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Tag Archives: AT&T

Cell: AT&T to acquire T-Mobile (3/20/11)

attlogo In what surprised many, the announcement was made today that AT&T has entered into a cash-and-stock agreement with Deutsche Telekom to acquire T-Mobile (USA).  This will make AT&T the largest wireless provider in the United States  (LINK) http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/articles/more-information-att-acquires-tmobile (http://newsroom NULL.t-mobile NULL.com/articles/more-information-att-acquires-tmobile)

An agreement was announced under which AT&T will acquire T-Mobile USA. The agreement is the first step in a process that, including regulatory approvals, is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months. Until then, we remain a separate company and continue to operate independently.

According to the announcement, for now the 2 companies will operate independently.

In honor of the pending merger, I post my favorite T-Mobile ad.

Alert: AT&T Offers Wireless, Wireline Billing Relief for Consumers Calling and Texting Family, Friends in Japan

attlogo AT&T’s taking a strong initiative in making sure their customers can reach their family in Japan without effort or worry. Effective immediately, all calls to the land of the rising sun that was just hit with a major tsunami caused by a major earthquake are free. It’s not unlike what other telecoms did when Haiti was hit with a similar natural disaster. Read below for the full details courtesy of AT&T. [Engadget]

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AT&T Press Release from PRNewswire (LINK) http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/att-offers-wireless-wireline-billing-relief-for-consumers-calling-and-texting-family-friends-in-japan-117921489.html (http://www NULL.prnewswire NULL.com/news-releases/att-offers-wireless-wireline-billing-relief-for-consumers-calling-and-texting-family-friends-in-japan-117921489 NULL.html)

DALLAS, March 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — AT&T (http://www NULL.att NULL.com/gen/landing-pages?pid=3309)* today announced it has implemented international calling and texting support efforts for U.S. residential wireless and wireline consumers trying to connect with loved ones in Japan, following last week’s tragic earthquake and tsunami.

Effective beginning last week, March 11, and continuing through March 31, AT&T wireless postpaid customers will not be charged for:

  • International long distance usage from the United States and Puerto Rico to Japan
  • Text messages to Japan, originated from a U.S. wireless number

In addition, and also effective March 11 through March 31, residential wireline customers can seek credits for up to 60 minutes of direct dial calling to Japan:

  • Upon receiving their wireline bill, customers may call AT&T to receive adjusted calling for up to 60 minutes. In other words, no charges for up to 60 minutes of call time from the United States to Japan between March 11 and March 31.

For any of the above activity, customers will either see no charges reflected on their monthly statement, or they will see a full credit applied to their statement for activity between March 11 and March 31.

“We want to help our customers connect with loved ones in Japan in anyway we can,” said Mark Collins, senior vice president, Voice and Data Products, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “Connecting with family and friends is most important at times like this— we want to make it as easy and worry free as possible for our customers.”

Still available, AT&T wireless customers can text “redcross” to 90999 to give a $10 donation to help the Red Cross with disaster support efforts in the area.  No text message fees apply.

And, TV Japan – the 24 hour Japanese news channel – is available for free through March 17 to all U-verse® TV subscribers, allowing viewers to follow the news and recovery efforts. TV Japan can be found on channel 3680.

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

Internet: (ALERT) AT&T to impose a cap on internet usage starting on May 2nd. (From DSL Reports)

computer  The following information comes this morning from DSL Reports (LINK) http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Exclusive-ATT-To-Impose-150GB-DSL-Cap-Overages-113149 (http://www NULL.dslreports NULL.com/shownews/Exclusive-ATT-To-Impose-150GB-DSL-Cap-Overages-113149).  If you are an AT&T DSL user, and you are a power user (Someone who downloads regularly, or uses services like Netflix) you may want to consider getting a new service provider. 

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(From DSL Reports)

Broadband Reports was the first to learn, and has confirmed with AT&T, that the company will be implementing a new 150GB monthly usage cap for all DSL customers and a new 250 GB cap on all U-Verse users starting on May 2. From March 18 to March 31, AT&T users are going to be receiving notices informing them of the change in the company’s terms of service. AT&T spokesman Seth Bloom confirmed the news to Broadband Reports after we initially contacted him last Friday concerning a leaked copy of the upcoming user notification. According to Bloom, the cap will involve overage charges. However, only users who consistently exceed the new caps will have to deal with these charges.

This is how it will work: only users who exceed the new usage cap three times — across the life of your account, not per month — will be forced to pay these new per byte overages. Overages will be $10 for every 50GB over the 150 GB or 250GB limit they travel.
AT&T claims their average DSL customer uses around 18GB a month, and these changes will only impact about 2% of all DSL customers — who the company states consume "a disproportionate amount of bandwidth."
"Using a notification structure similar to our new wireless data plans, we’ll proactively notify customers when they exceed 65%, 90% and 100% of the monthly usage allowance," AT&T tells us. The company also says they’ll provide users with a number of different usage tools, including a usage monitor that tracks historical usage over time, and a number of different usage tools aimed at identifying bandwidth-hungry services.
Regular readers will recall that this isn’t AT&T’s first experimentation with usage-based-billing. The company conducted trials of capped services and overages in Reno, Nevada and Beaumont, Texas in 2008 (http://www NULL.dslreports NULL.com/shownews/ATT-Metered-Billing-Trial-Hits-Second-Market-99389). Those trials involved users facing caps ranging from 20GB to 150GB — and per gigabyte overages up to $1 per gigabyte. The efforts were discontinued in early 2010 (http://www NULL.dslreports NULL.com/shownews/107012). In contrast to those trials, which involved capturing nearly all users in an overage net — this effort is aimed squarely at what AT&T considers consistently heavy users.

2010 X-mas Deals: AT&T Phones on Sale for a Penny thru Amazon.com (On new accounts)

Amazon Amazon has a great deal on Smart Phones going for anyone considering getting a new service contract with AT&T. Amazon has 48 different phones, all priced at a penny, from makers LG, HTC, Palm, Samsung, Sony, and Blackberry. The phones include Windows Phone 7, Android, WebOS, or Blackberry O/S. The sale runs until Monday November 15th.  (LINK) http://wireless.amazon.com/f/attpenny?tag=gmgamzn-20 (http://wireless NULL.amazon NULL.com/f/attpenny?tag=gmgamzn-20)

AT&T Phones on Sale

All AT&T phones are on sale starting at a penny with a new service contract this Thursday, November 11 through Monday, November 15. Not finding what you’re looking for? See our full selection of cell phones with service available at AmazonWireless (http://wireless NULL.amazon NULL.com/)

 

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**NOTES: Even though this sale is for AT&T, they have NO iPhones listed at that price.  If you have an existing account, it appears that you can get a new phone for a reduced rate depending on the phone. To see what it will cost existing AT&T users, simply click on the phone you are interested in and then select the condition that lists your current status (I have an individual account, family account, etc.), and the page will automatically update your price. (Sony X10 shown below as an example)

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(DISCLOSURE: I’m the owner of an EVO and a very happy Sprint customer, I don’t have much experience with the AT&T network or AT&T wireless, other an assisting my clients who have AT&T with their phones. This post is NOT an endorsement of AT&T Wireless.  TGM recommends that you do your research on how much the 2 yr. agreement will cost vs. other networks, what you get as part of your agreement (Internet, texting, minutes, etc.) and also make sure that whatever provider you select has signal / coverage in the regions that you frequent .  No phone, provider or plan is great when you can’t use your phone due to lack of signal).

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