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AT&T is slightly raising the price of its Unlimited plans
AT&T is raising its Unlimited plan prices a bit on March 5, 2024, though users will at least get more hotspot data.
AT&T offers cheap wireless data to teachers and students stuck at home
AT&T is giving teachers free wireless data service to cope with the pandemic, but only if enough students sign up for discounted plans.
Verizon extends 15GB of additional mobile data through May
Verizon is extending its 15GB of additional mobile date through May 31st to keep people online during the COVID-19 pandemic.
AT&T will give users an extra 15GB of mobile hotspot data
AT&T is still expanding its offerings to keep people online during the COVID-19 outbreak. Between April 2nd and May 13t, it's adding an extra 15GB of mobile hotspot data to every line on unlimited plans that have a monthly tethering allowance. If you have the Unlimited Extra plan, for instance, that will effectively double the amount of data you get. That's still not enough data to completely rely on your phone's connection if you're used to landline data allotments, but it could be helpful if your wired service goes down or becomes oversaturated.
Apple is reportedly aware of flaky Personal Hotspots in iOS 13
Apple hasn't entirely escaped the flurry of iOS 13 glitches, it seems. MacRumors has reportedly obtained support documents acknowledging ongoing connection problems with the Personal Hotspot feature in iOS 13 and its iPadOS 13 counterpart. Affected users either disconnect frequently or can't connect at all -- a significant problem if you're counting on your device's hotspot as a backup connection. It's not certain just when the issue first manifested, although iPhone and iPad users have reported issues as far back as iOS 13.1.2.
Drone network provides early warnings for natural disasters
Drones might soon deliver a heads-up when natural disasters are about to strike. Researchers have developed a communication system that uses a drone network to provide early warnings for disasters. The challenge wasn't so much the drone-to-drone communication as the battery life. Where a typical hobbyist drone rarely lasts more than half an hour in the air, a smarter resource allocation method helps this system lasts three to five longer while covering a large area. The drones can also form a WiFi hotspot that keeps people online when conventional infrastructure has fallen apart.
T-Mobile will let you test drive its network for 30 days
T-Mobile is hoping to attract new customers by offering a free test drive program of its network. The process is relatively simple. Sign up online and you'll get a free Coolpad Surf Device hotspot in the mail. Connect to the hotspot via wifi and use it for 30 days or 30GB, whichever comes first. Once you're done, drop it off at any T-Mobile location.
Verizon's first 5G hotspot is $500 with a two-year contract
Verizon (Engadget's parent company) has unveiled the latest device that connects to its 5G network. The Inseego MiFi M1000 is the first 5G hotspot available through Verizon, and it costs $650 upfront. If that's a little out of your price range, there's a payment plan through which you can pick up the hotspot for $27.08/month for 24 months or it's available for $500 with a two-year contract.
AT&T flips the switch on mobile 5G in 12 cities this week
After nearly a year of talking about it, AT&T is finally ready to launch the US' first mobile 5G network -- and with just days to go before its self-imposed end-of-2018 deadline. Service officially starts on December 21st, when a handful of customers will snag a free Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot (below) for "at least" 90 days. The network is technically live now in parts of 12 cities (Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Louisville, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Raleigh, San Antonio and Waco).
AT&T and Harman bring connected features to your existing car
AT&T is joining the ranks of carriers that can bring a whole suite of connected car technology to older passenger vehicles. It's launching the Harman Spark, an OBD-II dongle that adds diagnostics, tracking and LTE data to cars from 1996 and beyond. Unlike the old ZTE Mobley, this isn't just about internet access. It can alert you to car trouble (including theft), help you find and pay for roadside help and locate your vehicle.
T-Mobile is offering free 30-day trials in three cities
T-Mobile has one of the fastest mobile networks around, according to a recent study, and it's eager for more people to check out its service. To give potential customers a taste of the network, T-Mobile is offering a free 30-day trial in Atlanta, Boston and Austin.
Bloomberg: AT&T and Verizon plan to launch 5G hotspots
In late January, AT&T chief Randall Stephenson revealed that the carrier wants to offer customers puck-shaped 5G hotspots before phones that can handle the new speeds become available. Turns out other carriers might do the same thing. According to Bloomberg, Verizon also plans to release a portable 5G hotspot this year for those who can't wait before the first 5G phones come out. Verizon wireless chief Ronan Dunne said in an interview at Mobile World Congress:
Karma's anonymizing LTE hotspot arrives January 15th
Want to keep your internet activity under wraps regardless of what device you're using or where you are? You won't have too much longer to wait. Karma has revealed that its anonymizing Karma Black LTE hotspot will ship on January 15th, with pre-orders open now. Spend $149 ($249 after January 15th), plus $20 per month for security services, and you'll get a portable router that encrypts all your internet traffic while masking your location and other potentially identifying data markers. You can use it to boost the privacy of your home connection, too, and there's the promise of feature expansions that include Tor anonymity network services, antivirus safeguards, ad blocking and parental controls.
AT&T's Netgear mobile hotspot promises twice the speed of LTE (updated)
AT&T has just announced the first mobile hotspot router, the Netgear Nighthawk, that can connect to the telecom company's "5G Evolution" network, which AT&T claims offers up to twice the speed of typical 4G LTE. The service is only available in parts of Austin and Indianapolis, and previously only to Samsung S8 users. The Netgear router will cost $50, and you'll need to have at least a $20 per month data plan to use it.
Karma's new hotspot gives users a cloak of invisibility
Personal hotspot hardware provider Karma has announced a new security-focused product, Karma Black. A specialized version of the company's KarmaGO hotspot device, Karma Black will provide anonymous browsing (Tor), an integrated Virtual Private Network (VPN), blacklisting and ad-blocking. KarmaGO allows users to establish a WiFi connection through 4G via a small portable device, either on a pay-as-you-go basis or through a monthly data plan -- it's particularly popular with business travellers. Karma Black will operate in the same way, but will act as an invisibility cloak for users, encrypting web activity and hiding physical location. It'll also provide beefier protection against intrusive advertising and viruses.
Chevy is the first major car company with unlimited LTE data
Chevrolet's latest OnStar LTE plan would be every smartphone user's dream, if it wasn't confined to cars. Starting March 3rd, Chevy owners can get unlimited 4G data, including an OnStar WiFi hotspot, for $20 a month, prepaid. It's apparently economies of scale that are helping Chevy lower costs. It has sold 3.1 million OnStar LTE-equipped cars, more than any other automaker, and customers streamed 4 million GB of hotspot WiFi data in 2016, double the year before.
Qarnot's smart space heater has learned some new tricks
Anybody with a desktop tower (or a laptop running Chrome) knows how much waste heat processors can throw off during the course of their computing. Typically that heat is simply discarded, shunted from the processor's surface through a complex series of tubes and sinks. But French startup Qarnot has a better idea: Use that energy to heat your home.
Google links Project Fi-approved WiFi hotspots to Nexus phones
The WiFi Assistant feature from Google's Project Fi wireless network turned out to be one of Nicole's favorite parts of the service, and now more people will have access to it. Google announced today that it's bringing the ability to "automatically and securely connect" to over a million hotspots to Nexus owners in the US, Canada, Mexico and Nordic countries. WiFi Assistant identifies open, unprotected hotspots with good connections, and if you don't want your network on the list then you may want to take a look at these instructions (or, just make sure it has any password protection at all).
Samsung Connect Auto brings LTE data to your car
You didn't think Samsung would stay out of the connected car race, did you? Sure enough, the Korean electronics giant has unveiled its own take on smarter vehicle tech in the form of Connect Auto. The Tizen-powered (and Knox-secured) dongle plugs into your car's OBD-II port and provides LTE data to everyone in the car through a WiFi hotspot. And like other connectors, it should help with your driving. The adapter promotes safer driving habits (including through insurance partnerships), keeps tabs on maintenance, helps you find your parked car and even alerts your contacts if you're ever involved in an accident.
Karma kills unlimited data, announces less restrictive plans
After two stabs at unlimited hotspot data -- which involved severe limits on data speeds, as well as heavy throttling -- Karma is calling it quits. As a replacement, the startup is launching a new series of tiered plans dubbed Pulse, which start at $40 a month for 5GB of data. If you need more data, there's also a 10GB plan for $75 a month, and a 20GB option for $140 a month. Having learned its lesson from extreme restrictions, Karma says it won't be throttling or limiting bandwidth for Pulse plans (expect speeds between 6 megabits per second and 8 Mbps, instead of being stuck at 5 Mbps). You'll also be able to connect up to eight devices, just like Karma's "Refuel" pay-as-you-go plan, rather than being limited to five connections.
