Starbucks to offer free Wi-Fi at all its locations.

Starting July 1, Starbucks will offer free Wi-Fi internet access to all its customers at all its locations in the U.S. The move is in response to a similar one by McDonald who earlier this year offered free wireless Internet service to its customers in its effort to still business from the coffee chain. The Starbucks new free Wi-Fi offer will take over from a patchwork of confusing plans.
On top of the general Internet acces which will be be offered trough the same provider, AT&T, Starbucks will offer free access to some otherwise paid content like the paid portion of the Wall Street Journal or Zagat, the restaurant review site. Starbucks also plans to use the service as a virtual network where content from select business based on their proximity to the Starbucks locations, will be available.

For more, see WSJ.com

Tools to help find the best AT&T data plan deal.

With the recent announcement by AT&T that it non longer provides unlimited data usage to smartphone owners, chances are some customers are left wondering how that will affect them financially. A best place to start is by knowing what your needs are so you don't end up over paying for something that you don't use or maybe equally worse, find yourself maxed out of your allocated data capacity. So to get it just right, there are some tools able to help you buy the correct data plan. One tool is offered by AT&T itself in the form of an app and it is called my Wireless. It provides data usage right from the app, or the user can choose to dial *DATA# (*3282#) and receive a text message detailing a device's data consumption. For more details, customers can log on to at&t.com/wireless.
Others tools are offered by companies like Billshrink.com and Validas.com which can analyse your bill and recommend a data plan regardless of the carrier according to the NYTimes.


For more, see NYTimes.com

iPhone 4 enveilled to the public for the first time.

Weeks after the the lost iPhone's saga and the mini drama that enfolded, Apple finally unveiled the new iPhone called iPhone 4, yesterday. From the exterior, the new phone is thinner than the previous one thanks to its stainless frame that serves also as an antenna.
One of the phone striking new features are its two cameras, including a front-facing one that allows video chats thanks to the FaceTime video chat utility. It gives you a full-screen view of your caller and puts your head in a little thumbnail on the same screen. The new iPhone 4 has a bigger battery that allows for seven hours of talk time.

Another thing that spurs excitement, is the fact that the operating system dubbed iOS 4, allows users to run more than one application at a time.

The iPhone 4 will go on sale June 24 in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany and Japan. In the U.S., it will cost $199 with a two years contract with AT&T which remained as the exclusive carrier for the iPhone. Another hundred dollars would provides an iPhone model with additional storage.

For more, see WSJ.com

Ways to increase i-Phone signal.

With the explosive popularity of iPhone, comes a drawback: its well documented spotty signal reception. iPhone owners have not been shy to express their displeasure with the quality of service provided by AT&T, the exclusive carrier for the iPhone. But fortunately, there are some readily available solutions to help enhance the reception quality for iPhone; some are free and some are not. Here are some simple solutions suggested by the New York Times.
The starting point would be to check to see if you have Apple latest operating system by plugging the iPhone into a computer via its USB cable. When its 3G coverage is weak, iPhone owners can switch to the Edge network or simply reboot their phones. An extreme way to increase signal performance, would be to completely reinstall the phone software but not before backing up all your data.
When all that fails, a signal booster may be the answer according to the NYTimes.
In that regard, products like CellRanger available at get www.getcellranger.com or zBoost offered at www.wi-ex.com are credited to drastically improve iPhone signal quality.
Even AT&T seems to recognize that they have reception issue when it offers its own signal enhancement product called MicroCell whith one time charge.

For more, see NYTimes.com

Apple announces March 12 launch date for iPad tablet.

This past Friday, Apple announced April 3 as the launch date for its much talked about iPad tablet.
At first, Apple will be selling a version that access the Internet through Wi-Fi while another version capable of faster Internet connection through 3G networks, will go on sale later that same month. Talking about networks, AT&T is the selected carrier to support the iPad in the U.S., the Wall Street Journal reports.
Apple said that it will begin taking orders for the iPad starting March 12 and the device will be sold through its Web site with AT&T saying it will not sell the device at its stores.
The Wi-Fi version of the device will retail for about $500 while the 3G one will go for about $800 and the device will be available in others countries in late April according to the Wall Street Journal.

For more, see WSJ.com

Using WI-FI as an alternative to cellular networks congestion.

With the popularity of samart phones these days, come a drawback in the form of clogged cellular network connections who more often than not, got more than they can handle.
So to help remedie the situation, some of the nation biggest wireless carriers are offering a temporary relief in the form of WI-FI connection from hot spots. With WI-FI, customers can bypass the carriers wireless networks and make or receive phone calls and deliver or access fast data in areas where they normally wouldn't.
In that regard, AT&T, the carrier with the most isssues with network coongestion, is leading the way with close eely to 20,000 company's accessible hot spots. Those hot spots are freely accessible as part of their monthly data plan to AT&T customers with Windows Mobile phones as well as AT&T customers owners of an iPhone or a Blackberry even though, many of them are not aware of that option.
To find those free hot spots, iPhone owners can download WI-FI locator apps like the free hot spots finder, WI-FI Finder from JiWire which will offer users a list of nearby hot spots based on their locations. Blackberry or Windows Mobile phones owners on the AT&T network, don't have access to such free applications, but for a certain fee, can download apps from either the Blackberry's App World or the Android Market.
T.Mobile, another big wireless carrier, also offers free WI-FI connections to its subscribers as part of their monthly data plan but for only about 10,000 hot spots locations.
But for an additional $10 a month, T.Mobile customers are able to place unlimited calls from any hot spot without exceding their plan limits. Unfortonatly, among T.Mobile 30 WI-FI capable phones, only 18 of them can make such calls and to make it even more restrictive, the Android powered phones are not among them.
Another big wireless carrier, Sprint does not offer WI-FI connections but instead is taking another route in the form of WiMax technology, in conjonction with its partner, Clearwire Communications.
With that technology, Sprint is trying to cover entire cities in an Internet cloud and not just some hot spots. That's why the project is slow going and is rolled out in only a few cities (Baltimore, Las Vegas, Boise Idaho, Bellingham Washington and Portland Oregon) with a few more on the work.
In cities where its WiMax is present, Sprint's actual subscribers would have to pay an additional fee to acces the network and they have the option to pay a $ 60 monthly fee for unlimited connection, or pay by the day to the tune of $10 for a full 24 hours.
Verizon Wireless, the nation biggest wireless carrier doesn't offer a WI-FI cellphone connection even though it is promoting a device commonly called MI-FI that for $100 a month, will enable up to five devices to connect to the Internet. But the catch there is , you have to be near a cellular covered area for the device to work.



For more, see NYTimes.com

Femtocell devices extend and enhance cellphones coverage.

Most cellphone users have one time or another experienced with spotty coverage or simply dropped calls regardless of which carrier they get their service from. Over the years, there have been a number of devices intended to help with the problems by extending or enhancing cellphone service. In the past year, some of the biggest wireless carriers in the U.S. have begun offering new devices called femtocells that are small boxes that act like miniature cellular towers to improve the network's coverage. While Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel sell femtocells, AT&T does not. But here is a catch:the wireless carriers who do sell femtocells, do not market these devices as doing so would give a hint to a sensitive subject they rather do not want to talk about, coverage problem. So the catch is that if a subscriber really feel like he or she needs one, he or she will have to expressly demand for it. And usually carriers use the option to offer it as a last resort to retain subscribers who threaten to switch carriers.
According to the Wall Street Journal, "femtocells don't require special cellphones as they use the same radio spectrum as carrier's cellular towers to extend their cellular coverage by taping into a landline connection and routing calls over the Internet."
One femtocell can handle up to three simultaneous calls, covers up to 5,000 square feet and the owner can grant access to other cellphone owners that use the same carrier.
Sprint femtocell device called Airave is offered at $100 plus a monthly fee of $5, while Verizon unit called a Network Extender, goes for $250.
AT&T is said to be testing it's version of femtocell in three different cities without any mention of possible roll over date.

For more, see WSJ.com

Choosing the best phone when traveling to Europe.

For most Americans traveling to Europe, being able to make phone calls using a cell phone can be very challenging and frustrating. There are many reasons behind that fact, starting with the compatibility factor between the cell phones' technologies used in the U.S. and the one used in Europe. With the exception of AT&T and T-Mobile, the technology used by most U.S. major phone carriers is not compatible with the one used in Europe. So, if you are traveling to Europe, your best bet would be to pick a phone from one of those two companies that can operate on all the frequencies in usage in both sides of the Atlantic. Usually, those phones are referred to as "quad band" or "world phones." Once such phone is picked, the next step will be to find a plan with minimum roaming fees which can be very steep.
Another way to deal with the issue, is to look for what is called an "unlocked" phone which can accept different SIM cards. The advantage of such possibility is that you will be able to use a different SIM card for whatever country you are in, and have your phone calls treated as local.

Maybe feeling the pressure from Congress and some consumer groups, Verizon wireless, the U.S. largest carrier in term of subscribers, shocked the cell phone world by announcing last month that it will in the future, limit the length of its exclusive deals with handset manufacturers to no more than six months.
The new measure would opens the doors for small wireless carriers to the most sought after and therefore profitable handsets in the market. However, the new arrangements would not affect existing deals like Verizon's exclusive one to carry the Blackberry Storm made by Research in Motion Ltd. Also, some mid-size carriers like Virgin Mobile and U.S. Cellular Corp do not qualify to benefit from the measure.
Other large carriers have yet to respond to Verizon latest move, but you bet they do not have a choice but to follow suit.

For more, see WSJ.com

Subsidized netbook with cell service offered by Verizon Wireless.

Starting this past Sunday, Verizon Wireless has begun offering a subsidized HP netbook for $200 after a $50 mail-in-rebate. Just like with its cellphones subsidies program, customers must sign a two years contract and agree to pay between $40 and $60 a month for data access.
The netbook model name H-P Mini 115NR, comes with a built-in cellular and WI-FI modems, a webcam, but lacks a DVD drive. The data level included in the plan is not unlimited and it will cost you extra if you exceed your limit; also, the service speed is slower than many WI-FI connections, minus the WI-FI access fees of course.
And for even less, you can go for a similar netbook made by Acer and available at RadioShack for $50, plus $36 activation fee, and a two years service contract at $60 a month with AT&T.

For more, see WSJ.com