shared data

AT&T executives couldn't be happier with the company's progress in signing up customers to its Mobile Share Plan and its new LTE 4G wireless service, AT&T's head of mobility Ralph de la Vega said on the company's third quarter conference call with investors and analysts on Wednesday.

De la Vega was almost giddy when talking about the growth of the company's Mobile Share plan and how it's driving an uptick in data revenue.

"Two million customers signed up for Mobile Share in the first five weeks," he said. &… Read more

Tuesday's tech news roundup honors our future robot overlords:

AT&T is being accused of data-plan discrimination and breaking FCC rules regarding new iPhone FaceTime options. AT&T recently announced that iPhone customers could use FaceTime video chat service over a cellular network if they have the new shared data plan. (Previously, FaceTime was limited to Wi-Fi.) But several groups have spoken out about the limit and questioned if it follows FCC guidelines. AT&T responded saying it does not believe this breaks any FCC rules, since FaceTime was offered to all customers over Wi-Fi and … Read more

A few weeks ago, AT&T announced its intentions to follow Verizon with a new model of selling customers a pool of mobile data they can access across multiple devices. Today, AT&T stamps a date on the launch.

Starting August 23, AT&T customers can opt into the Mobile Share data plan, which will grant access from 1GB to 20GB per person or group. In addition to the GB -per-month cost, Mobile Share plans charge an access fee per device and see unlimited texts and voice minutes. The plans support as many as 10 devices per … Read more

Verizon Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo said the response to the carrier's shared data plan has been positive, despite the wave of criticism that has erupted over the new policy.

"Early feedback has been great," he said during an investor conference call today. "The customer adoption has been tracking with expectations."

The company last month launched its "Share Everything" plan to a bit of controversy, exacerbated by the carrier's decision to kill off unlimited data for anyone who upgraded their phone. Verizon took fire over the plan's complicated cost structure and … Read more

With AT&T officially announcing its "Mobile Share" plans and joining Verizon Wireless, there will soon be two options for customers who want to get into a family plan for data services.

While these plans aren't the best deals for individuals, large families or even groups of really, really close friends may want to consider them. That's because the more people who sign on, the lower the price per gigabyte and user. Of course, if someone is a heavy data user, that person may want to stick with an individual plan, or risk hogging up … Read more

AT&T launched its own "Mobile Share" plans today, matching Verizon Wireless' push to get more people to share their data plans with family members.

Mobile Share, like Verizon's Share Everything, provides a bucket of data that can be shared between as many as 10 devices. One of the devices has to be a smartphone, but other basic phones, tablets, and laptops can be added on top of that for an additional fee. The plans get unlimited voice and text messages.

Shared data plans, which act like a family plan of minutes and text messages to … Read more

Don't expect T-Mobile to follow Verizon and AT&T with shared data plans later this summer.

As the carrier sees it, not only do consumers not want them, but also shared options are "potentially confusing and expensive." A recent blog post from Senior VP of Marketing Andrew Sherrard advised that it will not be adopting the coming "one size fits all" model.

"Some of our competitors are backing away from simple, unlimited data and moving to family shared data plans," Sherrard wrote. "But would this approach actually deliver a better value … Read more

iPhone fanboys and girls in the U.S. have more choices than ever when it comes to picking a carrier. So which one offers the best service and the best deal?

Apple's iPhone is now available on three of the four biggest U.S. wireless carriers. And it's also available on a handful of regional carrier networks. In this edition of Ask Maggie, I offer some advice to a T-Mobile subscriber looking to jump ship for a carrier with the iPhone. I also give some good news to a mom, who is hoping Verizon Wireless will finally introduce … Read more

Verizon is looking to appeal to data-hungry users by introducing shared data plans this summer.

Speaking at yesterday's conference call on first-quarter earnings, Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo confirmed the company's intent to introduce such plans in the next few months. And Verizon is expecting these plans to fuel growth.

"There's going to be other categories that drive the growth of wireless in the future, as I said, we will be launching our data share plan in mid-summer this year," Shammo said, according to a transcript from Seeking Alpha. "We believe that, that plan, … Read more