AT&T Archive

Last week I wrote about a deal on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7″ for $280 — it was the WiFi only version. Today I’ve learned about a new weekend-only deal through AT&T on the Galaxy Tab 3G AT&T version.

The deal through AT&T is for a refurbished 7″ Galaxy Tab for $200 after a $150 instant “social media credit” (WTF!).  You need to signup for a data plan for one month – the 2GB plan can be added to your shopping cart for no cost. Just make sure to cancel the plan inside of the first month so you aren’t charged for additional months. The device has no contract outside of this initial one-month data plan requirement.

During my time at Google IO this week, I received a 10″ Galaxy Tab tablet. So far it seems like a very well built device that I can see using all the time although the 7″ seems like it might be a bit more portable.

If you are new to the Galaxy Tab, check out Louis Gray’s in-depth review.

Even though AT&T is working on acquiring T-Mobile, if you live in Seattle you will want to continue reading this post. This weekend, T-Mobile stores in the Seattle area are going to hold a speed contest. If you own an Apple iPhone on either Verizon or AT&T, you can win a quick $1,000. It’s a brilliant marketing strategy because it gets customers of competing carriers to open the door to T-Mobile and to have a look at the latest Android 4G phones. It will be interesting to see if T-Mobile can convert anyone who owns an iPhone over to an Android device since we know that speed isn’t the only reason consumers select one device over another.

To win the cash, your Apple iPhone needs to beat the T-Mobile Galaxy S smartphone on the T-Mobile 4G network. The rules clearly state you can’t use the WiFi option on the iPhone, it must be on the 3G network. Additionally, the rules state, “Speed challenge consists of three tests of the Galaxy S 4G versus the iPhone based solely on download speeds as measured by the Application; participants will be eligible to receive $1,000 if their iPhones are faster in two out of the three tests.”

I am sure some of the gadget blogs will create some good 3G routines which you can use to get your iPhone ready for the competition!

I wonder what odds Vegas gives to a 3G phone beating a 4G phone in terms of download speed.

Continue reading “Grab $1000 if Your 3G Apple iPhone is Faster Than T-Mobile’s 4G Network” »

AT&T (NYSE: T) has announced plans to acquire the United States edition of T-Mobile for $39 billion. The transaction will be made up of $25 billion in cash plus the balance in AT&T common stock. The announcement notes that the price could vary slightly to make sure that Deutsche Telekom receives at least a 5 percent equity ownership interest in AT&T. Both boards have approved the deal – now it will get some U.S. government review.

The cash portion of the deal will be financed from new debt and cash on the AT&T balance sheet.

Couple notes from the acquisition release:

• “With this transaction, AT&T commits to a significant expansion of robust 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) deployment to 95 percent of the U.S. population to reach an additional 46.5 million Americans beyond current plans”
• “As part of the transaction, Deutsche Telekom will receive an equity stake in AT&T that, based on the terms of the agreement, would give Deutsche Telekom an ownership interest in AT&T of approximately 8 percent. A Deutsche Telekom representative will join the AT&T Board of Directors.”

People I talked to at SXSW who use T-Mobile seem to like the service but I rarely hear of people using T-Mobile. Typically I hear of AT&T, Verizon and Sprint as carriers when I talk to our customers and/or startups showing me their mobile apps.

Update: I like Brett Nordquist’s comment, “Congratulations to Apple for bringing the iPhone to T-Mobile.”

Update 2: CNBC money guy Jim Cramer noted, “Tacit admission that $T needed more infrastructure to handle its business…”

If you have been looking to purchase an Apple iPhone 4, here’s the deal of the season. Apple sells the iPhone 4 mobile phone for $199. You can also purchase the iPhone 4 at an AT&T store for the same price.

Over the next week, Walmart will be selling the iPhone 4 for $199 plus a free $50 Walmart gift card. The deal begins on Saturday so don’t head over to Walmart today.  What makes this deal great is if you were planning to buy an iPhone anyway, use the gift card immediately to buy an iTunes gift card and use the $50 to load up on apps and music.

Here are the terms of the Walmart deal, “Gift card offer not available online. Offer valid from Saturday, December 18 – Saturday, December 25, 2010. Offer only applies to Apple iPhone wireless phones sold with new 2-year contract or qualified upgrade. Store selection may vary. While supplies last. No rainchecks. Gift cards are not eligible to be used with the phone purchase. Offer available at select stores. See store for details.”

You can also get a discounted iPhone by purchasing a refurbished iPhone 4 through AT&T.

I am working hard to find you deals that will save you real cash on the tech gadgets you actually want. This morning I posted about Amazon’s iPod Touch deal and now I found a way to save a good bit of cash on an iPhone 4.

Tomorrow AT&T will offer deals on refurbished Apple iPhone 4 devices. What’s great about Apple refurbs is that they look and act brand new unlike my Dell laptop refurbs that come with bright orange stickers. Apple puts the refurbished iPhone 4 devices into new cases. The AT&T pricing is $50 less than their regular refurbished price.

The pricing (remember the pricing is available tomorrow) for the different models is:

• iPhone 4 32G Refurb – new price $299, refurbished sale price $199
• iPhone 4 16G Refurb – new price $199, refurbished sale price $99

AT&T will also sell the iPhone 3GS 8G refurbished for $79 although I would think one would want to spend the extra $120 to get the latest generation device since you will have it a minimum of two years.

OS X Daily has some additional notes about the deal. Two years ago AT&T sold the first generation iPhone as a refurbished deal for $249. And check out Jonathan Hirschman’s 10 iPhone 4 game changers.

It’s obviously cheaper for a company to send you a monthly invoice by email than it is via paper in the mail. Going paperless is also better for the environment.

Found via SlickDeals, AT&T is currently offering up to $20 cash if you switch to paperless billing and auto-pay. The promo notes that you will receive $10 if you switch to paperless billing and another $10 if you move to auto-pay. I figured the deal was worth sharing since so many CN readers have iPhone devices.

You may be able to get $20 per AT&T account (wireless, cable, etc.) but this is unconfirmed as of the time of this post.

Shortly after the first iPhone hit the market, I purchased one and returned it just 20 days later. The device was lovely except that in my Manhattan apartment I had no phone coverage. I decided to switch to Sprint and frankly I can’t remember the last time I had a dropped call or poor coverage. I’ve used my phone with Sprint across the U.S. and the coverage has been great – even at SXSW where there have always been fears about poor AT&T coverage (apparently this year provided better coverage).

One of the reasons I am fearful of switching carriers to get an Android device is because of the coverage issues. I have no idea how strong T-Mobile or Verizon is in the area I live and the locations I visit.

The Wall Street Journal has a very interesting set of diagrams which plot good and bad cell reception around the NYC metro area. The Wall Street Journal created the diagrams from data on dropped and unsuccessful calls compiled by the Nielsen Co., which sends out equipment-filled vans to make 140,000 test calls a year across the five boroughs, Long Island, northern New Jersey and southern Connecticut.

Apparently the NYC metro region has a success rate of 97% which is lower than other major cities. “Typically, they’ve (the carriers) overinvested in New York,” says Nielsen analyst Roger Entner. “It’s the media and investment banks they want to keep happy.”

Unfortunately the Nielsen report doesn’t break the data out by carrier. I guess cell service today is similar to the early days of cable/dsl – too many people wanting to share the pipe and the service providers weren’t adding more pipes quick enough. Now we are all pushing mobile usage to the highest levels ever recorded and carriers are working to keep up with customer demand – both in quantity of devices and usage from each device.

You can find all of the WSJ diagrams here.