3Screens

Bad Taste Dept: AT&T Offers Free Ringtone for Dead Person, Michael Jackson

I'm sorry, but I think this is in pretty bad taste.  Get yours free here.

AT&T 's Randall Stephenson Talks to Walt Mossberg at the All Things Digital Conference. Worth Watching

Randall Stephenson, AT&T Chairman talks at the All Things Digital Conference...  he talks about churn, the impact of the iPhone, the use of data and how AT&T is managing the volumes of data that is being used on devices like the iPhone.

 

Nokia E71x for AT&T Review by Nan Palmero

My buddy, Nan Palmero is cruising the isles at CTIA in Las Vegas on the lookout for cool new gizmos, gadgets and toys that you'll soon be able to get from AT&T.  Here's Nan's demo of the Nokia E71x.

AT&T Demos Hybrid Content Delivery on All Three Screens

If you get past the hype and overlook whatever AT&T has to pony up to pay for the sponsorship of the 2009 Masters, the real deal here is that the phone company as we no longer know it, is demonstrating its ability to deliver hybrid content on three screens.

AT&T announced its complete three-screen coverage of the 2009 Masters Tournament, available on AT&T U-verse^SM TV, the AT&T FanZone (http://fanzone.att.net/) and exclusively on AT&T wireless devices, as well as special 2009 Masters interactive application for all U-verse TV customers.

Under an agreement with the Masters, AT&T will be providing golf fans with extensive live footage and on-demand content from Augusta National across the three screens that matter most to consumers. AT&T wireless customers will also be the only fans with access to live and on-demand Masters programming from their wireless devices with AT&T Mobile TV, MobiTV and Cellular Video (CV) services.

This year, U-verse TV customers will have more ways to follow the tournament with the 2009 Masters app, which features an up to date Leaderboard, player scorecards, stats and bios, news updates, tournament photos, video archives and a course map of Augusta National Golf Club. The U-verse TV interactive app will also give customers the ability to browse a mosaic of channels showing live Masters content at once, and will be available to all U-verse TV customers at no extra charge on channel 619 during the tournament.

 AT&T’s wireless customers can also text GOLF to 21234 to receive customized news alerts on the 2009 Masters Golf Tournament and other golf events. Standard text message rates apply. AT&T wireless customers will also be able to access a top-five Leaderboard available through the AT&T MEdiaTM Net on-device portal.

 All Masters programming will be available to AT&T customers at no additional charge (service and wireless-data-plan subscriptions apply). Content and additional information will also be available on the Masters official Web site, http://www.masters.com. For the complete array of AT&T offerings, visit www.att.com.

How AT&T Got it's Wireless Mojo @ SXSW

Continuing with the story I posted about AT&T delivering the goods by ramping up its service during SXSW, I found this interview over at The Dealio with D'Emilio.

During SXSW, I had a chance to hang out with Chris Hughes and Patrick Asher, and what you see is what you really get.  Chris recently joined AT&T, and  like Chris, Patrick is a Technologist for the company.  Patrick manages their networks.

These guys are passionate and care about what happens when you get 100,000 wired and connected people soaking up bandwidth and putting a network to its test.  At Patrick Asher points out, it took a phone call to John Donovan, AT&T's CTO to make it happen.  And make it happen they did.  Here's their story....

AT&T Delivers as First Responder at SXSW

Yup, there was a hurricane at SXSW in Austin over the weekend that overloaded AT&T's WiFi and Cell Phone service.

Being there, I noticed it was difficult at times to use my iPhone for making phone calls, checking email or posting on Twitter.  

No, it was not a hurricane in the sense of bad weather.

Rather, it was a hurricane of brains, creative types, coders, film makers, web types, with Macs and iPhones in hand that were overloading the network.  At first I thought that AT&T, who was providing the service would have known better that when you mix geeks and bloggers, we stretch the network to the max.

Today it was all good.  

AT&T came through, by tweaking the network and getting things humming again.  So, kudos the AT&T, but... please: for next year, please juice it up starting on day one.

Related media coverage here in the NY Times, Wired, Silicon Alley Insider and of course, all over Twitter...on

Wanna Get Out of Your Spring Contract and Switch to AT&T? Here's How

If you still drool over wanting an iPhone, but are still on contract to Sprint, here's how to get out of your contract!

Info here via the rascals over at Gizmodo

AT&T Completes Acquistion of WayPort: I Got Free WiFi In Lots More Places

Last week, as I was on my mission to get my phone bill's price point reduced, good old AT&T sweetened the deal by closing the deal on their buying Wayport.   So what's that mean to we consumers?

20,000 Free Hot Spots and Counting

So now, we've got 20,000 new places to hang out and get free WiFi giving now giving me 80,000 new free AT&T hotspots, including the  nearly 7,000 company-operated Starbucks locations (give or take the ones that are scaling back.)

At places like McDonalds and Hertz, you'll now get free AT&T WiFi.  For a list of locations, click here.

 

AT&T Lowers My Residential TV/Internet/Phone Bill By Almost 50% By Just Asking. Call And Tell Them Alan Sent You.

I just saved almost 50% on my AT&T U-verse TV / Voice / and Internet service.
 
No, they don't promote this.  And no this is not a bail-out.  And no, this is not part of Mr. Obama's promise of change. 

You just have to call 800-288-2020 and ask for a discount by telling them you are thinking of switching to your local cable or satellite provider.

U-verse Voice went from $35 to $25
U-verse 400 went from $99 to $59
Yahoo Broadband Elite went from $30 to $10

My bill went from $164 to $94 per month by just asking.

Another tactic:  if you're a guy, tell them you're wife thinks you watch too much TV and the family has to save money so AT&T's gotta go.

And if you're a gal, tell them your man done left you--- or just come up with a Jerry Springer like story saying that you gotta cut back on the household overhead.

I am in San Antonio and your market may vary, but press hard and you just might wind up with some pretty amazing savings. I did not cut back on services.

Note:  the deal they offered was only for six months.  I told them to note it on my record that I was going to call back in May to ask for the same thing again.

Tell them Alan from 3Screens sent you.

Share your story with me with comment on the blog or email:  alan at weinkrantz dot com.

How To Save Money with Your iPhone When You Roam Overseas

While AT&T offers international roaming plans for the iPhone, you can rack up a huge bill without knowing it.... until you get home and get the bill.

The problem with AT&T's billing plans is that for $24.99 you get 20MB of Data, or $59.99 for 50MB, or $119.99 for 100 MB, or $199.99 for 200 MB. 

Sounds good, but how do you know how much data you are really sucking up?

My Suggestion:  Don't Pay for Roaming.   This is not all AT&T's fault.  They have to pay reciprocal carriers for airtime and for some reason, when your iPhone sucks up data, they gotta pay the local carrier and in turn you gotta pay AT&T.

Here's How To Save:

1.  Turn Data Roaming "OFF."  Always make sure you have downloaded the latest version of iTunes for your iPhone and when you get to the SETTINGS button, be sure you turn the data roaming "ON/OFF" button on Settings>General>Network>Data Roaming.

2.  Use WiFi Instead of 3G/GPRS/EDGE.  WiFi is readily available in many of the international airports, hotels, bars and cafes which you can use to check email and browse the web.  I did this when I was in Israel in March and it worked just fine.

3.  Turn Fetch New Data "Off."  Check your email and sync your contacts and calendars manually rather than having the phone do it for you.

To engage this features tap on Settings>Fetch New Data>, Change Push to "OFF" and Select "Fetch Manually."

4.  AT&T tries to promote their global data packages.  Don't buy them.  You will have to micro-manage and figure out how much data you have used.  And when you are traveling, it's sometimes good to just shut things off and enjoy your travels, even if it's for business. 

Do you have any AT&T global data billing horror stories to share?  Comment below.

Photo by Alan Weinkrantz (c) 2008 - Shot on location on the beach promenade in Tel Aviv