Category Archives: Carriers

How San Francisco’s AT&T Park Became the Best Connected Venue in the World

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The Giant's Bill Schlough leads a blogger tour of AT&T park

Yesterday, AT&T invited me and a dozen or so other bloggers and journalists to a San Francisco Giants game at AT&T Park here in San Francisco. It was a great experience starting with a limo ride to the stadium and ending up with us being seated in AT&T’s corporate box with abundant catered food and beer available. In spite of the Giants losing, I had a great time at the game. But what preceded was interesting too. Our group was … Continue reading →

Sprint’s M2M Focus A Hit With Developers and Business

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I spent the last few days at Sprint’s Open Solutions Conference and came away impressed with the way the wireless operator is working with developers and entrepreneurs who are building machine-to-machine (M2M) services on top of the Sprint network. M2M refers to automated data communication between devices. M2M devices typically aren’t phones.  Well know examples include the connected Kindle and “smart” power meters, but there are hundreds of other ways M2M is being used to in business, technology and for fun hacks. I spoke … Continue reading →

The Best US Prepaid Data Deals

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This post is no longer updated! Please visit PrepaidPhoneNews.com to read the latest version. Last update: 26-Nov-2010. What’s new: Prepaid Android phones from Virgin Mobile, Cricket and MetroPCS, T-Mobile Web Day Pass, overpriced monthly prepaid smartphone plans from Verizon, $0.10/min calls on AT&T prepaid. Prepaid mobile plans are a great way to save on voice and SMS but what about data? Using data on prepaid here in the U.S. will require making some compromises. Reasonably priced prepaid data options are … Continue reading →

Using Fonic For Prepaid Data In Germany

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Earlier this week WOMWorld Nokia sent me to Berlin for Microsoft Tech.Ed Europe. Naturally I needed to have data service on my N8 for the trip.  My T-Mobile US prepaid SIM doesn’t allow voice or data roaming anywhere outside of North America and even if it did I can’t afford the obscene rates that US operators charge for roaming.  So I did what I always do when traveling internationally which is to try and buy a local prepaid SIM as … Continue reading →

Sprint Building a Mobile Webapp Marketplace

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At the Sprint Developer Conference today, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse (image above) introduced what the operator is calling the “Browser-VAS” ecosystem. It’s supposed to let developers create and monetize browser based apps. Browser-VAS is built around Openwave‘s Integra cloud service.  Hopefully, the service will have a more user friendly name when it launches in the first half of 2011. The apps appear in a toolbar that users can optionally add to the browser. They can then “install” free and paid … Continue reading →

Updated: T-Mobile USA’s Prepaid Web Daypass – Now Available For Android

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Updated 26-Nov-2010 The Web Daypass now works on all phones including Android devices. T-Mobile introduced a new Web Day Pass option for its prepaid users this week.  It provides 24 hours of unlimited data access for $1.49.  While its a little pricey for everyday use, it should come in handy for travelers or anyone else needing to use data occasionally.  To activate the day pass you just open the browser and try to load a page and you will be … Continue reading →

Straight Talk – $45 Unlimited Talk, Text, Data, Roaming and 3rd Party Apps On AT&T

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Mexico based América Móvil, the fourth largest mobile network in the world, doesn’t have a network of it’s own in the US but operates the country’s largest MVNO under the TracFone banner with subsidiary brands Net10, Safelink and StraightTalk.  The latter has been offering unlimited talk, text in and data for $45/month since late last year. Straight Talk phones are only available online and at Wal-Mart stores.  While Straight Talk is attractive to  heavy talkers and texters, the data part … Continue reading →

US Mobile Data and Voice Options For Travelers

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This post is no longer updated! Please click here to read the latest version at PrepaidPhoneNews.com. I get a lot of questions in comments on what options visitors to the US have for using a local SIM to avoid the exorbitant international roaming charges that almost all operators charge. So here’s a break down of the easiest and best value options for visitors. As it’s difficult for travelers to order online and  have a SIM shipped internationally, I’ve limited this … Continue reading →