AT&T made a surprising announcement today: its customers can now pay their bills using cryptocurrency. The option is made possible by AT&T's new BitPay support, opening the door for bill pay using Bitcoin instead of cash or credit. By adding the support, AT&T has become the first major wireless carrier in the United States to accept cryptocurrency payments.
2018 was a big year for privacy and not in a good way. It was a year where privacy violations were exposed left and right and not all of them involved Facebook. Just as scandalous was the revelation that the four major US carriers have, at one point or another, sold their customer's location data to third-parties, which then ended up with bounty hunters and illegal users. Although AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon have promised to stop that practice, customers are still taking them to court for it.
AT&T's 5G service may be split into speed tiers rather than priced by data caps, with the carrier's CEO arguing that the same strategy which has worked in fixed line broadband could prove equally successful - and, for AT&T, lucrative - for next-generation wireless. The carrier is preparing to launch its 5G service for consumers, having paved the way with controversial "5G E" branding for its so-called "5G Evolution" network.
The first Galaxy View probably found a niche yet profitable market of Samsung and AT&T are at it again with a sequel. Confirming what was initially just rumored, the carrier released a video extolling the qualities of the gigantic tablet. Unfortunately, that's all that it does as AT&T hasn't yet announced any other detail, how much this "unique experience" will cost.
AT&T continues to roll out its 5G network, announcing today that it has launched service in seven different cities around the US. AT&T's 5G network got its start in 12 different cities at the tail end of last year, so after this latest expansion, the number of cities with 5G service from the carrier is now up to 19. There's a long way to go before AT&T 5G covers the nation, but this is certainly a good start.
AT&T has recently taken a lot of flak for the misleading 5G "Evolution" it has put on smartphones but that doesn't mean it isn't actually making headway in well, the evolution of 5G networks. There might still be some marketing involved here but when it announced that its 5G network is the first to surpass the 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) threshold, it is very, very serious. If anything, it lays the foundation of a 5G network that will deliver those sweet promises later this year.
Early adopters have been able to purchase the Magic Leap One headset for a few months now, but beginning next week, you'll have another option when it comes to acquiring one. AT&T has announced that it will begin carrying the Magic Leap One next week, and it'll have various Game of Thrones tie-ins to go along with it, just in time for the start of the final season. Unfortunately, Magic Leap One isn't going to be available at all AT&T stores right away - not even close to all of them, in fact.
Fraudulent robocallers, your days are numbered. Or at least that's what AT&T and Comcast are telling the sources of these calls designed to con people. In what is being touted as the nation's first, the two providers are joining forces to combat such kinds of robocalls by authenticating not just calls happen within their respective networks but also those that cross the lines between the two.
Back in December, AT&T started rolling out "5G E" branding to some of the phones on its network. 5G E, as AT&T claims, stands for "5G Evolution," or the precursor to the nationwide 5G networks carriers are beginning to build out. There's just one problem: AT&T doesn't offer phones that support 5G yet, and what it brands as "5G E" is actually just 4G LTE Advanced.
Today the folks at AT&T revealed a new update for iPhones in the form of the latest update to iOS. This device update came to those users that opted to allow the download - if they were part of the Beta program, that is to say. The iOS 12.2 beta was released to iPhones inside the United States earlier this afternoon.
In the last several years, AT&T has made two huge acquisitions: DirecTV in 2015, and Time Warner in 2018. With these mergers — which were clearly anti-consumer — AT&T thought it turn itself from a telecom giant into a cable TV giant, with a near monopoly on the US's media industry. But instead of just buying itself an undeniable advantage, the company has given customers more reason to leave by attempting to cover its immense debt with price increases.
5G is the buzzword of 2019, especially among carriers, who can be pretty aggressive when it comes to marketing. Case in point is AT&T, which is getting a lot of flak for its “5G E” label on certain smartphones. Other carriers have, unsurprisingly, called foul over AT&T’s misleading marketing (which may actually have to do with the fact that it had blindsided them). But, of course, AT&T is sticking to its guns (unless forced by some regulatory body) and is defending its move as something that makes absolutely perfect sense, even when it might not.