FaceTime on unlimited

FaceTime over cellular has long been a sticking point for many of us on AT&T but as of the last few days there appears to be some sort of lift on the ban they had previously held. Reports have been coming in from several sources around the Internet. Here is one example, a tweet by @macrumors:

@MacRumors: AT&T Seems to Be Extending FaceTime-Over-Cellular to All Customers http://t.co/MgvAyMaT

I myself have tested this on my iPhone 5 on AT&T and it works after a reboot and you must be on ios6.0.1 or higher!

Update: while this was working yesterday, this feature is again restricted today. That’s either really stupid or just sad. Anyone else see it work and disapear?

Discussion: Apple, AT&T, Data Plans, and Stupidity?

I read the AT&T CEO article over at MacRumors.com and I thought I’d write, just for a quick discussion here. Here’s the scenario, at least as I understand it, Pretent I’m the CEO of AT&T, Ok? 🙂

1. I bid, struggle, make a case to “Apple” in some kind of “negotiation” for a *huge exclusive opportunity* to support one of the most widely accepted digital convergance devices ever created. (You know like when I wake up in the morning, I decide what to eat for breakfast, no big deal right?)
2. I begin supporting the device only to find out I need to do a little more to make it more seamless and ultimately improve my wireless network performance. (So I invest in land-lines instead of cell towers? Damn I’m good)
4. I am surprised that investing in land-lines instead of cell towers didn’t improve wireless throughput and capacity (how could that *not* have worked? Amiright?) and rumors of scaled/tiered data plan pricings are leaked. (totally not be me…I swear.)
6. Oh, yeah, I also want to change the EULA of my network and any associated verbage coupled with the network access portion of any existing and future contracts to include some kind of “overage fee or cap” on the “unlimited data plans” (Dood, this is totally going to work. Problems Solved!) Oh, and I’m going to be totally surprised when everyone has a shit-fit.
8. JDPower and Associates rates my customer service team in the middle and my network performance at the bottom. (Crap, I did it again. I must need to invest in more land-lines.) I also start to think blaming the users of my networks/contracts are the ones at fault, totally dood, totally.
10. I actually blame my network performance on those damn iPhone thingys those assholes are using that I sold them that I coupled with a nearly unbreakable contract with unrealistic termination fees and monthly charges for *data* and phone service on *my Freakin’ Network*. Oh, I then make everyone feel worse by bringing up the fact there could be tiered data pricing again. (Seriously, data pricing on a freakin’ “ALWAYS ON WIRELESS NETWORK?” I mean, I’ve heard of toll roads before, but it doesn’t cost me crap to walk down the street.)
12. Did I mention I brought up Tiered Data Pricing again?
13. I call the new iPhones and iPads “data hogs” and yes, I’m priveleged to have them on my network cause, damnit, They’re really just WiFi devices anway.
14. I improved the performance of my “3G” network by throwing money at the problem, testing some speeds in 13 major cities, *AND* JDPower and Associates now confirmed me as being the most awesome for improvement. (Dood, GOLD freaki’n Star. G.O.L.Mutha-fuggin-D. GOLD STAR! w00t!)
15. I go on record again saying how 3G users are jerks and that damn iphone is to blame (brrrring – Hold on, talking to the wife on iPhone now…Damnit! Dropped call!)

On top of all that, I go on-record with all of this again and http://www.macrumors.com/2010/03/02/atandt-ceo-randall-stephenson-speaks-about-iphone-and-ipad/ give everyone crap for liking the iPhone.

I’m confused over all this. VZW’s customer service is great, but not being able to browse on CDMA while taking a phone call. Something sounds just wrong with that. (I was a VZW customer for many years, and this still stumps me)

Discussion: What iPad Should One Get?

One question has been plaguing me for a while and I’ve sort of discussed it before, but TUAW.com has simply the best article on the subject of “If I buy an iPad, which one should I get?” I truly want one, but I might just wait a bit, read the article over here and judge for yourselves. Awesome article and very poignant when it comes to this sort of decision. Thanks TUAW!

Rumor: Amazon to Offer Free Kindles to “Best Customers” to Compete with iPad?

I just wanted to post a quick thought on this possibility. If Amazon believed enough in Kindle to not worry about iPad, then why pay people to use it to increase the numbers surrounding kindle. Of course this could always be written off as a marketing tool, but it sounds pretty painful to me, whatever the reason. What I would like to see from Amazon is a more “Toyota-esque” expression of “It’s not as good, so we’ll listen to you and make it better.” I mean, they still might even do that, but I don’t see a true effort just yet.

So have a look here at Apple Insider’s Article on the subject and discuss.

Enjoy!

Discussion: AT&T Lets Families Track Each Other

AT&T has rolled out a new application to allow you to find out where someone in your family calling plan is located using your iPhone.
Makes me wonder how much they’ll chastise themselves for the increased bandwidth utilization, but the app does come with a fairly hefty price, IMO, 14.99 for 5 phones, and 9.99 for 2 phones…Per month. Here’s a link to the story over at Mac Rumors, Enjoy!