Posts Tagged ‘AT&T’

Verizon Ends Unlimited Data Plan but the Glass is Still Half Full

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011

Even though you can eat all you want at an all-you-can-eat buffet, you can’t stay in the restaurant forever. Verizon echoes this sentiment by ending its unlimited data plan starting July 7, 2011.

Under the new tiered data plan, users pay according to the amount of data they use:

  • $30 per month for 2 gigabytes
  • $50 per month for 5 gigabytes
  • $80 per month for 10 gigabytes
  • And $10 for every gigabyte you use over your allotted data

Don’t panic too much though. About 95% of Verizon’s smart phone subscribers use less than 2 gigabytes of data each month, says spokeswoman Brenda Raney.

Also, customers who are currently using an unlimited plan will still be able to upgrade to another 3G or 4G LTE smart phone and keep their unlimited plan.

They seem to be following suit with AT&T and T-Mobile who scrapped their unlimited plans awhile ago when smart phones became prevalent. While this will be a thorn in the side of customers everywhere, Sprint is still a small beacon of hope because they are the last of the major carriers who are still offering the unlimited data plan.

***If you are still in distress, you might want to check out an awesome iPhone app called Onavo which compresses your data thereby decreasing your data usage and saving you money! It also gives you detailed monthly reports on how much data you are using. You’re welcome =) ***

So what are your thoughts?

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“Applications for Good” is a breath of fresh air

Wednesday, June 15th, 2011

AT&T and One Economy recently coordinated a cash-winning contest for developers to come up with some helpful apps for low-income Americans.  The apps were aimed to help with finances, education, and health for its users.  The contest was called, “Applications for Good,” and the judges concluded five winners.

The $10,000 grand prize winning app was Remás, created by Brendan McBride and his colleagues in New York.  The app is designed to make it easier for immigrants to send money back to their home country.  It lists banks, services, money transfer websites, and fees that come with certain transfers.  It is available in English and Spanish, on mobile and standard websites.

Nutrition Missions is an app that is helpful for finding healthy food.  It includes 68 “missions” of nutritional guidelines and cooking healthy food.  Robert Hellestrae, the creator, received a $4,000 Gaming prize for this.

SnapFresh, created by Ysiad Ferreiras, is an SMS-based app that helps people get the most value from their food stamps.  It helps find locations where food stamps can be used to buy healthy foods.  Ferreiras received a cash prize of $5,000 for the Health category.

TalkChalk is making a step in education by connecting students, teachers, and parents safely on social media—such as SMS, e-mail, and Facebook.  The app was created by David Simnick and Daniel Doll, who also won a $5,000 prize for the Education category.

Nick Jacobsen created MobileSaver, a bank application, and won a $5,000 Banking prize.  It manages individual development accounts and helps families save and build their wealth.

Although not all low-income Americans may own smart phones, many of the apps are accessible on regular web browsers.

As consumers, this is a great thing to see.  Instead of just coming out with new 3D games and social media apps, this is a refreshing and productive project.  It’s very admirable to see companies working together towards a positive, efficient way of using the Internet to make our lives better.

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Netflix is the Champion

Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

Netflix now holds the title of the biggest source of internet traffic with nearly 30 percent of broadband traffic during peak hours. Analytics company, Sandvine, which sells network services software to ISPs, reported the news in their Spring traffic report 2011. The video streaming giant even surpassed peer-to-peer file sharing, which has historically been tough to beat.

The interesting part of this new stat is not simply that Netflix is “winning the race”, but that for the first time the largest source of internet traffic is paid for.  This mean ‘buku’ bucks for Netflix and its advertisers.

Competitive internet search providers see it differently, however. They are arguing that TV shows and movies streamed from Netflix online are an overwhelming burden on their networks. Some companies (AT&T in particular) are even considering changing their price points depending on each user’s GB usage.

Unfortunately for those of you who are avid Netflix viewers, this might be the future in internet bills for you. Yesterday, the Washington Post reported that the “data will surely stoke the debate on usage-based pricing for Internet consumption, which companies like Netflix–with 23 million users– warn could curb consumer appetites for watching streaming video online.”

Nonetheless, an unlimited month of TV and video viewing per month cost just $9 as of now. How can cable compete with that?

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By Your Powers Combined – AT&T and T-Mobile Together in the Senate

Thursday, May 12th, 2011

In a Senate committee meeting on Wednesday, AT&T stood behind its decision to purchase T-Mobile, saying that the two companies united have a greater capacity for success in the wireless provider industry without “derailing” the competition. AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson claimed that with the acquisition of T-Mobile USA, AT&T would be able to provide high-speed wireless services to 97 percent of the US population as well as [the widely advertised term] fewer dropped calls.

The deal was first made public in March when AT&T revealed its plans to purchase T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom for $39 billion. If the deal is finalized, AT&T would become the leading wireless provider in the US, surpassing big-hitter Verizon Wireless, with more than 102 million subscribers.

Following the announcement, The Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department began looking into the union to decide whether or not the companies are abiding by requirements stated in the Communications Act and FCC rules, as well as whether or not the acquisition is in the best interest of the public. Perhaps AT&T and T-Mobile combined are too large. 

Wisconsin Democrat Herb Kohl expressed his concern that a “duopoly” would occur if AT&T purchases T-Mobile. “Should this deal be approved, AT&T and Verizon will control close to 80 percent of the national cell phone market,” said Kohl. Should that be the case, the market power would completely shift, thus spoiling healthy competition in the wireless spectrum.

AT&T defended the deal, arguing that it will help with the growing demand for wireless services. Stephenson also assured the committee that purchasing T-Mobile will allow for less wireless congestion in over-crowded markets, thus benefiting consumers.

The jury is still out on whether the deal will be approved or denied and it sounds like it may take over a year to come to a conclusion.

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