Hasta La Gadget!

As rumored, T-Mobile overhauled its individual and family plans today and simplified your options to just three tiers of voice service. Individuals can choose between 500, 1,000 or unlimited minutes, with unlimited text messaging adding $10 and data add-ons ranging from $10 for 200MB to $60 for 10GB. Family plans come in 1,000, 2,000 and unlimited minute varieties while the sharable data and text services cost twice as much as their individual counterparts. There are some odd restrictions, such as the inability to add texting or data to the mid-tier plans and no choice for unlimited voice service without SMS tacked on. We do, however, like the overage-free data options that simply drop to 2G speeds when you reach your plan’s threshold instead of shocking you with huge fees at the end of the month. We can also confirm that restocking fees have been bumped from $10 regardless of device to $50 for smartphones, $75 for tablets, and $25 for USB modems and “basic phone devices.” Check out the sources for all the details and fine print.

Update: Just a few hours after debuting its new individual and family plans T-Mo unleash a pair of new no annual contract choices. $50 gets you unlimited voice, text, and 100MB of 4G or 3G data while $70 pushes the high-speed data cap to 5GB. And, just like the on-contract options, these are overage-free. PR is after the break.

[Thanks, Neal]

Continue reading T-Mobile lauches new individual and family plans right on schedule

T-Mobile lauches new individual and family plans right on schedule originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 May 2011 09:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GigaOM got to peek inside AT&T’s Foundry innovation center in Texas this week, and the tour came with a special treat — a first glimpse at how AT&T’s upcoming LTE network might perform when the carrier flips the switch later this year. Where Verizon’s existing network promises download speeds of between 5 and 12 megabits per second (though we’ve gotten far better and worse in practice), the publication witnessed a connection with 28.87Mbps download and 10.4Mbps upload speeds, using a MIMO antenna passing bits through both 700MHz and AWS frequencies. “But,” you protest, “isn’t LTE capable of more?” Sure, but an AT&T executive told the publication that these were meant to be real-world numbers. Still, considering all the factors and where the test was held, it’s probably best to break out the table salt for now.

AT&T demos speedy LTE, calls 28.8Mbps downloads realistic for real people originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 May 2011 19:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Direct sales figures for Windows Phone 7 handsets have been remarkably difficult to come by since Microsoft’s OS reboot at the end of last year, but here come the stat gurus at Gartner to provide us with their best estimate. 3.6 million of the world’s smartphone sales in the past quarter were counted under the Microsoft mobile OS umbrella, of which 1.6 million featured the very latest WP7 software. That means Redmond partners sold more Windows Mobile devices in the first three months of 2011 than ones bearing the sparkling new operating system. Guess now we know what LG meant when it said the Windows Phone launch didn’t meet expectations. Gartner sees these numbers as evidencing a failure “to grow in consumer preference” by WP7’s launch devices, though it predicts better things ahead, with Nokia’s participation helping to accelerate the platform’s momentum. For more (much more!) stats relating to the global cellphone market in Q1 2011, click on the source link for Gartner’s full disclosure.

Gartner: 1.6 million Windows Phone 7 devices sold in Q1, consumer interest remains tepid originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 May 2011 06:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Consumers are flocking to prepaid about as fast as children to an ice cream truck, and T-Mobile is welcoming them with open arms. Pushing out a competitive and timely response to Verizon’s Unleashed plans is vital — especially given T-Mobile’s paltry first-quarter results — and the company will be ready to match wits with the country’s number-one carrier on May 22. The official site is already saying as much, proclaiming to its prepaid customers that their monthly packages will become even tastier at that time. What it’s missing, though, is a name, and TmoNews has uncovered evidence suggesting ‘T-Mobile Monthly 4G’ will be the re-branded title. So what will these new enhancements bring to customers?

Monthly rates will stay exactly the same as before, with additional 4G data supplying an extra oomph to the offerings. The top-of-the-line plan goes for $70 and will offer unlimited minutes, text, and web (a jump up from the 2GB currently in use); the $50 choice is identical in minutes and text, but will only allow 100MB before data gets throttled. This idea of cutting down internet use is a definite upgrade to the current plan, since at present time it gives out the same 100MB but cuts data use completely off as soon as that point is reached. We’re also noticing that international and BlackBerry services are available a la carte for an extra $10, as well as a noteworthy day pass that bestows 24 hours of unlimited 4G data for $1.49. Color us impressed; all of the latest revamps to T-Mobile’s prepaid options are a refreshing contrast to its competitors mandating more and more restrictions to their monthly data plans.

Continue reading T-Mobile baking fresh prepaid plans May 22, adds more 4G data for flavor

T-Mobile baking fresh prepaid plans May 22, adds more 4G data for flavor originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 14 May 2011 00:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What use could science possibly have for your iPhone location data? Well, you won’t be curing cancer, but you could theoretically be contributing to epidemiology, land use surveys, or a study proving that people move around just as quickly on foot in New York as they do inching down the 405 in LA. At least that’s the idea behind OpenPaths, a web-based tool that lets you securely and anonymously “donate” your cache. If you’ve upgraded to iOS 4.3.3, your iPhone will no longer store your location, but there should be plenty of coordinates spinning around on your hard drive to play with. After downloading the OpenPaths Uploader, you’ll be able to visualize your own location information, and even if you’ve somehow deleted the data from your computer, the tool will search Time Machine backups (for Mac users) — a little scary, no? Of course, there’s always potential for misuse with any such service, but a researcher probably won’t care that those late nights at the office were actually spent in Cindy’s home office, unless that researcher also happens to be your wife.

Continue reading OpenPaths lets you visualize your iPhone location data, donate it to science (video)

OpenPaths lets you visualize your iPhone location data, donate it to science (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 14:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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