AT&T adding shared data plans next month

A few months after Verizon launched its Share Everything plans, AT&T has announced that it too will offer shared data plans starting in August. Like Verizon, AT&T’s plan offers unlimited talk and text, as well as support for up to 10 devices per account. The same basic structure underlies the AT&T and Verizon plans, [...]]]>

Shared data plans: Who saves you more money, Verizon or AT&T?

Unless you're using more than two phones, AT&T's new shared data plans won't really save you money over Verizon's.

AT&T is launching shared data plans in August. Verizon has them now. The premises are similar -- one plan, multiple phones sharing from a bucket of data. (Voice and texts are all unlimited and "free.") You'll have to pay for each phone that's a part of the shared plan, though.

How do they break down? Which one's more likely to save you money? Let's take a look.

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US Cellular launches new prepaid plans

Regional carrier US Cellular this morning announced some new prepaid plans that range from $35 a month to $65 a month and include a number of Android devices. 

The new plans are:

• Nationwide unlimited voice, unlimited messaging, 2GB smartphone data - $65/month


• Nationwide unlimited voice, unlimited messaging, 1GB feature data - $50/month


• Nationwide 400 minutes voice, 400 text messages, 400 picture messages - $35/month

Devices compatible with the new plans include the Samsung Galaxy S II, Motorola Electrify, HTC Merge, Samsung Mezmerize, Huawei Ascend II, HTC Wildfire S and the Samsung Repp.

AT&T switches up international roaming plans

You pay for convenience, they say, and there's nothing more convenient in the smartphone world than being able to step off a plane in a foreign country and your phone just works. No swapping SIM cards, no mucking about with APN settings. Today, AT&T announced a new set of international roaming plans that go into effect on June 1. They are as follows:

• 120 MB of data for $30 a month
• 300 MB of data for $60 a month
• 800 MB of data for $120 a month

And if you go over your allotment, it'll cost you another $30 for another 120 MB of data. 

By comparison, AT&T currently (for the next 24 hours anyway) has a 125 MB plan for $49.99, a 275 MB plan for $99, and an 800 MB plan for $199. The 50 MB, $24.99 plan is about to be dropped, but that's not really something you should have been considering anyway, given how data-hungry phones are these days.

Source: AT&T

Family data plans coming soon to AT&T

AT&T has finalized plans to offer a shared data service to families, AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega told CNET yesterday. The plans are set to be unveiled later this year, though de la Vega was unwilling to provide details as to timing, plan details, or pricing. AT&T joins Verizon as the two companies considering rolling out a shared data plan as early as this summer.

Many wireless customers gripe at having to pay two separate data plans on family lines, especially when neither person comes remotely close to the standard 2-3GB limit most companies offer. Some would rather pay for the ability to share the same allotment of data and mitigate the need for costly separate plans. Of course, data plans tend to be where carriers make their money, so we’ll have to wait and see what AT&T come up with as final products for shared data services.

We should be learning more details of AT&T and Verizon shared data plans in coming weeks, perhaps as soon as a few days as the wireless industry settles into the big easy for the CTIA Spring 2012 show. Our own Taylor Wimberly is on hand in New Orleans, and we’ll be bringing you all the goods from the show floor as it emerges.

O2 UK reveals new European roaming plans

Following the recent EU ruling on European roaming rates, O2 UK has announced its new "O2 Travel" service, which will launch from July. The service offers reduced European roaming charges compared to the networks' current price plans, which it'll have to abolish after the July deadline imposed by the EU. Instead of paying up to £40 for up to 50MB of Euro roaming data per month, O2 Travel will now offer 25MB each day, for a daily fee of £1.99. And voice calls are becoming cheaper too, with a one-off charge of 50p per call, with minutes being deducted from the customer's allowance for that month.

Interestingly, the new O2 Travel deals will also be available to O2 Pay As You Go customers -- traditionally PAYG users have been left in the lurch when trying to use mobile data aboard. Data costs the same as it does for contract customers, but there's a slightly different price plan for voice calls -- a 29p charge per call, then 8p per minute for the call's duration.

So good news for anyone roaming in Europe on O2, and we'd expect the other major British networks to reveal new roaming plans as the July deadline approaches.

AT&T and Samsung kill off plans to release the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD

If you've been holding out for AT&T to release the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD you can now give up the dream and move onto the Samsung Galaxy S III. As confirmed by Samsung's Ryan Bidan, the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD has been put to rest on AT&T due to the fact that it just doesn't make sense to release the device now that the Samsung Galaxy S III is out there.

Although Bidan stopped short of confirming that AT&T would see a release of the Samsung Galaxy S III, at this point it's pretty much assumed or in Bidan's words it'll be coming to "the fastest HSPA+ and LTE networks" in the country. That doesn't leave a whole lot of options and surely, AT&T will want to fill that gap.

Source: The Verge

Sony outlines Xperia ICS update plans - manual upgrade only, starting mid-April

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Sony Mobile (or Sony Ericsson, as it was known back then) was one of the first Android manufacturers to step forward with a a definitive upgrade plan for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. We've even seen public beta ROMs released for a couple of devices by Sony devs, and active engagement with the community to track down bugs.

Today Sony's offering up more details about exactly when each of its 2011 (and 2012) Xperia handsets will be getting the latest version of Android. The manufacturer had previously promised updates during Q1, but with just two days of the current quarter remaining, it should come as no surprise that things haven taken a little longer than anticipated.

The first Sony devices to get ICS will be the Xperia Arc S, Xperia Neo V and Xperia Ray, starting mid-April. Next up it's the Xperia Arc, Xperia Play, Xperia Neo, Xperia Mini, Xperia Mini Pro, Xperia Pro, Xperia Active and SE Live with Walkman, which will get ICS from "the end of May/early June."

If you've just bought a brand new Xperia S, though, you'll be in for a much longer wait. Sony's new European flagship isn't expected to get ICS until late Q2. As we said in our review, the Xperia S is a phone which sorely needs that ICS update, and early adopters will no doubt be frustrated to find themselves at the back of the line.

Sony also revealed that for 2011 Xperia phones, ICS will be an optional upgrade rather (through the PC Companion app) than a automatic over-the-air update. This is similar to the strategy adopted by Sony Ericsson with the Xperia X10's Gingerbread update. Writing on its Developer World Blog, Sony explains that ICS may actually degrade performance for some users due to increased memory use, and changes to the way SQL databases are handled, so it's not forcing the update on anyone in an OTA.

More technical details are available at the source link, but the upshot is that Sony's giving customers a choice between sticking with the familiar and stable Gingerbread experience, or living life on the edge with ICS. As far as we're concerned, that's got to be a good thing.

Source: Sony Mobile Blog; Sony Developer World