AT&T was purchased by Cingular. Not the other way around.
*edit*
someone posted the same thing
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AT&T Introduces 'Sponsored Data' to Allow Businesses to Cover Cost of Mobile Data Downloads
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AT&T was purchased by Cingular. Not the other way around.
*edit*
someone posted the same thing
Nilay Patel at The Verge summed it up nicely:
AT&T's Sponsored Data is bad for the internet, the economy, and you
It's essentially pay-to-play.
AT&T's Sponsored Data is bad for the internet, the economy, and you
It's essentially pay-to-play.
Some energy companies give rebates for certain model energy efficient air conditioners
It clearly is so businesses can push THIER content to the customers. It's not like you get to pick what you see. Article clearly says so businesses can pay more money, not ATT wanting to reduce data usage.
AT&T Wireless turned into Cingular and then back to AT&T Wireless over the years. Its all AT&T however you look at it.
AT&T did NOT need something to make them stand out. AT&T has been around for 100+ years. AT&T saw the potential and took the risk. Verizon said no and paid the price.
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The point is that people want bigger, better, faster but are not willing to pay for it. Look at the $100+ Billion AT&T has invested in their network over the years. They need to create the revenue to reinvest.
If you want to look at gouging, buy a $3500 MBP when comparable, non proprietary laptops are $1500-$1800
1. No. AT&T will not be able to bill the sponsored data accurately. They will accidentally overcharge businesses to varying degree's [the smaller the company, the more they will rip them off, "because they can"].
2. Immediately, as it WILL be AT&T that already has a plan to exploit this program.
3. The plan is to charge both the business AND the customer, as it is extremely difficult for the customer or the business to verifying the accuracy of the amount of data transferred.
I have unlimited Talk, Text and 4g LTE data for my Galaxy Note 3 from T-Mobile.
It's a great plan without throttling.
It isn't equal. The iPhone would have failed without a major US carrier. The iPhone helped AT&T, possibly adding 5-10 share points. AT&T would still be the solid #2 carrier in the US even without the iPhone.
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Excellent way for AT&T to end up with the US and 50 state Attorneys General down their backs, plus a massive class action lawsuit. Great plan. I'm sure this is just what they are going for.
This will eventually be the way to go once T-Mo has their LTE build out complete. Hasta la vista AT&T, you suck!!
That is not correct. ATTWS was indeed purchased by Cingular in 2004--at a premium. ATTWS was a completely separate company from AT&T Corp which had spun it off back in 2000/2001. Although a separate company there was a clause that prevented the AT&T name to be used should it be sold to another company (if a competitor). The ATTWS name wasn't dumped, per se, as Cingular had no choice in the matter: they could not use the name. (Not that the name meant much back then, as ATTWS had a less than stellar reputation.)
It was AT&T Corp that merged with SBC (60% owner of Cingular) in 2005, beginning the return of the name AT&T to wireless services (as well as the globe logo). Then, in 2006 AT&T bought Bellsouth's telephone operation and its 40% share of Cingular. The irony was that AT&T had merged with baby bells it had been forcibly separated from a quarter century earlier.
So the person you responded to was correct: AT&T Corp had come back and purchased the company that purchased its spinoff company ATTWS. This happened before the iPhone deal was finalized (but not before final FCC approval of the merger). It had already been decided to gradually phase in the AT&T name. The FCC approved the merger December 29, 2006, a mere 11 days before the iPhone was announced. By the time it shipped the Cingular Wireless name was officially dropped.
Michael
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And you are just as wrong as that person.
Michael
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Verizon is as much related to the old AT&T as is the company that currently calls itself "AT&T". They are both descended from Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs).
True, luckily in my area it's here and very fast. I also have AT&T, by comparison they're as close to identical as one could expect. The freedom of having unlimited fast data is nearly too good to be true.
The first month on T-Mobiles new program, I racked up 7GB of data use without a single problem, it's fantastic!
AT&T is getting slammed for this from all over...
http://bgr.com/2014/01/07/att-sponsored-data-plans-criticism/
http://bgr.com/2014/01/07/att-sponsored-data-plans-criticism/
If you read the reasoning in that article, it makes ZERO sense. How does this do anything buy lower cost for the end user? Oh unless you are T-Mobile or Sprint who offer unlimited data (at a snails pace). LOL. This is a good thing for your cellular bill and Verizon will follow...
It makes perfect sense. What if AT&T decides the speedtest.net app gets fee data. Ok that sounds great for users huh? But what if they decide for that to happen speedtest needs to pay money? What if the rest of the speed test apps out there cant afford this price and benefit of no data cost to the end users? It means that free data goes to the highest bidder. It is great for AT&T and big app companies. But really bad for little app devs who cannot afford to pay the price. It means AT&T decides who gets the perks by way of charging them.
I think the market will work that out just fine.
Would you like to hinder the amount of pipes and servers across the country/world that speedtest.net pays for so that little app developers can compete? This is no different.
On the other hand, if speedtest.net really did pay AT&T so data would be free to me, as an AT&T subscriber, I would likely never use them again (how would I know that that data wasn't going to be faster than normal). So right there I would be looking for an alternative.
But Netflix, Pandora et al? Bring it on.
Michael
I free with you on Netflix and Pandora! But I am sure they won't pay without increasing their subscription prices. See how that works? What if AT&T starts using the price negociations as a weapons. So when they charge the apps and vendors more .and they will charge as much as they can get away with the price will be passed on to you and me in some way or form. there is no free lunch so to speak. The costs will be passed on to us consumers by way os some kind of fee I hope I am wrong .but time will tell.
Uh, did you read the article and press release? AT&T is not dictating ANYTHING. They are offering a service. Let me repeat that. They are OFFERING a service that companies can utilize to promote their product or service.
What you are doing is manipulating this by adding your hypotheticals that make no sense. AT&T is not bidding for the highest price. They are offering a service to ALL WHO WANT TO PAY!
As far as this being a negative for AT&T because small companies may not be able to subsidize their product by paying for data. Hello, that is EVERY BUSINESS in one form or fashion.
GREAT Job AT&T. INNOVATIVE as usual !!
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And then AT&T purchased Cingular back... Hence they are now AT&T again...
I see some of your points...but believe me AT&T and all carriers for that matter is not giving you something for free.... why would these people be blasting this new plan if was what AT&T claims it is?
Here is another article that explains it a lot better than i can...
http://www.geek.com/mobile/atts-sponsored-data-plan-is-terrible-for-everyone-1581442/
Everyone shoots the company on Top. AT&T has been there awhile.
And there are some VERY misleading, made up statements in that article that discredit the whole thing. I won't give it much more time than the first two sentences...
"The first thing to keep in mind is that, even though you are being told you aren’t paying for this data, you totally are. It’s the same data, and if you don’t come anywhere near your monthly bandwidth limit each month it’s not as though you have gotten anything anyway. "
LOL, no you are NOT and depending on who uses it and how it is used, you can having companies like HULU pick up the tab on your streaming. Sure your cost may go up a bit but your cost per MB will go down. And you can lower your plan since you wont need the data.
The article is awfully inaccurate and clearing geared to bash AT&T.
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I think this is a good product in the right circumstances. I have a friend who runs a subscription live-video streaming service. While overall he has been very successful in his niche, the #1 reason people give for canceling their service is that they are being charged for the mobile data (streaming to their phone or iPad) when they go over their limits.
Although we don't know all the details of this offer from AT&T, for his business, he'd love to be able to be able to offer his customers "no data charge" streaming. Yes, it would bite into his margins, but also remove his #1 customer dissatisfier.
Although we don't know all the details of this offer from AT&T, for his business, he'd love to be able to be able to offer his customers "no data charge" streaming. Yes, it would bite into his margins, but also remove his #1 customer dissatisfier.
To be honest....AT&T has done their fair share of that as well...they all do. Do you really think they are giving you something for free with no monetary gain on their part? If you do i have some swamp land i was looking to unload.....
Lol any carrier would've been more than happy to take the iPhone. AT&T had to pay Apple for the exclusivity deal.