Carriers

AT&T revamps global data plans

AT&T announced good news to customers who travel abroad with new international data plans that more than doubles the data allowance of the current plans. It's still not exactly cheap, but it's at least more affordable than before.

The cheapest $24.99 per month plan now provides 50MB of international data (up from 20MB), the $49.99 plan will let you have 125MB (up from 50MB), the $99.99 plan promises 275MB (up from 100MB), and the priciest of them all, $199.99 a month, will offer up a whopping 800MB (up from 200MB). The 800MB … Read more

States subpoena Sprint over AT&T-T-Mobile merger

In a filing with the Federal Communications Commission late last month, Sprint said it had received subpoenas and civil investigation demands from nine states as they conduct antitrust reviews of AT&T's proposed $39 billion merger with T-Mobile.

According to the June 28 letter (PDF), Sprint said attorneys general in Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington have asked it to deliver "full, unredacted copies of all materials" that it has submitted to the FCC including its Petition to Deny, reply comments, "and all accompanying declarations." The carrier also said … Read more

Gingerbread now available for Droid Incredible 2

Marking its second Android software update in as many days, Verizon Wireless is now offering Gingerbread to owners of the Droid Incredible 2. Customers who have the HTC handset can manually search for and download the Android 2.3 update, which also addresses random reboots and freezing applications.

As is the case with other recent updates, the Droid Incredible 2 will have enhanced application management, improved copy and paste, and a new desktop docking app. For a deeper dive of Gingergread's features, please see our Samsung Nexus S review.

The full list of details for the Droid Incredible 2 … Read more

Avoid a sky-high bill by tracking your Verizon data use

Verizon Wireless didn't make many friends earlier this week when it confirmed that staring today, it will end unlimited data plans in favor of tiered options based on data usage.

Though current customers will be grandfathered in with unlimited data, the change may be more than a little confusing for new subscribers eager to trade up to their first smartphones. Forecasting how much data you need is difficult to do on your own, especially with no prior history. What's more, knowing how much data a certain app uses requires a bit of sleuthing on your part.

Thankfully, Verizon offers a number of tools to help put users into the right data add-on. All customers can dial #DATA on their handset to see their usage, while most Android and Blackberry users also can download the Data Usage Widget. And of course, seasoned Verizon customers are probably already familiar with the My Verizon Mobile service.

With tools like this it can't be all that scary, can it? Actually, you bet it is. I spent a few minutes playing around with a fourth tool in Verizon's Data Usage Calculator. Designed to get a feel for how quickly one might chew through bandwidth, it calculates how much data usage based on e-mails sent, Web sites visited, as well as music and video streaming.

I was shocked to learn that watching roughly one hour of high-resolution video per day will put me at 12GB of data. And that's without e-mails, Web browsing, or anything else. Even something as innocuous as letting your child watch YouTube videos could result in massive charges. … Read more

Dialed In 181: Just call her Bonnie

Apparently, Bonnie has entered the rarefied realm of one-name recognition with the likes of Cher, Prince, and Madonna. How did she get there, you ask? Well, she isn't appearing in concert (at least not yet), but Dialed In fans have suggested that simply "Bonnie" should be the name of her column.

It's catchy, no doubt, but in the end she went with Nicole's witty suggestion (see episode 178) of "Smartphones Unlocked." We appreciate the nomination, though, and we trust that you'll enjoy her new monthly blog, which will explain the mystery of smartphones. We sample the first edition in this episode.

Also in the podcast, we debate Verizon's switch to tiered data plans, Nicole puts the Samsung Nexus S 4G through more tests, and Jessica takes a look at the smartphones of yore.

Subscribe with iTunes (audio) Subscribe with iTunes (video) Subscribe with RSS (audio) Subscribe with RSS (video)… Read more

Verizon confirms tiered data plans and hot-spot charge for July 7

Update on Tuesday, July 5 at 1:15 p.m. PT: The $10-per-month data plan will not be available for smartphone users.

Verizon Wireless officially confirmed today that it will replace its unlimited data plans with tiered options starting Thursday.

Spokeswoman Brenda Raney told FierceWireless that consumers will have their choice of four data allotments: $10 for 75MB per month, $30 for 2GB per month, $50 for 5GB per month, and $80 for 10GB per month. The cheapest tier is avaialble only for feature phones. Subscribers with an iPhone or a WebOS, Android, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone 7 device will … Read more

Sprint's M2M lab: Where machines do the talking

Though Sprint is best known as the country's third-largest wireless carrier, the company does a lot more than just deliver voice and data service to your cell phone. Its network also powers M2M, or machine-to-machine, solutions that enable machines to talk to each other without a human getting in the way.

Related link • Sprint VP on machines talking to machines (podcast)

Earlier this week, I visited Sprint's M2M Collaboration Center in Burlingame, Calif. In a nondescript building within earshot of the runways at San Francisco International Airport, the carrier demonstrates various ways an M2M network can deliver services … Read more

Samsung Conquer 4G gets outed for Sprint

The next 4G handset from Sprint is likely to come in the form of a midrange Samsung device called the Conquer 4G. Phone Scoop's Eric Zeman noticed the Android-based device on Samsung's Web site yesterday complete with specifications and images.

This isn't the first time Samsung's Web master has jumped the gun, and sure enough all references to the Conquer 4G, aka the D600, were quickly removed (clicking on the link today takes you to a "page not found" message). Nevertheless, the cat is out of the bag and we have a pretty clear indication as to what lies ahead.

The Conquer 4G is expected to have a 1GHz processor, 3.5-inch display, 3.2-megapixel camera, and front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera. The Android 2.3-powered phone recently cleared the FCC, where it was listed as having support for Sprint's SMR 800MHz band. As Zeman reminds us, this means that the phone will be able to use voice services on the spectrum once Sprint transitions the push-to-talk iDEN off.

As neither Sprint nor Samsung has officially announced the Conquer 4G just yet, we have no suggested price or launch date. A glance at the image of the phone, however, shows a date of July 15. Maybe a sign of things to come? … Read more

On Call: Lost iPhones, unlimited data plans, and Nokia's device strategy

On Call runs every two weeks, alternating between answering reader questions and discussing hot topics in the cell phone world.

It's been a few months since I've used On Call to answer reader questions, but this week offered the perfect opportunity. Being that tomorrow, June 29, is the fourth birthday of the original iPhone, I wanted to tackle a great query on replacing a lost Apple device. Plus, the ongoing AT&T-T-Mobile merger has produced a lot of reader questions on the status of unlimited data plans, and the recent introduction of the Nokia N9 has cause … Read more