Are you an AT&T user that still has unlimited data? Well AT&T started a new thing today (at least it was confirmed today) that you will start to be throttled as you use their data to its max. AT&T has a few users that max out their data and although they say it is only the top 5% of their users we want you to know that  AT&T will be slower than normal!

This is all supposed to start October 1st. It will be based on how much data you use – and if you are in the top 5% then you will be throttled. AT&T never does tell us though how much it will take to get to the top 5%. This is said though that it will be users that stream music and videos to their devices, as well as gaming. You can look at the full press release at the bottom of the article, but I want to point out the nice little tidbit at the end that says they still need T-Mobile to solve it’s spectrum and network crunch.

Source: PhoneDog

An Update for Our Smartphone Customers With Unlimited Data
Plans

Dallas, Texas, July 29, 2011

Like other wireless
companies, we’re taking steps to manage exploding demand for mobile data.  Many
experts agree the country is facing a serious wireless spectrum crunch.  We’re
responding on many levels, including investing billions in our wireless network
this year and working to acquire additional network capacity.  We’re also taking
additional, more immediate measures to help address network
congestion.

One new measure is a step that may reduce the data throughput
speed experienced by a very small minority of smartphone customers who are on
unlimited plans – those whose extraordinary level of data usage puts them in the
top 5 percent of our heaviest data users in a billing period.  In fact, these
customers on average use 12 times more data than the average of all other
smartphone data customers.  This step will not apply to our 15 million
smartphone customers on a tiered data plan or the vast majority of smartphone
customers who still have unlimited data plans.

Starting October 1,
smartphone customers with unlimited data plans may experience reduced speeds
once their usage in a billing cycle reaches the level that puts them among the
top 5 percent of heaviest data users.  These customers can still use unlimited
data and their speeds will be restored with the start of the next billing
cycle.  Before you are affected, we will provide multiple notices, including a
grace period.

This change will never impact the vast majority of our
customers, and is designed to create a better service experience for
all.

The amount of data usage of our top 5 percent of heaviest users
varies from month to month, based on the usage of others and the ever-increasing
demand for mobile broadband services.  To rank among the top 5 percent, you have
to use an extraordinary amount of data in a single billing period.

There
will be no changes for the vast majority of customers.  It’s not how much time
you spend using your device, it’s what you do with it.  You can send or receive
thousands of emails, surf thousands of Web pages and watch hours of streaming
video every month and not be in the top 5 percent of data
users.

Typically what puts someone in the top 5 percent is streaming very
large amounts of video and music daily over the wireless network, not Wi-Fi.
Streaming video apps, remote web camera apps, sending large data files (like
video) and some online gaming are examples of applications that can use data
quickly.  Using Wi-Fi doesn’t create wireless network congestion or count toward
your wireless data usage.  AT&T smartphone customers have unlimited access
to our entire Wi-Fi network, with more than 26,000 hotspots, at no additional
cost.  They can also use Wi-Fi at home and in the office.

The bottom line
is our customers have options. They can choose to stay on their unlimited plans
and use unlimited amounts of data, but may experience reduced speeds at some
point if they are an extraordinarily heavy data user. If speed is more
important, they may wish to switch to a tiered usage plan, where customers can
pay for more data if they need it and will not see reduced speeds.

But
even as we pursue this additional measure, it will not solve our spectrum
shortage and network capacity issues.  Nothing short of completing the T-Mobile
merger will provide additional spectrum capacity to address these near term
challenges.

“Yarr! Our ship has recently sailed upon some juicy AT&T findings… this might be delicious…”
This was posted 6 weeks ago from the recently well known LulzSec Lulz Boat and now we have some new information about it.
Who is LulzSec and what are these leaked AT&T findings you ask?
Well, let us try and give you at least a glimpse of what both of these are all about.

First, we will begin with a little information about LulzSec. LulzSec draws its name from the modern term “Lulz,” (from LOLs) which often signifies laughter, and “Sec,” which is short for “Security”. Essentially, their way of laughing at the poor security of many large companies that should be much better protected. Just after midnight on June 26th, 2011, LulzSec released a “50 days of lulz” statement, which they claimed to be their final release, confirming that LulzSec consisted of six members, and that their website was to be taken down. The release includes over 750,000 accounts gathered from several gaming forums and a major part of it from Battlefield Heroes Beta. The list of the leaked accounts was later made available at Dazzlepod.com. Well, there final crop of documents contain some interesting information about AT&T’s future data plans. More about that in a bit.

Ryan Cleary, is the person who is considered the LulzSec mastermind who recently attacked Sony, the US Central Intelligence Agency and the US Senate. He was arrested last Tuesday, June 22nd in England and could be facing up to 10 years in jail. The arrest of Cleary came within hours of the UK’s premier investigating agency’s website being taken offline as a result of a cyber attack. Detectives swooped down on Cleary’s Essex home swat style and snatched him out of his bedroom, which he had reportedly not left for almost four years.

According to Cleary’s mother he is an ultimate recluse. He left his bedroom only to use the bathroom and had never gone out of the house in the last four years. He suffers from agoraphobia, the fear or open spaces and has a confirmed Attention Deficit Disorder personality. He would have her leave his meals at his door for him, like an inmate.

Cleary is a heavy metal fan who has been thrown out of two schools for disruptive behavior, according to the Sun. “Ryan is obsessed with computers. He’s a bit of a geek. That’s all he does, he’s a recluse. He locks himself in his room every day, closes the curtains and spends hours at a time online,” Cleary’s 22-year-old half brother told the Sun.

The British police believe Cleary is a big part of the inner ring of the LulzSec and that his arrest could give vital leads to the hacker group. But LulzSec insists that he is not part of them. “Ryan Cleary is not part of LulzSec; we house one of our many legitimate chatrooms on his IRC server, but that’s it,” LulzSec tweeted. “Clearly the UK police are so desperate to catch us that they’ve gone and arrested someone who is, at best, mildly associated with us. Lame,” the group tweeted.

Under recently revised US laws, Cleary could face up to ten years in jail. He is very likely to be extradited to the US, where according to current laws, first-time hacking offenders can only receive up to a ten year sentence. With the maximum sentence for simple data theft at currently only five years. The Obama administration has urged Congress to pass new laws that would double the maximum sentence hackers could receive.

After fifty days of releasing large amounts information of confidential data, from police units to government departments, CIA, AOL, Sony, and many others, LulzSec announced on its Twitter feed Sunday evening, that it is to disband.

So it appears that the supposed six that are mentioned in their press release as being the ones behind the modern day pirate type group have called it a day.

In a statement via its official Twitter feed this evening:

The support we’ve gathered for it in such a short space of time is truly overwhelming, and not to mention humbling. Please don’t stop. Together, united, we can stomp down our common oppressors and imbue ourselves with the power and freedom we deserve.”

Ok, well what does any of this have to do with Mobile devices or AT&T you still wonder, right?

Well, in their one last and final drop of data they have retrieved (stolen sounds harsh), amongst many other files were documents posted containing technical details about the telecom giant’s rollout of its next-generation wireless technology, commonly known as LTE. Though the information could very well be outdated and obviously never meant for public consumption, it does give some insight into some of the thoughts and ideas they were at least looking at, such as speed and session-based pricing for their upcoming LTE network.

The most interesting and perhaps threatening detail for networks with data cap tiers like Verizon, is that AT&T’s proposed plan is to market LTE data with various speed tiers, which it’s calling “Speed Based Pricing.” Verizon’s about to switch to tiered pricing for its data plans (3G and 4G), but that’s based on total consumption, not speed. The basic idea would be pay more, and you get faster LTE speeds. Not exactly a new concept, cable and satellite companies have been going this route with their Internet access charges for quite some time now, but it could be an interesting change in the mobile space and possibly better then Verizon’s new approach. According to the leaked documents, you could also pay for a session, or temporary speed boost if you need it, which is also becoming more and more common in the broadband market.

Another big detail stumbled upon in the documents is a slide stating the following:

Pre-LTE scenarios: Testing will include iPad new activations HLS using the new rate plan, as well as a regression on netbooks and dongles. During validation E2E execution should ensure all functionality new and current is still functioning properly by validating account set up, provision, usage and notifications.

The LTE-ready iPad, is likely to be the iPad 3 which is expected next year with a higher resolution Retina Display, a faster processor and, according to the leaked documents, 4G LTE connectivity on board.
Another page in the documents supports the numerous rumors surrounding an iPhone 5 release in September. It clearly states that there will be three phases to LTE network deployment: with a potential LTE-ready iPhone 5 releasing in Phase 2, which is right on schedule for the rumored September launch period.

Of course, AT&T likely won’t have LTE available until it unleashes the iPhone 6 in 2012, but it’s still interesting to see where the industry could go by that time.
Any of you have an interest in speed or session based pricing, or are data caps complicated enough already?
Do you see this plan staying on track, even with the T-Mobile merger?

source: LulzSec, ZDnet, ifans

UPDATE: We have a official VZW doc detailing the stats above!

Currently, Verizon Wireless smartphone users with family plans are required to pay $29.99 per line for cellular data. Non-family-plan smartphone customers can purchase unlimited mobile data (with a 5GB allowance) for the same monthly price. That is all about to change when the free hotspot promo ends. Tiered pricing is now set to begin the day after the promotion ends , which is July 7th, for new contract holders. Yes, existing contracts will remain grand-fathered in and not incur any changes until their contract is up for renewal.

Verizon has made it very clear for quite some time now, that the future of its data network is going to be tiered. Late last year, Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg told investors that the company would eventually swap its unlimited option with several data plans somewhat similar to AT&T’s tiered plans.
When speaking at the Reuters Global Technology Summit, Shammo again mentioned the plan and stated they would start offering data tiers instead of the unlimited plan sometime this summer, but once again at this time, he failed to offer any further details on what those tiers would be or how much they will end up costing.

Still, while this is sad news for Verizon’s heavy data users, it may be a positive move for families or even individuals with multiple smartphone or data intensive devices. Verizon CFO Fran Shammo also confirmed that Verizon would try to soften the bad news by stating the company was planning to roll out “family” data plans that could be shared among several devices.

Well the days of tiered data plans is almost here and we now have those details: via droidlife

Data plans:
• 2GB – $30/month
• 5GB – $50/month
• 10GB – $80/month

If you would like to add tethering on to any of those packages, you can purchase 2GB of data at an additional cost of $20 per month.

Data plans w/ tethering:

• 4GB – $50/month
• 7GB – $70/month
• 12GB – $100/month

Overages will be $10 per 1GB.
Tablet data plans will be $30 for 2GB of data, instead of $20 for 1GB of data as it is now.

How does this match up to the competitor?

AT&T’s tiers:

• 200MB – $15/month
• 2GB – $25/month
• 4GB – $45/month

Given that many different devices are now in market and users tend to have various data usage patterns, a family plan shared among several devices might not be a bad idea. A combined data cap could prove more efficient in terms of data utilization as both a low data user and a high data user from the same family can then share the cost and the data.

How do you think family plans will work out?
Do you think the tiered plans will work to your benefit? Why or why not?
Let me know in the comments, how you feel about this move from the carrier.

source: droidlife

Sprint recently announced a new Total Equipment Protection application that is very useful for smartphones if you pay for the TEP insurance plan. If you lose your phone you can locate, lock, clear and restore it all with this application. To give you peace of mind you can restore your information once you recover your handset so don’t think everything is gone forever. This is something Verizon and AT&T have already been successful with so maybe Sprint will be as well.

We haven’t found it in the market yet but you can click here and download it and then place it on your phone. Sprint says it should be showing up starting today for those who pay for TEP.

The application is free and does work with Android and Blackberry devices, again only if you pay for the $7.00 a month TEP protection.

Take a look at the Press Release below:

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The cost to replace a lost mobile device is usually the least of a wireless customer’s worries, especially if he or she is protected by Sprint’s Total Equipment Protection, which provides coverage against loss, theft and damage. The bigger nightmare is the thought that a customer’s personal contacts, photos and other private information could fall into the wrong hands. To help alleviate those fears, Sprint (NYSE: S) customers needing to track down a lost device and protect their personal information can do so now with the launch of a new application called Total Equipment Protection App.*

Sprint customers with Total Equipment Protection will be able to access the new application, beginning today, at www.sprint.com/protection, where they will benefit from the following features:

* Locate lost device by sounding an alarm on the smartphone even if in silent mode, doing a real time locate via GPS technology, or viewing the smartphone’s location history on a map via a Web Interface
* Remotely lock their smartphone
* Erase contacts in the address book on a lost smartphone
* Backup, manage and restore contacts

“Anyone who has lost a phone knows that their personal information is possibly just as vulnerable as if their computer was hacked,” said John Carney, senior vice president of consumer marketing for Sprint. “Now, Sprint customers have peace of mind knowing that their personal and private information is safe. TEP and this accompanying application is a safeguard for customers who want protection from not only loss, but misuse and unauthorized access.”

The Protection App is included at no additional charge as a benefit of Total Equipment Protection plan, which is $7 per month, per line of service. It is available to customers with phones using BlackBerry and Android mobile platforms. TEP customers download and install the user-friendly application at www.sprint.com/protection. Privacy protection is included with the Protection App. Each time the smartphone’s location is requested by the Web interface, an SMS text message is sent to the smartphone notifying it has been located.

Do you currently pay for TEP and own a smartphone? Go on and download the application and let us know what you think. Of course, we know you may not make a claim today but you can at least tell us how much you like the looks, features, etc. Are you with Verizon or AT&T and use their similar apps? Let us know! Leave your comments in the box below.

Source: Engadget via Sprint

**UPDATE** This issue is also being seen in Apple iOS, which to me seems like a way to blow a hole in the “It’s a Microsoft issue only.”  With Android being immue to this issue,  I think it will only be time till more sniffers find issues on other platforms like WebOS, Blackberry (maybe) and many others I believe. This update comes from here.

So we reported a while back ago about Extra Data Usage in Windows Phone 7 that we were going to report back once the “culprit” has been found. Well folks that seems to be today. Microsoft says that Yahoo Email is to blame for all the data usage. Now before we go to deep here let me just state there were VERY few people that seemed effected. It is and was an issue with the Email Client in which Yahoo/Microsoft agreed to fix in a few weeks… WHAT?!?! FEW WEEKS!?!

So what does this mean, who said what, and further more WHAT does that mean to ME? Well folks let’s break it down into terms I hope we can all understand – because let’s face it we are not geeky enough to always understand this stuff. Email servers come in multiple formats, POP, IMAP and Exchange are the most common. Yahoo happens to use IMAP, most of us already know that. The reason that the extra data usage took place was because of “mishandled extra data syncing”. What this really boils down is a LACK of communication between the client (WP7) and the server (Yahoo).

Yahoo has owned up to all issues saying they will fix it in the next few weeks with Microsoft’s help. This being said – it is sad that we as users have to wait till that update is fixed to be able to enjoy syncing with Yahoo to properly not drain our data and our wallets (if you go over your quota). This seems that the issue should be “lumped” in with hte other NoDo Update set to release Feburary time frame. Let’s just hope it really is included and it is sooner than later! Here are some steps to fix the issue as a work around. This was released by Microsoft.

• In the Start screen of Windows Phone 7, click on the arrow at the top right
• Choose “Settings” from the app list
• Choose “Email & Accounts”
• Choose “Yahoo! Mail”
• Click on the setting under “Download new content”
• Select a less frequent setting. If you are using the default setting (every 2 hours), change this setting to ‘manually’
• Click on the setting under “Download email from”
• Select a shorter time range. If you are using the default setting (the last 2 weeks), change this setting to ‘the last 7 days’

Now for Yahoo’s response to all this, yes folks big surprise is that we see finger pointing. Yahoo says that Microsoft is to blame. That it is their IMAP client on the phone that is causing the issue. That they have ten’s of millions of users on all other paltforms and that it does not have issues there – that this is really an OS specific problem and OS fix.

Now I am not defending any point – but I think that instead of pointing fingers at each other they need to get their acts together fix the issue and be happy. It is not who is at fault but rather the customers that are seeing a huge bill at the end of the month. So a warning to you people using Yahoo Email – and syncing to Windows Phone 7 – start watching your bill – and if you are affected do the settings up there to help lessen the blow to your pocket. But people please tell me what you think below in the comments. Does it matter really whose fault it is? Does it really even matter? Should this get “lumped” in with the update of NoDo; or should it be seperate update sooner? Tell us fellow Geeks – we want to hear it all – raves, rants, and thoughts on the issue.

Source: pocketnow.com & wmpoweruser.com & everythingWM.com