Oh! Gizmo

By Chris Scott Barr

Way back in January we told you that AT&T was rolling out a 3G femtocell for their customers. Of course it’s now September and we’ve hardly heard another word about it. I’ve been anxiously awaiting its release, as I get almost no signal in my house. I’d like to ditch my home phone, but with the unreliable service, I can’t justify it. Thankfully, it seems as though the mobile giant is finally rolling out these devices.

AT&T’s new 3G Micrcell is officially available to the general public, but only in Charlotte, NC. For those in the area, they can purchase the device for $150. There is no monthly fee, however, you will still use your minutes while making calls if you don’t already have landline or DSL service with AT&T. If you have neither and want unlimited calls, you can pay $20 a month (and get a $100 rebate on the hardware).

I’d like to say something about why you shouldn’t need one of these, but in all honesty, there are some places where it’s just not possible to get signal. I live in a rather large town, and I have full 3G signal everywhere except in the small valley where I live. Short of putting in a new tower in the valley itself (which wouldn’t affect enough people to justify the cost) I’ll never get better reception. I’d be ecstatic to get one of these and drop my monthly home phone bill. If you’re listening AT&T, lets go ahead and start rolling these out in Indiana ASAP.

[ AT&T ] VIA [ Crave ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I love my iPhone, and some days it feels like it can really do just about anything. That is, until I get a cool little text message from AT&T telling me that someone has sent me a picture message. I then have to open up Safari, copy and paste a code and password (it was barely even possible to do without a desktop in the days before the 3.0 firmware). All of this so I can see a picture of someone laughing, along with a message saying “lets see your fancy iPhone open this!” True story, someone with a crappy little free camera phone sent it to me. They just love the fact that their phone can do something my fancy-pants iPhone can’t. Well all of that is about to change.

Finally, AT&T has announced that the iPhone 3G and 3GS will be getting MMS on September 25th. A bit late from their projected “late summer” release of the feature I think, but I’ll still gladly take it just the same. So, who wants to take bets that AT&T has massive network outages on the 25th?

[ AT&T ] VIA [ MobileCrunch ]

By Chris Scott Barr

If you happen to have an iPhone, or a Blackberry on AT&T’’s network, then you get free WiFi at any AT&T hotspot. That can be rather convenient at times, as WiFi is generally faster than the 3G speeds you would get otherwise. Of course if you’re using any other smartphone, the wireless giant still asks you to pay extra if you want to use one of their hotspots. Thankfully, they seem to have come around.

As of September 14th, all users with a Windows Mobile smartphone (and an accompanying data plan) will be able to get in on the free wireless access. It’s only taken them how long to wake up and offer this?

[ AT&T ] VIA [ Ubergizmo ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Good news for future AT&T customers. It seems that the wireless carrier is looking out for your best interests, and are going to make sure that your wireless bill is always constant. Rather that have you buy a smartphone without a data plan and charge you for only what you use, they’re going to go ahead and make you buy that data plan. See, now your bill is constant every month.

Yes, every word was dripping with sarcasm. Personally, I wouldn’t buy a smartphone without a data plan, but I’m always using the internet on my phone. Plenty of other people prefer not to pay a good $30 a month for data they may not even want to use. It looks like this will be going into effect on September 6th. The only ways to avoid get stuck with a data plan are to already have a smartphone prior to the 6th (you’ll get grandfathered in), or by buying an unlocked phone.

VIA [ BoyGenius ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Remember yesterday when I told you that the SlingPlayer app was hitting the App Store? That was all good and well, but quite a few people have been upset to hear that there won’t be any streaming over 3G. AT&T stated that such streaming would cripple their infrastructure and cause major issues for customers, however, that’s not the whole truth.

Many people just like me were skeptical of AT&T’s answer, mostly because there are plenty of other ways to stream video to your iPhone. What makes the SlingPlayer so different? Apparently the issue is that AT&T has been hard at work on their own app that essentially provides the same functions, only using their own U-Verse recorder at home instead of a SlingBox.

So the real issue here is that AT&T is worried that they are going to lose money selling their own application. Since SlingBoxes are already somewhat common among the techie crowd, the only way they can compete is to cripple the competition. You could always build a better application that offered more features, but preventing the competition’s software from accessing your 3G network is probably the easier route.

VIA [ Gizmodo ]

By Shane McGlaun

I hate paying full price for stuff, but I am not a big fan of contracts either. When it comes to buying new phones we are all used to paying a subsidized price and being shackled to a 2-year contract or having to pay back some of the supposed cost of your phone.

Subsidized phones are common, but subsidized notebooks and netbooks are still not particularly common in the US. RadioShack was the first to offer a subsidized netbook in America that was dependent on signing a 2-year contract with AT&T for mobile broadband costing at least $60 per month.

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By Chris Scott Barr

There’s a part of me that wishes I were a kid growing up right now, since I wouldn’t be stuck with dial-up and an NES (Though I did love my NES). Of course there’s another part that makes me more than happy that I don’t live under my parents’ roof any longer. This new GPS tracking service from AT&T would definitely fall into the latter category.

If you have a family plan with AT&T for an extra $9.99 (for two phones) or $14.99 (for up to five phones) you can track down any other phone on your plan using FamilyMaps. You can activate this feature from either your phone or a PC and find out exactly where your loved one is. Depending on how you use it, you will get text messages with location updates, or you can watch them on a map in real time. Granted, the person gets a text message letting them know you’re tracking them, but they have no way to stop you from doing so.

I can definitely see how a parent would enjoy such a feature. It’s an easy way to make sure that they’re not going places that they shouldn’t be. If you’re worried about your own privacy, don’t be. The feature can only be accessed by the account holder on a family plan.

[ AT&T ] VIA [ Dvice ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Back when Apple announced the iPhone 3G last year, it was said that we would be able to purchase the phone without having to sign a 2-year contract. What was not mentioned is just when we would be allowed to do so. Rumors started swirling around in the last couple of days that claimed next week AT&T would be offering the phones sans contract.

In this particular instance, the rumors were true. AT&T confirmed that starting next Thursday anyone can walk into one of their stores and purchase an iPhone without inking a 2-year deal. Of course there is that one little catch. The phone will set you back $599 or $699 depending on which model you select, and you’re going to still be tied down to the AT&T network. Honestly, I figured that I’d be using mine for 2 years anyway, so renewing my contract wasn’t that big of a deal.

VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By Luke Anderson

Last year I found the perfect new apartment to move into. It was much larger than my previous abode, had a two-car garage, a pond view and the price was right. Unfortunately after I moved in I found that it wasn’t quite perfect. Despite the fact that AT&T had great coverage in the entire city, I was lucky to manage a single bar of service. I live in something of a valley surrounded by trees, which means I’m probably never going to get great service. They added a new tower and upgraded to 3G, but I’m still rarely able to get a decent signal. So do I move? Do I switch carriers and hope that I get a better signal (and give up my iPhone)? No, it looks like I’ll be able to (hopefully) get my hands on a femtocell and get a better signal.

If you’re not familiar with the term femtocell, it’s basically a small device that hooks into your router (or it is built into your router in some cases) and uses your internet to boost the wireless signal. AT&T has finally jumped on this bandwagon and announced the AT&T 3G MicroCell. Hook one of these up to a broadband connection and it will provide up to 10 phones a strong 3G signal. Of course only 4 of these 10 registered devices can actually be used concurrently. Pricing and availability have not yet been disclosed, but you can bet that I’ll be first in line to get one. I’ve been forced to pay Comcast a hefty fee for their crappy VoIP service, and I can’t wait to ditch it.

[ AT&T ] VIA [ SlipperyBrick ]