Jonathan Geller the Boy Genius from The Boy Genius Report Switches Back to AT&T

March 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I saw a stat somewhere today, although I can’t remember where it was, that Verizon had already nabbed nearly 20% of the iPhone market share.

One of the reasons I never considered jumping ship was because, for me, having an iPhone that can’t send/receive data while your’e on a voice call seemed to defeat the purpose.

There have been many times when I’ve been talking to someone and some question or another came up and I could easily turn on the speaker phone and quickly find an answer. That’s something that’s not an option on Verizon’s CDMA network.

Here’s Geller’s reason for switching his beloved iPhone back to AT&T:

In the end, my personal experience with Verizon’s iPhone in and around New York City ended up being about the same as it was when I was on AT&T. This, combined with other advantages AT&T’s network has, has made me finally decide to switch back. Literally moments before I wrote this article, I synced up my Verizon iPhone and restored it to my AT&T iPhone (I can do this because the OS on the Verizon iPhone is lower than the AT&T iPhone — if I ever wanted to switch back, I couldn’t restore my data until the Verizon iPhone OS is updated to version 4.3). I missed the ability to talk on the phone while data is still flowing (even though I hate talking on the phone). I missed AT&T’s extremely fast data speeds. I missed knowing that if I ever travel outside of the country, I don’t have to get a new phone (even though I hate flying — no, seriously, try me). I missed feeling like I’m in the digital age instead of the stone age.

For many people this may never be an issue, but if you’re in the tech industry and you use your iPhone as a tool of the trade, there are some glaring limitations with what you can do on Verizon’s network. And, whether you like it or not, as much as people like to complain about it, AT&T does have the fastest 3G network out there and when you’re not near a WiFi hotspot that definitely comes in handy.

So, is anyone else out there thinking about jumping ship and coming back to AT&T?

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Would You Buy a Facebook Phone?

February 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Ina Fried of Mobilized confirmed the rumor that AT&T will be be bringing HTC phones featuring a dedicated Facebook button to the market sometime this year. Begging the question, would you buy a phone with a dedicated Facebook button? I’m honestly curious about this. Who is the target audience for this phone?

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AT&T iPhone Customers Get Your Free Mobile-to-Mobile Calling to All Carriers Now

February 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

AT&T is rolling out some new benefits for people not jumping ship and going for Verizon.

AT&T Introduces Unlimited Calling to Any Mobile Number

New Feature Offers AT&T Wireless Customers Unlimited Calling to Any Mobile Number

Go ahead and dial up those digits–no matter which wireless network you’re calling. AT&T* today announced customers can enjoy unlimited mobile calling to any mobile number in America. Unlimited Mobile to Any Mobile is available to AT&T customers with an unlimited messaging plan and a qualifying voice plan**.

Beginning Thursday, Mobile to Any Mobile will be available to new and existing AT&T customers with a qualifying voice plan who subscribe to unlimited messaging plans. Existing customers with an unlimited messaging plan can activate Mobile to Any Mobile by visiting www.att.com/anymobile. The URL will be available beginning Thursday.

“Mobile to Any Mobile is an exciting offer that will keep our customers connected to the people they want to talk to, when they want to talk to them, without the hassle of watching minutes,” said David Christopher, chief marketing officer, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “We’re giving customers more options and even better value. And when you include Rollover Minutes, a benefit available exclusively from AT&T that lets customers keep their unused minutes for all domestic calls, including to landline numbers, it’s clear that AT&T offers the most flexibility in the industry.”

Unlimited messaging is available for $20 per month on an individual plan and $30 per month for a FamilyTalk Plan, which allows for up to five lines.

For the complete array of AT&T offerings, visit http://www.att.com/.

*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.

**Mobile to Any Mobile Calling – Available only with select Nation and FamilyTalk plans. Direct calls to & direct calls received from US mobile numbers only. Rollover Minutes: Unused Anytime Mins expire after the 12th billing period. Night & Weekend & Mobile to Mobile mins do not roll over.

Also, text the word “yes” to 11113020 and AT&T will credit your account with 1,000 rollover minutes.

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Verizon Finally Gets to First Base with Apple

October 14, 2010 By 1 Comment

Pretty much since the iPhone was released four g’s ago people have been praying to the tech gods that Apple would drop it’s exclusive relationship with AT&T and hook up with a carrier that’s actually capable of handling things like phone calls and messages (e.g. Verizon). Well it looks like we may be one step closer to seeing these two behemoths finally get it on.

Apple announced on its website this morning that Verizon will start selling the iPad with MiFi, alas they won’t be getting the 3G versions of the iPad, not yet anyway.

“We’re thrilled to be working with Verizon Wireless to get iPad into the hands of even more customers this holiday season,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s COO. “iPad allows users to connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before, and together with Verizon Wireless we’re offering an easy way to stay connected wherever you go.”

Who knows, maybe Verizon can use this initial deal to get Steve Jobs drunk and get their hands on his beloved iPhone, which is already rumored to be coming to the Verizon network sometime in the first quarter of 2011.

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What AT&T’s ‘Rethink Possible’ Ad Should Say

June 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Talk about truth in advertising.

AT&T Rethink Possible

Via robhue.

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DeadCellZones.com is Dead

November 7, 2009 By 4 Comments

The premise behind Dead Cell Zones was to give people a quick, easy way to note places where they were getting little or no cell service. I  jumped at the chance to have another tool in the fight against myself to leave AT&T. I thought maybe if I could actually see a visual representation of the amount of dead cell zones people reported in NYC it would push me over the EDGE. I got there only to find out that Dead Cell Zone was using someone else’s PushPin API key. That’s a no-no.

deadcellzones_alert

So instead of a cool map filled with all the dead cell zones in my area I get this.

deadcellzones

A blank map is not nearly as compelling of an argument.

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How to set up MMS on your iPhone

September 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Everyone is going nuts over AT&T finally opening up MMS (picture messages) for the iPhone. Personally I much prefer sending images via email anyway but I can see how it may come in handy for some people.

  1. Connect your iPhone to your computer and open iTunes
  2. You should see the following message
    mms-update-1
  3. Choose “Udpate Settings” the update should only take a few seconds and you will get a confirmation
    mms-update-2
  4. Restart your iPhone. You have to reset your iPhone for the update to show up.
  5. Confirm the update worked by opening up your Messages app and looking for the camera icon next to the entry field. (screencaps below)

That’s it, you’re ready to start bringing AT&T’s network to its knees. Wait, it’s already on its knees, so you can start kicking it in the face by sending pictures messages constantly to everyone you know.

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Cheaper iPhone Plans May be Coming to AT&T

May 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment

AT&T iPhoneIf you have an iPhone you know better than anyone what it’s like to dole out that $30/mo for your data plan. Well, there may be some relief on the way. AT&T may be working on cheaper plans in order to keep their exclusive deal with Apple.

AT&T may have gotten the message. The exclusive U.S. iPhone service provider is considering cutting the price of its monthly service package or offering a range of lower-priced plans, say people with knowledge of the company’s thinking. One plan that could be introduced as early as late May would include limited data access at a $10 monthly reduction, the people say.

The possible price cut likely reflects the back-and-forth between AT&T and Apple (AAPL) as they work out whether and under what terms AT&T would remain the sole U.S. iPhone carrier. Apple may want flexibility in pricing as a condition, analysts say. “We understand it’s part of the extension [of its contract] that AT&T wants to maintain,” Richard Doherty, director at consultant Envisioneering Group, says of the prospect of lower data-plan prices. As Apple considers whether to widen its circle of U.S. providers, AT&T may have less ability to balk at Apple’s requests. Representatives of Apple and AT&T declined to comment.

It would be wonderful to see the unlimited iPhone data plans go down to $20 but I believe that’s highly unlikely. I’m sure AT&T will work out a new pricing structure in order to maintain it’s iPhone monopoly, but I doubt it will actually take a step backwards.

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AT&T teaching new gradu8s how 2 spell

May 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

One of my pet peeves are people who use numbers and letters among other things to compose text messages or, even worse, emails and facebook messages. Of course at&t isn’t worried about any of that. They just know it’s hip and edgy to be illiterate…especially if you just graduated from something or other.

gmail-exclusively-from-att-buy-one-lg-xenon-get-one-free-jamespolinggmailcom_1242400418982

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Blackberry Bold now available at AT&T

November 3, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Urge to buy gadget phone I don’t really need rising.  After months of cockteasing AT&T has finally released the Blackberry Bold slightly before it’s scheduled launch.  This was the upgrade I had originally planned holding out for before I completely sold out and switched to an iPhone.

The Bold, which already seems like it’s old news since it’s been lingering and getting it’s launch date continually pushed back, is one of the phones RIM is putting its money on to take back some of that smart phone market that Apple has been eating up recently.  

The good news, Blackberry loyalists can finally upgrade to a Blackberry on AT&T’s 3G network.  The bad news, those of us with iPhones (especially in NYC, San Fran and Chicago) who have already been dealing with an overwhelmed 3G network are hoping the Bold doesn’t turn out to be the proverbial straw that broke AT&T’s 3G back.

While the Bold is very sharp looking and definitely a huge step up with a new OS and all, I’ll probably be able to control myself.  I can’t say I’ll have the same sort of restraint however when the Curve 8900 finally gets released.

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iPhone Data Network Down?

October 13, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Is anyone else having trouble connecting to any of their apps?  I’ve tried WeatherBug, the default weather app, Twitterrific, At Bat and Facebook.  None of them are connecting.  I haven’t added any new apps recently and for some reason it seems that I can still connect to sites with Safari.  Not sure what the deal is but I hope it’s resolved soon.

*note* I’m also receiving email too.  Still no apps connecting.

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