Time of the Tech

Six months have passed since the AT&T deal to buy T-Mobile was announced, see link  here.  I was confident the deal would go through. After all, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) does a horrible job at preventing monopolies/oligopolies. I, along with 44,000 thousand other people (that has to be a record), filed a public comment on the FCC page for filing 11-65,   "In the Matter of applications of AT&T Inc. and Deutsche Telekom AG for consent to assign or Transfer Control of licenses and Authorizations ." Here is my public comment filed on May 02, 2011: I strongly urge the FCC to not allow the acquisition of T-mobile USA by AT&T because it would negatively impact the cell phone industry for consumers with higher prices and less innovation. The higher prices and innovation will be a direct result of decreasing the number of national carriers from 4 to 3. AT&T can say what they want about regional carriers (i.e., Metro PCS)...

It is business as usual for T-Mobile. They keep on selling 4G phones. They even have the girl from the picture above making fun of AT&T's network in recent commercials. Did we forget that AT&T bought out T-Mobile USA? Did we forget that AT&T said they were going to raid T-Mobile's towers for its upcoming LTE 4G network. Let us also not forget that T-Mobile and AT&T do not have compatible 3G and 4G, so if you buy a new T-Mobile phone now, it most likely will not work in three years for 3G or 4G speeds. The phone might not even make it to two years. So if you are thinking about buying a new T-Mobile phone, DON'T! And why does AT&T not have an LTE 4G network, like the one Verizon has? AT&T was racking in profits with the help of iPhone for the last years. Perhaps AT&T's priorities are in buying out companies rather than building up its network. Though I dislike to admit it, buying out your competitors is a winning strategy for gaining new ...

News broke yesterday that AT&T will be buying out T-Mobile for $39 billion. This is particularly hard news for me since I am a happy T-mobile customer and I have never been fond of AT&T. I am not alone in disliking AT&T, just look at the comments of any tech blog about this merger (i.e., Gizmodo, Engadget, Phandroid). Look at the JD Power & Associates reports for customer care scores.  Look at what the Apple co-founder, the Woz, said about AT&T. This merger is saddening news for everyone that likes innovation and lower monthly wireless bills. T-Mobile along with Sprint did not have a "large" customer base like Verizon and AT&T, they had to make up for it in other ways, which were innovative and resulted in cheaper monthly bills for us . This meant "MyFaves" from T-Mobile and "night calling starting at 7pm and affordable unlimited plans" from Sprint. This meant that T-Mobile took a chance on Android. Verizon and AT&T play a mo...

So you think you are the only one getting dropped calls from AT&T?  Or you are the only one that gets shady customer care from AT&T.  Obviously, you're not alone. It's refreshing to know that even billionaires get hosed by AT&T. Check out the video to see what the teddy-bear-like Apple co-founder had to say about his AT&T experiences.  Skip to the 1:00 minute mark if you want to save time:

When deciding on a new phone the cost of the monthly plan should be a significant factor. Because there are many permutations of different plans, I'm going to assume some things. The newbie bullets: You want the newest-baddest-smartphone, this leaves us with the big four carriers again (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-mobile).  This also means you'll be getting a 4G phone. This is an individual plan. You can make it on 450 anytime minutes a month. * You'll need at least 1000 texts a month. * You'll need at least 1 GB of data a month. * So with that in mind, here's a list of the plans you'll be getting from each carrier and the associated monthly fee based on today's prices: T-mobile, $80, 1500 anytime minutes, unlimited text, unlimited web. Sprint, $80, 450 anytime minutes, unlimited text, unlimited web. AT&T, $85, 450 anytime minutes, 1000 texts, 2 GB of web. Verizon, $90, 450 anytime minutes, 5000 texts, unlimited web. If you did different permu...

On our guide to buying to a new smartphone, one of the first things we advised to look at was the carrier for that phone and specifically their customer service. I'm sure we all know somebody that hates "x" carrier because they received sub par customer service. But that's not a good way to get statistically valid numbers, the sampling population is just too small. But if there was a study  with around 10,000 people, then we might be getting closer to a good sampling population, which is what we have with JD Power and Associates. The study they performed involving wireless carrier customer care was conducted from January to June 2010. To quote from their press release, "Now in its eighth year, the semiannual study provides a detailed report card on how well wireless carriers service their customers in three contact methods: telephone calls with a customer service representative (CSR) and/or automated response system (ARS); visits to a retail wireless store; a...