibility Dates Back

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AT&T Actually Rolling Upgrade Eligibility Dates Back is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

In an effort to keep iPhone users happy and avoid the outcry we heard last year, AT&T has apparently started rolling back upgrade eligibility dates prior to the launch of the next iPhone. MobileCrunch has posted the following image showing an updated eligibility date moved from November to June of this year for a customer who purchased the iPhone 3GS at launch last year.

Last year lots of people were angry that they could not take advantage of upgrade pricing for the new iPhone. But it looks like AT&T is trying to avoid that fury this year and allow many more people to upgrade. Though at this point we don’t know if it’s universal as there has been no statement by Apple or AT&T.

MobileCrunch is reporting that AT&T has started to roll back upgrade eligibility dates from 18 months to what appears to be 12 months. This would allow customers who are eligible to take advantage of much cheaper upgrade prices for the hardware when the next iPhone is released.

We do not know at this time if that roll back will be for everyone or if that date is only for certain customers and not all at this time. While there are multiple reports of this from AT&T customers, it could be they are only rolling back the dates for customers over a certain service level.

Why would AT&T do this? They must have a reason. Perhaps they are doing it because the iPhone will be available on other carriers soon and AT&T wants to get as many customers as possible under a new two year contract. Or perhaps with the new front facing camera, AT&T will be increasing the monthly unlimited data plan fees, and they want as many new customers as possible on the new plan. Or perhaps AT&T just loves us all and wants to apologize for bad service. Ha!

But it seems as though lots of people are trying to see if they are eligible — I can’t even log into AT&Ts site at this point. Have you checked, has your eligibility date been rolled back? If so, let us know and let us know what plan you subscribe to (number of minutes/month) and how long you’ve been a subscriber. Let’s see if this is universal or not.

[via MobileCrunch :: image credit: MobileCrunch]

[ AT&T Actually Rolling Upgrade Eligibility Dates Back is a post from 148Apps ]


iPad 3G Review: Three Days in Paris With the iPad

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iPad 3G Review: Three Days in Paris With the iPad is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

Here’s the plan – I have a quick business trip planned to Paris for just 3 days and 2 nights – can I get by, me, a HEAVY computer user, for that time with just an iPad? What equipment do I need to do so? What things won’t I be able to do? Sounds like a pretty good test of the functionality of the device and a great way to review the 3G iPad for travel use on a business trip.

Setup

Let’s set up the testing process. The equipment I have with is the iPad 3G, an external battery to make sure I’m covered for the long flights, the Apple Bluetooth keyboard, a case and a bag. For back up, I have my Macbook, and my iPhone. Thats a lot of Apple devices in one bag. I hope I don’t have problems with security.

iPad 3G
The iPad 3G gives me the most flexibility for all legs of the trip. The WiFi will give me the fastest connection in most locations. If needed, I can use the 3G when there’s no WiFi available. I opted to purchase the international data package ahead of time from AT&T for this trip.

External Battery
I chose the HyperMac Mini battery to accompany me for this trip. It’s a pretty high power battery 7200mAh but not too physically large. Its slightly larger than an iPhone and about the same shape. It has unfortunately not been updated for the iPad yet, but it does still charge the iPad, even though the iPad warns that its not charging. The battery can keep the device battery even when in use, or can recharge it if the screen is turned off.

Apple Bluetooth Keyboard
This keyboard has some obvious advantages over the on-screen keyboard. For one, it’s a complete standard layout. The other reason is that things like arrow keys work, copy and paste, option option-arrow, etc. Many of those quick keyboard commands that are standard on OSX work. Those shortcuts alone increase typing efficiency greatly over the on-screen keyboard.

Case and Bag
I chose the Apple iPad case – because it’s not too bulky and provides dust and scratch protection and covers the front screen. There are lots of things I don’t like about the case, but at least its not bulky.

I also have a nice small Timbuk 2 bag/man purse that just fits the iPad so I don’t have to carry it around in my hand like some Euro-tech-hipster. And since I don’t have those jeans with the giant iPad pocket in the back, I needed something.

International Data Plan from AT&T
If you want to use the 3G data while overseas, you need to purchase the AT&T International Data Plan ahead of time. It will then go live on the date you set with the earliest possible date being midnight Eastern Standard Time in the US the next day.

You purchase the plan pretty much the same way you purchase the regular data plan, through the Cellular Data item in the Settings App. Click on View Account, sign in, then select Add International Plan. The differences are that you have to decide how much data you want to buy, and the International plan, unlike the regular data plan, doesn’t automatically renew. AT&T offers the following International data plans:

20 MB for $24.99 ($1.25/MB)
50 MB for $59.99 ($1.20/MB)
100 MB for $119.99 ($1.20/MB)
200 MB for $199.99 ($1.00/MB)

All of the data plans are valid for 30 days and there are dozens of countries where you can use it (see the list on the ordering page).

I purchased the 50 MB International Data Plan and had it set to go live just a couple of hours before I landed in Paris. We’ll see how far that takes me.

For this business trip, I need to stay in touch. So I’ll need to be able to read and send emails, surf the web, write and post blog posts, and the occasional IM conversation. All of these can easily be done on the iPad. I’ll do my very best to resist using the Macbook and iPhone. I plan to rely solely on the iPad, as long as it doesn’t stop me from doing the simple things I need to be able to do. But I’m not sure I it can do it. Let’s see.

A Long Damn Time on a Plane

All in all, I’ll spend about 30 hours on a plane or in airports for just 52 hours in Paris. A little crazy. Right now I’m really wondering about my sanity. My trip is broken into 4 legs. San Francisco->Charlotte, Charlotte->Paris, and back again the same way. While on the plane I plan on mainly writing up notes/planning my trip, and watching movies on the device.

Airplane WiFi!!
On the two US flights, US Air has gogo Internet service so that I can connect with WiFi and get to the Internet. It was a great connection that generally holds up well to light email and web surfing.

I’m not sure who invented WiFi on the airplane, but they deserve the Nobel Prize for awesomeness. Life before it seems like living in the stone ages.

On the first leg of my trip, San Francisco to Charlotte, NC, I was able to use the iPad for about 3.5 hours total. The first 2.5 were reading and sending email, checking Twitter, and surfing. I watched part of a movie in the final hour and the battery was down to 82%. Damn, that’s awesome.

While on my layover in Charlotte, I used the AT&T 3G connection to check email a couple more times and the battery was still above 80%. Unfortunately, for the next leg of the trip, an excruciating 7.5 hours, I will be without WiFi.

Jumping the pond
The second leg of the flight, Charlotte, NC to Paris was long, but it went well. Luckily I was on a newer plane that has USB ports in the seat armrests for charging portable electronics. When plugging in the iPad, I get the same not charging warning. But it is charging, just very slowly.

The iPad spent a lot of time playing music, and I spent a lot of time catching up on some writing I’ve wanted to do. I was using SimpleNote for writing up drafts for blog posts and this worked out great. I think in all I wrote about 4,000 words on the iPad. Considering I’m working on about 4 hours sleep in the last 48 at this point, we’ll see how many of those words are coherent.

All of this writing, on the first half of the trip, was done using the on screen keyboard. It went well, except that the auto-correct has stopped correcting the single lower case I to an upper case one. But the ease of use and convenience were great. The on screen keyboard took a little getting used to, but once you do, it works very well and much more convenient than an external keyboard.

Videos
I used the app Air Video to convert a few movies and TV shows for the trip. Then used iTunes to sync them to the device. The quality was decent. I’m guessing it was optimized for playback on the iPhone and not the iPad. While I would have liked to have seen higher video quality, I was happy with the saved space.

Watching video on the iPad is fantastic experience. The screen is larger than the majority of the video screens on the plane and other portable video devices. If you can get the angle right so it’s not reflecting a bright light, it works amazingly well. I got a lot of questions from the flight attendants about the device. They were all very impressed with it.

Games
I played a handful of games on the trip. Mainly Iron Man, Strategery, and Galcon Fusion. Overall, gaming on the device on a plane is pretty good. Especially so for touch/movement games like Strategery and Galcon Fusion. I resisted playing Flight Control HD and X-Plane — I didn’t want to freak out the people sitting across the aisle from me when my plane crashed on-screen.

Landing in Paris

Here we are, in Paris. Passage through immigration and customs was a breeze. Now to get to the hotel and check in. On the way to the Hotel, I pulled out the iPad and turned on the International Data for the first time to see how it works.

Using the International Data Plan
As I mentioned earlier, I pre-purchased the 50MB International data plan from AT&T. This plan works basically, just like your local data plan. Data is used up on the International plan only when you have cellular data and data roaming turned on. Data is not deducted from your main data plan while using the International plan.

You will also get the same warnings about data remaining as you do on the normal plan. Warnings when there is 20% of your data plan and 10% of your data plan remaining. And when the data runs out, you are out of luck unless you purchase more before it all runs out. If you need more after it runs out, you will need to find a WiFi connection to be able to purchase more. And you may need to wait until midnight Eastern the next day for it to go live again.

How’s The Data Connection?
AT&T gets a lot of complaints about their service in certain areas in the US, particularly large cities like San Francisco and New york City. How’s the 3G connection elsewhere? While I can’t speak for other areas of France or other countries, but the 3G connection in Paris was absolutely horrible. Made AT&T look like an amazing provider. While the coverage is great, nearly everywhere I went I had 4-5 bars and 3G, you couldn’t do anything with it. What good is good coverage if you can’t get a data connection? More than half of the time I would turn on the cellular data, I would not be able to connect to email or open a web page. It just wouldn’t work — the spinner would just keep spinning. And as I found out later, it would churn through data amazingly quickly while this happened.

I am pretty certain that the International data plan is messed up and robbing me of my data quota.

While doing nothing but reading and replying to email after less than 1 hour, I had used nearly 35 MB of the 50 MB allotment. I was not downloading attachments, I was not surfing YouTube, just simple email, with images turned off even, and the data disappeared that quickly. I was careful to put the device in airplane mode when not in use too — to make sure it wasn’t sucking down data in the background.

While I suppose this strange behavior could be blamed on the fact that the iPad isn’t available in the EU yet, and it hadn’t been tested with that network, this isn’t an entirely new device. It’s so similar to the iPhone, that it should just work.

In another instance, when heading back to the airport, I checked Google Maps twice to see where we were and how close we were to the airport. The connection was fairly good, but I churned through nearly 8 MB in about 3 minutes of use all just waiting for a Google map to load.

In what I would guess adds up to about 7-8 hours of general use checking email and light browsing while in the US, I have only used 45 MB total. Clearly, something isn’t working properly with the measuring of the data internationally. I’m just going to go ahead and call the International data plan a complete disaster. Don’t use it at any cost. It’s just too expensive, and too broken.

As you may have guessed, on the rare occasion when this worked, it was a pretty spectacular thing. The sun parted the clouds, rainbows sprouted, and the world seemed a better place. Or maybe that’s going a little overboard. Imagine a time when you can grab this one little device and use it nearly anywhere in the industrialized world to have a data connection. No need to carry a heavy laptop, just this one little iPad. But after those wonderful moments, it all went down hill quickly. Strike 1. So, time for plan B.

Using Public WiFi
So the international data plan isn’t going to work. It would cost me $75/day to keep filling up the data I needed — if I could even get a connection. So, let’s try public WiFi.

My hotel didn’t have free WiFi. What? Yeah, I know. It had free wired Ethernet. Which must me much more expensive to install in each room, but not free WiFi.

That WiFi is 9 Euro / day for unlimited use. I figured I would go ahead and use it — while expensive it’s much cheaper, faster, and more reliable than the International 3G data plan. Though the downside is that it’s tied to the single location.

So I signed up, put in my credit card, got my login and password and then… nothing. The connection dialog just died. I couldn’t connect. I tried again, putting in my obtuse login and password. Locked up on the login screen. The Orange WiFi registration and login system is incompatible with the iPad. Great. How tough is it to program web sites to standards? Pretty tough for Orange I guess.

To make sure that everything was OK and to verify that the iPad connecting was the problem, I pulled out my iPhone and logged in using the login and password I was given without a problem. Tried the iPad again, same thing. Locked up after putting in my username and password. So, I shouted the few rude things I know in French and had to declare strike 2 on this experiment.

Ok, what about other public, free WiFi. There are plenty of cafes with great coffee and WiFi. Lets try those. Look, here we go, first try, a “Free Wifi” connection. Needs a login and password, but no way to create one. Can’t connect? Why?

Well, turns out all those “Free WiFi” connections aren’t really what they advertise. I got the details on that from a local — they are only free to people that subscribe to a certain DSL service. If you subscribe to that service you can create a login and password and connect, for “free”, to any of the Free WiFi connections — who happen to be other customers of that same service. Great idea, not good advertising it as free WiFi when it’s only free for your customers.

I was able to find a couple places that had free WiFi. Real, genuine free WiFi. But it was limited. You were limited to 1 or 2 20 minute sessions per hour or day, depending on how the place had it set up. And the closest I could find was 8 blocks from my hotel. This isn’t going to work.

Out?
So, the International Data Connection/3G doesn’t work at all most of the time. And when it does, most of the data disappears at an alarming rate. Strike 1.

The most convenient, paid Wifi doesn’t work on the iPad because the login system is just not programmed well. Strike 2.

And, the closest other wifi option I found that I could use was way too far away from my hotel to be useful.

Sigh, Strike 3.

The iPad as the sole device for international business travel, is out. Better luck next at bat.

Do the French hate the iPad?

I had to break down and pull out the Macbook to continue working and get caught up. The world is just not ready for the iPad yet I guess. Such is the life of the early adopter. I guess that makes sense since the rest of the world can’t even get the iPad yet.

I really wanted it to work. I wanted to be able to rely on just the iPad and leave the Macbook at home all the time. But that’s not going to work. At least not yet.

The Future

There are some great things to look forward to in the future with this kind of test. The iPad sold in the US is unlocked. So that means that in theory, I should be able to go to another country, once they have the iPad and it’s special sim cards (should be May 28th in most of Europe) and purchase a pre-paid card for just a couple Euros per day and have unlimited 3G data. Now that sounds like nirvana.

Why didn’t I do that this time? Well those data plans aren’t available yet. They have just been announced, and will be active once the iPad goes live in those countries. Plus, the iPad uses a smaller SIM card than most mobile phones, and many providers don’t have those yet.

So for the next trip, I will most certainly try the local SIM idea. It should work, and will be much cheaper than AT&Ts sham International Data Plans.

Maybe I’ll try this experiment again later in the year. Perhaps travel somewhere sunny and warm. No really, I’ll do it for you, the reader. I’m dedicated like that.

But for now, where can I find a real fresh baguette?

iPad Apps mentioned in this review:

FREE!

Simplenote

+ Universal App – Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2008-09-08 :: Category: Productivity

$2.99

Air Video – Watch your videos anywhere!

+ Universal App – Designed for iPhone and iPad

Our Rating: ★★★★½ :: VIDEO MAGIC
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2009-03-04 :: Category: Utilities

$1.99

Strategery

+ Universal App – Designed for iPhone and iPad
Released: 2008-12-09 :: Category: Games / Strategy

$7.99
$9.99

Galcon Fusion

iPad Only App – Designed for the iPad
Released: 2010-04-01 :: Category: Games / Strategy

$9.99

Iron Man 2 for iPad

iPad Only App – Designed for the iPad

Our Rating: ★★½☆☆ ::
Read Our Full Review >>

Released: 2010-05-03 :: Category: Games / Action

[ iPad 3G Review: Three Days in Paris With the iPad is a post from 148Apps ]


Are cheaper iPad 3G data rates the reason we’re still stuck with AT&T?

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Are cheaper iPad 3G data rates the reason we’re still stuck with AT&T? is a post from: Best Iphone Apps Review Website

It seems that AT&T may have made one last Hail Mary play in order to remain the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the US. According to Wall Street analyst Brian Marshall, quoted by Computerworld, AT&T may have been allowed to hang on to the deal until the end of 2010 by offering significantly discounted data plans for Apple’s iPad 3G.

In the run up to the iPad launch, many touted Verizon as a shoe-in to become the next iPhone carrier alongside AT&T as well as to provide data services for the iPad. This never happened.

Although his claims appear unsubstantiated, Marshall, who currently works for BroadPoint AMTech, believes that AT&T, in a desperate bid to hold on to the lucrative iPhone carrier rights, made some serious sacrifices in providing a hugely discounted data contract for iPad owners.

Consumers questioned the need for another 3G contract alongside their iPhone when the iPad was announced with many pundits claiming that the price of the service would be key to Apple’s strategy. By granting an additional six months to AT&T’s exclusivity, it appears Apple was able to meet this target.

AT&T currently offers two data plans for the iPad 3G, one for $14.99 per month for up to 250MB and another at $29.99 for unlimited data. Neither package requires the user to sign a contract and both include free access to AT& Wi-Fi hotspots. By comparison to the competition, this is a very reasonable deal for iPad users and one that will surely have come at a cost to AT&T, which has struggled with wireless data loads since the iPhone was launched.

By contrast to the US, Europe has multiple carriers for the iPhone that are currently fighting to offer data plans for the iPad when it is released this summer.

AT&T’s network has long been criticized for a number of failings including dropped calls and poor coverage, notably so during a very public spat between the company and Verizon. Verizon launched a stinging ad campaign comparing its 3G coverage to AT&T’s while also aping Apple’s iPhone ads with the slogan “There’s a map for that” resulting in a legal back and forth between both companies. In response to AT&T’s suit that claimed the ads mislead the public, Verizon simply commented “the truth hurts”.

Verizon has reportedly conveyed to Apple its desire to carry the iPhone but, at present, it seems they can’t offer the right goods to seal the deal. Not even, it appears, the offer of a better network.

via Computerworld

[ Are cheaper iPad 3G data rates the reason we’re still stuck with AT&T? is a post from 148Apps ]