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HD Voice coming to AT&T later this year, an exec reveals

AT&T plans to begin deploying HD Voice's improved voice calling to customers later this year, an executive with the carrier revealed today.

The feature, which has been long touted by the wireless carriers, uses hardware and software components on both the phone and on the network to significantly enhance voice clarity while reducing background noise. The feature devotes more frequency to handle the amount of audio coming in and automatically kicks in when both handsets support it.

Speaking at the VentureBeat Mobile Summit in Sausalito, Calif., Senior VP Kris Rinne said that the carrier's support for … Read more

Kindle Fire HD 8.9 LTE comes to AT&T April 5

AT&T today announced the upcoming availability of the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9 LTE.

The connected tablet will sell for $399.99, and can be added onto Mobile Share plans, starting at $10 per month.

For those planning to hold onto the tablet for long-term, AT&T is knocking $150 off the price just so long as you commit to a two-year service agreement. Specifically, you get a $100 discount for signing the two-year contract, while an additional $50 comes back to you as a credit activation for tablets purchased in a retail store. The $249.… Read more

How T-Mobile is priming a stronger LTE network with MetroPCS

T-Mobile's salty, spirited launch of its better-late-than-never LTE network and new contract-free ethos may have felt like a sudden surge come from nowhere, but in fact, it was a well-calculated and slowly calibrated, years-long effort to save an ailing network.

Truth is, the fiery, passionate T-Mobile we saw during its "Uncarrier" event this week wouldn't have been possible without some failures and careful planning. T-Mobile's prognosis is also buoyed by an imminent clinch success: the federally approved purchase of prepaid carrier MetroPCS (the still hasn't been fully approved.)

Out of the spectrum crisis

T-Mobile … Read more

Bringing phones to T-Mobile's LTE network: The devil's in the details

Today, T-Mobile hyped how much easier bringing phones to its new network will be. As it turns out, however, it isn't as simple as you'd think.

Here's the deal. T-Mobile is in the middle of three major wireless transitions. Besides ripping up mandatory two-year contracts, the carrier is building a new 4G LTE network. If that wasn't enough, T-Mobile also is migrating its older 3.5G data service from the AWS band (1700/2100) where it currently lives over to the 1,900MHz GSM band.

But that's not all. T-Mobile is using that freed-up AWS … Read more

Testing T-Mobile's 4G LTE

T-Mobile just took a bold, new step by shredding the contracts for its plans plus launching its new 4G LTE data network. But what kind of speeds can you really expect to see on the carrier's hot, new devices? Judging from what I observed at T-Mobile's splashy press event in New York, apparently quite a bit. … Read more

T-Mobile CEO: Stop the bull**** with carrier plans

T-Mobile CEO John Legere is fed up with the "crap" the wireless industry has been feeding cell phone customers over the years. And he said that T-Mobile is here to shake things up.

At the company's "Uncarrier" event in New York City today, he made a pitch for T-Mobile's new no-contract plans, which went into effect Sunday, and he announced the launch of his company's new 4G LTE network and the long-awaited availability of the Apple iPhone on T-Mobile.

Legere, who took the stage in a black blazer, jeans and T-Mobile T-shirt, said … Read more

T-Mobile announces Sonic 2.0 4G LTE mobile hot spot

In addition to unveiling its contract-free data plan, T-Mobile announced a number of devices that will be available on its 4G LTE network, including the Sonic 2.0 mobile hotspot.

Available now for $149.99, the Sonic 2.0 is the carrier's first LTE hot spot and it can connect up to eight devices.

The device is manufactured by ZTE and features a 1.77-inch color screen (which displays information such as signal strength, battery level, and number of connected devices), a microSD card slot that is expandable up to 32GB, and it works with both Windows 8 and … Read more

T-Mobile launches 4G LTE network

T-Mobile is joining the 4G LTE party with the official launch of its own service.

The new network is live in seven cities, the company announced at its "Uncarrier" event in New York City today. The initial cities include: Baltimore; Houston; Kansas City; Las Vegas; Phoenix; San Jose, Calif.; and Washington, D.C. T-Mobile said its 4G LTE network will reach 100 million Americans by the middle of 2013 and 200 million by the end of 2013.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere said at the event that New York City will be live sometime this summer. But he said … Read more

T-Mobile's 'Uncarrier' event: Join us at 8 a.m. PT today (live blog)

T-Mobile USA is expected to spill the details on how it will shake up the wireless industry, and you can get all the live updates right here.

The carrier is slated to hold a press conference at 8 a.m. PT/11 a.m. ET today in New York. CNET's Brian Bennett, Sarah Tew, and I will be bringing you all the all the latest news, commentary, and photos starting about 15 minutes before the event.

You can tune into the live blog here:

Join CNET starting at 7:45 a.m. PT/10:45 a.m. ET for live coverage of T-Mobile's press conference … Read more

T-Mobile will talk iPhone at tomorrow's event

Yep, T-Mobile will finally get the iPhone.

Apple's flagship device, long a gap in T-Mobile's smartphone lineup, will play a prominent role in tomorrow's "Uncarrier" event, according to a person familiar with the launch plans.

A T-Mobile representative declined to comment to CNET.

The iPhone is critical to T-Mobile's plans to remake itself as the "different" carrier. It will be the marquee product illustrating its new no-contract, no-subsidy rules, where a customer pays a small fee upfront and pays a monthly charge on top of the service plan to cover the phone … Read more