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AT&T's 'Flying COW' drone provides cell service to Puerto Rico
These days, it's just as important to have communication up and running after a major disaster as it is to have power, food and drinkable water. The FCC approved $77 million to fix communications in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, while Project Loon (a collaboration with AT&T, Alphabet and T-Mobile) has found ways to get the internet up and running via LTE-providing balloons. Now, AT&T has deployed its helicopter Flying COW (Cell on Wings) to temporarily provide data, voice and text services to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
Two more AT&T prepaid plans will offer data rollover
Looks like AT&T is the latest carrier to hop onto the "data rollover" bandwagon. The company recently announced that customers subscribing to its prepaid GoPhone $45 and $60 plans will be able to apply their unused data allowance -- 1.5 GB and 4 GB, respectively -- to the next month but only until the next month. That is, any spare data you have in January will roll over to February but disappears come the Ides of March. And be warned, if you manage to burn through your total data allotment, that internet connection's going to get squeezed down to just 128kbps for the remainder of the billing cycle. AT&T's plan isn't as good as the full year of rollovers that T-Mobile is offering but certainly better than what it was giving you before. Previously, only subscribers to the Mobile Share Value program were allowed such a rollover. The newly expanded program takes effect on Friday, May 15th. [Image Credit: Getty Images]
Bay Area transit operator cuts cell service to thwart protest, activists abandon cause for Angry Birds
It looks like not even good old civil disobedience can survive without decent reception these days. In a seemingly successful attempt to shut down a protest of BART -- the Bay Area's answer to a subway system -- operators pulled the plug on cell service to multiple train stations, leaving would-be activists without a major organizing tool. The demonstration would have been the second in as many months in response to the shooting of a man by transit police. Officials had this to say in defense of the disruption: A civil disturbance during commute times at busy downtown San Francisco stations could lead to platform overcrowding and unsafe conditions for BART customers, employees and demonstrators. BART temporarily interrupted service at select BART stations as one of many tactics to ensure the safety of everyone on the platform. That didn't seem to sit well with some, as the cutoff has lead to a campaign by hackers, comparing the system to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who disconnected the country's internet during its recent revolution. It may have a ring to it, but muBARTek does seem a little much, don't you think?
