AT&T Launches New Hotzones, Advances WiFi Strategy
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, July 26, 2010 · 
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AT&T announced today that it is expanding its WiFi hotspot initiative, launching another free “hotzone” in Charlotte, N.C., with another hotzone to be deployed in Chicago in the coming weeks.
AT&T initially launched its hotzone concept back in May with a massive network in New York City’s Times Square.
The free (if you are an AT&T customer) WiFi hotspots are intended to supplement AT&T’s mobile broadband coverage in areas with consistently high 3G traffic and mobile data use. Read more
AT&T Reaches Agreement with Rainbow Media
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, July 19, 2010 · ·
AT&T U-verse announced last Thursday that it reached a new carriage deal with Rainbow Media.
Rainbow, part of Cablevision Systems, owns AMC, IFC and WE tv. The agreement with U-verse expired July 1, but was extended another 14 days for negotiations.
“We are happy to report that AMC, IFC and WE tv will remain on AT&T U-verse,” AT&T said in a statement. “We’re very satisfied that we were able to reach the fair deal we wanted for our customers – one that includes the right content, across platforms, at prices that are in line with the marketplace, and that helps us with important strategic content initiatives. We are very grateful to our customers for their support.”
Rainbow also released a statement: “We’re pleased to have reached an agreement with AT&T for AMC, WE tv, IFC and Sundance Channel that truly recognizes the value of our networks. We look forward to continuing our partnership with AT&T and are excited to continue to bring their subscribers our award-winning programming, including the new season of AMC’s Mad Men on Sunday, July 25.”
AT&T Deploys Bonded VDSL
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, July 19, 2010 · ·
In an attempt to extend the reach of its U-Verse services, AT&T has begun deploying pair-bonded very high bit-rate DSL (VDSL) in the last-mile, copper portion of its fiber-to-the-node (FTTN) network.
The technology — which bonds two copper wires together – extends the network’s reach an additional 1,000-2,000 feet in a neighborhood. The variety of DSL that AT&T is using, VDSL, has a useful range of around 3,000 feet from the video-ready access devices (VRADs) that are the fiber-fed nodes in the U-verse network.
AT&T initially announced its intention to deploy pair-bonding back in 2007, but was faced with unexpected delays along the way, including modem chipset issues. The technology was supposed to help AT&T compete head-on with the broadband speeds offered by DOSCIS 3.0 cable systems. However, AT&T now reports that pair bonding won’t increase the bandwidth the telco can deliver over the network. Instead, the telco plans to use the technology to enhance its reach, offering video to more subscribers.
VOTW: Stop Motion iPhone 4 Disassembly
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, July 12, 2010 · ·
And last but not least, our video of the week (VOTW): iPhone 4 Disassembly by TechRestore. This is the best unboxing and disassembly I’ve seen so far.
AT&T Trials New Femtocell Business Model: Offer it for Free
Posted by Jesse Ward on Monday, July 12, 2010 · (1) ·
Over the weekend, reports surfaced in tech blogs Engadget and Gizmodo that a select handful of the AT&T’s “most valuable customers” received letters in the mail announcing that they qualified for a free 3G Microcell. Engadget updated the post this morning, saying that AT&T is experimenting with new femtocell offerings. Might this breathe new life into femtocell technology?
AT&T at Odds with Rainbow Media
Posted by Steve Fravel on Monday, July 12, 2010 · ·
AT&T has begun providing set-top-box delivered messages to its U-verse subscribers that may lose access to AMC, WE Tv and IFC as soon as July 14. According to reports, Rainbow Media and AT&T have not reached agreement on renewal of the Rainbow-owned channels. Rainbow Media Holdings is owned by Cablevision.
At risk is the season premiere of Mad Men on July 25. AT&T reportedly began sending messages to subscribers on July 9 letting them know that while the agreement had been extended until July 14, a resolution on a new agreement was imminent. AT&T has indicated that they wish to come to a fair agreement, but that they have reached an “impasse,” in their negotiations.
Average Smartphone User Consumes 298 MB per Month
Posted by Jesse Ward on Thursday, July 1, 2010 · ·
Nielsen has closely examined the issue of smartphone data consumption in the United States, reviewing more than 60,000 bills from mobile customers each month. The analytics firm determined that the average user consumes 298 MB of data per month. This is a dramatic increase from the 90 MB per month recorded during the first quarter of 2009, a year-over-year increase of approximately 230%.
Nielsen also found that the heaviest users consume the most bandwidth, with 6% of users consuming half of all data used. At the opposite end of the spectrum, nearly 25% of smartphone users consume less than 1 MB a month.
Nielsen draws far-reaching conclusions from this research, Read more
