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Free calls to Haiti, where to watch benefit concert

January 22nd, 2010, 5:13 pm by

Hope for Haiti NowWith all the rain in Orange County this week, it’s hard to believe that the devastating earthquake in Haiti was just last week.  Donations continued to pour in this week via text messages, plus there’s tonight’s “Hope for Haiti Now” benefit concert for the country.

Here’s a round up of what local TV and wireless services are doing:

Cox Communications: Waiving fees on international long-distance calls to Haiti (country code 509) through Feb. 28. This is retroactive to Jan. 12. The Cox Foundation also donated $250,000 to relief efforts. See press release.

Time Warner Cable: Waiving fees on international long-distance calls to Haiti through end of February, retroactive to Jan. 12. This applies only to direct-dial calls and not calls made through an operator. See press release.

AT&T: Waived fees on calls to Haiti numbers. Also letting customers watch  tonight’s “Hope for Haiti Now” telethon on their phones, U-verse TV or web. To watch on a phone, go to AT&T Mobile TV on MTV’s MediaFlo channel. U-verse subscribers can tune in to the major networks and MTV for the performance. Online, the event will be streamed at entertainment.att.net. Wireless customers can also donate $10 to Red Cross International Relief Fund by texting the word “HAITI” to 90999.

Sprint: Waiving texting fees to Haiti through Jan. 31. Customers donated $3.1 million to the effort, as of Jan. 19, by texting “HAITI” to 90999.

T-Mobile: Waiving international long-distance fees through Jan. 31 and dropping fee to text “HAITI” at 90999 to donate $10. Customers donated $3 million, as of Jan. 19. T-Mobile and its parent company have  also donated $250,000 to the effort.

Verizon: Waiving international long-distance calling fees plus offering a live broadcast of the relief concert to mobile users who have access to VCAST Video on their phones. See press release. Verizon users can also text the word “HAITI” to 90999. So far, the company has collected $4.84 million in text donations. Verizon also has a page dedicated to the Haiti relief effort with information on several organizations accepting donations. Click HERE.

Tonight’s benefit concert includes singers Madonna, Jay-Z, George Clooney and Haiti native Wyclef Jean. It airs at 8 p.m. tonight on the following channels:

ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1, CMT, PBS, TNT, Showtime, Comedy Central, Bravo, E! Entertainment, National Geographic Channel, Oxygen, G4, CENTRIC, Current TV, Fuse, MLB Network, EPIX, Palladia, SoapNet, Style, Discovery Health, Planet Green, CNN en Español, HBO Latino and Canadian networks, including CBC Television, CTV, Global Television and MuchMusic.

Posted in: news • • • • • • • • • • • | Comments Off

AT&T on a roll, improves cell reception in 5 more cities

January 21st, 2010, 3:24 pm by

AT&T WirelessAnother slew of cell sites are up and running in Orange County that improve iPhone and 3G cell reception for AT&T customers. The new sites, which come one week after 6 others in O.C. were turned on, mean better wireless coverage in those areas. So speak up with a comment below if you notice a difference.

The new sites are near these intersections:

  • Dana Point: Near the intersection of Camino Del Avion and Golden Lantern St.
  • Santa Ana: Near the intersection of S. Grand Ave. and McFadden Ave.
  • Orange: Near the 55 Freeway and E. Katella Ave.
  • Huntington Beach: Near the intersection of Bolsa Chica Street and Heil Ave.
  • Anaheim: Near the intersection of Van Buren St. and La Palma Ave.
They are among 20 new sites announced today. Other cities getting better reception include Los Angeles, Glendale, Woodland Hills, Encino, Covina, Rialto, Cherry Valley, Beaumont, Montclair, Paso Robles, Ontario, and Rancho Cucamonga

All of AT&T’s 3G cell sites have been upgraded to HSPA 7.2 software, which means faster mobile Internet if you have an HSPA device. Think 7.2 mbps!

This isn’t the next generation 4G service being tested by Verizon and Sprint in other parts of the country. This is High Speed Packet Access 7.2, sometimes called Turbo 3G. AT&T’s plans to begin testing 4G (using Long Term Evolution technology, or LTE) next year and will offer 4G service in 2011.

HSPA requires a software upgrade. This is supported by souped-up cell sites, which are being linked by fiber-optic cables for to improve speeds. But each site must be activated so it’s an ongoing project. Orange County and Los Angeles was picked as one of six markets that will get the faster Internet speeds first. AT&T won’t what chunk of our area can already use the faster speeds but the company confirmed that activation has begun  in Orange County. AT&T expects the majority of mobile traffic will utilize the new technology by the end of the year.

Earlier on AT&T and HSPA:

Recent mobile news:

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • • • • • • | 41 Comments »

Latest trend in mobile phone service: Unlimited plans

January 18th, 2010, 8:59 am by

mobilephoneNew unlimited wireless plans begin today from the nation’s largest mobile providers: Verizon Wireless and AT&T.

Instead of the usual “unlimited” calling to people on the same network, these two companies will now offer unlimited calls to any phone number nationwide.

Rivals T-Mobile and Sprint already offer something similar. Sprint began offering “Any Mobile Anytime” in September allowing subscribers to the plan to call any number outside the Sprint network, as long as it was a mobile phone. T-Mobile unveiled a more complete version of unlimited plans last year.

Mobile phone services have evolved greatly in the past few years. From T-Mobile launching its “Fave 5″ — allowing users to call any five numbers as much as they want — to allowing customers to call any number any time. The mobile carriers are being forced to evolve due to competition from prepaid companies like MetroPCS and Boost Mobile and upcoming competition from cable TV companies like Cox.

It looks like consumers can look forward to the end of overage fees and minute counting.

But how much are they? And what’s the catch? Most still require a two-year contract and, of course, the price is much higher than it used to be. I’ve compiled a chart of the big four mobile services so it’s easier to see how much everything costs.

Unlimited plans Verizon AT&T T-Mobile Sprint
Talk $69.99 $69.99 $59.99
Talk/Text $89.99 $89.99 $69.99
Family Talk (2 lines) $119.99 $119.99 $99.99
Family Talk/Text (2 lines) $149.99 $149.99 $119.99
3G smartphone voice/data $99.99 $99.99 $89.99
3G smartphone voice/data/text $119.99 $119.99 $99.99 $99.99*
Family smartphone voice/data (2 lines) $179.99 $159.99
Family smartphone voice/data/text (2 lines) $209.99 $179.99 $189.99*

*Sprint’s plan includes unlimited calls to mobile numbers only, not all numbers.

I’ll review the prepaid companies unlimited offerings in a later post.

Previously on unlimited plans:

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • • | 27 Comments »

Are AT&T subscribers the most generous?

January 14th, 2010, 5:33 pm by

Earthquake in HaitiInteresting note: By simply texting the word “HAITI” to #90999, mobile phone customers everywhere donated $5.2 million to the Red Cross International Haiti earthquake relief effort. That’s in the past 24 hours, according to data from data obtained by AT&T from  mGive, a mobile donation site.

AT&T just let me know that of that amount, its own subscribers donated $2.63 million or half of the total.

Not that anyone is counting…

Sprint also announced that its subscribers have donated $882,000 to the relief effort. Sprint added that the money can be donated to more than just the Red Cross:

  • Text “HAITI” to “90999” to donate $10 on behalf of the American Red Cross.
  • Text “YELE” to “501501” to donate $5 on behalf of The Yéle Haiti Foundation.
  • Text “HAITI” to “20222” to donate $10 on behalf of The William J. Clinton Foundation.
  • Text “HAITI” to “85944” to donate $10 on behalf of the Rescue Union Mission and MedCorp International.
  • Text “HAITI” to “25383” to donate $5 on behalf of the Internal Rescue Committee.

Every mobile carrier has jumped into the game, telling subscribers that they too can donate $10 to the Red Cross. Some still charge for the actual text, but T-Mobile said it is waiving texting fees. The donation is charged to a user’s cell phone bill.

See earlier story:

Posted in: Cell phones • news • • • • • • • • • • | 4 Comments »

AT&T improves iPhone 3G coverage in 6 O.C. spots

January 14th, 2010, 3:05 pm by

AT&T WirelessLocal iPhone users rejoice: AT&T has added 26 more 3G cell sites in the area, including six in Orange County.

The cell sites should improve wireless coverage for 3G phone users indoors and out.  In Orange County, the new sites are near these intersections:

  • Anaheim: Near the intersection of Stage Coach Road and Nohl Ranch Road
  • Anaheim: Near the intersection of W. Lincoln Ave. and N. Gilbert St.
  • Anaheim: Near the intersection of Gene Autry Way and State College Blvd.
  • Placentia: Near the intersection of S. Fee Ana Street and Orangethorpe Ave.
  • Santa Ana: Near the intersection of Newport Blvd. and Rockhurst Ave.
  • Garden Grove: Near the intersection of Garden Grove Blvd. and Magnolia St.

Does this affect you? Comment below and tell AT&T if these areas are really better, or tell them what intersection to hit next.

Nationwide, AT&T has been upgrading cell sites everywhere to get ready for even faster Internet, called High-Speed Packet Access or HSPA 7.2. The faster speeds are scheduled to begin later this year and next year.

Other Southern California cities included in the batch of new 3G cell sites include the following: Los Angeles, Ontario, Glendale, Santa Fe Springs, Calabasas, Northridge, Corona, Rialto, Redlands, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Bakersfield and Oxnard.

More on cell coverage in Orange County:

Posted in: Cell phones • iPhone • • • • • • • • • | 49 Comments »

Donate to Haiti earthquake relief effort by texting

January 13th, 2010, 3:49 pm by

Earthquake in Haiti

UPDATE, Jan. 14, 2009: T-Mobile is also waiving international long-distance charges on calls to Haiti through Jan. 31. Customers in Haiti using roaming partner Voila and Digicel will also have charges waived. T-Mobile also is waiving fees to text a donation (see below) to help relief efforts.

————————–

At least two groups are accepting donations via text to support the Haiti relief effort after today’s earthquake.

By texting the word “HAITI” to 90999, $10 will be donated to Red Cross International Relief. One hundred percent of the money will be donated to the Red Cross. Standard text messaging rates may apply and the $10 will be charged to your phone bill, AT&T said. (Update: This is true for T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Sprint and other wireless carriers as well). Customers will get a confirmation message within minutes and must reply with ‘yes’ to complete the donation.

UPDATE: Here is the White House statement from the White House blog: Thoughts and Prayers for Haiti

Separately, musician and Haiti native Wyclef Jean of The Fugees fame, has set up a fund to help the people of Haiti. By texting “YELE” to 501501, $5 will be donated. You can also donate larger amounts at Yele’s website.

Read more Register coverage of the earthquake:

Posted in: news • • • • • • • | 7 Comments »

AT&T improves reception in Cypress and Laguna Niguel

December 8th, 2009, 5:46 pm by

AT&T WirelessIt’s time for the monthly cell-phone reception update from AT&T. This month, the lucky winners are the cities of Cypress and Laguna Niguel. Both cities received a new 3G cell site, offering improved reception for AT&T mobile subscribers.

To collect the prize, city residents or anyone passing through, should notice better reception when near these intersections:

  • Lincoln Avenue and Valley View Street  in Cypress
  • Beacon Hill Way and Niguel Road in Laguna Niguel

Both are 3G cell sites, which means faster downloads and Web browsing.

AT&T even has this message for Orange County customers:

“We have a long history of investing in our network throughout Orange County to improve the quality of service we provide to our customers,” said Richard Porras, AT&T External Affairs, Orange County, in a press release. “Our customers will experience enhanced wireless coverage and an improved user experience as a direct result of the activation of this new cell site.”

Outside of Orange County, AT&T added nine new cell sites in the greater Los Angeles area. The additions are part of the 320 site upgrades to 3G plus 200 brand new cell sites AT&T is adding in California this year.

More on cell reception in Orange County:

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • • • | 4 Comments »

iPhone service outage? There’s an app for that

December 8th, 2009, 8:37 am by

AT&T Mark the Spot app to report reception issues.Noted: AT&T has been criticized heavily for poor reception among iPhone 3G wireless users. Now, the company wants iPhone users to help them detect weaknesses. With an app.

The free AT&T Mark the Spot app allows customers to notify the company when they’re in a bum area. The customer just presses a button to indicate the nature of the issue, adds notes and sends it to AT&T. You can download the app from iTunes HERE.

While AT&T is on track to invest $17 billion to $18 billion in its wireless network, the company said that using crowd sourcing to determine network weaknesses will speed up improvements.

Of course by offering such an app, AT&T is getting reamed by some users:

“You have no service from AT&T and you’re supposed to notify AT&T of no service on AT&T with an app that needs AT&T service to let them know there’s no service on AT&T? What’s wrong with this picture?” was one of many similar user comments.

Still, at least AT&T is putting itself out there. And one independent testing firm says that AT&T’s reputation for an inferior network is just perception. Perhaps AT&T should add a feature to the app to that informs users when the location is fixed or upgraded?

At the moment, the service is only for iPhone customers but AT&T said versions for other smartphones are expected in coming months.

Earlier stories on cell phone services:

Posted in: Apple mania • iPhone • Video & TV • • • • • • • | Comments Off

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