Hasta La Gadget!

Ladies and gentlemen, the days of unlimited broadband may be numbered in the United States, and we’re not talking wireless this time — AT&T says it will implement a 150GB monthly cap on landline DSL customers and a 250GB cap on subscribers to U-Verse high speed internet starting on May 2nd. AT&T will also charge overage fees of $10 for every additional 50GB of data, with two grace periods to start out — in other words, the third month you go over the cap is when you’ll get charged. DSLReports says it has confirmation from AT&T that these rates are legitimate, and that letters will go out to customers starting March 18th.

How does AT&T defend the move? The company explains it will only impact two percent of consumers who use “a disproportionate amount of bandwidth,” and poses the caps as an alternative to throttling transfer speeds or disconnecting excessive users from the service completely. Customers will be able to check their usage with an online tool, and get notifications when they reach 65 percent, 90 percent and 100 percent of their monthly rates.

We just spoke with AT&T representative Seth Bloom and confirmed the whole thing — rates are exactly as described above, and the company will actually begin notifying customers this week. He also told us that those customers who don’t yet have access to the bandwidth usage tool won’t get charged until they do, and that AT&T U-Verse TV service won’t count towards the GB cap.

Update: What prompted this change to begin with? That’s what we just asked AT&T. Read the company’s statement after the break.

Continue reading AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees (update)

AT&T will cap DSL and U-Verse internet, impose overage fees (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 Mar 2011 19:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Surely you remember the Samsung GT-i9100, colloquially known as the Galaxy S II? Sammy’s been tight-lipped about which US cellular carriers might offer it, but the Federal Communications Commission might have an idea. You see, the Exynos 4210-toting Super AMOLED Plus smartphone just made its way to the FCC authorization database, 850MHz and 1900MHz GSM frequencies in tow — which just so happen to be the ones required to get a gig at AT&T. Mind you, the handset could also be moonlighting in Canada with those particular bands, but the odds are decent we’ll see it stateside sooner than that. By the by, this particular Galaxy S II is also sporting 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies, meaning it’ll almost certainly come with dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi.

The Galaxy S II wasn’t the only Samsung to hit the FCC this week, though, as the SGH-i708 also dropped on by — it appears to be a worldphone with 850 / 1900MHz GSM frequencies alongside CDMA, EV-DO, and the standard Bluetooth and 2.4GHz WiFi.

Samsung Galaxy S II hits the FCC, potentially ready for AT&T 3G originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 Mar 2011 11:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know what tomorrow is right? Yep, Friday, but it’s also iPad 2 launch day! After months of rumors and a pretty impressive launch event, Apple’s releasing the second iteration of its popular tablet. Yes, it’s true, in a lot of ways the iPad 2 is a lot like the first iPad, so many of you should be old pros at this, but if you happen to be a first timer or you simply just need a refresher, we’ve broken down everything you need to know about getting your own “magical” tablet. We’ve also put together a short list of things to do with it as soon as you’ve gotten it out of the box. Hit the break for a full breakdown of everything you need to know and don’t forget to read our full review.

Continue reading iPad 2 launch day: everything you need to know

iPad 2 launch day: everything you need to know originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 18:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iOS 4.3 adds a wireless hotspot option for the AT&T iPhone. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Apple this morning released a software update for its mobile operating system, introducing a wireless hotspot feature for AT&T iPhones, a faster Safari browser and expanded AirPlay video streaming, among other features.

The Verizon iPhone 4 gets the shaft, as the update is not yet available for the device.

The free update requires plugging iDevice into a computer and clicking the Update button in iTunes. Wired.com recommends syncing your device to back it up, because the update requires restoring the software to factory settings before installing it.

Wired.com previously covered the new features of iOS 4.3. Most significantly, the update includes a faster JavaScript-rendering engine for Safari, meaning JavaScript-heavy websites will work much faster than before. Also, the AT&T iPhone can now be turned into a wireless hotspot that can be shared with up to five devices, similar to the hotspot tool that shipped with the Verizon iPhone.

Other minor changes for the iPad include:

• Bigger spacebar on the virtual keyboard
• Resurrection of the physical lock switch for screen orientation
• A new Events mode when playing slideshows of your photo roll
• Expanded AirPlay support, so you can now stream video playing in third-party apps or Safari to the Apple TV.
• Push notifications and parental controls for Ping

And other minor changes for the AT&T iPhone and iPod Touch include:

• A streamlined Location Services menu to enable or disable geotracking inside apps.
• Expanded AirPlay support, so you can now stream video playing in third-party apps or Safari to the Apple TV.
• Push notifications and parental controls for Ping

The Verizon iPhone isn’t missing out on much, as it can already be turned into a wireless hotspot. However, Verizon iPhone owners who have an Apple TV 2 may be annoyed that they’ll have to wait for the expanded AirPlay support.

It’s unclear when the Verizon iPhone will get iOS 4.3. An Apple representative told ArsTechnica that it wouldn’t be happening anytime soon because the product had just launched, but that the OS versions will probably converge in the future.

The Verizon iPhone's network settings shows an option to enable a personal hotspot. Jon Snyder/Wired.com

For downloading data, the Verizon iPhone is slower than the AT&T iPhone, and it’s also slower than most other Verizon smartphones, according to a study published Monday.

Mobile analysis firm Metrico performed a comprehensive study on several AT&T and Verizon handsets, including the iPhone on both networks. The data suggests the differences between AT&T and Verizon are greater than we initially thought.

The debut of the iPhone on Verizon sheds light on more subtle differences between the Verizon and AT&T networks. Now that both networks have the same data-intensive iPhone capable of performing identical tests, it’s been easier for researchers to collect more comparable data. Independent tests by multiple publications, including Wired.com, have found that AT&T’s network is faster, while Verizon’s is more reliable with phone calls.

Metrico’s tests paint a conflicting picture. Some of their findings:

• The Verizon iPhone performed “below average” in data download speeds when compared to other Verizon phones including the HTC Incredible.
• For voice calls, the Verizon iPhone was one of the highest ranked in noise-canceling performance and was an average performer in voice quality.
• The AT&T iPhone was the top performer in data transfer rates, but it ranks lower in call performance and Bluetooth speech quality compared to some BlackBerry, HTC and Samsung phones.
• The AT&T iPhone completed 10 percent more download sessions than the Verizon iPhone when the handsets were moving — in a car, for instance.
• But the Verizon iPhone had a 10 percent better success rate when uploading data in a stationary environment, like sitting at your desk.

The rest of Metrico’s results tell the story we’ve already heard: The AT&T iPhone’s download speeds are about double the mean download speed of Verizon’s.

However, even though AT&T’s iPhone downloaded files faster, when it comes to loading web pages, the average load time is about the same on both devices, Metrico added.  Metrico explained that many different factors affect web performance, including network latency and the operating system’s rendering times.  (Indeed, a previous bandwidth test performed by Speedtest.net found that both the Verizon and AT&T iPhones turned in the same average latency times of about 350 milliseconds.)

Most peculiar to Wired.com is that the Verizon iPhone is “below average” in download speeds compared to other Verizon handsets. Was the handset purposely slowed down to avoid overloading Verizon’s network? Is there something about Apple’s hardware that makes it slower than other handset makers?

It’s tough to say: Metrico doesn’t have theories to explain the test results.

“I can’t say it’s related to technology at this point,” said Rich McNally, vice president of information product at Metrico. “We’re measuring what happened, not necessarily why.”

To perform the study, Metrico put each phone through live tests on the AT&T or Verizon networks, as well as Metrico’s own simulated network. On the simulated network, the phones completed tests and transferred data to Metrico’s servers for more consistent, controlled results.

The phones were also tested in both stationary and mobile environments. For mobile testing, the phones were tested inside automobiles while driving.

In all, the company performed more than 10,000 web page downloads, 2,000 data download/upload tests, and 4,000 voice calls.