plans

Cricket said there was a bit of buzz around its start of iPhone 4S sales today, with some customers lining up to buy before stores opened.

The wireless service is the first to offer a prepaid, no-contract iPhone, an expensive and unique device for the prepaid market.

The 16GB iPhone 4S costs $499.99, while the 8GB iPhone 4 costs $399.99. The phone comes with a $55 no-contract plan that includes unlimited calling and text messages. The plan also includes 2.3GB of data, after which the carrier will slow the connection down.

A Cricket representative said the phone … Read more

It's a phone-tastic episode today:

Microsoft's new Windows Phone 8 operating system will be in new Windows Phones this fall, but existing Windows users won't be able to get the full upgrade. That's because the Windows Phone 8 OS requires better hardware, like multicore processors and NFC support. The next OS will also have more enterprise-friendly features and Nokia's maps. (Maps are becoming a new battle ground in mobile phones.) However, current Windows Phone users aren't completely ignored. There's a slight upgrade coming that gives the live tiles in the home screen new … Read more

Smith Micro Software, a company that normally stays behind the scenes of mobile service carriers, has released an iOS product that aims to let consumers connect to Wi-Fi in lieu of clogged networks.

The company today announced its NetWise SmartSpot tool, which switches users to Wi-Fi when it's available and switches back to networks when the Wi-Fi is out of reach, highlighting a need for mobile companies to address massive data usage that slows down service.

Data traffic bottlenecking has been an issue for some time now as consumers become accustomed to more data-heavy services and features like video … Read more

Verizon Wireless announced its new share everything plans last week, and subscribers are still confused and trying to figure out what the new plans will mean for them.

In the last edition of Ask Maggie, I tried to answer some of the most commonly asked questions regarding the plan. And now in this edition, I answer some specific questions from subscribers still confused by the changes. I've received lots of e-mails asking questions about the new service plans. And I'll do my best to answer as many as I can.

Pre-order the Samsung Galaxy S III before June … Read more

I'm a Verizon customer. I'm currently on month-to-month, contemplating a new phone. But with that new phone comes a new two-year contract. If I sign that contract after June 28, I'll be shoehorned into Verizon's new Share Everything plan.

Share Everything lets users pool data between smartphones, tablets, and USB modems. It starts at $50 per month for 1GB of data; individual device fees are then tacked on top. Those fees range from $40 for a smartphone to $10 for a tablet.

As it's just little ol' me on my plan, I'll be looking at paying $100 for just 1GB of shared smartphone and tablet data, and unlimited talk and text that I don't need. Yippee. I should note, I have a "feature phone," and upgrading to a smartphone should land me into Share Everything territory. For more on how the math works out, check out Executive Editor Roger Cheng's explanation.… Read more

Today we're rocking out in the cloud to take our minds off our mobile bills:

Verizon has completely restructured nearly all of its phone plans with something called a Share Everything Plan. The plans will give you unlimited text and unlimited voice. As for data, you have to pay for how much data you want a month. Then you have to pay another fee for each device that will use that pool of data.

Verizon is encouraging you to have multiple devices that can all share from the same plan, but it can make your bill more expensive if you're an individual. … Read more

As more wireless carriers switch to tiered, capped, and throttled data plans, it's becoming more important to be aware of your data consumption. By knowing just how much data you need when mobile it becomes easier to select a plan that fits your needs. After all, the prices of unlimited data plans have gone up, and even the medium tier plans can cost a pretty penny. So how can you find out which apps are eating all your data and ultimately pick the right plan?

Onavo, mostly known for its work in data compression on iOS, offers an … Read more

Verizon piqued our interest last week when it announced that it would double the speed of its top-tier Fios plan but didn't reveal how much it would cost.

The new service, which will boost speeds to 300 Mbps for downloads and 65 Mbps for uploads, will cost customers $204.99 a month, according to purported training material (see below) sent to The Verge by an anonymous Verizon employee. While that may sound like a lot to spend on Internet service, that price is only $5 more than Verizon customers pay for the current top-tier, 150 Mbps plan.

Price and … Read more

If tiered data pricing is stopping you from downloading to your heart's content, AT&T says there may be a solution.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said content providers want to pay for consumer access, which means "toll free'' data plans are a likely development in the next 12 months, FierceWireless reported today.

Stephenson said the plans would exclude certain types of content from counting toward a customer's monthly data allotment. He made the statement at an investor conference.

Customers are starting to avoid some data-heavy content in response to tiered data pricing, and Stephenson'… Read more