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Articles Tagged "at&t":
Less AT&T Upgrade Advantage for iPhone ¬
2009-02-03
From AT&T’s information page for the UNICEL acquisition:
You’ll also be automatically enrolled in the AT&T Upgrade Advantage(SM) Program. […] Not only will you receive discounts on the widest selection of wireless phones, but the higher your monthly rate plan and data-package rates, the more you’ll save.
Unfortunately, the Upgrade Advantage page notes the following:
You can earn additional equipment discounts of up to $100 off of the standard 2-year contract renewal discounted price. Additional equipment discounts do not apply to iPhone.
Bummer, especially considering that the few of us who are happy AT&T bought our UNICEL network are so because it brings us full iPhone support.
[Via Mark Engelhardt]
Regarding the plan for AT&T and Verizon Wireless to swap some properties to allow Verizon Wireless to purchase UNICEL:
“The swap proposal was inadequate because it didn’t cover 2 1/2counties in the southern half of the state. … So that proposal was rejected,” said Julie Brill, Vermont’s assistant attorney general. The omitted counties were Windsor, Windham and Bennington.“The swap would have meant there would have been a near monopoly in those three counties, so we said, ‘No,’” Brill said.
A disappointment. I had switched to UNICEL over a month ago for other reasons, but I must admit that this pending deal did give me additional motivation.
[Via Edward Shepard]
Say Goodbye to the iPhone in Vermont ¬
2007-07-30
There’s been some recent iPhone-related news that gave the impression that we were getting closer to legitimately using using iPhones in Vermont. Unfortunately, I think we lost all progress today.
First, the good news: I now have three coworkers that have iPhones: Jimmy, Mark, and Don. So far their accounts are still active. I really suspect that their EDGE usage will be what tips the scales against them, but it’ll be interesting to find out for sure if/when their accounts get cancelled.
Also, iPhone hackers have produced a way to bypass activation or activate it using a different AT&T/Cingular SIM card. This means that one doesn’t need activate and then cancel their iPhone’s AT&T service to use it as a video & web iPod or use it with another AT&T SIM. They’re not working on fully unlocking the iPhone so that it can be used with any SIM card yet, but I’m sure they will be soon.
This is all well and good, however today’s bad news is that Verizon Wireless is buying RCC (i.e. Unicell), the only GSM1 cell phone network actually in Vermont.
What does this actually mean? Well, nothing yet. Change moves slowly in the cell phone market. However, it does mean that Verizon will be transitioning RCC customers over to CDMA technology at some point in the future (and my guess is that it’ll happen within a year):
Rural Cellular utilizes both CDMA and GSM technology separately across its five regional markets. Verizon Wireless plans to deploy CDMA service in Rural Cellular’s existing GSM markets and convert the GSM customers to CDMA service. Verizon Wireless, however, anticipates maintaining Rural Cellular’s existing GSM networks to continue serving the roaming needs of other GSM carriers’ customers.
Fortunately, they do note that they’ll be maintaining the GSM network for those roaming with GSM phones (e.g. the iPhone). Also, the benefit of “reduced roaming and operations expenses” will be a nice bonus for RCC customers who already have to pay higher rates.
But, and there is a big but, this will mean that non-AT&T SIMs will be disappearing in the not-too-distant future, so when AT&T does kick Vermonters’ iPhones off their network, even if the iPhone is unlocked by then they won’t have anywhere else to get a valid SIM.
As I mentioned previously, AT&T recently purchased Dobson so other rural areas in the United States will be able to use iPhones on AT&T’s own network, but Vermont just lost all hope of that ever happening.
1 GSM is the cell phone technology used by the iPhone.
iPhone: The Week In Review ¬
2007-07-06
A week ago I discussed the ways not to get an iPhone in Vermont since we’re not covered by AT&T’s own network and in honor of the iPhone’s release. Now that people in other states have had their iPhones for a week, the in-depth reviews have been rolling in: Steven Frank’s, James Duncan Davidson’s, Steve Dekorte’s, and Jason Kottke’s are my pick o’ the litter.
As I also noted, my friend Jimmy drove to New Hampshire to pick one up with the goal of using it until AT&T cancels his contract. His initial lists of wants has been posted as well. And, of course, I’ve now gotten to play with the iPhone a couple of times at the office.
Jimmy has stated that he’s been able to hit 100+k on EDGE in Watebury, VT, so Unicel’s EDGE network can’t be half bad. Although, I have to wonder whether using data services while roaming will alert AT&T that much earlier and cause them to cancel his contract sooner rather than later. Only time will tell.
There has been other news on the iPhone front too. On the day of the iPhone release, AT&T and Dobson (i.e. Cellular One) announced the purchase of Dobson. This should be great news for the rest of the country, but Cellular One left Vermont years ago, so we’re still stuck1 with RCC (i.e. Unicel).
However, all is not completely lost, even if AT&T does cancel Jimmy’s contract (or anyone else in Vermont), Alex King has verified that the iPhone works without AT&T service. You do have to get a contract in the first place, but that does mean that the iPhone won’t as quickly become a useless brick in a drawer when the cell phone technology becomes outdated and sure gets me closer to buying an iPhone.
One thing that I had originally investigated, but failed to mention in my original post, is the idea of getting a pre-paid plan (i.e. a GoPhone plan) from AT&T. I had immediately and completely ruled this out because you cannot roam on a pay-as-you-go plan (see the GoPhone coverage map) and so Vermont is completely out of the picture. For a while there, it looked like this wasn’t even going to be possible for anyone anyway, but the tried-and-true way of getting a GoPhone contract has been discovered. Still great news for others.
The bad news so far: even another AT&T SIM card won’t work in the iPhone, so the hope for unlocking the phone is not even an easy first step.
We may not actually be getting much closer to having true iPhone support in Vermont, but atleast hope is growing. Again, I’m still not ready to give up my Newton, but the iPhone would be a great companion. :)
BTW – Don was on TV again regarding the no iPhones for Vermont issue. Of course, I don’t know where he got the statistic that we’re the only state that doesn’t get AT&T service.
Update: I added Steve Dekorte’s iPhone review to my above list of favorites. I don’t know how I had missed it.
1 Now, I’m not sure I actually want AT&T to own Unicel as well as Cingular and Cellular One, but I sure would like an iPhone.
