Apple has released an updated version iOS 5.1.1, build 9B208, for the iPhone 4 GSM/AT&T model. There doesn't appear to be any information from Apple on what triggered the new build, though it's possible some very specific bug or glitch was identified and fixed. If it was incredibly minor, Apple would likely just have filed it away for next time. If it was incredibly major, Apple would likely have pushed it out as new update to ensure every user got it.

As it is, if you've already updated to iOS 5.1.1 you won't see the new version popup as an over-the-air (OTA) update, or as available in iTunes. If you haven't already updated, you'll be offered this new version when you do. To force an update from the previous iOS 5.1.1 build to this one, you'll have to restore to it in iTunes. (And really, there's almost certainly no reason to do that.)

iOS 5.1.1 was originally released on Monday, May 7. As of May 15, almost 74% of iMore readers had already updated to iOS 5.1.1. Today, one of the major reasons many had waited, an untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.1.1, was released.

• How to manually update to iOS 5.1.1 over-the-air (OTA)
• how to set up, back up, restore, and update using iCloud
• iOS 5 Forum

The annual Millward Brown BrandZ survey was released recently, with Apple holding fast to its number one spot. Apple's brand worth for 2012 actually grew 19% since last year to $183 billion, followed by IBM with $116 billion brand worth, and Google which dropped a down a rank. It's worth noting that telecom and tech brands claimed about 44% of the top 100 chart's value, compared to a third in 2006. Among the carriers, AT&T still claimed a higher brand value than Verizon, but Verizon has a lot more forward momentum. The Brandz survey spanned over 380 categories, and was generated after over 65,000 different brand measurements in 41 countries.

It's not a huge surprise to see Apple's brand value so high, and one would expect the trend to continue well into next year. In fact, the effectiveness of Apple's branding has gotten to the point where competitors can't help but attack the cult-ish mindset in courts. Apple has created an iconic brand with no small help from their marketing efforts, retail locations, and not to mention world-class products. In fact, at this point it's hard to imagine many other companies being able to command the same clout among the masses as Apple has. Seriously, what could other manufacturers even do to  recreate the same kind of mystique as Apple without just looking like a copycat?

Brand value has real tangible returns, and isn't just an indicator of how good Apple is at marketing itself; UBS Research showed not long ago that iPhone users are overwhelmingly the most likely to stick with Apple for their next device out of every smartphone manufacturer. That's part and parcel of having a strong brand.

You can download the full BrandZ 2012 report here, which is actually really, really detailed. Included are a bunch of interesting editorials on marketing across a variety of industries and regional trends.

Source: Reuters

Just in case we needed any more convincing that people love their iPhones, the American Customer Satisfaction Index has found through recent surveys that Apple's smartphones are leaving customers the happiest. The iPhone scored 83 on their system, compared to to Nokia, LG and HTC who are all tied at 75, Motorola at 73, Samsung at 71, and RIM at a sad 69. The ACSI also looked at U.S. service providers. Topping the list were regional carriers like U.S. Cellular with 76, then Sprint with 71, followed by Verizon with 70, and AT&T and T-Mobile tied at 69.

Lots of other studies have consistently backed up customer satisfaction for the iPhone, but it's always interesting to see just how much of a lead Apple has on the competition. The fact that the competition is nearly ten points suggests it will take a whole lot of work to bring Android and the other platforms up to snuff with iOS.

Do these rankings stack up with the sentiment you see among friends? Is Sprint really ahead of the other three major U.S. carriers?

Source: ACSI via Wired

AT&T Mobility's CEO Ralph de la Vega recently confirmed that he's "very comfortable" with a family data plan they're readying. This would allow multiple devices and accounts to share the same data bucket, much like existing family plans for voice minutes. de la Vega didn't offer any details on time or pricing, but with Verizon getting ready to offer something by the middle of the year, odds are we'll see AT&T step up to the plate sooner than later.

Do you guys have a lot of iPhones and iPads under one roof that could benefit from a shared data bucket? How much would you be willing to pay for it to be worthwhile? For reference, AT&T currently charges $10 per line after the first two on top of the cost for shared voice minutes, which start at $60.

Source: CNET

AT&T has announced a new home security and automation service called Digital Life that comes with an iPad and iPhone app with a bunch of security and remote control options. With it, you can change the temperature, switch the lights, manage the alarm system, control the window blinds, shut off the water main, and even remotely unlock doors. Here's the full feature list:

• Professional installation of the platform, sensors and other devices
• Integrated, wirelessly enabled platform that combines home security and automation capabilities
• AT&T owned and operated 24/7 security monitoring centers
• A state-of-the-art user interface application, which allows customers to customize a solution based on individual needs, and the ability to manage and control their services from the U.S. or while traveling abroad
• The option to experience and purchase the service in AT&T’s distribution channels, including AT&T company-owned retail stores. The service will also be made available for purchase on att.com when available commercially.
• The ability to add more features and services after the initial installation, hassle free

Trials for the system are kicking off in Atlanta and Dallas over the summer. Want to sign up? Hit the link below.

Source: AT&T's Digital Life registration page

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson recently spoke at the Milken Institute's Global Conference, where he voiced his regret for offering unlimited data when the iPhone first came out, and indicated that he worries how apps like iMessage bite into AT&T's traditional messaging revenue streams. Regardless, Stephenson still attributed the iPhone for kick-starting the mobile data business; what's really worth listening to starts at 4:41 in the video, where Stephen describes the story of how the Apple and AT&T exclusive partnership coalesced some two years before it actually came out. He goes on to describe how data usage exploded 20,000% from 2008 when the App Store launched to 2011. Here's what Stephenson had to say specifically about unlimited data and iMessage.

My only regret was how we introduced pricing in the beginning, because how did we introduce pricing? Thirty dollars and you get all you can eat. And it’s a variable cost model. Every additional megabyte you use in this network, I have to invest capital.

You lie awake at night worrying about what is that which will disrupt your business model. Apple iMessage is a classic example. If you’re using iMessage, you’re not using one of our messaging services, right? That’s disruptive to our messaging revenue stream. Although it's less of an issue now, I wonder if Stephenson was more okay with BBM than iMessage, since they got an additional cut from BlackBerry data. Speaking of which, Stephenson also talked a bit about the spectrum crunch and limited bandwidth, which are both issues which RIM's old CEOs aggressively tried to address. Stephenson says that the next block of 50 MHz (which is next to nothing compared to AT&T's demands) will take six to eight years to fully bring into the cellular world.

Here's the full interview, if you've got an hour to kill. It's a really interesting talk, and adds a lot of perspective to the iPhone's early days, as well a bunch of important issues in the wireless industry overall.

Walmart is set to cut the price of the iPhone 4 to $114 on contract and the 8 GB iPhone 4 to $34 according to these price cards and their internal pricing console. These are $54 and $74 price drops respectively, but it doesn't seem like many (if any) Walmarts have pulled the trigger on the new pricetags just yet.

While the price cut isn't a huge deal in and of itself, it does suggest that a new iPhone is right around the corner. We're expecting the iPhone 5 to drop in the fall, but if Walmart is already trying to clear out old iPhone stock, maybe we'll see the next iOS smartphone sooner than later.

It's a little curious that it seems like these price cuts are just for the AT&T version; maybe Verizon and Sprint models will be included with this slash goes into effect, but it's tricky to say at this point. Anyone want to take bets about a new iPhone being announced at WWDC, or are we just going to see iOS 6?

Source: Cult of Mac

UPDATE: Aaaaand it turned out to be a pricing error. Carry on, as you were.

A fresh study by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners sows that Walmart sells 11% of all iPads in the U.S. By comparison, Best Buy sells 24%, Apple sells 26%, Amazon sells 8%, and AT&T and Verizon sell 1% each.  This data has been gleaned by a survey done in February of anyone who has bought an iPad in the last 90 days.

This is  noteworthy because there has been a lot of talk about Apple launching a store within a store initiative at the big box retail chain. This is good news for anyone who lives far away from an Apple store, and will just be plain convenient for those who don't feel like going on a trip. Of course, there are a lot of people who feel this is lowering the classiness of Apple products, but I think most of us can appreciate the convenience of an official Apple outlet in Walmart stores.

Quick show of hands - how many of you have bought an iPad at Walmart? How many of you would put the convenience of doing your Apple business at a Wal-Mart ahead of the polished experience of doing it at a proper Apple store?

Source: BusinessInsider

Carriers have a love/hate relationship with the iPhone. They hate Apple's control (because they want that control for themselves) but love the money and customer-retention having the iPhone on their network brings them. Sprint's willingness to pay damn near all the money in their pockets, and delve into whatever passes for a corporate second mortgage, proves that that point.

AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint sell Android because they want to. They sell iPhone because they have to.

Apple isn't exactly easy to deal with. Android gives carriers far more control, generally requires far less up front investment (in terms of subsidies), and promises a thus far inexhaustible cornucopia of new devices to thrust at consumers on a seemingly weekly basis. It just doesn't generate the revenue or reduce customer churn the way the iPhone does.

They tried. They really did. Verizon pushed the Droid and Sprint pushed the Palm Pre and the EVO. They had successes to be sure, especially in sheer volume of units sold. But they never came anywhere near iPhone levels of profit or customer loyalty. And at the end of the day, even for carriers, that's what matters.

Not that you'd know it by looking at their websites. Go to Verizon.com or AT&T.com or Sprint.com and iPhones have little to no home page presence and remarkably little wireless site presence.

Verizon's home page features the eye of Sauron the Droid. Their wireless page does have the iPhone in the first of three small blocks at the bottom, but the massive feature boxes are filled almost entirely by Android. There's even a token BlackBerry thrown into the mix. But no iPhone.

This despite Verizon selling 3.2 million iPhones last quarter, accounting for more than half the smartphones they sold (i.e. the iPhone outsold all Android and other smartphones combined.)

AT&T's home page is all about Windows Phone and Android, with Nokia grabbing one of the hero slides and HTC and Samsung getting the other two. On their wireless page Nokia repeats in the spotlight, with Android and cheapy phones playing backup. There's no iPhone in sight.

Yet AT&T sold 4.3 million iPhones last quarter, which was 75% of all the smartphones they sold, and 60% of all the on-contract phones AT&T sold period (including feature phones).

Sprint's home page has the iPhone in the third of four feature spots, and the fourth of four bottom blocks. They don't have a separate wireless page, so their home page does double duty.

Still, Sprint managed to sell 1.5 million iPhones last quarter. They don't break out how many smartphones in general they sold, however, so there's no way to calculate the iPhone's percentage of total sales.

And that's just in the U.S. Internationally, Apple sold over 20 million iPhones. Rogers in Canada reported 35% more iPhone activations, year-over-year, compared to just 20% more smartphone activations overall. (And their home page features Android and Windows Phone, and iPad, and their wireless page shows an iPhone only in a block advertising their Find my iPhone-like Phone Finder service.)

So with little attention, ad spend, and product placement, Apple's iPhone still accounts for most of the carriers smartphone -- if not all phone -- sales, and reduces their customer churn. And that probably drives them up-the-wall crazy.

Apple, who doesn't let them festoon the iPhone with their revolting logos, clog it up with their dodgy crapware, allow them to delay or refuse software updates, or arbitrarily alter casing designs, and charges them among the highest up-front prices of any manufacturer in the industry, is increasingly responsible for their financial and customer success.

And it doesn't even have LTE (yet) or a ginormous screen (likely ever).

If carriers had their druthers, manufacturers -- including Apple -- would be little more than dumb assemblers (much as, if customers had their druthers, carriers would be little more than dumb pipes). Yet as much as Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint would far, far prefer to sell the always amenable Android, customers, increasingly, want iPhone. So carriers increasingly have to deal with Apple. Even if they continue to try to find viable alternatives.

That's why carriers will never go all-in on iPhone promotion. They don't want to become entirely dependent on Apple (or any one platform). It's in their best interest to have several, highly competitive platforms on the market that they can hedge with, and against.

Still, it's interesting to imagine a market where carrier manipulation didn't influences the market. Free to compete strictly on customers and merits, would smartphones be more like tablets, and would the iPhone have the same relative positions as iPad does to Android tablets, BlackBerry PlayBook, and the like? The same position the iPod had in the carrier-free MP3 space?

Back on April 8th, AT&T started a new unlock policy that gave iPhone users the ability to have their devices unlocked via the carrier as stated in the following statement.

Beginning Sunday, April 8, we will offer qualifying customers the ability to unlock their AT&T iPhones. The only requirements are that a customer's account must be in good standing, their device cannot be associated with a current and active term commitment on an AT&T customer account, and they need to have fulfilled their contract term, upgraded under one of our upgrade policies or paid an early termination fee.

Well, it has been almost three weeks now, so we decided to check in with the iMore forums and see how things were going. Was it easy? Was it difficult? Was it simply confusing?

One of the most interesting stories came from forum member xandermac, who said his back and forth with AT&T might just have caused them to change their unlocking policy.

Basically, there's been some confusion around contract buyouts and if you could still keep AT&T service after paying your early termination fee. In some cases, AT&T figured if you wanted out, you wanted all the way out. Xandermac did not, he simply wanted his unlock.

Basically, Xandermac was in need of a easy solution to have his iPhone 4S unlocked for travel, but still on AT&T for home use. After email AT&T's CEO, he was escalated to the Office of the President, and granted the ability to pay his early termination fee, keep his current service, and have his device unlocked to be used out of the country.

For a lot of other interesting stories involving the first few weeks of officially unlocked AT&T iPhones, and to share your stories, jump into our AT&T forums!

This morning AT&T issued their Q1 2012 financial results, where they casually mentioned that of the 5.5 million smartphones sold, 4.3 million were iPhones (and 21% were new to AT&T). Though they didn't mention exactly how many Android phones were sold by comparison, it would be under 1.2 million, assuming they sold a negligible number of BlackBerry and Windows Phone handsets. Even among other carriers, AT&T is doing pretty well.

>"We continue to capitalize on our terrific momentum in mobile Internet," said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and chief executive officer. "Smartphone and branded computing device sales continue to set a record pace, mobile data revenues were up nearly 20 percent, and we achieved this growth with expanding margins. These results add confidence in our outlook for the year."

>- $0.60 diluted EPS compared to $0.57 diluted EPS in the first quarter of 2011 >- Consolidated revenues of $31.8 billion, up $575 million, or 1.8 percent, versus the year-earlier period >- Wireless operating income margin up to 27.2 percent; wireless EBITDA service margin up significantly to 41.6 percent even with strong smartphone sales >- More than $2 billion in stock buybacks; 67.7 million shares repurchased >- AT&T's growth engines — wireless, wireline data and managed services — represented 78 percent of total revenues and grew 6.2 percent versus the same quarter a year ago, led by: >- 19.9 percent growth in wireless data revenues, up more than $1 billion versus the year-earlier quarter >- 19.0 percent growth in strategic business services revenues >- 38.2 percent growth in consumer U-verse revenues >- Smartphone sales of 5.5 million, exceeding the previous first-quarter record, with about 30 percent of all postpaid smartphone subscribers on 4G-capable devices >- 726,000 total wireless net adds, with gains in every customer category >- Postpaid wireless churn of 1.1 percent, lowest level in seven quarters >- Record first-quarter branded computing (tablets, tethering plans, etc.) net adds of 460,000 to reach a total of 5.8 million, up almost 70 percent versus a year ago >- Postpaid wireless subscriber ARPU (average monthly revenues per subscriber), up 1.7 percent to $64.46

AT&T also managed to outsell rival Verizon, who pushed 3.2 million iPhones, and 21% of iPhone buyers were new AT&T subscribers. Despite being a 43% drop compared to Q4, when the iPhone 4S launched, this was a record first quarter for AT&T's smartphone sales, and it's thanks in no small part to the iPhone.

It's not surprising see the iPhone 4S still selling so well, despite being at mid-point in its product cycle. The iPhone has traditionally sold stronger, longer than any other handset on the market.

When asked which carrier shoppers would be interested in siding with should an LTE iPhone be launched this fall, the line was pretty evenly split between AT&T and Verizon among our forum-goers. Of course, that's a ways off, and might give AT&T enough time to catch up to Verizon's LTE coverage.

Source: AT&T, pic

AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint have agreed to create a shared database of stolen cellphones in order to lock them down and reduce resale value. Once a phone is identified as stolen, carriers would be able to block it from getting service from any of the service providers. Over the next six months,  AT&T and T-Mobile will develop databases like the ones Sprint and Verizon already have in place, then in the following year, they'll all be integrated, and smaller regional carriers will follow suit afterwards. We all know that the iPhone is a hot commodity in the shady crowd, and with LTE becoming more prevalent, it makes simply unlocking a phone and popping in a new SIM card very easy.

It's entirely possible that anyone unwittingly buying a stolen iPhone may be unfairly cut off from service, but at least this shared database should deter anyone from knowingly purchasing burgled handsets. If SIM cards are going to be tied to particular devices, this system also has the potential to block legitimate SIM-swapping, but the details of the shared database have yet to be nailed down.

Research data shows that of the 26,000 electronics robberies in New York in the first 10 months of 2011, 86% were of cellphones.

The U.K., France, Germany, and Australia are already implementing something like this, and have seen some reasonable success in reducing phone theft. Apple's Find my iPhone app has already proven useful in recovering stolen iOS gadgets, but it's not enough if a thief is wily enough to keep it powered down before popping out the SIM card. That said, do the pros of a shared database of stolen iPhones outweigh the potential con of further-restricted SIM card slot?

Source: WSJ

It sounds like off-contract iPhones aren't the only ones AT&T has begun to officially unlock -- they're also quietly offering unlocks to on-contract members of the US Armed Forces on active deployment. MacRumors says they've confirmed what's taking place.

Carriers are required by federal law to suspend service without penalty for deployed military personnel upon presentation of their military orders, but AT&T is not required to unlock the phones of deployed service members. Instead, the company is choosing to do that on its own.

AT&T wouldn't comment on the story. If you're a member of the US Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marines and you're on deployment, and want your iPhone unlocked, give AT&T Customer Service a call.

Source: MacRumors

Members of the iMore nation started hitting AT&T yesterday, the moment the previously announced official unlocks for iPhone became available, and so far the results have been successful but mixed. Forum member Irish Rose reports a successful iPhone 4 unlock, tested and working on T-Mobile EDGE. Reader Juan Tarrio, however, was told his iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G unlocks would require approval and that he'd hear back by April 16.

Once AT&T has entered your iPhone IMEI number into Apple's database, you'll receive the following email confirmation:

Thank you for contacting AT&T Customer Care about your unlocking your iPhone.

We have reviewed your request and determined you are eligible to have the requested iPhone unlocked.

To complete the unlock simply:

1. Open iTunes on your Mac or PC and verify that you have internet connectivity

2. Connect your iPhone using the dock connector to USB cable that came with your iPhone

3. Backup and restore your iPhone using iTunes

Note: Since the unlock process requires your iPhone be restored via iTunes, that means it will remove any jailbreak you might currently have on the device. If you were only jailbroken in order to be unlocked, that won't matter and you can go ahead and restore to your heart's content. If you have an iPhone 4S and have been holding back on iOS 5.1 until a nicely packaged, untethered jailbreak is released, you may want to hold off on restoring, or do without your jailbreak for a while.

Did you get your iPhone officially unlocked by AT&T? Was it immediate or were you told to wait? Did you get denied? Jump into our forums and let us know how it went.

AT&T is slowly but surely -- very slowly but very surely, it seems -- expanding their LTE (Long Term Evolution) rollout to include Bloomington and Muncie Indiana, and Bryan-College Station Texas. (Google Maps them!)

In terms of Apple devices, LTE is currently only available for the new iPad, but is rumored to be coming to the next generation iPhone this fall. Granted, these aren't major markets, but Cleveland, Akron and Canton, Ohio, Lafayette, Indiana, Baton Rouge and New Orleans Louisiana, St. Louis Missouri, and Staten Island, N.Y are set to follow some time this summer.

And every little bit helps, right?

If you're on AT&T LTE, make sure you jump into our forums and show us what your speed looks like.

As promised, AT&T has begun unlocking qualified, off-contract iPhones. iMore forum member iPhonejunkie3 reports that the process wasn't swift, but it was effective:

Today, 4/8/12, I called AT&T to unlock my contract free 3GS. Took 30 minutes on T's end to get the unlock code, and only 5 minutes to perform a backup and restore via iTunes. Interestingly enough, the phone number shows as NA in the iTunes screen. Same IMEI and ICCID if you click on the same spot.

According to AT&T, the requirements to receive an official unlock are:

A customer’s account must be in good standing, their device cannot be associated with a current and active term commitment on an AT&T customer account, and they need to have fulfilled their contract term, upgraded under one of our upgrade policies or paid an early termination fee.

AT&T enters to iPhone's IMEI number into Apple's database and the next time the iPhone is connected to iTunes, Apple will authorize and perform the unlock. It's an unusual but fairly straightforward process.

Again, kudos to AT&T for seeing the light and providing this service to their customers.

If you're calling AT&T today to request your official iPhone unlock, jump into our forums and let us know how it goes for you.

AT&T has announced that they've put in place an official policy for unlocking off-contract iPhones. This comes after the office of Apple CEO Tim Cook intervened several times to get AT&T to unlock off-contract iPhones, and iMore among others wondered very loudly why this couldn't simply be their default practice. 9to5Mac has the official statement:

Beginning Sunday, April 8, we will offer qualifying customers the ability to unlock their AT&T iPhones. The only requirements are that a customer’s account must be in good standing, their device cannot be associated with a current and active term commitment on an AT&T customer account, and they need to have fulfilled their contract term, upgraded under one of our upgrade policies or paid an early termination fee.”

Kudos to AT&T for listening and doing what's in the best interests of their customers. We're quick to pile upon the backs of the carriers all our frustration and all anger, and would that glares were lasers we'd likely fry them. So when they do good, they deserve an equal amount of encouragement and support.

Cheers, AT&T!

So who's unlocking come April 8?

Georgia, Seth, and Rene discuss the official iMore app, Google's Project Glass, AT&T iPhone unlocks, Nokia's asinine ads, Kutcher as Jobs, iTunes passwords, Girls Around Me and more! This is iPhone & iPad Live!

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Nokia's Lumia 900 pairs out of this world hardware with elegant Windows Phone Mango release 2 software in a bid to become AT&T's next darling. But is it hot or not?

Among the very first, and certainly most comprehensive, Nokia Lumia 900 reviews comes our way courtesy of WPCentral's Daniel Rubino, and not surprisingly, he finds a lot of Windows Phone to love.

For $99 on contract, the Lumia 900 is one of the nicest Windows Phone on the market today and for the foreseeing future all at a great price. It has solid hardware including super-fast 4G LTE and the latest version of Windows Phone Mango ensuring a great experience for new users and veterans looking for an upgrade. Plus the device oozes with Nokia's quality craftsmanship making it a device many will want to talk about. With all the hype around this phone, this could be the next "it" device for the summer.

I had a chance to accompany Daniel to his Windows Phone and Nokia interview at CES 2012, and spent a few minutes playing with the Lumia 900. It's build quality is fantastic, using a metal-feeling plastic that I'm not convinced actually comes from this planet. It meshes beautifully with Microsoft's latest release of Windows Phone Mango, which adds an LTE radio stack to the Metro-based user experience. Judging by the reaction of the typically jaded gadget bloggers at the show, it was the first phone since the iPhone, with possible exceptions of the Palm Pre and Nexus One, to really get design-centric attention.

Still, they made the screen bigger without making it denser, which in the age of Retina displays makes for an overly pixelated experience. Doesn't sound like the typical AMOLED color saturation problems help out much there either. Branding also remains an issue, with Windows Phone not being anywhere near as sexy or enticing as something like Xphone. (Slap that label on it, put out a Halo special edition, and just try to keep it on the shelves.) It's also a big phone, like recent Android devices, using size to fit in the current generation of LTE chips and the batteries that go with them. And while apps are getting better all the time, they haven't gotten anywhere near what the iPhone has to offer.

There have been rumors AT&T would make this their most marketed phone ever, even more so than the iPhone. That's believable only insofar as Apple marketed the iPhone so well there really wasn't that much for AT&T to do but slap their logo at the end of Apple-made ads and count their money at the end of each quarter.

It's nice to see Nokia back in the game, though, and who would have thought Microsoft would be blazing the elegant UI trail? I don't think many prospective iPhone buyers will be tempted to jump ship (the iPhone still reportedly outsells all other AT&T phones combined), but I do think the race for "not iPhone" just got far more interesting.

And that's good for everyone.

Check out WPCentral's complete Nokia Lumia 900 review and then come back here and let us know what you think. Will the Nokai Lumia 900 cause any problems for the iPhone on AT&T?

A while back, after being frustrated he couldn't unlock his off-contract AT&T iPhone to use outside the US, a gentlemen wrote Apple CEO Tim Cook to express his frustration, and Cook's officer arranged for AT&T to provide him with an unlock. It seems that wasn't a one off, as 9to5Mac reports it's since happened several more times.

We have received upwards of six emails from readers confirming an email sent to [Apple CEO Tim Cook]’s office resulted in a response from AT&T Partnership Operations informing them the carrier would make an exception to unlock their devices. Like the original reader, our tipsters have not received responses directly from Cook, but they did receive an email with instructions to tether their iPhone to iTunes to complete the unlock.

Official unlocks work via IMEI number -- the carrier enters the iPhone's EMEI number into Apple's database and the next time iTunes detects to the device, it connects to Apple, verifies the eligibility, and carries out the unlock. International carriers have been doing this, for free or for a fee, for years. AT&T hasn't.

So the question becomes, if these stories are accurate, and if AT&T is capable of doing unlocks when Tim Cook's office requests it, why can't they simply have an official policy? Why can't they just do it because, when you're off contract, it's the right thing to do?

An unlocked AT&T iPhone can't be used on Verizon or Sprint, and can only be used on T-Mobile 2G EDGE is most places, so any paranoia about losing customers could be more than offset by the goodwill it would engender from those very customers. And if a customer really is leaving for another country, wouldn't they be better off leaving with a great impression of AT&T, than bad feelings and a paperweight for a phone?

Source: 9to5Mac

Nokia has kicked off an ad campaign called Smartphone Beta Test, which features mock video clips roughly describing the development process of the iPhone, and suggest that end consumers are just a part of some big public beta test. That's pretty funny considering Microsoft said that Windows Phone would take about five years after launch to fully mature, but let's leave that alone for now. One fictional product manager tries to raise performance issues relating to display quality outdoors, fragility of the phone against impact, and reception issues (better known as the infamous Death Grip). Of course, he's talked down to by two coworkers telling him ridiculous things like "so don't go outside" and feeding him the classic "you're holding it wrong" line.

While you might expect this sort of thing from Nokia, AT&T's participation is surprisingly aggressive considering their close relationship with Apple. One graphic dug up from the site's source code shows AT&T store locations on a map and a caption that reads "If you've used a smartphone in the last 5 years, it was a tester. To exchange your phone for the Lumia 900, visit an AT&T location today."

I found Samsung's anti-iPhone ads pretty funny, but something about these is just dated. Are we really still trying to bust Apple's chops about antennagate? Anyway, here are the ads. Downvote at will.

Source: WPCentral

A survey of iPhone shoppers from December last year through February, reveals that 13% had bought their iPhones from Best Buy, while 15% had purchased theirs directly from Apple. Of course, carriers brought in the lion's share of sales; AT&T sold to 32% of those surveyed, Verizon claimed 30%, and Sprint a less-than-impressive 7%. The survey, conducted by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, also showed that online stores only accounted for 24% of sales, with regular brick-and-mortar establishments taking up the remaining 76%.

It's not entirely surprising to see Best Buy doing well selling iPhones, since there are a ton of locations, but you would think Apple retail stores would have a bigger proportion of sales then they do; of all of the places to buy an iPhone, an Apple store is without a doubt the nicest (if not always the most convenient to get to). That said, I would be curious to see how many new iPads Best Buy sold in relation to Apple stores.

Where did you guys get your iPhones? Would you have rather bought it somewhere else?

Source: AllThingsD

AT&T has issued a quick statement saying that on Friday, the launch day of the new iPad, they reached a significant sales milestone.

On Friday, March 16, AT&T set a new single-day record for its iPad sales and activations, demonstrating robust demand for the new iPad on the nation's largest 4G network, covering nearly 250 million people.

Those of you who ended up getting an LTE-enabled iPad - did you go for the AT&T or Verizon version? The speed tests have been impressive, make sure you share your results.

Source: PR Newswire

AT&T is reportedly offering a settlement to the individual who recently won a court case against them for the throttling his data service to an unlimited data plan a settlement. According to the Associated Press, Matthew Spaccarelli sent them a letter dated last Friday that he obtained from the law firm hired by AT&T to defend his small claims lawsuit. The letter stated that if he was not willing to sit down and "talk" his service would be terminated.

According to Spaccarelli, the reason for this particular letter (and alleged threat) is that AT&T wants him to keep quiet and sign a confidentialialty agreement. Legal settlements usually do include non-disclosure agreements, and Spaccarelli had blogged detailed information and instructions on how to engage in the same type of lawsuit against AT&T. Also in the letter was the request to keep quiet about the settlement talks, something Spaccarelli has no interest in doing, prompting him to send the letter to the Associated Press.

It seems like Spaccarelli may be pushing his luck here. He already has won the case and that may have helped persuade AT&T to increase the throttling cap from 2GB to the current 3GB, but now he's continuing to push the carriers buttons.

What do you think? Time to declare victory and let it go, or should he hound AT&T until the end of time?

Source: Associated Press, publikdemand, @matthewpacc

The new iPad drops this week, complete with LTE connectivity, which means many of you may still be trying to decide between AT&T and Verizon. If expanded coverage is a concern, AT&T has just announced a bunch of new cities will be getting 4G goodness between April and early summer.

• Cleveland, Ohio
• Akron, Ohio
• Canton, Ohio
• Naples, Fla.
• Bloomoington, Ind.
• Lafayette, Ind.
• Muncie, Ind.
• Baton Rouge, La.
• New Orleans
• St. Louis
• Bryan/College Station, Texas
• Staten Island, N.Y.

Currently, AT&T's LTE network is live in 28 markets, providing coverage to some 74 million Americans. Unfortunately, while AT&T's LTE iPad will work on Canadian LTE networks as well, Verizon's LTE iPad is exclusive to their network. That means you have to decide which one you're getting up front. You can't just switch SIM cards later. (Why be consumer friendly about it, right?)

Any of you guys holding out for the AT&T LTE model of the new iPad, and if so, how close an eye are you keeping on their coverage map?

Once you've decided to get a new iPad, picked out your color, and settled on your storage capacity, if you're going with the 4G LTE model of the new iPad in the US, the question becomes -- AT&T or Verizon, which carrier should you choose? For most of us, the decision will come down to two factors - coverage, pricing, and tethering.

Here's how it breaks down.

Pricing plans

Here's the pricing comparison chart that Apple displays on the ordering page for the new iPad. All plans are commitment free and paid month-to-month -- you can cancel at anytime.

So with regards to cost, you need to ask yourself how much data you plan on using. Realistically, if you have Wifi at home, work and school (if you're a student), you can probably get by just fine with AT&T's 250MB per month plan and save $5. On the other hand, for only $5 more, you can jump up to a full GB of data with Verizon.

The most popular plans will be the $30 plans, and at that price, AT&T gives you an extra gigabyte -- that's 50% more than Verizon's 2 GB. The $50 plans are identical on Verizon and AT&T.

In reality, these plans are fairly similar and pricing shouldn't be the sole-determining factor. It's more important that your carrier offers the data you want in the area you live your life.

LTE availability

In addition to price, you must also consider where each carrier offers coverage and if you're within that area. Here's a side by side comparison of Verizon's and AT&T's coverage maps (left is Verizon, right is AT&T).

Clearly, Verizon has much more LTE availability (green dots vs orange dots.)  If you live in an area where Verizon offers LTE and AT&T does not, your best bet is to probably go with Verizon, providing that their network is pretty solid in that area. If you're not sure, ask your family, friends, and coworkers who have LTE phones on Verizon's network.

If LTE is not available to you on either network, the next thing to look at is 3G coverage. If you live somewhere that only gets EDGE on AT&T (light blue on AT&T's map), Verizon is the way to go.

Most of you, however, will be in one of these last two categories: an LTE available area on both Verizon and AT&T, or, in a 3G, but not LTE available area on both Verizon and AT&T. For those of you in this category, I'm inclined to recommend AT&T, provided that the 3G network is stable in your area. Again, ask your friends, family, and coworkers for their experience.

Why AT&T, you ask? Because AT&T's HSPA and HSPA+ 3G networks are faster than Verizon's CDMA 3G network. It's all about the speed.

You can get a closer look at AT&T's coverage map here and Verizon's map here.

Tethering

If you want to have the ability to tether your iPad's network connection to your computer, then Verizon in your only choice. Verizon includes tethering in their data plans and does not come at an additional cost.

As of right now, AT&T does not offer this functionality.

Making the choice

So which one are you going to choose? Personally, since AT&T's LTE network is not available in my area, but Verizon's is, it was a no-brainer for me to choose Verizon (even though my iPhone is with AT&T). What about you?

• New iPad forum
• AT&T forum
• Verizon forum

If you've updated your AT&T iPhone to iOS 5.1, you may have noticed that the signal indicator in the top-left now reads 4G instead of 3G. Now, before your mind gets blown all over the place, there's no actual upgrade here; it's just your garden-variety marketing doucherosity wriggling its slimy way into a software update.

AT&T could not possibly abide by competitors have more or higher-quality "Gs" than they do, so they've had Apple arbitrarily change the wording of the signal indicator. They've apparently been trying to do this for months, though why Apple caved is still hard to understand.

Of course, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has made it so that carriers can do this without repercussion. They're allowing HSPA+ 14.4 and faster networks to be called 4G right alongside 72mbps and faster LTE networks, and they've ruined any practical use of talking in terms of 3G or 4G networks; in fact, AT&T has already been taking plenty of advantage of this opportunity with Android devices.

Yes, as we joked and feared, AT&T has beaten Apple to create a 4G iPhone.

So welcome to the world of 4G, AT&T iPhone owners. Do you feel faster? Does simply seeing "4G" on your home screen make you feel more in the future?

Source: @ichadman

AT&T has officially stated that it will now be throttling grandfathered unlimited data uses after 3GB of usage in one billing cycle. If you have a 4G LTE device, you will now be allowed up to 5GB before your data performance is hindered.

When I was first throttled last month I thought the fair thing to do was for AT&T to set a clear policy and give at least 3GB of data before they crippled my service. Those of us on the unlimited plan pay $30 which just happens to be the same as what those on the 3GB plan pay. So for me, 3GB seems fair.

What do you think?

Read AT&T's full press release below.

[AT&T]

With mobile data usage continuing to skyrocket and the availability of spectrum scarce, AT&T, like other wireless companies, manages its network in the most fair way possible so that we can provide the best possible mobile broadband experience for all our customers.

How we’re managing the network only affects a small minority of the heaviest smartphone data users still on unlimited plans. Put another way, this does not impact more than 95 percent of our smartphone customers.

Our unlimited plan customers have told us they want more clarity around how the program works and what they can expect. Here’s what customers need to know:

• Customers with a 3G or 4G smartphone – who also still have our unlimited data plan – will see speeds reduced if they use 3GB (gigabytes) of data or more in a billing cycle. Speeds will return to normal at the start of the next billing cycle. For context, less than 5 percent of smartphone customers use more than 3GB per month.

• For customers with a 4G LTE smartphone – who also still have our unlimited data plan – data speeds will be reduced if usage is 5GB (gigabytes) or more in a billing cycle. Speeds will return to normal at the start of the next billing cycle.

Customers will get a text message from us before experiencing a change in speed.

Even with reduced data speeds, these customers will still be able to email and surf the web, and continue to use an unlimited amount of data each month.

Not impacted by this program, launched last year, are customers on our tiered data plans.

The reason reduced speeds only apply to unlimited smartphone customers is because their data usage is significantly higher than those on tiered plans. For example, in January, the top 5 percent of our unlimited data plan customers used an average of over 50 percent more data than the top 5 percent of customers on tiered plans.

Because spectrum is limited and data usage continues to soar, we manage our network this way to be as fair as possible and so we can provide the best possible mobile broadband experience to everyone.

We encourage all of our customers to use Wi-Fi whenever possible – especially when watching video, which is the most data-intensive activity.

In the latest chapter of the AT&T unlimited data throttling debacle, a small claims court judge in California has awarded an AT&T iPhone user $850 in damages due to AT&T significantly slowing the user's data speeds to "manage usage on it's network". The unidentified user, who was grandfathered in to the unlimited data plan, claimed to be throttled each billing cycle at approximately 1.5 GB to 2 GB of data. Reuters reports:

Pro-tem Judge Russell Nadel found in favor of Matt Spaccarelli in Ventura Superior Court in Simi Valley. Spaccarelli filed a small claims case against AT&T last month, arguing the communications giant unfairly slows speeds on his iPhone 4's unlimited data plan. Nadel's ruling could pave the way for others to follow suit. AT&T has some 17 million customers with "unlimited data" plans that can be subject to throttling, representing just under half of the company's smartphone users.

AT&T does have the option to appeal the courts decision but it is not yet known if they will choose to do so. The company's main argument in the case was that they have the right to modify or cancel customers' contracts if their data usage negatively affects their network. What makes this judgement interesting is the fact that it has the possibility to open up quite a few additional small claims lawsuits against AT&T.

That means thousands —and possibly hundreds of thousands— of people who feel abused by AT&T's policy could seek to challenge the company, one by one, in arbitration or small claims court. The customer contract specifies that those who win an award from the company in arbitration will get at least $10,000. Spaccarelli picked the same amount for his claim. Judge Nadel instead awarded him $85 for each of the 10 months left on his contract.

We've said it before, and we will say it again - AT&T needs to stop this data throttling. Some of their most loyal customers are the ones being inconvenienced by their actions and it's just not right. Perhaps this lawsuit will open some eyes to help get this accomplished. Before it goes class-action.

Source: Reuters

We've been covering the AT&T unlimited data plan throttling debacle from the beginning, including early reports, egregious 2G speed drops, and the recent 2GB "trigger" they seem to be using as the enforcement point. We've also been keeping closer track of things in our AT&T Forum. And after weeks and weeks of complaints, from loyal, longtime AT&T customers, we've yet to hear word one back from AT&T. There's no end in sight.

We've created a poll in the forums and asked you exactly how much data you've used in your previous billing cycle, regardless of your carrier of choice. The results to date are as follows.

• 36% used 1GB or less
• 25% used between 1GB-2GB
• 10% used 2GB-3GB
• 27% used 3GB plus

We're obviously an enthusiast community, and not the average user base, so the results aren't surprising. They do show what AT&T is dealing with, however, among a segment of their customers.

To address it, AT&T could try using a carrot as well as a stick. Offer grandfathered AT&T unlimited plan users some incentive to move to a new, tiered plan. Free tethering (within the data limit), or a small discount on the plan. Anything, as a sign they're willing to return the good faith of their customers.

Or they could just be honest and cancel the unlimited plans, and force everyone to move to a tiered plan, take the consequences and be done with it. They way it is now, since the first time that I was throttled at 2GB, I've felt like one of those settlers in the movies, with an evildoer cutting off food and water, and sending thugs to harass me, trying to slowly break my will and drive me out.

Great way to treat your customers, isn't it? Especially with Verizon offering better LTE deployment, which will be important come iPhone 5, and Sprint still offering unlimited data, which could be important to some customers now.

AT&T needs to get out in front of this. Hiding behind passive aggressive warnings and deliberately trying to ruin the experience of their customers is shameful. Let unlimited customers use the unlimited data they signed up for, offer us a fair incentive to move to a tiered plan, or just force the move already.

Right now, the situation is intolerable.

With up to 38 different 4G LTE frequency combinations at play around the world, Apple would need to offer more than one iPad 3 model in order to support North America as well as Europe, Asia, and Australia

Following not only rumors by nearly every tech blog out there, but sources for both iMore and The Wall Street Journal are saying that the next version of the iPad will almost certainly come in an 4G LTE option. The Wall Street Journal says AT&T and Verizon are sure things, but what about everyone else? Not only is LTE up-and-comer Sprint not mentioned, but neither are carriers in Canada, the UK, or anywhere else in the world. Let's dig in a little to discuss if it would be worth Apple's while to make an iPad to work internationally.

LTE is a standard that is being used around the world, starting with TeliaSonera in Sweden and Norway back in 2009. In the US, you have AT&T, Verizon and even MetroPCS with various states of active LTE networks. In fact, there are over 30 countries that have commercial LTE service available, so pushing the standard into the iPad sounds like a no-brainer. That is, until you consider the frequencies used. Unlike GSM which used exclusively the 800, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz bands around the world, LTE is being used in nearly every band available. In North America, the 700 and 1700 MHz bands are the main bands for LTE, but 800, 1900, 2500 and possibly even 1500 MHz are in play. Add in the rest of the world, with 900, 1800 and 2600 MHZ, and you have the potential for up to nine bands that the radio chipset would have to support. Complicating matters even more, even in similar frequencies, there are multiple chunks of spectrum that don't overlap. For example, Verizon uses 746-787 MHz, while AT&T uses 704-746 MHz. While close, these different blocks have different equipment needed due to radio propagation and interference issues. Extrapolate this across the world, and we're now encompassing 38 different frequency combinations around the globe.

Now, a multi-band phone can only do so much. Look at the devices we have now, which include the bands for GSM on 800/900/1800/1900 MHz, and usually only three similar bands for 3G. If Apple is to make the LTE enabled versions available all over the world, a nine band LTE radio is not possible. Keep in mind that Verizon has essentially said that single band LTE devices are all they're going to be rolling out in the near future.

So going back to the question, is it worth Apple's while to make an iPad to work around the world? No, because they can't do it with just one device. However, it is worth it to make multiple devices. One will support the 700 and 1700 MHz bands in North America, and one for the 800, 1800 and 2600 MHz bands for Europe, Asia and Australia. At this time, the 900, 1500, 1900 and 2500MHz bands are outliers, and though will some day be used, aren't necessary for a successful international launch. Remember T-Mobile here in the states? Apple seems to be doing just fine without supporting their 1700 AWS spectrum.

I think the initial iterations of an LTE iPad are going to be similar to the iPhone 4 strategy. Recall the Verizon version shipped months after the AT&T/GSM version and only worked on the 800 and 1900 MHz bands for CDMA here in the US. Meanwhile, an international version worked on GSM and HSPA networks around the rest of the world. I expect the initial version to be rolled out for North America, launching in the US and Canada right away. Then a version with support for the most widely used blocks and bands for other parts of the world in the coming months.

Mickey Papillon host The Cell Phone Junkie Podcast and is a frequent contributor to Mobile Nations. Follow him @TCPJ_Mickey.

Rene, Georgia, and Seth discuss AT&T data throttling, Spring iPhone sales, iPhone chart topping, iPad 3 quad-core rumors, WD-40 lunacy, and ZFS. This is iPhone & iPad Live!

[Apologies for the sound and the lateness. My mic was way too hot, Georgia and I were both badly sick, and we had huge technical problems getting the shows edited. Thanks for your patience!]

• Subscribe via iTunes: Audio | Video
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• Show notes

META

• February is fitness month at iMore and Mobile Nations! [iPad 3 giveaway!]
• Apps & Accessories Live 01: Video editors, Launch Center, and glowing Apple logos

iPhone

• Is AT&T tightening the screws on unlimited iPhone users with new, overly aggressive data throttling?
• Sprint had 1.8 million iPhone sales last quarter, 40 percent to new customers
• iPhone owns top 3 sales spots in hottest smartphone quarter in history
• Huge energy corporation, Halliburton ditching BlackBerry for iPhone
• Former Apple manager tells how the original iPhone was developed, why it went with Gorilla Glass

iPad

• iPad 3 rumors suggest thicker casing, massive graphics, no quad-core
• Operator profiles indicate a March 9th release date for iOS 5.1
• Warning: WD-40 will not fix your Home button, may damage your iPhone or iPad

Grab bag

• Apple testing Oracle’s ZFS file system to make iOS and iCloud storage better, faster, and more resilient?

Hosts

• Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie)
• Georgia (@GeorgiaTiPb)
• Seth Clifford (@sethclifford)

Credits

You can reach all of us on Twitter @iMore, or you can email us at podcast@imore.com, or leave a comment on the website when the show goes live.

We're here every Wednesday night at 6pm Pacific, 9pm Eastern, 2am GMT at www.TiPb.com/live

For all our podcasts -- audio and video -- including iPhone and iPad Live, ZENandTECH and Superfunctional, Iterate and Girls Gone Gadgets and more... see MobileNations.com/shows

If you haven't already please subscribe to all our shows in iTunes and leave a rating. It helps people find the show and means a lot to us!

Thanks to the iMore iPhone Accessory Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

If you're looking to be picking up a new iPhone on AT&T any time soon, you'll want to note that the upgrade fee will be doubling on February 12. As the folks over at Android Central noted based on the screenshot above, the new fee will be a sizable $36.

Wireless devices today are more sophisticated than ever before. And because of that, the costs associated with upgrading to a new device have increased and is reflected in our new upgrade fee. This fee isn’t unique to AT&T and this is the first time we’re changing it in nearly 10 years.

But what does that even mean? The cost of keeping us as customers, taking our money for a new device, and charging us for ongoing service for many more months to come has... gotten higher?

There's no "upgrade fee" when we buy new televisions, new toasters, new Wi-Fi routers, new bicycles... should we go on? What beyond the price of the new phone and the monthly fees from the new contract should AT&T really need or be entitled to?

Now, a $0 iPhone 3GS is really $36. A $100 iPhone 4 is really $136.

For some, an $18 increase may not mean a whole lot but considering you're essentially doing AT&T a favor by upgrading your device and staying with them, any added cost is sure ruffle a few feathers. Now that information is out there, we'll have to wait and see if AT&T sticks to their guns or cancels their plans.

How do you feel about paying it the next time you upgrade to an iPhone 4S or iPhone 5?

Source - Android Central

While we're still hearing conflicting rumors about super-fast LTE 4G networking for iPad 3 this spring or iPhone 5 this summer/fall, you'll be happy to hear that AT&T is preparing to replace their current microSIM card stock with LTE compatible versions.

Now the Andorid-powered Pantech Burst and the Windows Phone Nokia Lumia 900 are the likely targets, but there has been an awful lot of solid-ish talk about the iPad 3 lately, and even if we don't see an LTE iOS tablet soon, WWDC is looming along with the possibility of an iPhone 5. Whatever comes out next, it's hard to imagine it not having at least one model with LTE connectivity, and even less likely that they'll ditch the micro SIMformat.  

Verizon switched to LTE microSIM cards in October for the Samsung Stratosphere, so they'd be all set to go with any new Apple hardware as well. Sprint is still getting its feet wet with LTE through the Galaxy Nexus, so they may be next in line to start offering LTE microSIM cards -- we'll be keeping an eye out.

If there's no LTE in your area, we can understand if this doesn't matter very much to you... yet. But when it does come, and you start pulling 20-50mbps of data, you'll probably start to care a lot more.

Source: PhoneArena

Sprint sold a total of 1.8 million iPhones during Q4 2011, with 40 percent of those going to new customers. Admittedly, 1.8 million is only about a quarter of the 7.6 million iPhones AT&T sold during the same period, and less than half the 4.2 million moved by Verizon, but considering Sprint's 55 million customers ranks as the the third largest U.S. wireless carrier, and this is the first official quarter that Sprint had the iPhone to sell, it still indicates a fairly solid adoption by their subscribe base.

“Our strong fourth quarter performance illustrates the power of matching iconic devices like the iPhone with our simple, unlimited plans and industry-leading customer experience,” said Dan Hesse, Sprint CEO. “During the past year, Sprint added more than 5 million net new customers and grew wireless service revenue by more than 5 percent, including 17 percent for the Sprint platform. This momentum gives us confidence as we execute our Network Vision upgrade and 4G LTE roll-out.”

Although the company recorded a $1.3 billion net loss for the quarter, they're focusing on added subscriber value and overall unit sales this time around. And with those added smartphone sales, new customers are subsequently coming in by the masses according to their earnings report -- mostly thanks to the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, and their position as the last U.S. carrier to offer unlimited data contracts.

It looks like that $20 billion bet Sprint made with Apple is slowly starting to pay off.

Source: Sprint

Is 2GB really all it takes now to be considered a "top 5" iPhone data user by AT&T and have your data throttled down?

AT&T now seems to be throttling iPhone users on grandfathered, unlimited data plans when they hit a paltry 2GB of data usage. We all know AT&T has been threatening to throttle iPhone users on unlimited data plans for quite some time now. AT&T announced data throttling last August and started implementing it last October. Since then we've heard from some of our readers that they were getting throttled down to 2G EDGE speeds. And it seems to be getting even more egregious.

As a rational person -- and long time customer -- I had a hard time believing it. I've been using anywhere from 4 to 8 gigabytes a month since October and never received any warning from AT&T. In fact, I told everyone in our AT&T forums that I had not yet received the infamous text message from AT&T, accusing me of being a "top 5%" data users.

Until yesterday.

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. We're writing because you are in the top 5 percent of heaviest data users for this billing cycle.

It came in just as I approached 2GB. That's what apparently qualifies as a "top 5%" here in Chicago. 2GB. Two days before the end of my billing cycle.

I immediately called AT&T and asked them -- 3 of them over the course of several hours -- two simple questions: Why, all of a sudden, after previous months of heavy use, did I receive this message and why, when I am paying for "unlimited" data am I being crippled just at two gigabytes?

They had no answers for me.

So I began to think about it some more and realized the previous few months I was using my unlocked Galaxy Nexus. Did that have anything to do with flying under the radar? Or did I simply switch back to my iPhone 4S around the time AT&T decided to take these new, overly aggressive tactics?

Or is there simply no consistency or rationality with how AT&T is going about their data throttling? Do some people, depending on the area and month, get away with 5 to 6 gigabytes with no issues while some are getting nailed at 2 gigabytes? Is 2 gigabytes the new magic number based on all of the complaints in our forums and responses that I received on Twitter?

Whatever the case may be, it sure seems like AT&T is putting the screws to unlimited iPhone data users, trying to push us into giving up our grandfathered plans and pressure us into taking one of their new, limited, tiered plans instead.

And that sucks, plain and simple.

AT&T offered a service, we signed up for it, we paid them for it, and now they're reneging on the spirit if not the letter of that service. They're breaking faith with their customers.

Maybe they don't want our particular type of user any more, maybe they'd rather we go somewhere else, but if they're willing to do this to one group of users, they'd do it to any group of users, at any time. And that's a terrible way to run a business.

Unlimited data plans were sold to iPhone users from day one. AT&T needs to stand by them. If they want us to switch to tiered plans, make those plans better. Offer free tethering, or make 4G LTE exclusive to those plans and wait for the iPhone 5 to drive demand for it. Make them so attractive we can't wait to switch. Don't do it by making our existing plans worse.

But AT&T has unlimited data users right where they want us, and they seem to be pulling out all of the stops to get rid of us.

Have you gotten throttled for using 2 gigabytes yet? Did it get you to switch to the new, tiered plans? And how does it make you feel about being an AT&T customer?

Apple has finally caught up with the huge demand for the iPhone 4S. For the first time since its iPhone 4S launch way back< in October/a>, all models of the iPhone 4S are now shown as in stock.

No matter which model you go for, 16GB, 32GB or 64GB or which carrier you choose from AT&T, Verizon or Sprint, they are all in stock. Even the unlocked and contract free models too.

Source: Apple Store via Macrumors

AT&T has reported sales of 7.6 million iPhone units totaling 80 percent of their overall smartphone sales in Q4 2011.

The iPhone 4S no doubt helped boost iPhone numbers after Apple reported sales of 37.04 million iPhones for Q1 2012 -- their biggest quarter ever. Out of the 9.4 million smartphone sales in total for the quarter, 80 percent of them were the iPhone.

• 9.4 million smartphone sales, best-ever quarter and 50 percent more than previous quarterly record and nearly double 3Q11 sales; 82 percent of postpaid sales were smartphones
• Best-ever quarter for Android and Apple smartphones, including 7.6 million iPhone activations
• 571,000 branded computing device (tablets, aircards, etc.) sales, best-ever quarter to reach 5.1 million total subscribers; up almost 70 percent from a year ago
• 12th consecutive quarter with a year-over-year increase in postpaid wireless subscriber ARPU (average monthly revenues per subscriber), up 1.4 percent to $63.76 — more than $6 higher than nearest competitor's ARPU
• 10.0 percent growth in wireless revenues
• 19.4 percent growth in wireless data revenues, up $956 million versus the year-earlier quarter

In addition to stellar iPhone numbers, AT&T was able to add a large number of data subscribers, including those using the iPad 3G and other data-enabled tablet devices. Revenue for the quarter reached $32.5 billion, a full $1.1 billion more than last year.

We're looking forward to seeing how Sprint made out for Q4 2011 and, as always, will bring you the numbers on February 8th during their quarterly earnings call!

Source: AT&T

Have a shattered or unresponsive screen on your GSM iPhone 4 and need to know how to DIY repair it? If you don't want to put out the extra cash for a new phone and feel pretty confident in your repair skills, we can walk you through how to fix your iPhone 4 on your own.

Disclaimer: As with any repair, iMore nor PXLFIX can be held responsible for any damage you may do to your device. It’s also worth considering that opening up your device to perform any repair or modification can and will void your Apple warranty. If you don’t feel comfortable opening your device, don’t. Use extreme care and caution when performing a repair on any device.

What you need for a DIY GSM iPhone 4 screen replacement

PXLFIX recommends using only quality and genuine parts from a reputable supplier like eTech Parts. They have quality parts, tools, and much more for all your repair needs.

• GSM iPhone 4 (please note there ARE internal differences between the GSM and CDMA models)
• New GSM iPhone 4 LCD & digitizer assembly - GSM iPhone 4 LCD and digitizer assembly
• SIM removal tool (or a paper clip)
• #00 Phillips screwdriver
• Pry tool or spudger (you may need a handheld razor blade as well)
• Security screwdriver (only if your iPhone has 5-point security screws in the dock connector)

Power off your iPhone 4

Before performing any repair, always power off your device before removing any screws or parts.

Remove the back

1. First remove the bottom 2 dock connector screws in your iPhone 4. Use either your #00 screwdriver or the five point depending on whether or not your iPhone 4 has security screws in the dock connector. Almost all newer devices will have security screws.

2. To remove the back simply slide the back upwards and lift it off gently.
3. Set the back and 2 dock connector screws aside.

Remove your SIM card

Use a SIM removal tool or a paperclip to remove your SIM card and tray. Set them aside.

Remove the battery

1. To remove the battery you’ll need to remove the #00 screw holding the battery clip in place. Remove this screw located to the bottom left of the battery.

2. The metal clip on the battery is what clips the battery to the logic board. You’ll need to pop this clip up with your plastic pry tool. Simply stick the end of your pry tool underneath the clip and gently pull upwards until it unfastens from the logic board.

3. To remove the battery, I do not recommend using the plastic pull tab. There is quite a bit of adhesive underneath the battery and the tab will normally just rip off or you can bend the battery. Instead, run your pry tool along the right side of the battery and break the adhesive that way. Once the battery is free from the adhesive, you can pull the battery out of the phone. There are no other connectors holding it in.

4. You will notice a tiny grounding clip sitting underneath where you unscrewed the battery. Set this aside for replacement during reassembly. This is a grounding clip for your antenna. Make sure you put it back in place before reconnecting your battery.

Remove the dock connector shield and disconnect the cable

1. There is a shield held on with two screws covering the dock connector cable. Remove the two screws holding it in place and set the shield and screws aside, remembering where they came from.

2. Next, use your pry tool to pry up the actual dock connector cable. Be careful as there is adhesive holding the cable in place as well. Peel back the adhesive gently to free the cable.

Remove the top logic board shield

1. There are 5 screws holding the logic board shield in place. Remove the 5 screws holding it in place. Just be sure to remember which holes they came out of as the screws are different sizes. I always keep them in order of how they came out.

2. Next you'll need to remove the shield. There is a tiny clip built into the shield holding it in place. (Refer to the photo above.) Pop it up with your pry tool and you should be able to slide the shield up fairly easily. Just take care not to bend it or break off a clip.

Disconnect the 6 cables from the top of the logic board

1. There is only one connector holding the camera to the logic board. Remove this cable in the picture above using your pry tool. Gently lift upwards and it will pop right off.

2. Next gently lift the camera out of the device. You'll notice there is a tiny tab that is seated underneath the LCD and digitizer cables to the right.

3. Next pop up the LCD and digitizer cables to the right of where the camera cable was connected. You pop them up in the same direction.

4. The 3 cables further to the right will need to be disconnected as well. They pop up in the opposite direction.

Remove the logic board

1. Start with the 2 screws holding the logic board down in the middle and at the bottom left. Both use your #00 Phillips screwdriver. They are the same size. The one on the right of the logic board in the middle of the device has a water sensor over it you'll need to remove.
2. The second screw is located where the logic board meets the speaker assembly towards the bottom left of the device.

3. The third and final screw holding the logic board in is located at the top of the logic board off to the right. It is the only cross-head screw in your device. Use a small flathead screwdriver to carefully remove it.

4. You should now be able to remove your logic board. Holding it at the bottom, gently pull it upwards. I use my other hand to lift up at the top where the rear facing camera used to be.
5. Take note that there is a small rubber piece that sits at the top of the logic board. You will need this for re-assembly so make sure it doesn't fall off. If you lose this, you could see reception issues.

Remove the speaker assembly

1. To remove the speaker assembly you have one more #00 screw to remove. It sits to the right of the speaker assembly in the bottom right hand corner of your device. Remove it.
2. The second screw holding the speaker assembly into your iPhone you've already removed when you removed the logic board.
3. Gently lift the speaker assembly out of your device and set it aside.

Remove the vibrator assembly

1. Locate your vibrator assembly in the upper right hand corner of your iPhone 4 (assuming you're looking at it from the back).

2. It is held in with two screws. Use your #00 Phillips screwdriver and remove them. The screw on the left will be significantly longer. Just remember which screw came from where.

3. Next, gently lift the vibrator assembly out of the device.

Remove the 4 screws in each corner

There are 10 total screws that attach your iPhone 4 LCD/Digitizer assembly to your frame. The 4 in the corners will need to be completely removed. They are all #00 screws.

Loosen the remaining 6 screws

These screws run along the sides of your iPhone and also have washers on them. I find it best to just loosen them opposed to removing them completely. The washers are not fun to put back in. Loosening them will allow you to remove the LCD/Digitizer assembly just as easily. About 2 1/2 to 3 turns for each screw should loosen them up enough to continue. If you feel the washer wobbling back and forth a bit, you've loosened it enough.

Remove the broken LCD & digitizer assembly from your iPhone

This is where it can get a bit tricky. Your screen is held in not only with the 10 screws mentioned above but also with strong adhesive. You will need to break this adhesive in order to remove the front panel.

1. Hold your iPhone in one hand with the screen facing you. Starting in the top left hand corner, run a pry tool or razor blade in between the frame and front panel. You'll need to pry up quite a bit in order to break the adhesive. Be careful around the front facing camera and speaker area.

2. Next move your pry tool or razor blade to the bottom of your device and do the same thing, working your way around until the adhesive is broken and the front panel starts to come off. If your screen is cracked, additional glass may break off. That's perfectly normal.

3. To completely remove the front panel - start at the top of your iPhone and gently pull the assembly away from the frame. Be careful to allow the LCD and digitizer cables to slip through the opening in the frame without getting caught up.

Remove any left over glass or debris from the frame

Before reassembling your iPhone, you'll need to make sure there is no glass stuck to the remaining adhesive or inside the frame. If there is it could cause damage to the new screen or you'll be able to see it through the new assembly, which can be annoying. Just make sure you do a thorough job of picking off all the glass on and around the frame before continuing to reassembly.

Reassemble your iPhone

Once you're sure you've gotten all the glass and leftover debris out of your iPhone, you're ready for reassembly. Watch our reassembly video above or repeat all the steps above in the reverse order.

And... done!

If you followed the above steps correctly you should know have a working and non-broken iPhone 4 again. Have you done this repair yourself? Let us know how it went! Want to know how to perform another type of iPhone repair or modification? Send me suggestions to ally.kazmucha@imore.com or leave a comment in our brand new Mod and DIY Repair Forum!

For questions or to inquire about mail-in repairs through PXLFIX, please follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook or e-mail us directly! Of course, you can like us and follow us just because you think we're cool too!

AT&T has just announced some upcoming changes to their data plans for iPhone and iPad -- and smartphones and tablets in general -- that will go into effect as of Sunday, Jan. 22.

The new smartphone plans include:

• AT&T Data Plus 300MB: $20 for 300MB
• AT&T Data Pro 3GB: $30 for 3GB
• AT&T Data Pro 5GB: $50 for 5GB, with mobile hotspot / tethering

iPhone customers needing additional data can pay $10 per additional gigabyte on the AT&T Data Pro 3GB and Data Pro 5GB plans; AT&T Data Plus users will receive an extra 300MB for $20.

The new tablet plans include:

• AT&T DataConnect 3GB: $30 for 3GB
• AT&T DataConnect 5GB: $50 for 5GB

Current customers won't be required to change to their already existing data plans. In other words, they're not enforcing anyone onto the new plans... yet. However; if you find any of the new plans better then what you have now, you can up customer care and make the switch as of Jan 22.

Source: AT&T

Replacing the rear camera in your GSM or CDMA iPhone 4 isn't a very difficult DIY repair, as long as you have the right tools and parts. We'll walk you through step by step and show you how to get your camera back into working order in no time. While the GSM and CDMA variants are slightly different, the guide will work for both. So grab your tools and your sad iPhone 4 and follow along!

Disclaimer: As with any repair, iMore nor PXLFIX can be held responsible for any damage you may do to your device. It’s also worth considering that opening up your device to perform any repair or modification can and will void your Apple warranty. If you don’t feel comfortable opening your device, don’t. Use extreme care and caution when performing a repair on any device.

What you need for a DIY iPhone 4 rear camera repair

PXLFIX recommends using only quality and genuine parts from a reputable supplier like eTech Parts. They have quality parts, tools, and much more for all your repair needs.

• GSM or CDMA iPhone 4
• Rear camera replacement - iPhone 4 camera
• #00 Phillips screwdriver
• Pry tool or spudger
• Security screwdriver (only if your iPhone has 5-point security screws in the dock connector)

Power off your iPhone 4

Before performing any repair, always power off your device before removing any screws or parts.

Remove the back of your iPhone

1. First remove the bottom 2 dock connector screws in your iPhone 4. Use either your #00 screwdriver or the five point depending on whether or not your iPhone 4 has security screws in the dock connector. Almost all newer devices will have security screws.

2. To remove the back simply slide the back upwards and lift it off gently.
3. Set the back and 2 dock connector screws aside.

Before we move on to actually replacing the camera. You may want to make sure your back plate is not the culprit if your camera is producing bad images. Check and make sure neither the inside or outside of the lens cover is scratches or cloudy. If it is, try taking a picture with your back cover removed. If the pictures turn out fine, you'll just need to replace your iPhone 4 back cover. If your images are still blurry or the camera does not function at all, you'll need to continue on to replace the actual rear camera component.

Remove the battery

1. To remove the battery you’ll need to remove the #00 screw holding the battery clip in place. Remove this screw located to the bottom left of the battery.

2. The metal clip on the battery is what clips the battery to the logic board. You’ll need to pop this clip up with your plastic pry tool. Simply stick the end of your pry tool underneath the clip and gently pull upwards until it unfastens from the logic board.

3. To remove the battery, I do not recommend using the plastic pull tab. There is quite a bit of adhesive underneath the battery and the tab will normally just rip off or you can bend the battery. Instead, run your pry tool along the right side of the battery and break the adhesive that way. Once the battery is free from the adhesive, you can pull the battery out of the phone. There are no other connectors holding it in.

4. GSM iPhone 4 users will notice a tiny grounding clip sitting underneath where you unscrewed the battery. Set this aside for replacement during reassembly. This is a grounding clip for your antenna. Make sure you put it back in place before reconnecting your battery. CDMA users will not see this as it is in a different location.

Remove the top logic board shield

1. There are 5 screws holding the logic board shield in place. Depending on whether you have a CDMA or GSM iPhone 4, your shield will look different. The process is the same though. Simply remove the 5 screws holding it in place. Just be sure to remember which holes they came out of as the screws are different sizes. I always keep them in order of how they came out.

2. Next you'll need to remove the shield. Both models have a tiny clip built into the shield holding it in place. (Refer to the photo above.) Pop it up with your pry tool and you should be able to slide the shield up fairly easily. Just take care not to bend it or break off a clip. The Verizon variant seats into the logic board with two tiny notches underneath the camera connection. When reassembling, just line up the two notches on the shield and it will slide into place easily. For the AT&T model, just make sure the clip in the photo above is the first part you insert and it will line up nicely again.

Replace the rear camera

1. There is only one connector holding the camera to the logic board. Simply remove this cable in the picture above using your pry tool. Gently lift upwards and it will pop right off.

2. Next gently lift the camera out of the device. You'll notice there is a tiny tab that is seated underneath the LCD and digitizer cables to the right.

3. To insert the new camera, start by sliding the tabbed part underneath the two cables and then push down gently to seat the camera. Try not to touch the lens at all.

4. Re-fasten the cable to the logic board.

And ...done!

That's it! All you'll need to do now is reassemble your device in the reverse order and you'll be taking pictures again in no time.

Have you done this repair yourself? Let us know how it went! Want to know how to perform another type of iPhone repair or modification? Send me suggestions to ally.kazmucha@tipb.com or leave a comment in our brand new Mod and DIY Repair Forum!

For repair questions or to inquire about mail-in repairs through PXLFIX, please follow us on Twitter or e-mail us directly!

Rene, Georgia, and Seth talk Santa Siri commercial, sexism charges, AT&T and T-Mobile deal, Nuance buying Vlingo, how to replace your iPhone 4 vibrator assembly, jailbreak, Facebook Timelines, Kindle updates, FPS games, and more. This is iPhone and iPad Live!

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• Weekly Mod: How to replace an iPhone 4 vibrator assembly (GSM only)
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If the vibrate function of AT&T/GSM iPhone 4 isn't working or is very faint, you may need a new vibrator assembly. If you're out of warranty but have just a little bit of ninja skill, it's a very cheap and easy repair to perform yourself.

It's worth noting that this guide is only valid for the AT&T or other GSM variant of the iPhone 4. The iPhone 4S and Verizon/CDMA iPhone 4 are very similar internally but very different from the GSM variant of the original iPhone 4. So if your iPhone 4 is not AT&T/GSM, proceed no further young Jedi!

Disclaimer: As with any repair, iMore nor PXLFIX can be held responsible for any damage you may do to your device. It’s also worth considering that opening up your device to perform any repair or modification can and will void your Apple warranty. If you don’t feel comfortable opening your device, don’t. Use extreme care and caution when performing a repair on any device.

What you need for a DIY vibrator assembly repair

PXLFIX recommends using only quality and genuine parts from a reputable supplier like eTech Parts. They have quality parts, tools, and much more for all your repair needs.

• A GSM iPhone 4
• Replacement vibrator assembly - GSM iPhone 4 vibrator assembly
• #00 Phillips screwdriver
• Security screwdriver (only if your iPhone has the security screws in the dock connector)

Power off your iPhone 4

You should always power off your device before performing any type of internal repair work. Simply hold down your top power button and Slide to power off.

Remove the back of your iPhone 4

1. First remove the bottom 2 dock connector screws in your iPhone 4. Use either your #00 screwdriver or the five point depending on whether or not your iPhone 4 has security screws in the dock connector. Almost all newer devices will have security screws.

2. To remove the back simply slide the back upwards and lift it off gently.
3. Set the back and 2 dock connector screws aside.

Replace the vibrator assembly

1. Locate your vibrator assembly in the upper right hand corner of your iPhone 4 (assuming you're looking at it from the back).

2. It is held in with two screws. Use your #00 Phillips screwdriver and remove them. The screw on the left will be significantly longer. Just remember which screw came from where.

3. Next, gently lift the old vibrator assembly out of the device.

4. Place the new one in carefully and replace the two screws that hold it in place.

Reassemble your iPhone

All you need to do now is replace the back on your iPhone 4 and put the two dock connector screws back in.

And ...done!

That's all there is to it! Have you done this repair yourself? Let us know how it went! Want to know how to perform another type of iPhone repair or modification? Send me suggestions to ally.kazmucha@tipb.com or leave a comment in our brand new Mod and DIY Repair Forum!

For repair questions or to inquire about mail-in repairs through PXLFIX, follow us on Twitter or e-mail us directly!

AT&T has capitulated under Federal Communication Commission (FCC) and Department of Justice (DoJ) opposition and decided to abandon their efforts to merge with Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA.

The actions by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice to block this transaction do not change the realities of the U.S. wireless industry. It is one of the most fiercely competitive industries in the world, with a mounting need for more spectrum that has not diminished and must be addressed immediately. The AT&T and T-Mobile USA combination would have offered an interim solution to this spectrum shortage. In the absence of such steps, customers will be harmed and needed investment will be stifled.

AT&T will have to pay DT the $4 billion break-up fee, and press ahead with a roaming agreement.

So, how we feeling about this? Happy? Angry? Did the government just save us from an even smaller oligopoly of telco providers, or did they interfere with the natural course of capitalism. And what if anything does this mean for the chances of an official iPhone on T-Mobile?

Source: Street Insider

RadioShack is cutting the price of its iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S deals starting today with a limited time sale. The deal only applies to AT&T iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S sales and even includes some old inventory iPhone 4 models with 16GB and 32GB storage.

If you fancy picking up a deal, you will be looking at a $29.00 saving off every iPhone 4S model as long as you take out a new or upgrade two year plan. That equates to $169.99 for the 16GB model, $269.99 for the 32GB model and $369.99 for the 64GB model.

If you are interested in the iPhone 4, RadioShack will be offering the 8GB and 16GB at the same cost of $69.99 whilst the 32GB will cost just $169.99. Apparently multiple RadioShack locations have plenty of units in stock. If you are looking to save a few dollars and need a new iPhone, today could be a good day to do it.

Source: BGR

AT&T has been warning the top 5% of iPhone data users on their network for a while now that they'd start throttling their speeds. TiPb reader David, who previously got the infamous SMS nasty-gram, just received it again and since then can't seem to get download speeds any faster than an EDGE-like 150Kbps.

His friends and co-workers are still getting full speed, ruling out a tower problem.

I called AT&T because I thought it was an issue with them and I did a trouble shooting session on the phone. After finishing they asked if I received any text from them and I replied "yes" and told them which one and that's when AT&T told me "problem solved". I asked how do I go from 14mbps to straight EDGE, bypassing 7.2mbps, and they couldn't reply

Are you one of the top 5% who've previously received warnings from AT&T? Have you experienced any throttling this severe?

• AT&T data throttling thread in the TiPb AT&T Forum

Following a Federal Communications Commission proposal for hearings on the deal, AT&T has withdrawn its FCC application to buy T-Mobile USA from parent company Deutsche Telekom while simultaneously announcing they're continuing to try and get DoJ approval. Still at stake -- a ton of AT&T's cash.

As a result of the FCC’s action, AT&T expects to recognize a pretax accounting charge of $4 billion ($3 billion cash and $1 billion book value of spectrum) in the 4th quarter of 2011 to reflect the potential break up fees due Deutsche Telekom in the event the transaction does not receive regulatory approval.

Once again the proposed AT&T - T-Mobile USA merger -- AT&T-Mo if you're nasty -- proves itself to be the Schrodinger's cat of the wireless industry. And that's not good news for T-Mobile users still waiting... and waiting... and waiting... to get an official iPhone on their network.

Source: AT&T

AT&T still offers the fastest data speeds, with HSPA 14.4. Verizon claims the best network coverage. Sprint is the only major carrier still offering unlimited data to new iPhone owners. C-Spire is the only small carrier to pick up the iPhone 4S to date. T-Mobile... you have to work for it and it's EDGE only, but that means you must really love them to stick with them!

But now that you have a choice, TiPb Nation, we'd like to know who you chose and why? Was it speed? Was it coverage? Was it data? Was it customer service? And did you switch from a different carrier to get iPhone 4S on your current carrier? As always, vote in the poll up top and give me the details in the comments below!

Looks like AT&T is still sending out passive aggressive -- or aggressive aggressive -- text messages to top iPhone data users again/still.

AT&T Free Msg: Your data usage this month is in the top 5% of users. Use Wi-Fi to help avoid reduced speeds in future bill cycles. Visit www.att.com/dataplans.

Nothing new, of course, they've been sniffing around for Jailbreak tetherers and trying to figure out other ways to lighten their network load for a while now. In this case, however, the reader who sent us the screen shot wasn't even Jailboken, he was just streaming tons of video.

Anyone else wake up to this particular nastygram recently? If so, how much data did it take to make you a five-percenter?

• TiPb AT&T help and discussion forum

Thanks: David!

We have another device that I think is going to dramatically change those people that are on smartphones and quick messaging devices, the [iPhone] 3GS, which is free with a 2-year contract. We've seen a tremendous, tremendous demand for that device even though it's a generation old. And actually, we're getting more new subscribers coming on the 3GS on the average than other devices. So we also have an inventory sold out on that device.

Source: Seeking Alpha via MacRumors

iDB conducted a few speed tests on the new iPhone 4S comparing data performance across AT&T, Verizon and the newcomer, Sprint.

It looks like AT&T and Verizon are just about neck and neck despite the iPhone 4S supporting AT&T's HSPA+ network, with Sprint falling pretty far behind. Keep in mind the comparisons aren't exactly scientific, so your mileage may vary. It also appears that data coverage isn't optimal in the area they shot the video given the speedtest.net results, but this gives you a pretty good idea of how the iPhone 4S performs under the different networks.

Check out the full video below and let us know what speeds your seeing on your new iPhone 4S!

Source: iDB

Sprint and Verizon will offer the iPhone 4S with an unlocked micro-SIM card slot according to information given to Macworld. The iPhone 4S is the first iPhone that can be classed as a world phone which means it has a GSM and CDMA radio. This is particularly useful if travelling overseas where CDMA networks are few and far between.

In simple terms, this means that users of Sprint or Verizon who buy an iPhone 4S and travel overseas will have the ability to install a local micro-SIM card in their phone; to use on GSM networks. AT&T will still offer the iPhone 4S with a locked micro-SIM card slot; which means users can roam on overseas GSM networks but do so via AT&T agreements with local carriers. This leads to a huge increase in call and data charges with this method.

If you use Sprint or Verizon and travel overseas, having an unlocked phone could save you a considerable amount of money. The downside however is that your number will be different when using a local micro-SIM card. Sprint’s iPhone 4S will be unlocked from day one but Verizon will do it on request after 60 days; as long as your account is in good standing.

Source: Macworld

We're up, ready and raring to go at CTIA Enterprise & Applications here in San Diego. First up is the Day 1 keynote, with the CEOs of Sprint, Verizon and AT&T. Just as when they got together for us in March, this should prove to be a barn burner.

Join us after the break for the liveblog. Things get going at 9:30 a.m. Pacific, 12:30 p.m. Eastern.

iPhone 4S is the first iPhone to have both Verizon and Sprint CDMA versions available alongside the AT&T GSM version. CDMA is famous for its rock solid reliability and call quality and now that iPhone 4S is a world phone, it can even roam on international GSM network. However, CDMA brings with it some downsides as well, including lack of simultaneous voice and data over 3G, subtle quirks to SMS, and greatly reduced conference call options.

None of these are unique to iPhone 4S on Verizon or Sprint, but they're something to keep in mind if you're thinking of switching to one of those networks now that they have iPhone 4S.

So here's the deal.

There are some great advantages to CDMA. It tends to need less towers to cover greater areas so CDMA networks typically have better reception in more places. This also means they tend to sound better, more often for voice calls. If you use your iPhone as a phone -- who knew? -- and that's the most important thing to you, or if Verizon or Sprint provide the only reliable coverage in your area, than case closed.

If cost is a factor, well we've already put together that breakdown for you.

• AT&T vs. Verizon vs. Sprint: Which iPhone 4S should you choose?

But if you want to know what you're getting into when it comes to the data and conference calling tradeoffs, there are several things to consider.

Note: We'll be using a lot of tech terms, so see our wireless networking guide for more on what all these acronyms mean.

Slower 3G data

iPhone 4S on AT&T and other GSM networks supports 14.4 Mbps HSPA+ download speeds. Depending on where you live, you may never get anywhere near that speed in the real world, but the potential is there.

By contrast, while CDMA-2000 give Verizon and Sprint great voice, their EV-DO rev A 3G data speeds are theoretically limited to about 3.1 Mbps.

No simultaneous voice and data

Verizon and Sprint's EV-DO Rev. A network does not support simultaneous voice and data the way HSPA and HSPA+ does for AT&T (and other GSM carriers).

That means if a call comes in while you're using 3G data -- surfing the web, Skyping, sharing your connection via personal hotspot -- you can either ignore the call and continue using 3G data, or answer the call and effectively put your 3G data connection on "pause". If you're on a call you won't receive email or push notifications and if you try to surf the web or download an app you'll be informed you're not connected to the 3G network. Once the call ends, 3G data reconnects and you can start using the internet again.

If you're on Wi-Fi as opposed to 3G data you can make calls and use data without a problem. It's only 3G data that cuts out during calls.

Verizon and Sprint have chosen not to roll out EV-DO Rev. B, which does support simultaneous data in favor of more quickly deploying a 4G LTE network (currently a hybrid CDMA-voice with LTE-data network, in the future a Voice over LTE network) and WiMax with LTE to follow, respectively. There are some phones that support Voice over Rev A (VoRA) aka SVDO which will allow for simultaneous voice and data on CDMA/EV-DO phones, but not the Verizon or Sprint iPhone. (See The Cell Phone Junky for more on the technology.)

SMS/Text splitting

SMS/Text messages are limited to 160 characters. On many phones, if a message exceeds 160 characters, the OS will be able to put it back together and still show it as a single message to both the sender and receiver.

On CDMA networks this doesn't always seem to work as well as on GSM and once an SMS hits 160 characters, any additional text is split off into a second message, after 320, a third message, etc. The same content is still delivered, it's just not presented as nicely. (In some cases the message parts might even appear out of order which is even more annoying.)

Again, some users claim to seldom if ever experience this problem in the real world, others say it happens often enough to annoy them.

Limited conference calling

Verizon and Sprint's CDMA networks only supports "3 way calling" so you can only enter into a conference call with up to 2 other people (3 including yourself) at the same time. It doesn't matter if iPhone can handle more, CSMA networks and hence the Verizon and Sprint iPhone is limited to 3-way calling.

Likewise, handling conference calls is also more challenging on the CDMA iPhones since you can't take one party "private" or hang up on one caller while keeping the other active. You can only hang up on all of them at once.

Apple provides the following diagram in their knowledge base:

The network

So yes, overall there are a lot of limitations to the way CDMA handles voice. However, if Verizon or Sprint has great coverage in your area, you're on Wi-Fi when you want to talk and surf, split SMS/Text messages rarely happen or don't bother you, and agile conference calling isn't a must-have business feature for your iPhone, you may not care.

Otherwise it's a compromise. Decide what's most important to you and which carrier best provides it. If anything is a deal-breaker, then that makes your choice much simpler.

For more information and help check out our iPhone 4S Forum.

Reuters is reporting that AT&T pre-sold 200,000 iPhone 4S' in the first 12 hours of it being available on pre-order. They said it was in "extraordinary demand".

In the next paragraph they report fans were "underwhelmed" by it. Obviously not enough to hurt sales.

No word yet on Verizon or Sprint, or Apple's own numbers.

Source: Reuters

As TiPb feared, This Is My Next says AT&T may indeed have plans to seize some competitive advantage over Verizon and Sprint by using a little faux 4G, just as they've been doing with Android for a while now.

the carrier is apparently “working with Apple” to change the indicator in theiPhone 4S (which tops out at 14.4Mbps, up from the iPhone 4′s 7.2Mbps) to show “4G” in the status bar as well.

Apple has a history of not allowing carriers to manipulate any aspects of the iPhone so hopefully AT&T won't get too far with this. Apple themselves don't even mentioned HSPA+ in their iPhone 4S specs, even though it technically qualifies as HSPA +. Likewise, Apple SVP of marketing, Phil Schiller mentioned during the Lets Talk iPhone keynote that Apple won't get into the business of determining what's true 4G and what isn't.

Given that Verizon and Sprint are only getting the same EV-DO rev A radio speeds as iPhone 4, it's easy to see why AT&T is pushing so hard. In fact, they've even put out a handy infographic to push the point:

Source: This Is My Next, AT&T PR

Once you've decided you should get an iPhone 4S, in the US the question becomes -- AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint, which carrier should you choose? Back in January we compared the AT&T iPhone to the Verizon iPhone, and if you're already tied to one carrier and don't want to pay early termination fees, the decision may be easy; if not, the information can be daunting and overwhelming. TiPb is here to help!

To see a breakdown of prices and features, follow along after the break!

The best way to compare prices, is with a chart. So here you go:

Unlimited data on Sprint

One thing to point out is that Sprint's prices include unlimited messaging and data and that AT&T and Verizon do not offer any unlimited data plan to new users (if you've previously had unlimited data, you may be grandfathered in and can ignore this). Unlimited data is a huge advantage that Sprint has over the other two carriers.

The coverage question

However, how much you get on paper for your money should not be the sole determining factor towards your decision. What good is unlimited data if you are frequently in places that don't have good reception. TiPb always recommends that you do further research on the carriers specifically in your area. Ask your friends, family, and co-workers which carriers they have and how pleased they are with their service.

Pricing plans

Sprint is cheaper than AT&T and Verizon, but it's only about 4.8% cheaper than AT&T and about 9.1% cheaper than Verizon. It adds up, sure, but quality of service has some value as well, and it's up to you to determine how much that value is to you.

Please don't think I'm bashing Sprint, because I'm not. There are plenty of areas where Sprint blows AT&T away when it comes to reliable service, and there are also many places where all three carriers are equally just as good (or bad). The point I'm making is that you have to take many things into consideration when choosing a carrier.

CDMA/EV-DO vs. GSM/HSPA+

Another concern is simultaneous voice and data, a feature that is not compatible with Verizon's and Sprint's CDMA networks. You will need to be connected to Wi-Fi in order to access both voice and data at the same time with Verizon and Sprint. CDMA also has worse conference calling and other limitations.

Lastly, the Verizon and Sprint iPhone 4S will be no faster than the Verizon and Sprint iPhone 4 -- both use the same EV-DO data radio. However, the AT&T/GSM iPhone 4S will theoretically be up to twice as fast as the iPhone 4, supporting HSPA+ 14.4 mbps downloads. (Actually speeds in the real world can and will vary.)

For a complete rundown see:

• Verizon and Sprint iPhone 4S and the limitations of CDMA

Making the choice

We never claimed that choosing a carrier would be an easy decision, but we hope having the information in one place may help. If you have any questions, please ask us in the comments below or check out our Carrier Forums for help:

• AT&T Forum
• Verizon Forum
• Sprint and T-Mobile Forum

Phone Scoop was able to confirm that Sprint, as rumored, will be offering iPhone customers unlimited data plans starting at $69.99.

Sprint today confirmed to Phone Scoop via telephone that the Apple iPhone 4S will have access to all the same voice and data plans (at the same rates) that Sprint's current smartphones do -- including unlimited 3G data and the 5GB mobile hotspot cap.

Both AT&T and Verizon have switched to tiered pricing and no longer offer unlimited data plans for new customers (unless you've been grandfathered in, you're out of luck). With Sprint taking on a $20 billion gamble with the iPhone, something like this to help differentiate themselves from the competition could really go a long way in securing new subscribers.

The iPhone 4S is scheduled to be released on Sprint, AT&T and Verizon on October 14th in the US, with pre-orders starting this Friday. Will this news have any impact on which carrier you'll go with?

Source: Phone Scoop

As of right now, it appears as though AT&T will not be honoring upgrade prices for the iPhone 4S to early iPhone 4 adopters. In the past, early adopters have been able to purchase the new iPhone at the upgrade price even though their account wasn't technically available for an upgrade yet.

I purchased the iPhone 4 on the day of release, but when checking my availability for the iPhone 4S from Apple's website, I'm presented with the following prices:

Before November 25, 2011:

• iPhone 4S: 16GB - $449
• iPhone 4S: 32 GB - $549
• iPhone 4S: 64GB - $649
• iPhone 4: 8GB - $349
• iPhone 3GS: 8GB - $199

The prices listed for after November 25 are the same prices that Apple announced earlier today: $199, $299, $399, $99, and $0.

If history repeats itself, AT&T will come to their senses and move the upgrade dates to October 14. This is normal behavior for them: send customers into a panic, then change their minds at the last minute. However, there is still the possibility of them sticking to their guns and not budging with their prices.

If AT&T sticks with these prices, will you still be lining up to essentially pay a $250 fee to purchase the iPhone 4S 42 days sooner?

In a company blog post earlier today, Cole Brodman, Chief Marketing Officer for T-Mobile USA, told customers that they were interested in offering a "no-compromise iPhone experience" on their network, but offered little details on the negotiations between the carrier and Apple.

We’ve heard from many customers who love their T-Mobile service, but are disappointed that we don’t carry the iPhone. To these customers, first, thank you for your business. Please know that we think the iPhone is a great device and Apple knows that we’d like to add it to our line-up. Today, there are over a million T-Mobile customers using unlocked iPhones on our network. We are interested in offering all of our customers a no-compromise iPhone experience on our network.

One interesting takeaway is the current amount T-Mobile customers using an unlocked iPhone on the service. Although T-Mobile has never offered the iPhone to its customers, over a million users have been able to unlock the iPhone to run on the network.

Funny, though, that Brodman went into how T-Mobile offers a plethora of Android devices to cull would-be iPhone users until they're officially under the Apple umbrella. Given recent surveys suggesting roughly 31 percent of current Android device owners are planning on jumping ship to the iPhone as their next purchase, this doesn't bode well for T-Mobile who currently has the lowest number of US customers (around 32 million).

It will be interesting to see how the AT&T/T-Mobile merger plays out and if that will have any impact on T-Mobile finally offering the iPhone to its customers.

Source: T-Mobile via AndroidCentral

The Seidio Innocase Active case for the iPhone 4 is a nice choice if you want decent protection but don't want something as bulky as an Otterbox Defender. The case is made up of two separate pieces - a harder outer shell and a rubberized case that goes on first to give the phone a little more protection and padding.

The Innocase Active provides good protection and easy access to all ports. Port accessibility is something I've noticed to be a downfall with cases that provide more protection. Sometimes the ports are harder to access or the buttons are hard to push through a thicker casing. Since the Innocase Active goes on in two pieces, the harder outer shell gives you more protection but only the rubber portion covers all your buttons, making them easy to press which is always an added bonus.

I also didn't feel like the case added a ton of bulk which is a huge issue of mine with cases as heavy as the Otterbox. I love the iPhone 4's smaller form factor and adding a heavy case to it always seemed to ruin that for me. My iPhone is never in my purse but always in my pocket. So a thicker case makes it more of a pain to slide easily into a jean or shirt pocket. I was happy with the thickness of the Innocase Active and thought it provided more than adequate protection without adding tons of bulk.

I also had no issues with any accessories (3rd party or original Apple). All my chargers fit in nicely including my Griffin car charger. I despised the original Apple bumpers because no 3rd party chargers typically fit. You'd have to remove them. You won't need to worry about this with the Innocase Active. All my accessories worked just fine with the exception of the Apple dock. But that's to be expected unless you have a case where the bottom comes off such as the Innocase II line for iPhone 4 which is a great line of cases made by Seidio as well.

Pros

• Provides extremely decent protection in a slimmer form factor
• A wide variety of colors to choose from
• Good price for the amount of protection it provides
• All buttons and the volume switch are easy to press/toggle
• All ports are easily accessed without removing the case

Cons

• The case is a bit tough to get on at first as aligning the inside rubber case inside the grooves in the outer shell is a bit annoying
• After taking it off and putting it back on several times I found that the inner rubber case started to fray around the edges a bit

The Seidio Innocase Active for AT&T iPhone 4 can currently be found in the TiPb accessory store for $27.95.

Giveaway

We're also going to give one away. If this is a case you think you want, leave a comment letting us know why you want one or your favorite thing about the Seidio Innocase Active. We'll pick one lucky reader and mail you one on us!

If the US Government and the Department of Justice weren't enough, now the AT&T and T-Mobile US merger has to go up against... Sprint. Yes, adding some measure of insult to potential anti-trust injury, Medium Sized Yellow has sued to prevent Big Blue and Small Magenta from combining to form... slightly bigger Blue with just a blush of rose. (And yes, this is me taking the news far, far less seriously than Sprint intended.)

“Sprint opposes AT&T’s proposed takeover of T-Mobile,” said Susan Z. Haller, vice president-Litigation, Sprint. “With today’s legal action, we are continuing that advocacy on behalf of consumers and competition, and expect to contribute our expertise and resources in proving that the proposed transaction is illegal.”

Sprint’s lawsuit focuses on the competitive and consumer harms which would result from a takeover of T-Mobile by AT&T. The proposed takeover would:

• Harm retail consumers and corporate customers by causing higher prices and less innovation.
• Entrench the duopoly control of AT&T and Verizon, the two "Ma Bell" descendants, of the almost one-quarter of a trillion dollar wireless market. As a result of the transaction, AT&T and Verizon would control more than three-quarters of that market and 90 percent of the profits.
• Harm Sprint and the other independent wireless carriers. If the transaction were to be allowed, a combined AT&T and T-Mobile would have the ability to use its control over backhaul, roaming and spectrum, and its increased market position to exclude competitors, raise their costs, restrict their access to handsets, damage their businesses and ultimately to lessen competition.

While it does feel like slapping a parking ticket on a guy already facing Federal court, you gotta admire Sprint's moxie. And if all 4 US carriers score iPhone 5's this fall, competition might never be fiercer.

[Sprint]

Great news if you are a big talker and have an iPhone on the AT&T network. AT&T has started sending out text messages offering you 1000 free rollover minutes. All you have to do is reply with the word "Yes" and the extra minutes will be added to your account.

Sounds too good to be true. To get your minutes added just make sure your reply to the text message before the closing date of September 7. Also if you don't receive the text message, try sending a text saying "Yes" to 11113020, you may be lucky and get a response confirming your in!

Thanks Cody for the tip!

The United States Department of Justice has filed its opposition to the AT&T - T-Mobile US merger on anti-trust grounds.

AT&T’s elimination of T-Mobile as an independent low priced rival would remove a significant competitive force from the market

AT&T was pursuing the merger in an attempt to get T-Mobile's AWS spectrum to use for a bigger, better LTE 4G roll out.

(Probably smart that T-Mobile wasn't waiting on AT&T to get iPhone 5.)

This story is still developing and we'll update with more information as it comes in.

[Bloomberg, thanks Jack!]

Let's be blunt -- if you're not in the TiPb Forums you're missing out on the best darn discussion in iPhone and iPad today, so head on over and register now!

• iOS 5 beta 6 bug report
• iOS 5 SMS design
• Sprint iPhone coming?
• AT&T LTE iPhone in the near future?
• Jailbreaking and unlocking forum

See you in the forums!

AT&T has confirmed to Engadget that, as of August 21, they'll be removing all but the unlimited SMS/Text messaging plans:

"We regularly evaluate our offers and are making some adjustments to our messaging lineup.

Starting August 21, we're streamlining our text messaging plans for new customers and will offer an unlimited plan for individuals for $20 per month and an unlimited plan for families of up to five lines for $30 per month. The vast majority of our messaging customers prefer unlimited plans and with text messaging growth stronger than ever, that number continues to climb among new customers. Existing customers don't have to change any messaging plan they have today, even when changing handsets."

With iOS 5 and iMessage likely set for an early October launch, AT&T was facing a world where Apple provided an easy, integrated way to seamlessly exchange free instant messages inside the same Messages app that hosts costly, carrier-based SMS/text messages. Arguably, a subscriber who's friends and family were also mostly on iPhones could have downgraded to a lower plan to save some money.

Now that can't happen. It's unlimited or nothing. And as MG Siegler points out on Paris Lemon, it's quite a coincidence.

SMS is huge money for carriers considering the data used is next to nothing and the price is stratospheric, and iMessage was a threat to that traditional, exorbitant revenue stream.

Now we're just left to wonder which other carriers will follow suit.

[Engadget, ParisLemon]

A while back TiPb heard something that sounded so outlandish, so beyond the realm of possibility, that we decided not to publish it -- that AT&T's 4G LTE launch hero device could, in fact, be the iPhone. It still sounds outlandish, even though there hasn't been word one about which phone AT&T will launch with, but given the availability of the logical Qualcomm LTE chipset, it still seems beyond the realm of possibility.

But BGR recently caught glimpse of LTE references in a carrier-test build of iOS firmware, and now Engadget has heard that LTE equipment in the 700MHz and AWS frequencies is being installed in major Apple Stores in the US... by AT&T.

I'm not getting my hopes up, nor should you. AT&T could still launch an Android device and Apple could still wait for 2012 for an LTE powered iPhone 6. But as Hans Gruber said in Die Hard, Christmas is the time for miracles.

UPDATE: 9to5Mac says Verizon is also installing LTE equipment at Apple Stores. [9to5Mac]

[Engadget]

Is August 11 the date when AT&T finally starts forcibly switching Jailbreak users who tether unofficially to limited, tiered plans? We knew AT&T was warning users tethering unofficially with apps like MyWi, and that they were threatening to take away their unlimited plans, but when they would start the process has always been a question.

The August 11 date comes from a 9to5Mac reader.

I was just informed that as of Thursday August 11th 2011, if you use MyWi or any tethering on the phone or using the phone as a modem, AT&T will automatically change ur unlimited plan to a 2Gb tethering plan for 45 dollars without the customers consent. This is for those who received emails or texts about the use of tethering without an AT&T tethering plan.

AT&T has confirmed that they will be forcibly switching users to the tiered plans, but not the date.  Has anyone else been given a date by AT&T?

[9to5 Mac]

Ever wanted to know the speed of your data connections download and upload link? This tip may come in very handy especially now that AT&T has officially said it will begin throttling data speeds for the top 5% of data users. Read on and we will show you how to do it.

How to test your WiFi network data connection:

• Download Speedtest.net Mobile Speed Test from the App Store, it is free. [iTunes - link]
• Make sure you are connected to your WiFi network.
• Start Speedtest.net application and it will locate your nearest server. The server provides the communication to your device which will determine your data speeds. You must have  location services turned on for this app for it to fnction correctly.
• Press Begin Test and you will see the app burst into life. It will download a test file and upload a test file to ascertain your data connection speeds.
• When complete, it will tell you your WiFi data connection download and upload speed.

How to test your cell network data connection

• Download Speedtest.net Mobile Speed Test from the App Store, it is free. [iTunes - link]
• Make sure you are not connected to your WiFi network, go to Settings, Wi-Fi and toggle Wi-Fi off. This will ensure you are using your cell data connection.
• Start Speedtest.net application and it will locate your nearest server. The server provides the communication to your device which will determine your data speeds. You must have  location services turned on for this app for it to fnction correctly.
• Press Begin Test and you will see the app burst into life. It will download a test file and upload a test file to ascertain your data connection speeds.
• When complete, it will tell you your cell data connection download and upload speed. (Don't laugh, I know it's pathetic)

That is all you need to do. You should notice that your WiFi data connection is reasonably stable but your cell connection can vary dramatically; this is totally normal.

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to news@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

From the Forums is a great way to see what all of the current hot topics are on the TiPb forums. In order to create any new threads of your own or reply to any of the existing threads, you must be a registered member. Becoming a member is a simple process that will only take a few minutes out of your day, so if you have not already already done so, head on over and register now!

• How do you feel about this AT&T data throttling? Will it or will it not effect you?

• Here is a discussion of what the next iPhone will be called.

• Any bugs or issues you have run into on iOS beta 4 can be discussed in this thread.

• It looks like we will see another iPad released before the years end, what will it take to persuade you to make the purchase if you already own the second generation?

See you in the forums!

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Rene and Seth talk about trying to buy a Galaxy Tab 10.1, more iPad 3 in October rumours, iPad vs. Nintendo, AT&T data throttling, and Facebook for iPad... sorta. This is iPad Live!

• Show notes

Hosts

• Rene @reneritchie)
• Seth @sethclifford)

Credits

Thanks to the TiPb iPad Accessory Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Music Hear me Roar by iPad Live theme song contest winner, DieselJesus!

All Things D has heard from reliable sources that the iPhone 5 will not be launching until October. It was previously thought that the iPhone 5 would launch by September at the very latest.

Sources with knowledge of the situation say reports claiming AT&T has blacked out employee vacations during the last two weeks of September in preparation for the retail debut of the next iPhone are misinformed. Instead, it’s going to be an October surprise — the month in which Apple will be launching its next generation iPhone.

It will be interesting to see if Apple has its usual early September iPod event; surely iPhone 5 would have to be announced either before that or at the same time!

[All Things D]

If you still have an "unlimited" data plan with AT&T and you're among the top 5% of data users, prepare to be throttled.

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.

AT&T stresses they're not the only one doing this, and that most users will never see the throttling, just those heaviest, most video streaming, sneakily tethering, packet clogging, network reputation ruining five-percenters.

[AT&T]

Asymco has put up some interesting metrics showing how the most recent 20 million iPhone sales quarter can be broken up between AT&T, Verizon, and "other" -- aka international carriers. Not surprisingly, especially in light of Apple's Q3 earnings, international is huge.

Verizon did contribute (4.5 million Verizon iPhone users is nothing to sneeze at) but the contribution was to a degree that was nowhere near a big bang.

That was because the real big bang was from the rest of the world.

These numbers are particularly impressive considering fewer international markets have access to music, movies, TV shows, books, and apps/games, though the latter of those is changing rapidly. Imagine when they catch up?

[Asymco]

AT&T announced their Q2 2011 financial results today and they include 3.6 million iPhone activations, with 24% of subscribers being new to AT&T.

AT&T continues to deliver robust smartphone sales. (Smartphones are voice and data devices with an advanced operating system to better manage data and Internet access.) In the second quarter, 5.6 million smartphones were sold, a second-quarter record and the third-highest quarter ever. Smartphone sales also increased more than 43 percent year over year. Sales of non-iPhone smartphones more than doubled year over year. Nearly 70 percent of postpaid device sales were smartphones. During the quarter, 3.6 million iPhones were activated.

Android likely accounts for a huge majority of those "other smartphones".

Apple yesterday announced 20 million iPhones sold in Q3 2011 (Apple and AT&T have different financial year-ends, so Q3 for Apple is Q2 for AT&T). It will be interesting to see how many iPhones Verizon moved when they release their results.

[ATT]

Traveling to another country and wondering how to change your iPhone's data settings so you can use a local SIM and avoid ridiculous roaming charges? Now that Apple is selling unlocked iPhones in the United States, something that has been available in Europe and Canada for some time, almost everyone has that option. However, while Apple does have a built in database of supported carrier settings, if the local carrier you decide to use is not on the supported list, your data settings will not work... unless you enter the settings manually. We'll show you how after the break!

In this how to, I use a network in the UK called Giff Gaff; it is an MVNO of O2 UK. When you first put the Giff Gaff SIM in the iPhone 4, it defaults to O2 cellular data settings. This won’t work with Giff Gaff so it has to be changed to the correct settings.

To do this, follow these simple steps:-

• Go into Settings, General, Network, Cellular Data Network
• You will now see three headings, Cellular Data, Visual Voicemail and MMS
• To get data working we will need to change the APN settings, make sure you know what these are for the network you are going to use. A simple Google search should help.

• Click on APN and enter the new APN details, in my case it is: giffgaff.com
• Click on username and enter the new username details, in my case it is: giffgaff
• Click on password and enter the new password details, in my case it is: password

That should be it; you should now be able to access the cellular data network for the new carrier. If you also have the Visual Voicemail and MMS settings for the network you are using, you can enter them in exactly the same way!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to news@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

AT&T has announced new international data roaming packages, and while they aren't great, they are better than what's been available before. Here's the spin:

“Mobile data is a huge part of our customers’ wireless experience—whether they are in the United States or traveling around the globe,” said Bill Hague, executive vice president of International, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “We’ve long offered more phones that can be used internationally than our competitors, and now we’re delivering industry-leading value with redesigned international data packages.”

And here are the rates:

• 50MB package for $24.99/month compared to the current 20MB package for $24.99/month
• 125MB package for $49.99/month compared to the current 50MB package for $59.99/month
• 275MB package for $99.99/month compared to the current 100MB package for $119.99/month
• 800MB package for $199.99/month compared to the current 200MB package for $199.99/month

Of course, if you use the 800MB plan more than 3 times, you've spent as much as an unlocked iPhone direct from Apple...

[AT&T via WPCentral]

Shing Yin, a Citadel Securities analyst, thinks a Sprint iPhone deal may not be that far off, perhaps as soon as this year, which would likely mean a CDMA iPhone 5. After Verizon finally shipped the iPhone 4, we found out T-Mobile might be getting one, either on their own or as part of the ongoing T-Mobile and AT&T merger. That leaves Sprint sitting alone in the corner.

Interestingly enough, after Verizon ends unlimited data on July 7, 2011, Sprint will be the only carrier to still offer unlimited data. Yin things that may appeal to Apple.

With lower prices on plans, a Sprint iPhone could offer an attractive proposition for more price-conscious users (a demographic that we think is increasingly important to Apple following the rise of Android)...

I think it's only a matter of time before Sprint picks up the iPhone. I'm not convinced they'll receive the next hardware iteration at the same time as Verizon and AT&T but I could see a launch later in the year or early next year, the same way Verizon got the iPhone 4 roughly 8 months after AT&T.

Like with AT&T, eventually everyone on Verizon who wants an iPhone, even an iPhone 5, will have one, and selling into Sprint's user base is the next logical step for expansion in the US.

Barron's

AT&T seems to be conducting an online survey, asking customers if they'd like an iPhone with a hardware keyboard.

Which one smartphone, if any, would you most likely consider buying if they were all using the iOS (Apple) operating system.

Along with the traditional full touchscreen slab (think all iPhone models to date, four other options are presented:

1. Front-facing QWERTY (think BlackBerry Bold)
2. Vertical slider (think HP Pre)
3. Horizontal slider (think Droid)
4. Extended front-facing QWERTY (think Droid Pro)

Apple hasn't ever offered any type of hardware keyboard on any iOS device, and I doubt that's going to change any time soon. iPhone 5 almost certainly won't have a hardware keyboard, and even if Apple decides to pull the trigger on a lower-priced iPhone for emerging markets, it's hard to imagine them putting a hardware keyboard on that either. So why exactly AT&T is testing these waters is unknown. (Unless Samsung is doing some stealth product research...)

[Thanks to Phil from Android Central passing this on.]

AT&T has updated its insurance terms and from July 17 it will also cover the iPhone. The insurance program covers your phone against loss, theft, accidental damage including liquid spillage and mechanical / electrical failure. The insurance package costs $4.99 a month plus there is an excess of between $50 and $125; depending on which model phone you have.

AT&T Mobile Insurance Update: Effective July 17, 2011, the Apple iPhone (all models) will be eligible for coverage with the AT&T Mobile Insurance program (formerly Wireless Phone Insurance). Enrollment restrictions apply. Customers can only enroll within 30 days of a new activation or upgrade, prior activations or upgrades outside of 30 days are not eligible.

[AT&T via MacRumors]

As Rene previously mentioned, we have been making massive changes in our forums the past few weeks in effort to provide you with one of the best Apple related communities on the web. And the changes do not stop here, in the next few weeks we will continue improving our community to the best of our abilities.

Listed below are some of the hottest forums currently within the community. We are proud of the improvements that have been made so if you have not already done so, please take a moment visit our forums and register today!

• Discuss rumors and speculation surrounding the upcoming iOS 5.

• Discuss and get help with Apple's upcoming iCloud service (and MobileMe... while it lasts!).

• Discuss rumors and speculation surrounding iPhone 5!

• Discuss and get help with Jailbreaking the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Apple TV, and talk about Jailbeak apps and hacks.

• Discuss and get help with the AT&T/GSM iPhone 4.

• Discuss and get help with the CDMA/Verizon iPhone 4.

Expect more great changes to come in the weeks ahead! See you in the forums!

AT&T transitioned to data caps and tiered plans just over a year ago and come this summer, Verizon will follow suit. Are you concerned? International iPhone users have had to deal with data caps and tiered plans for years, but in the US "unlimited data" was pretty much expected. It framed users' habits. Streaming internet radio, watching internet video, tethering on the down-low... You could do all of that without the slightest thought.

Many users are already and will remain "grandfathered" into "unlimited data", but if you want official tethering, you'll have to switch, or like we're seen with AT&T, be forcibly switched, to the new, capped and tiered plans. And then you have to start planning for limited data.

Netflix, in response to broadband caps, has started offering smaller sized streams to users worried about their data consumption.

Starting today, watching movies & TV shows in Canada will use 2/3 less data on average with minimal impact to video quality. For example, watching 30 hours of Netflix movies & TV shows will only use 9 GB of data, well below most Canadian ISP data caps. Previously, 30 hours from Netflix typically used 31 GB.

Skyfire has long made a web browser that proxies and compresses data.

A recently released Nielson poll showed that the average smartphone user watched 3.25 hours of mobile video each month in 2010. In a video data consumption test, Skyfire allowed the average user to watch 4.5 hours of video per month, while staying below the baseline 200 MB data cap. For this reason, the one-time purchase of a Skyfire mobile browser ($2.99) can save an average iOS or Android user from $120 to $240 annually in data charges. (This comparison is based on current AT&T and T-Mobile data plan pricing. Specific pricing for other carriers around the world will vary.)

Various audio apps will also let you download over Wi-Fi and store or cache podcasts, songs, audio books, etc. so you don't use data on the road.

How dependent have you become on "unlimited" data? Have you routinely hit 5GB, 10GB, or even more a month? What do you think about the new caps and tiers? Will they cause you to rethink or reduce your usage, or just shake your fists and keep streaming in data defiance?

Or have you never gotten near a data tier, only use a few hundred MBs a month, and don't see what all the fuss is about?

LulzSec dumped one last load of AT&T documents on the internet, which though outdated and never meant for public consumption, does give some insight into some of the things they were at least considering -- like speed and session-based pricing for their upcoming LTE network.

But one interesting tidbit is AT&T's apparent plan 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 premise -- cable companies have been doing this for Internet access for a while now, but it'd be an interesting change in the mobile space.

You could also pay for a session, or temporary speed boost if you needed it. Again, this is something broadband providers have been doing for a while.

Of course, we probably won't get our hands on LTE until iPhone 6 in 2012, but it's still interesting to see where the industry might be by then. Any of you have an interest in speed or session based pricing, or are data caps complicated enough already?

[LulzSec via Android Central]

With the release of the iPhone on the Verizon network just a few months ago, analyst reports are saying it might just have slowed the previously runaway Android market growth. TechCrunch is even conjecturing the upcoming iPhone 5 could stop or even reverse it completely.

For much of last year iPhone was tied to one US carrier, AT&T. Now it's on AT&T and Verizon, but it's still essentially one device (though AT&T still has the bargain-priced iPhone 3GS), made by one manufacturer. Usually that one device is on a once-a-year cycle, but this year it might be closer to 15 months. Android on the other hand is on every network, and has hundreds of devices with new releases every few weeks. Given the greater carrier footprint and greater choice in models, all Android devices together should absolutely be outselling the 1 or 2 iPhones on 2 carriers in the US.

However, reports from NPD from April say that the iPhone market grew while Android's declined. About a month later, Nielsen said Android was indeed leveling off. Just a few days ago Needham was reporting from the use of IDC data that Android's share of the market hit its peak in March and is now declining, where Apple's share is once again on the rise. This is the first quarterly decrease that Android has ever seen. Yesterday, BTIG released a report saying iPhone is outselling Android in the majority of US AT&T and Verizon stores. And Verizon reported it had sold 2.2 million iPhones on its network in just two months.

That's probably not a coincidence. The Verizon iPhone could just be the reason the Android market is leveling off and, in some reports, declining. With iPhone 5 on the way, and the usually media and hype cycles that surround it, it's not unreasonable to think Apple can keep that momentum going. Add rumors of T-Mobile, perhaps even Sprint support in the future, and it gets very interesting very fast.

What do you think, will Android kick it back into gear and keep growing, or does Apple have a real chance to take the lead here?

[ NDP data, Nielsen data, TechCrunch]

250 Verizon and AT&T stores surveyed on what was their best selling smartphone, and according to BTIG Research, the number one answer on their board was... iPhone 4! It sat at the top of the charts at 89% of Verizon stores (tied with Droid Charge or Thunderbolt at 38% of those), and 65% of AT&T stores.

And while it only launched in February on Verizon, iPhone 4 has been out on AT&T for over a year, and the base hardware is a year old. That's it's not only still competitive, but still winning at the carrier outlets is interesting. (Not surprisingly, it's the top selling -- and only selling -- smartphone at Apple Stores as well, which just goes to show how large their dominant retail position really is.)

Anyone surprised by this?

[BTIG Research via All Things D]

Needham analyst Charlie Wolf thinks most Verizon Android users have been holding out for the iPhone 5, and once it's released, a mass exodus from the Android platform will ensue.

Verizon’s Android users are waiting for the iPhone 5. And when it arrives this fall, they’ll make the switch en masse.

Wolf suspects some Verizon subscribers chose not to pick up the Verizon iPhone after it debuted last February, some 8 months later than the iPhone 4 on AT&T.

“It’s reasonable to assume that a material percentage of Verizon subscribers who plan to switch were content to wait until the iPhone 5 arrived later this year,” says Wolf. “One reason Apple delayed the launch of iPhone 5 until September is that it reportedly plans to coordinate the launch of the GSM and CDMA versions of the phone. To do so in June would likely have upset Verizon subscribers who purchased iPhone 4 in the preceding months. It’s our expectation, then, that the anticipated surge in iPhone sales on the Verizon network is likely to occur this fall after Apple launches iPhone 5.”

TiPb has heard that the Verizon deal was a factor in Apple not launching iPhone 5 in June. However, it's just as likely that Verizon users are on contracts with a wide range of end dates, and would be penalized for switching outside their renewal window. If they want a full subsidy, especially for a device that's been on the market since June 2010, they'd wait for it. That means, rather than a sudden rush last February or this fall, we could see a slow, steady transition over time as contracts come up for renewal, and those Verizon users who want an iPhone make the switch.

Of course, not everyone is going to want an iPhone either. By fall there will no doubt be new Verizon Android devices out as well, including those with LTE data speeds -- something iPhone isn't suspected to match until 2012. That could make the decision more difficult and more complicated.

What do you think? Will Verizon Android users be switching en masse come iPhone 5 this fall?

[AllThingsD]

AT&T has stated they'll be deploying LTE across 5 cities this summer, paving the way for a 4G LTE iPhone which is expected to come in 2012.

AT&T Inc. said it plans to launch its super-fast wireless network in five cities this summer as it looks to catch up to Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Wireless. The company earlier this year said it would speed up its deployment of the network, underscoring the importance of keeping pace in the wireless speed game.

AT&T LTE rollout will initially kick off in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio -- a modest deployment compared to Verizon, but at least it's a start. We already know Apple won't be hopping onto the LTE bandwagon until everything is ready, but this is a good sign that the wheels are now in motion.

AT&T recently tested their 4G network seeing speeds of around 28Mbps down and 10Mbps up, which should be a force to be reckoned with once coverage is adequate across the US.

So when it comes time for a 4G iPhone 6, who will you go with, AT&T or Verizon?

[WSJ]

GigaOM was able to play around with the trial LTE network that AT&T has setup at their Foundry space in Plano, TX, which just might be used by iPhone 6 in 2012. They were able to reach blazingly fast speeds, beating out Verizon's LTE performance without a hitch.

the highlight of the lab was that the Foundry is home to a trial Long Term Evolution network. I asked for a demo and got one. The speeds provided on the download side were about 28.87 Mbps, and were about 10.4 Mbps on the upload side.

The technology behind their test LTE network consists of both 700 MHz spectrum as well as the AWS band they already own (and want to get more of by purchasing T-Mobile USA).

Keep in mind that AT&T's LTE network isn't going to see the light of day for some time, but it's also important to note the speeds they saw were reflective of 'real-world' performance. By comparison, Verizon users see on average ~10Mbps down and ~5Mbps up, so that's a pretty significant difference in speed.

Are you excited as we are to see the iPhone taking advantage of these 4G speeds on AT&T's network down the road? And will the new network finally bring with it reliability to match?

[GigaOM]

Apple doesn't currently make or market an iPhone 4G but given recent North American marketing shenanigans by the carriers, they might just get one sooner than anticipated. There was a time when 4G applied to really fast, really next generation mobile connectivity, like fully implemented voice/data LTE approaching 100 Mbps. Then Sprint launched Wi-Max as 4G. Then T-Mobile rebranded HSPA+ as 4G. Then Verizon deployed early stage LTE as 4G. Then AT&T rebranded their slower HSPA+ as 4G. 100 Mbps got shoved aside, and 21 Mbps, even 14.4 Mbps became "4G". Canadian carriers, which had previously called their 14.4 Mbps and even 21 Mbps HSPA+ networks "3G" have recently rebranded them to "4G" as well so as not to seem old and outdated. (For more on what all these terms mean, check out our networking glossary.)

No doubt it's easier to change a name than change a network, and easier to slap the letters 4G onto a phone than actually getting a real, power efficient, lightning fast 4G radio into one. But that's no excuse.

Verizon is arguably the closest with their early stage LTE deployment and phone like the Thunderbolt that don't get great battery life but do get amazing speeds.

My counterpart over at Android Central, Phil Nickinson has done a review of the Verizon LTE HTC Thunderbolt (and also told the carriers to kindly cut out the 4G smoke in our eyes), while PreCentral.net's Derek Kessler has just reviewed the AT&T HSPA+ HP Veer 4G.

The iPhone isn't expected to go LTE until 2012 but iPhone 5 might just go HSPA+ this fall. (14.4 or 21 Mbps, who knows?) And guess what, AT&T will probably call it "4G"...

...Especially since the CDMA version on Verizon will still be "3G" EVDO Rev A for another generation.

That's a huge competitive advantage, but hugely confusing for users.

Market research company, IDC has just released its smartphone market share numbers for the first quarter of 2011 and it clearly shows Apple is only second to Nokia in worldwide shipments.

Apple’s shipments have grown from 8.7 million in 2010 to 18.7 million in 2011 which is an amazing growth of over 114%. In the same period Nokia only managed a 12.6% increase.

Only 6 million units now separate Apple from Nokia. Apple has posted market beating year-on-year growth which has been bolstered this year with the release of the CDMA iPhone for Verizon as well as strong China, South Korea and Saudi markets. Apple’s market share has increased from 15.7% to 18.7% in the last 12 months.

[The Loop]

PdaNet, the popular (and free) tethering app in Cydia, has been updated to mask unauthorized data tethering. This comes after carriers like AT&T have started cracking down on iPhone owners who use MyWi to tether without losing their unlimited data plan.

AT&T has been flagging any packets that appeared to come from a secondary device before sending out a notice to users. PdaNet prevents this by using a method of masking packets sent through the network so your carrier can't tell if the data is coming from a device other than your iPhone.

The app also includes features like USB tethering and basic Wi-Fi security in addition to controlling the broadcast channel and WiFi signal strength, just like MyWi. You can either use the free version, or upgrade to the full version for $15.95 (limited time deal, normally $29) to access secured websites.

Any readers out there using PdaNet? What do you think of it?

Let's be frank -- we can't believe we're posting this but it just keeps getting sent to us. Firstly, carrier CSRs are typically the last to learn about anything Apple. We've actually gone to carriers the day of launch and they've known less about it than we have -- they're simply not informed. So please take the below account with a blue and white striped Death Star sized grain of salt. Now, an AT&T customer care representative has supposedly told a customer that Apple had confirmed this to them:

Apple has informed us that they do not plan to release the iPhone in the June to July timeframe, though there will be a newer version in the future. Unfortunately, we have not been given a release time for the new phone. We will release this information on our website when it is available to us.

The answer allegedly came in response to the customers query over why an early upgrade eligibility had been pushed back by over five months.

Again, we would file this one under very sketchy rumor. However, TiPb and other sites keep hearing that there won't be an iPhone 5 until fall, so while this rumor may or may not be true, the timeline seems to be.

What do you believe?

[MacRumors]

It looks like AT&T is continuing the crackdown on unofficial tethering as readers have reported another round of text messages from AT&T this morning:

AT&T Free Msg: We've noticed you're continuing to enjoy the tethering feature with your smartphone service. Remember, you need a tethering plan ($45/mo, incl. 4GB) to use this feature, so we're planning to update your line with the required plan soon. Visit att.com/dataplans or call 888-860-6789.

Last month AT&T sent out text and email notifications to iPhone users who used MyWi to tether their unlimited data plan. AT&T threatened to switch their plan over to the Data Pro 4GB tethering plan unless they called in, and some users reported success in keeping their unlimited plan when claiming they used large amounts of data from apps like Netflix and Pandora and weren't using the tethering feature.

It appears AT&T is pretty serious about putting a stop to unofficial tethering at this point and won't be letting up anytime soon. In addition, it was previously speculated that one of the tracking methods they used was simply targeting high data users (10GB seemed to be the threshold), but some users receiving the message have used tethering extremely sparingly, keeping their monthly data usage well below 10GB since the original message was sent last month.

Have you seen any new messages from AT&T regarding unofficial tethering? And more interestingly, do you think it's fair for AT&T to strip users of their grandfathered unlimited data plans for using the data they've already paid for in an "unofficial" way? Let us know in the comments!

If you’re still trying to get your hands on an iPad 2, FindOne is now an app for that! It runs on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch and can pinpoint stores with iPad 2’s sitting on shelves waiting to be snapped up.

FineOne queries various superstore databases to find iPad 2 product availability within the radius of a specified zip code. If products are found, the store phone and address are displayed, along with a list of all the iPad 2 product types currently available in that store.

The FindOne app is available free in the App Store. If any of our readers use this app and manage to grab an iPad 2, be sure to let us know in the comments!

[Free - iTunes link]

[AppAdvice]

New to iPhone and wondering what exactly that tiny SIM card in the side of your AT&T/GSM iPhone or iPad 3G is, and what it does? The short answer is, it's a Subscriber Identity Module, and it is a small circuit board which is placed in your iPhone (or any GSM phone) in order to identify it to your carrier. It's why you can swap SIMs in GSM phones and your phone number, voice, and data plans are swapped right along with it. Unfortunately, it's also why you can't just take a SIM-locked AT&T iPhone and run in on another carrier. For the long answer, stay with us after the break!

A SIM card is internationally identified by its Integrated circuit card identifier (ICC-ID) which is engraved on the body of the card. They are also identified by the carrier from its International mobile subscriber identity (IMSI). Beyond identification, SIM cards (mini SIM in iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3GS and micro SIM in iPhone 4 and iPads), have several other functions.

Look

SIM cards have evolved a lot over the years. All three are 0.76 mm in thickness and run at a speed of 5MHz. The old, original SIM cards were credit card sized. The next and still most common size is the mini SIM, which is 25 mm in length with a width of 15 mm with a cut on the corner so that it is easy to place in the slot properly. Apple began using micro SIM with iPads and iPhone 4. This is the newest standardized SIM size, and is 15 mm × 12 mm. Many carriers provide a mini SIM with the smaller micro SIM punched out inside so that it can be broken off and placed into the phone if needed.

There are also 3rd party, after market SIM cutters to turn a mini SIM into a micro SIM and jackets so a micro SIM can be used in a mini SIM slot.

Use

The SIM card is provided with your iPhone (or 3G iPad) by your carrier and it is used to store data about your account. It holds information such as your phone number, security data, billing information and things which help the carrier to know who is the user of the phone. (On older devices, especially feature phones, it also stored things like text messages and contacts). The SIM card allows you to change cellular phones and keep the same user data.

The SIM card is what lets your carrier know that you're the account holder of the iPhone using it. So if you take your SIM card our of your iPhone and then put it into your friend's iPhone and receive calls as though it were your own (assuming the SIM card is compatible).

Bonus Tip: So yes, if your iPhone runs out of power and you desperately need to use your voice or data plan, you can just swap the SIM into another iPhone or phone and use it with your minutes and data bucket. Or, if they're running low on minutes or data, they can borrow your SIM card and use it with the apps on their iPhone until you need it back.

Benefits

The main benefit of a SIM is that you can easily swap phones on your own. If you buy a new phone you can simply insert your existing SIM and keep on using your existing service (carrier restrictions may or may not apply, but the technology works that way.) Likewise if you travel internationally you can just buy a SIM on a local carrier and use that as a way to avoid expensive roaming fees (again, carrier restrictions and lockouts may apply).

Drawbacks

Theoretically there are few drawbacks to SIMs. Practically, however, many carriers lock their iPhones so they only work with that carrier's SIMs. That means, if you put in a SIM from another network you'll get an error instead of the service you'd expect. Typically the SIM-lock is in exchange for a subsidized phone (so you can't buy a cheap phone on one carrier then switch over an use another before you've paid back the subsidy over the life of your contract).

However, with iPhone many carriers like AT&T won't unlock it even if you pay full price, even when your contract expires, or even if you work internationally and need it unlocked for travel.

The only way around the restriction is to Jailbreak and then unlock your iPhone. (See our Jailbreak Starters Guide for more.)

Apple does sell officially SIM-unlocked iPhones in many countries, however they cost full price (over $600 for 16GB and over $700 for 32GB). Some carriers will also officially unlock phones after certain periods or at a certain cost. They communicate your iPhone ID to Apple which then registers it as an officially unlocked iPhone and will activate with any SIM on iTunes.

(Note: The Verizon iPhone and Verizon iPad 3G run on the Verizon CDMA network and don't use a SIM card, though current and future LTE phones on Verizon will.)

Let us know if you found this post helpful and what else did I miss on the subject?

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iPhone 5 not coming until Fall, iOS 5 not being previewed until June, would an iOS 4.4 take away some of the sting? Who's first, AT&T vs. Verizon on call drops, 12 petabytes of iTunes.com?, Jailbreaking iOS 4.3.1, and the week in apps. This is iPhone Live!

Show notes and all the week's iPhone news after the break!

Announcement

• Like TeleNav and TiPb on Facebook for a chance to win 30 free one-year AT&T Navigator subscriptions!

iPhone 5

• Apple to announce iPhone 5 at a separate event in June? [Crazy rumors]
• Sony 8mp image sensors for iPhone 5 delayed?
• Momentum

iOS

• TiPb Asks: Will there be an iOS 4.4?

News

• AT&T iPhone users see more than twice the dropped calls of Verizon iPhone
• Apple buying 12 petabytes of storage for iTunes online

Jailbreak

• How to jailbreak iOS 4.3.1 via redsn0w 0.9.6rc9 (untethered)
• Toyota releases official Jailbreak Theme
• Apple asks Toyota to pull Scion theme from Cydia

Apps

• Apple releases iAd Gallery app for iPhone
• Atari Greatest Hits brings over 100 Atari games to iPhone, iPod touch and iPad
• Twitter for iPhone removes #dickbar

Hosts

• @reneritchie
• @GeorgiaTiPb

Credits

Thanks to the TiPb iPhone accessory store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You -- iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

Giving away 3 one-year subscriptions to the TeleNav powered AT&T Navigator isn't cool. You know what's cool? Giving away 30 one-year subscriptions. To celebrate the launch of AT&T Navigator 1.8i (for the AT&T iPhone - iTunes link) -- the first app to takes advantage of TeleNav’s hybrid navigation service! -- that's exactly what they're doing.

And here's all you have to do to enter:

1. Like TeleNav on Facebook and TiPb on Facebook (be sure to like both!)
2. Leave a comment below telling us where you're going to use TeleNav to take you

That's it! We'll pick 30 of you at random from the comments and if you've liked both TeleNav and TiPb on Facebook, you'll get one of the thirty (30!) one year subscriptions!

What are you waiting for, do it now!

[Not sure if your device is supported? Check out TeleNav's AT&T support page!]

A recent ChangeWave report surveyed 4,068 wireless subscribers and revealed that AT&T iPhone users see more than double the amount of dropped calls compared to their Verizon iPhone peers. AT&T iPhone users reported that 4.8% of calls were unexpectedly dropped on the network, a far cry from Verizon at just 1.8% of calls. This lines up with a survey of overall cell phone customers that found 4.6% of AT&T subscribers and 1.4% of Verizon customers have reported dropped calls.

In addition, 46% of prospective iPhone 4 buyers say they will be going with Verizon, with 27% favoring AT&T and the remaining 27% still undecided. If you look back at the last survey from ChangeWave, it looks like the deciding factor for consumers on which carrier to choose is network quality and dropped calls. Based on these new results, it looks like AT&T (and their new T-Mobile spectrum, if the deal goes through) has a lot of work to do in terms of improving their network and lowering dropped calls if they want to stay competitive now that Verizon has the iPhone 4.

It's not all bad news, however. Consumer satisfaction was about even, with Verizon showing 82% of iPhone users being very satisfied with their device compared to AT&T iPhone users at 80%. The iPhone has historically held much higher consumer satisfaction ratings than smartphone competitors like RIM and Motorola, so this didn't come as much of a surprise to us.

Are you planning on buying an iPhone 4 soon? Which carrier will you be going with, and why? Sound off in the comments below!

[ChangeWave]

Our sister site, Android Central has received a document showing that from April 3, AT&T will be increasing the early pricing for iPhone. There is no mention specifically of AT&T in the document however Android Central know their stuff and identified it via the abbreviations and wording used.

Looking at the screenshot, the price to get an early upgrade to any of the current iPhones will increase by $50. That means you’re looking at $299 for the 8GB iPhone 3GS, $449 for the 16GB iPhone 4 and $549 for the 32GB iPhone 4.

Any price increase is hard to swallow but if you take into account other smartphone’s such as Android and Windows Phone will be hit by $150 increases, it makes it a little easier!

Does this change anyone's upgrade plans?

[Android Central]

• Our podcast feed
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Rene, Georgia, and Mickey Papillon, the Cell Phone Junkie, discuss more iPhone 5 rumors, iOS 4.3.1 bug fixes, the AT&T T-Mobile buyout and what it means for iPhone, when will we get LTE, AT&T's war on Jailbreak tethering, lawsuits, Google, #dickbar, and more! This is iPhone Live!

Show notes and all the week's iPhone news after the break!

Announcements

• White Diamonds artistic crystal cases for iPhone and iPad [Give away]

iPhone 5

• iPhone 5 NFC: Yes, no, maybe so?!
• More iPhone 5 metal back, 4-inch screen, NFC rumors

iOS 4.3.1

• iOS 4.3.1 coming within 2 weeks?

Carriers

• UPDATED: AT&T acquiring T-Mobile US, what does it mean for iPhone?
• AT&T to use T-Mobile spectrum for LTE
• UPDATED: AT&T cracking down on jailbroken MyWi users?
• More on AT&T’s war on Jailbreak tethering
• Second AT&T iPhone 4 commercial again shows off simultaneous voice and data

News

• Apple release three new “if you don’t have an iPhone…” ads
• Apple’s new iPhone ads should be called App Store, iTunes Store, iBooks Store
• Head of Mac OS X software, Bertrand Serlet is leaving Apple
• Apple to extend AirPlay video streaming licence to third parties?
• Microsoft announces remote device management… for iPhone and iPad?
• Apple sues Amazon over App Store trademark, Microsoft sues B&N over Android
• Sony Xperia Play videos get NSFW on iPhone!

Apps

• Google updates Latitude and Places apps, check-ins now included
• Controversy over the Apple approved ‘Anti-Gay app’
• Angry Birds Rio for iPhone, iPad released!
• TiPb Asks: What Twitter app are you using for your iPhone?

Hosts

• @reneritchie
• @GeorgiaTiPb
• @TCPJ_Mickey

Credits

Thanks to the TiPb iPhone accessory store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You -- iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge