AT&T

Every year, PCMag does a pretty impressive and in-depth test to crown the Best Mobile Network for consumers. This year, testers drove 10,000 miles across the country to get a full picture of the current state of T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T networks. The results show that T-Mobile is continuing to out-perform AT&T and Verizon thanks to its combination of download and upload speeds as well as reliability.

Back in January, AT&T launched impressive speeds up to 5 Gbps with its fiber internet service in over 70 US cities. Now AT&T fiber is out with the news that it has successfully reached blazing-fast 20 Gbps symmetric speeds with its production network.

AT&T has announced that it’s the first carrier to use location-based routing for 911 calls across the country. This feature allows AT&T to more quickly and accurately detect where a wireless 911 call is coming from. It utilizes the device’s GPS and hybrid information to direct the call to the correct call center. 

AT&T is increasing the prices on some of its legacy plans for the first time in years. According to a new report from Bloomberg, the pricing for single-line individual plans will increase by $6 per month, while the prices for family plans will increase to $12 per month. The price increases, however, apply only to older plans, not the carrier’s newest Unlimited plans.

After deploying its C-band 5G coverage at the beginning of the year – including some controversy with the FAA – Verizon and AT&T are looking to catch up to T-Mobile. Now a new report from Opensignal shows how much of a difference the new mid-band 5G coverage has made for performance so far.

Update: Verizon spokesperson Richard Young commented on the situation in an email to The Verge: “Verizon is aware that bad actors are sending spam text messages to some customers which appear to come from the customers’ own number. Our team is actively working to block these messages, and we have engaged with US law enforcement to identify and stop the source of this fraudulent activity. Verizon continues to work on behalf of the customer to prevent spam texts and related activity.”

Recently, a slew of people have been receiving spam text messages about their carrier bill – myself included. The message, which says your bill has been paid, includes a link to “a little gift for you.” Most users have also reported the text message has been coming from their own personal phone number. 

Last year, AT&T announced that it would be shutting down its 3G network in February of 2022, impacting a range of users across consumer and enterprise groups. That shutdown is set to occur tomorrow, February 22, 2022, and we have the full details on what to expect below.

AT&T has announced a handful of changes and improvements for its fiber optic internet plans. The company is rolling out new 2Gbps and 5Gbps speed tiers to customers in more than 70 cities across the United States, while also committing to what it is referring to as “new simple, straightforward pricing.”

Ookla, the maker of Speedtest, is out with its latest report on both mobile and fixed broadband Internet speeds in the US. Continuing a trend we’ve seen over the last year, T-Mobile came out on top for mobile performance with speeds ~2x faster than AT&T and Verizon. And for fixed broadband service, Verizon took the top spot.

Verizon and AT&T will begin activating 5G C-Band spectrum on January 19 after weeks-long delays to accommodate the U.S. Department of Transportation. Despite these delays, eleven airline CEOs have penned a critical letter to the DOT and chief executives at both companies to describe an “economic calamity” that will occur on Wednesday.

Update: AT&T and Verizon respond. Statements below.

The degree to which mobile carriers sell your personal data to third-party companies, allowing targeted ads based on your data, is rather tricky to ascertain from their privacy policies.

If you want to play safe, however, all three of the largest US carriers offer opt-out options…

There’s an awkward debate over 5G happening between U.S. phone carriers and the Federal Aviation Administration. The latest development comes in the form of two new airworthiness directives regarding 5G being adopted by the FAA.

Opensignal is out with its quarterly report on 5G in the US. For the October study, the findings include T-Mobile having the fastest average 5G download speeds for the fourth time in a row – now more than doubling its competitors. Meanwhile, Verizon came in on top for 5G video, games, and voice apps.

Competition between carriers will drive iPhone 13 sales with aggressive deals, say industry commentators, but iPhone subsidies will end at some point.

Carriers have played a significant role in driving demand for iPhones, thanks to fighting each other for market share …

Following a big move to bring the iPhone 12 to almost 20,000 Delta flight attendants back in April, the airline is again partnering with Apple and AT&T to upgrade all of its pilot’s electronic flight bags with the new M1-powered iPad Pro and 5G.

While Apple entered the 5G phone market after Samsung, the iPhone 12 line has been a major splash for 5G adoption. Competition between US carriers to win over iPhone customers with the best 5G experience is real, so we’re curious how the next generation of wireless service has been so far for readers.

Opensignal is out with an updated quarterly report on the state of 5G in the US. This time around, the findings include T-Mobile winning again for 5G availability, download/upload speeds, and more. And the carrier also saw a solid average download speed increase putting it close to 100 Mbps.