AT&T has announced its own perk for customers attending the 2018 Winter Olympics: a free International Day Pass starting on February 1 and lasting through March 20. This announcement follows T-Mobile's own Olympics perk announcement during which time it revealed that customers will get free unlimited high-speed data and calls while in South Korea.
T-Mobile USA appears to have dominated the latest batch of mobile data tests from the folks at OpenSignal, beating out bigger names like Verizon and AT&T in the process. How could this have happened, and at what point did T-Mobile begin delivering more reliable and speedier mobile data than their competitors? If T-Mobile's service is so good, why don't they have more customers than their competitors? Is it the advertising, maybe the phones they've got available - or is it something more subtle, like the shade of pink they're using?
AT&T is being pressured to cut commercial ties with Chinese company Huawei, according to sources who say US lawmakers are behind the issue. The reason reportedly revolves around national security concerns, with officials fearing that Huawei could be a company compromised by the Chinese government. The news follows a recent bill proposal that seeks to ban US government agencies from contracting with firms that use Huawei hardware.
This morning AT&T reportedly "walked away" from a deal with Huawei, a deal that might well have made Huawei a major smartphone force in the USA. Huawei is one of the biggest smartphone brands in China and indeed the world, coming in just behind names like Samsung and Apple. Huawei was apparently supposed to announce their deal at CES 2018 as early as tomorrow (Tuesday, the 9th of January, 2018.)
Though it's probably going to be quite some time before we see 5G networks that are as easily accessible as today's 4G LTE networks, AT&T is ready to get the ball moving. The company today announced its plans to begin rolling out mobile 5G by the end of this year. We have the 3GPP's recent completion of some 5G new radio standards to thank for this move, which were defined back at the end of December.
AT&T has announced that all 50 US states are participating in its public safety network called FirstNet. The project will take place over the next handful of years, ultimately culminating in a robust broadband network provided specifically for first responders. The carrier recently held an opt-in/out period during which states had to decide whether they wanted in...and, it turns out, they all do.
Huawei is reportedly just weeks away from its first official US carrier deal, with the AT&T Huawei Mate 10 said to be hitting store shelves in February 2018. Though the phone-maker has become one of the largest in the world, it has done so with minimal brand-recognition in the US. That will be Huawei's big challenge for the new year.
This week Representative Marsha Blackburn introduced a the "Open Internet Preservation Act" in an effort to lock Trump/Pai repeal of Net Neutrality into law. Several major news outlets have taken Blackburn's bait in suggesting this new OIP Act would bring Net Neutrality back after the FCC removed it. Said the Washington Post: "Days after the FCC repealed its net neutrality rules, the GOP has a bill to replace them." Instead, this act would enshrine what the FCC did earlier this month.
Still haven't picked up one of Samsung's latest and greatest Galaxy smartphones? There's still time to get one of the phones before Christmas, and here with incentives is Best Buy with, among other things, a $300 discount. The deal offers the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, and Galaxy Note 8 smartphones for $300 off if purchased for either the Verizon or Sprint networks. Not with either of those carriers? There are a few other promotions to choose from.
The FCC just voted 3/2 in favor of a declaratory ruling which effectively destroys Net Neutrality protections in the USA. Under the guise of a user-friendly name "Restoring Internet Freedom," the three Republican board members of the FCC voted to destroy the rules set in place by the previous FCC board. This Trump-installed board just destroyed the most important set of rules ever made for the internet - put there by the FCC during the Obama administration.
AT&T has updated its Passport program, offering two batches of data at two different flat rates. The Passport program, which is relatively new, is a way for travelers to get a certain amount of data to use while abroad. With this program update comes both 1GB and 3GB options, both offered at a flat rate, meaning you can pay just once to get the data on a one-time basis.
Three moments in time, all within the last couple of months, all add up to one thing: current FCC leadership wants to keep poor people off the internet and give ISPs complete control over the internet. Current head of the FCC Ajit Pai suggested multiple times over the past year that the First Amendment should apply to internet service providers, and as such, they should be allowed to control every aspect of the internet they provide. Never mind the fact that the Net Neutrality rules Pai is dismantling were put in place to protect citizens from the internet companies Pai is fighting for.