cellular

AT&T shaves $100 off iPad with two-year contract

Those of you interested in a 3G or 4G iPad can score $100 off the full price, but you'll have to pony up the monthly costs for a two-year contract with AT&T.

The carrier is selling both new and refurbished versions of the iPad 2 and the third-gen iPad. For example, a new third-gen Wi-Fi + 4G LTE model with 16GB of storage sells for $479, down from the regular price of $579. A refurbished edition of the same model goes for $429. Meanwhile, a new iPad 2 with Wi-Fi + 3G and 64GB of storage will cost you $… Read more

Sprint inks $480 million deal for U.S. Cellular customers, spectrum

Sprint is starting to flex some muscle with regional carriers.

The company announced today that it has inked a deal with U.S. Cellular for $480 million. The deal: Sprint will acquire 20MHz of PCS spectrum in the 1900MHz band across Chicago, South Bend, Ind., and Champaign, Ill. Sprint will also get 10Mhz of spectrum in the St. Louis market, as well as 585,000 customers, or about 10 percent of U.S. Cellular's subscriber base.

"Acquiring this spectrum will significantly increase Sprint's network capacity and improve the customer experience in several important Midwest markets including Chicago … Read more

Motorola Electrify M bring more LTE to U.S. Cellular

U.S. Cellular today announced its next 4G LTE smartphone, the Android-based Motorola Electrify M. It will join the lineup in the coming days.

Powered by 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the handset goes on sale on the carrier's Web site on November 8 and in retail stores the following day. It's the third handset in the carrier's Electrify line after the original Electrify and the Electrify 2.

Pricing will vary depend on whether the buyer is in a 4G LTE market. Live inside the 4G footprint and your cost is $99.99 after a $100 mail-in … Read more

U.S. Cellular expands LTE to more than 30 new markets

U.S. Cellular is expanding its 4G LTE coverage area to more than 30 new markets on Monday, extending the carrier's footprint for the high-speed network to more than half of its customers.

The rollout will bring LTE to select cities in Iowa, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Oklahoma, and brings new LTE coverage to some of U.S. Cellular's markets in Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The next wave of market launches will follow shortly in Rockford, Ill., Medford, Ore., Yakima, Wash., and Knoxville, Tenn., the company said today.

By the end of … Read more

MetroPCS Q3: 1 million LTE subscribers, strong profit

MetroPCS, the fifth largest cellular network in the U.S., has posted strong third-quarter earnings, along with more than 1 million LTE subscribers on its network.

The cellular network today reported third-quarter net profit of $193 million -- more than double the $69 million profit it recorded a year ago -- on revenue of $1.3 billion, or 52 cents a share. Revenue was up by 4 percent year over year.

Analysts had expected revenue of $1.25 billion for the third quarter.

MetroPCS did have a net loss of 312,000 subscribers during the quarter, dropping its total subscriber … Read more

Mobiledit Lite is light on the execution

The cloud has become a popular term of late, and for good reason: It offers users a convenient way to store and access frequently used files from any location. Mobiledit Lite taps into the cloud's convenience by giving users a way to manage their mobile device on any computer. However, when we put it to the test, it failed to recognize our mobile device after repeated attempts to connect.

During the installation process, a pop-up window asked if we wanted to install phone drivers if we didn't already have them installed. We opted to do so and were … Read more

U.S. Cellular to offer Samsung Galaxy Note 2 starting Friday

Beginning Friday U.S. Cellular will offer the 4G LTE-enabled Samsung Galaxy Note 2 for $299.99.

The Android 4.1 Jelly Bean device is available for preorder until tomorrow on the carrier's Web site.

Galaxy Note 2s that have already been preordered prior to that will begin shipping out tomorrow.

The handset is equipped with a 5.5-inch HD Super AMOLED screen, which has a 1,280x720-pixel resolution and 267 pixels per inch.

Included within the device is an S Pen stylus that enables you to take full advantage of the large display.

It is also powered by … Read more

Low-price Huawei Ascend Y joins U.S. Cellular (hands-on)

Today, Huawei and U.S. Cellular announced the Huawei Ascend Y, a budget Android smartphone for first-timers. A few weeks ago, I got to briefly handle the Muve Music device.

With its Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS, the Ascend Y certainly isn't angling for tech-savvy users, or those ready to invest in a higher-cost handset. Its 3.5-inch touch screen definitely felt small compared with today's larger-screen phones, but its HVGA (480x320-pixel) resolution is appropriate for the display and looked fine. The Swype virtual keyboard will help compose text in tight spaces.

I didn't get an opportunity … Read more

Alcatel's Shockwave eats Gingerbread for U.S. Cellular

If you thought that we were long past the era of new Gingerbread phones, then U.S. Cellular has a surprise for you.

Today, the carrier announced the Alcatel Shockwave, a starter smartphone running Android 2.3. Yes, that means it comes almost a year after the first Ice Cream Sandwich handset, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, went on sale.

Though its design appears to be standard issue Android, Alcatel promises a "shock resistant casing, super tough" construction with Dragontrail glass (that's an alternative to Gorilla glass) over the 3.5-inch HVGA display. The water-resistant casing should stand … Read more