AT&T Offering iPhone 3GS for $9

If you are looking for an iPhone and don’t mind going for the 3GS instead of the iPhone 4, AT&T is the place for you. They are basically giving away refurbished iPhone 3GS’s.

Just earlier this year, AT&T dropped the price of its iPhone 3GS to $49.99, and we thought that was a great deal. Now customers will be able to purchase a refurbished device for a mere $9.

Right now AT&T lists a black 8GB iPhone 3GS on its website for $99 with a two year contract; however, if you go ahead and subtract $90 for a refurbishing discount, you’ve got yourself an iPhone for $9.

It was in January that AT&T dropped the price of the iPhone 3GS, right before they began to offer the iPhone 4. The newer version of the smartphone obviously has some extra features that you won’t find on the 3GS. It offers a front-facing camera, retina display and the FaceTime app, among other things, but when you consider the difference in pricing, who really cares about all of that stuff. If you’re someone that is desperate for those features, you’re going to be looking at spending anywhere between $200 and $300. To me, it just doesn’t seem like it could possibly be worth it.

So what does AT&T mean when they say a “refurbished phone?” It’s not some phone that was destroyed and then put back together, I can tell you that. It is simply a pre-owned phone that was returned during the 30-day trial period that AT&T offers its customers. All of the devices that are returned have then been reset to their original factory settings and have been put through extensive tests before AT&T resells them. They also come standard with a 90-day warranty and a 30-day trial period.

If you’re looking for a good deal on a smartphone and don’t mind dealing with AT&T’s service, this could be the deal for you!

A Copier Rental is a quick way to mass produce important documents for potential customers at an event or conference. Renting office equipment is simple and easy and it can also save you loads of time and money. Rentacomputer.com has been offering copier rentals to more than 1000 cities worldwide for over 20 years.

AT&T Has More iPhone Activations Than Verizon

Last week, AT&T and Verizon both posted their quarterly results as well as the number of iPhones that they have activated on each of their networks. Surprisingly, the mobile phone carrier with the most iPhone activations is AT&T.

AT&T reported that it has activated 3.6 million iPhones on its network this quarter, while Verizon has only activated 2.3 million. All in all, that adds up to 5.9 million new iPhones, which constitutes about 30 percent of the 20.3 million iPhones that Apple reported that it has sold during this past quarter.

So, are you surprised that AT&T has activated more iPhones than Verizon? I definitely was! So, how have they done it? Well, the advantage that AT&T has over Verizon is that it offers its customers both the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4. Verizon is only offering its customers the iPhone 4. AT&T is also offering the iPhone 3GS at a discounted price. Customers can get a new iPhone 3GS for $49.99 or pick up a refurbished device for $9 with a two year contract. That is one heck of a deal! Unfortunately, AT&T did not break down its quarterly numbers to show how many of each version has been activated. They just lumped the numbers all together.

Although Verizon does not have the most iPhone activations, the company did add more subscribers than its rival, AT&T. According to the company, they added more than 2.2 million people to their carrier, clearly beating AT&T who only added 1.1 million new users. Verizon now can boast 106.3 million subscribers, while AT&T sits behind them with 98.6 million users.

Breaking down the numbers even further, only 36 percent of Verizon’s subscriber base is made up of smartphone users. Although this is up from 32 percent last quarter, AT&T is way ahead. Almost 50 percent of the AT&T client base is made up of smartphone subscribers. So why does all of this matter? Well, smartphone subscribers tend to lead to more revenue for the company, due to data plans that users must take out when they choose a smartphone. So, although Verizon had more customers than AT&T, AT&T made $31.5 billion in total revenues, while Verizon came in at $27.5 billion.

Reports have said that when the next generation iPhone is made available, it will be offered by both mobile carriers. They have also reported that it will be a world phone, complete with the capability to run on GSM or CDMA networks. So, once the “iPhone 5” is released, the iPhone 4 will most likely be offered by both carriers at a discounted price. This could help to even the activation numbers, but who knows? Apple could decide to switch things up and offer the newest version of the iPhone through another phone carrier such as Sprint. That could really skew the numbers for both AT&T and Verizon. For now, we will just have to sit back and wait for Apple to release the new and improved iPhone. Hopefully, the wait will not be much longer.

Security Camera Solutions

Is Verizon Really Stealing THAT Many of AT&T’s Customers?

When Verizon Wireless announced that it would be adding the Apple iPhone to its smartphone lineup, analysts predicted that the amount of AT&T iPhone customer base that switched over to Verizon could add up to as many as 50 percent. So has this really happened?

As of now, the figures concerning the iPhone user switch rate from AT&T to Verizon have not yet been released; however, early speculations seem to be saying that about 14 percent of Verizon iPhone preorders were AT&T iPhone owners who were switching over.

Although that sounds like a pretty hefty amount of customers for mere preorders, it really doesn’t seem to be bothering AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets President and CEO Ralph de la Vega. Earlier this month de la Vega said that AT&T’s mobile customer losses were within the company’s expectations.

According to reports from Mobclix, two out of every three AT&T iPhone customers who switched to Verizon’s iPhone paid the termination fee that is required by AT&T. These fees include: $325 for AT&T’s smartphone, minus $10 for every month that a user has been on the company’s two-year contract. This can be quite a chunk of change, and in addition to that users still have to go and buy a new iPhone from Verizon.

Mobclix is also saying that 14 percent of iPhone 4 users are now calling Verizon Wireless their home. Out of all the iPhone users in the world, Verizon’s customer base makes up about 4 percent. All of this information from Mobclix is being pulled from the company’s Mobclix Exchange, which is Mobclix huge advertising marketplace that goes ahead and matches different developers with any interested advertisers in a bidding atmosphere. Mobclix did some research to see why AT&T iPhone customers were switching over to Verizon.

What they found just confirms everything that every other survey about AT&T iPhones vs. Verizon iPhones has discovered. The top reason for the switch was reception quality. In the survey of 600 different Verizon iPhone users, Mobclix found that the second and third most popular reason that customers were deserting AT&T was because of “personal hot spots” and “reputation.” The personal hot spot that AT&T users were missing is a feature that allows the iPhone to serve as an Internet host for up to five devices connected via Wi-Fi, or one single device connected via Bluetooth or USB.

Although this was an initial concern, just recently AT&T released its iOS 4.3 update for iPhones that allows AT&T iPhone users to have the same personal hot spot abilities. Mobclix also went on to research where there were the highest areas of Verizon iPhone usage. They found that Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, Boston, Chicago and Seattle where the cities with the most usage…big surprise.

I guess we’ll just have to see if Mobclix is accurate when the final official numbers come in. No matter, Verizon really seems to have made a dent in iPhone users that I assume will only increase from here on out.

Projector Rentals Are Great for Business Meetings

Most business class projectors will do a good job displaying your PowerPoint presentation. If you have a small presentation group, a 2000 lumen LCD projector will be able to produce a nice and clear picture. For larger audiences you should consider a 5000 lumen LCD projector.

Will BlackBerries and Androids Soon Be a Thing of the Past?

The United States has just released the results of a recently conducted, extremely extensive survey of AT&T and Verizon Wireless smartphone customers. The results seem to suggest that come February 10, the day that Verizon’s iPhone is released, there will be quite a few drastic changes in the smartphone world.

The survey that was conducted by uSamp, “one of the world’s fastest growing technology and online sample companies,” who questioned 727 AT&T and Verizon smartphone users. The results were fascinating.

The survey showed that 54 percent of Verizon customers who owned BlackBerry or Android phones said that they were either “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to switch to the iPhone 4 on the launch day alone. However, another 33 percent said that they were “very unlikely” or “somewhat unlikely” to jump to the new device that will be offered at Verizon on the launch day, but that doesn’t mean those people won’t be looking to switch a little later after the device's debut.

Now, to break this down a little bit more, there were 66 percent of Verizon users who have BlackBerries who said that they would be likely or somewhat likely to purchase a Verizon iPhone 4 on its launch day. When the same question was asked of Verizon Android users, the numbers dropped to 44 percent. In total, there were a whole 24 percent of existing Verizon users that said that they were going to make the switch on launch day and planned on even standing in line in order to pick up a new device.

So what is the big reason for the switch? Well, according to 60 percent of all of the BlackBerry and Android users that were surveyed, the biggest reason seemed to be the difference in interface. It seemed as though those users preferred iPhone 4’s web browsers. Also, media, which includes a phone’s ability to easily play or transfer media, seemed to be causing BlackBerry and Android users to switch as well.

However, despite all these reasons that are causing users to want to switch platforms, there is a huge factor that is causing many users to stick to their current devices…price. More than half of the Verizon customers that were surveyed, 64 percent, claimed that the cost of the device by Apple was the largest reason as to why they would not be making the switch. To add to this, 41 percent—when asked if they were having any second thoughts about switching to Verizon’s iPhone 4 after learning more about it—said that the cost of the device and the data plans associated with the device were still a very large roadblock in preventing them from making up their minds about whether or not to make the switch.

On the other side of things, the survey didn’t show as many interested AT&T users as I expected. Only 26 percent of AT&T customers surveyed said that they were “likely” or “somewhat likely” to buy the Verizon iPhone 4 on the launch day. The survey confirmed that the main reason that AT&T’s iPhone customers want to switch is because they are tired of dealing with dropped calls on AT&T’s network. So what’s holding them back? A whole 45 percent of those surveyed said the cost of the transition was just too much and that it was definitely holding them back from jumping at the opportunity to have an iPhone with Verizon service.

A Copier Rental is a quick way to mass produce important documents for potential customers at an event or conference. Renting office equipment is simple and easy and it can also save you loads of time and money. Rentacomputer.com has been offering copier rentals to more than 1000 cities worldwide for over 20 years.

Lawsuit Filed Against AT&T Over Inflated Data Charges

A man from California is filing a suit against AT&T saying that their data charges for Apple’s iPhone and iPad are inflated.

Patrick Hendricks, the frustrated AT&T customer that filed the suit, claims that the billing system that AT&T has adopted for their data plans is like a “rigged gas pump.” Hendricks is an AT&T iPhone user with a $15 per month data plan that allows him 200MB of data transactions. He said that late last year AT&T charged him for 259 individual data transactions that totaled 223MB; however, according to court documents, Hendricks claims that “many of these charges were phantom data transactions” that never really occurred.

A two-month review of Hendricks’s claim and other aspects surrounding the claim was conducted by an independent consulting firm that was hired by Hendricks’ lawyers. According to the lawsuit that was filed on Thursday, January 30, 2011 in the California district court, the consulting firm found that AT&T consistently overcharges their customers for their data plans by 7 to 14 percent.

The suit said that this proves that “AT&T's bills systematically overstate the amount of data used on each data transaction involving an iPhone or iPad account.”

After the filing of the suit, AT&T did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.

Hendricks not only accuses AT&T of billing him for phantom data usage, but also for consistently overbilling him for legitimate data usage. The consulting firm that was investigating for Hendricks went to an AT&T store and purchased a iPhone. They then proceeded to turn off push notifications, location services, closed all apps, and did not enable e-mail on the phone. After a ten day trail period, AT&T still charged the phone for 35 data transactions that totaled 2,292KB of usage.

Hendricks said that although the overbilling really just has a “modest effect” on customers, for AT&T there is a “huge effect.” He claims that AT&T is receiving a “significant portion” of their data revenues from these inflated data transactions.

What Hendricks is really actually suing for is a breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and a few other things. Hendricks says that he wants damages as well as costs.

AT&T announced in June 2010 that it was revamping its system for the data plan lineups. The company decided to adopt a metered usage model in place of their old methods. They offered their customers 200MB of data for $15 per month, 2GB of data for $25 per month, and a tethering plan for $20 per month. They did allow for their existing customers to keep their unlimited data plans. There have also been recent reports that said that AT&T also allowed any of their customers who had downgraded their data plan within the last year to return to their unlimited status.

In late October the FCC said that to settle the compliant issues about the incorrect data charges Verizon Wireless would be forced to pay $25 million. This came just a few weeks after Verizon had said that they would issue refunds to over 15 million different customers who had found mistakes with their phone bills.

"Verizon Wireless works very hard to simplify the wireless experience for customers and to ensure that customer bills are accurate," Verizon said in a statement. "Nonetheless, internal billing processes can be complex and, in this case, we made inadvertent billing mistakes. We accept responsibility for those errors and apologize to our customers who received accidental data charges on their bills."

"We are notifying eligible current and former customers that we are applying credits to their accounts or sending refunds in October and November," the company said. "Current customers will be notified in upcoming bills; former customers will receive a letter and refund check in the mail. In most cases these credits and refunds are in the $2 to $6 range; some will receive larger amounts."

The settlement "sends a clear message to American consumers: The FCC has got your back," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement. "People shouldn't find mystery fees when they open their phone bills – and they certainly shouldn't have to pay for services they didn't want and didn't use. In these rough economic times, every $1.99 counts."

"Today's settlement also includes strong FCC oversight and accountability to ensure that Verizon Wireless fully repays what they owe to their customers and puts new measures in place to improve customer service," he said.

More recently than all of this stuff with Verizon, Microsoft has said that there have been inefficiencies between the synchronization of e-mail between the Windows Phone Mail client and Yahoo Mail, and this resulted in a much larger than expected data usage for certain users.

It looks as though AT&T will definitely be shelling out some big bucks when all of this is settled. It may just take a while to make it through the legal system.

Find out what is going on in the Tech Army World.



What are the Top 10 Money Making Missions?

What other companies have joined and what do they do?

How do I join the
Tech Army Organization ?

AT&T Losing iPhone Customers to Verizon

According to data that was released Thursday, January 13 by ChangeWave, approximately 26 percent of current Apple iPhone users that are on AT&T’s plan are planning to switch to Verizon’s iPhone when it is made available in February.

ChangeWave polled 4,050 people a few days before the big announcement that Verizon Wireless made on Tuesday, January 11. They asked those polled that if Verizon were to announce that an iPhone would be made available on their network, would they be switching providers in the next 90 days? Ten percent said that they were planning on switching within 90 days. About 16 percent said that they would be purchasing a Verizon iPhone but not necessarily right away. Among the AT&T users polled, 26 percent said that they would be ditching the AT&T version of the iPhone for the Verizon iPhone.

About 41 percent of those polled, who said that they would be switching from AT&T’s iPhone to Verizon’s, said that they would be making the switch sometime within the next three months. Another 31 percent said that they would be making the switch within the next year.

AT&T users aren’t the only customers that plan on switching service providers though. About 15 percent of T-Mobile users said that they will switch to Verizon for the iPhone, 10 percent of Sprint’s customers also plan on doing this as well, and 4 percent of the existing customers at Verizon said that they will be switching from their current device to the iPhone.

ChangeWave reported that this is the biggest churn rate that has ever been recorded for AT&T. The most prominent reason for AT&T’s customers leaving and choosing the Verizon iPhone is due to poor reception or coverage. A whole 42 percent claimed that this was their reasoning. Another 27 percent said it was because of dropped calls, while 17 percent said their decision was due to the cost.

ChangeWave did report though that AT&T has made improvements in its dropped call history.
"While AT&T continues to struggle in this very important area and trails Verizon by a wide margin, it has made significant advances since our previous survey –improving from its all-time worst 6.0 percent rating last September to 4.7 percent in the current survey," ChangeWave said. "The findings suggest AT&T is now taking concrete steps to try to improve long-standing service issues. But can it do so quickly enough to forestall large-scale defections to Verizon?"

Who knows if consumers are really going to dump AT&T and jump on the Verizon bandwagon, but as data that was released by comScore on Thursday, January 13 suggested, the Verizon iPhone is really a big turning point in the smartphone market.

"The iPhone Verizon deal will no doubt bring even greater competition to the smartphone arena throughout the coming year as Android, iPhone and RIM jockey for the leadership position," Sarah Radwanick, comScore's marketing communications manager, wrote in a blog post.

Radwanick also pointed out Verizon’s smartphone market share that grew from four percent in the last year to 27 percent. Obviously, that’s less than AT&T’s 38 percent market share, but AT&T did drop 7 percent last year due to the abundance of different smartphones that were made available in the last year. Verizon’s numbers really rose mostly because of the strong Android-based devices that the company added to their lineup of smartphones.

In just overall mobile device market share, Verizon has 31 percent, while AT&T has 27 percent.

ComScore also suggested that the iPhone customers that Verizon does end up nabbing will most likely be in customer segments that are attractive to mobile providers. This basically means younger users that come from higher income brackets. Also important to note, iPhone users seem to remain loyal to the iconic Apple smartphone. More than half have subscribed via AT&T for more than three years now, while another 28 percent have had subscriptions for one to three years.

"Although it's too early to tell exactly how consumers will react to the Verizon iPhone announcement, it is fair to say that this deal represents a potentially significant turning point in the ascendance of the smartphone market," Radwanick concluded. "Only time will tell which carriers and platforms will emerge as the market leaders, but it's clear that right now the consumers are winners as they gain yet another option when making their smartphone choice."

SMBnow.com is news of, for and by SMBs!
SMBnow.com... The Small & Medium Business Magazine!