Misplaced Pages

#347652

53-574: DataTAC is an open standard for point to point wireless data communications, similar to Mobitex . Like Mobitex, it is mainly used in vertical market applications. One of the early DataTAC devices was the Newton Messaging Card , a two-way pager connected to a PC card using the DataTAC network. The original BlackBerry devices, the RIM 850 and 857 also used the DataTAC network. In North America, DataTAC

106-507: A GSM-1900 network prior to the acquisition of AT&T Wireless , through a joint venture known as GSM Facilities . The network sharing agreement allowed Cingular to offer local service in northern New Jersey and New York City and T-Mobile USA to offer service in California and Nevada. On May 25, 2004, Cingular and T-Mobile USA announced their intention to dissolve the agreement contingent on Cingular's successful acquisition of AT&T Wireless,

159-469: A Mobitex-based gateway software developed in the early nineties by Ian Lane and Andy Lambert. Despite the competitive nature of the vehicle recovery market in the UK, motoring organisations were persuaded to co-operate and make a standard of the format. This resulted in a major saving for the eight hundred independent garages used by the motoring organisations. The Turbo Dispatch Standards Group (the official keepers of

212-602: A customer base of 46 million people at the time, making Cingular the largest wireless provider in the United States. AT&T Wireless was then legally renamed New Cingular Wireless Services . Shortly after, new commercials were shown with the "AT&T" transforming into the Cingular logo, and with the Cingular logo's text turned blue to acknowledge the change. Some of the companies that comprised Cingular, such as BellSouth Mobility , ceased to exist when they were legally merged into

265-612: A deal estimated to be worth $ 39 billion in cash and stock. AT&T said the deal was expected to close in 12 months and was subject to regulatory approval. As of June 2011, it was being examined by the FCC. On August 31, 2011, the United States Department of Justice formally announced that it had filed a lawsuit to block the merger. On November 22, 2011, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski recommended sending AT&T's proposed T-Mobile acquisition to an administrative law judge for review and

318-563: A hearing. On November 23, 2011, AT&T withdrew its application with the FCC regarding the acquisition of T-Mobile USA. They also indicated that they would recognize a $ 4 billion dollar accounting charge in the event of a deal collapse. That charge covers a $ 3 billion cash breakup fee and $ 1 billion as the market value for the spectrum they were required to transfer to T-Mobile if the deal failed to complete. On August 2, 2012, AT&T announced its intent to acquire NextWave Wireless . On January 22, 2013, AT&T announced its intent to acquire

371-500: A very reliable and useful system for first responders. Mobitex is a packet-switched , narrowband , data-only technology mainly for short burst data. Mobitex channels are 12.5 kHz wide. In North America, Mobitex ran at 900 MHz , while in Europe it uses 400 - 450 MHz . The modulation scheme used is GMSK with a slotted aloha protocol at 8000 bit/s , although user throughput is typically around half of that. The network provided

424-463: Is also in the process of rolling out its 5G network based on the NR specification. Cingular, the predecessor to AT&T, supported legacy D-AMPS/TDMA and analog wireless networks. In March 2006, Cingular announced that these networks would be shut down by February 2008. As of March 31, 2007, Cingular ended TDMA supported for GoPhone (pre-paid) customers. On July 15, 2007, AT&T TDMA on 1900 MHz

477-659: Is an OSI based open standard , national public access wireless packet-switched data network. Mobitex puts great emphasis on safety and reliability with its use by military, police, firefighters and ambulance services. It was developed in the beginning of the 1980s by the Swedish Televerket Radio. From 1988, the development took place in Eritel, a joint-venture between Ericsson and Televerket, later on as an Ericsson subsidiary. Mobitex became operational in Sweden in 1986. In

530-570: Is headquartered in Brookhaven, Georgia . Originally known as Cingular Wireless (a joint venture between SBC Communications and BellSouth ) from 2000 to 2007, the company acquired the old AT&T Wireless in 2004; SBC later acquired the original AT&T and adopted its name. Cingular became wholly owned by AT&T in December 2006 as a result of AT&T's acquisition of BellSouth. In January 2007, Cingular confirmed it would rebrand itself under

583-476: Is planned through 2023. AT&T plans to cover 200 million people with 5G+ by the end of 2023. During the first quarter of 2006, Telephia reported that during an extensive nationwide test of major wireless carriers in 350 metropolitan markets around the country, Cingular dropped the fewest calls across the country. In turn, Cingular began aggressively advertising the "Allover Network", citing Telephia as "the leading independent research company." Telephia's report

SECTION 10

#1732851165348

636-537: Is the world's largest wireless network test program, initially refused to provide details on its study, and a spokesman for the company has said, according to the Boston Globe , that "Cingular shouldn't have even mentioned the company's name to a reporter." The research company later stated that Cingular did, indeed, have a "statistically significant lower dropped-call rate than the competition across some market/time period groupings", but that Telephia had "no knowledge of

689-405: Is typically better than with newer, higher frequency networks. In the 1990s a DataTAC network operators group was put together by Motorola called Worldwide Wireless Data Networks Operators Group (WWDNOG) chaired by Shahram Mehraban, Motorola's DataTAC system product manager. This computer networking article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Mobitex Mobitex

742-427: Is typically deployed in the 800 MHz band. DataTAC was also deployed in the same band by Telecom Australia (now Telstra ). The DataTAC network runs at speeds up to 19.2 kbit/s, which is not sufficient to handle most of the wireless data applications available today. The network runs 25 kHz channels in the 800 MHz frequency bands. Due to the lower frequency bands that DataTAC uses, in-building coverage

795-517: The Communications Workers of America . The CWA represented roughly 15,000 of the previous 20,000 formerly AT&T Wireless employees as of early 2006. As of the end of 2009, the CWA website claims that roughly 40,000 workers of AT&T Mobility are represented by the union. Cingular Wireless was founded in 2000 as a joint venture of SBC Communications and BellSouth . The joint venture created

848-673: The U.S. Department of Justice , the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and AT&T Mobility's competitors (such as Sprint Corporation ) opposed the move on the grounds that it would substantially reduce competition in the cellular network market. In December 2011, in the face of both governmental and widespread consumer opposition, AT&T withdrew its offer to complete the merger. AT&T currently offers 3 tiers of its Unlimited Your Way plan, AT&T Unlimited Premium® PL, AT&T Unlimited Extra® EL, or AT&T Unlimited Starter® SL. Customers can also choose either

901-572: The AT&;T Value Plus VL or AT&T 4 GB plans. All plans come with unlimited talk and text, with unlimited data on all except the AT&T 4 GB plan. The higher tier plans include premium data that offers superior service, up to the allotted limit on each line during a bill cycle, plus other features like Mobile Hotspot and more. The AT&T Unlimited Premium® PL plan also includes unlimited talk, text, and data in 20 Latin American countries including

954-611: The AT&T name. Although the legal corporate name change occurred immediately, for both regulatory and brand-awareness reasons both brands were used in the company's signage and advertising during a transition period. The transition concluded in late June, just prior to the rollout of the Apple iPhone . On March 20, 2011, AT&T Mobility announced its intention to acquire T-Mobile US from Deutsche Telekom for $ 39 billion. If it had received government and regulatory approval, AT&T would have had more than 130 million subscribers. However,

1007-473: The Cingular Interactive division, which became Velocita Wireless . Velocita was later purchased by Sprint Nextel . AT&T also offered Enhanced Push To Talk (PTT) services on smartphones. The original PTT service was sunset. The AT&T wireless data network began in 2002 as a Cingular initiative called "Project Genesis" that involved a GPRS overlay of the entire wireless network. Project Genesis

1060-571: The Cingular network was transferred to T-Mobile USA, with Cingular continuing work on the GSM facilities at AT&T Wireless sites. AT&T has a global sub-sea Tier-1 fiber network switching facility on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands , in conjunction with University of the Virgin Islands Research and Technology Park . The following is a list of known frequencies that AT&T employs in

1113-476: The Dominican Republic, included at no extra charge. As of January 8, 2016, AT&T no longer offers two-year contracts for subsidized smartphones on consumer accounts. Customers who currently have two-year contracts are grandfathered until they upgrade to a new device, in which case they will have to choose from AT&T's NEXT installment plans for smartphones. Unlimited data plans may be throttled based on

SECTION 20

#1732851165348

1166-412: The FCC gave its final approval. The following month, AT&T announced that it would phase out the Cingular brand across all of its services and replace it with AT&T, with an accompanying advertising campaign branding the combined company as "The New AT&T." Commercials featured the orange Cingular "Jack" logo encircling the AT&T globe logo several times, dragging its blue bars behind it to form

1219-641: The U.S. retail wireless operations of Atlantic Tele-Network , doing business as Alltel , for $ 780 million. On June 24, 2014, Plateau Wireless announced the sale of assets and operations in eastern New Mexico and west Texas to AT&T, including wireless spectrum and 40,000 customers. In November 2014 and January 2015, AT&T acquired the Mexican wireless carriers Iusacell and Nextel Mexico to form AT&T Mexico . On October 9, 2019, Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico's parent company (Liberty Latin America), announced

1272-536: The US (AMS). Cingular AT&T Mobility, LLC , also known as AT&T Wireless and marketed as simply AT&T , is an American telecommunications company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. and provides wireless services in the United States . AT&T Mobility is the third largest wireless carrier in the United States , with 116 million subscribers as of September 30, 2024. The company

1325-482: The United States. The following chart lists the networks that AT&T previously operated. As a result of its formation through mergers and acquisitions, as well as the rapid technological change in the wireless industry, AT&T operates the second-largest digital voice and data network within its United States footprint. AT&T's network footprint supports 4G and uses LTE / LTE-Advanced for simultaneous packet switched voice and data communications. AT&T

1378-581: The acquisition of AT&T Wireless Services in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, in a $ 1.95 billion deal. The sale was completed on November 2, 2020. In May 2021, the company began promoting AT&T and Liberty as a unified brand. In September 2021, Liberty began phasing out the AT&T brand and introduced a new logo. On February 22, 2024, a massive outage affected customers nationwide. In California , Nevada , Northern New Jersey and New York City , Cingular and T-Mobile USA maintained and shared

1431-432: The brand to market to business customers. Cingular president Stan Sigman concurred with BellSouth's position, indicating that the Cingular brand would continue but be sold under the AT&T brand where offered in packages with other AT&T services, such as data and wireline telephony. However, AT&T announced on March 5, 2006, that it would acquire BellSouth. The acquisition was finalized on December 29, 2006, when

1484-583: The deal, a high-ranking source allegedly close to the sale pointed the Barbados Daily Nation Newspaper towards some SEC filings made by Cingular which were said to establish an idea of the approximate sale price of the deal. According to the SEC filings Cingular was paid around $ 122 million, with much of that cost going towards the purchase of the former AT&T Wireless assets in Barbados by Digicel. At

1537-425: The end of 2006. As of early 2009, AT&T Mobility has completed its upgrade of the 3G to HSUPA , In 2011, it was reported that AT&T would upgrade its network to HSPA+ throughout the year, which it would market as offering 4G -grade speeds. On September 18, 2011, AT&T first launched LTE service in 5 U.S. metropolitan areas, with plans for serving 15 markets by the end of the year. AT&T's LTE rollout

1590-404: The end of the year. On February 22, 2022, AT&T discontinued its 3G UMTS network AT&T operates the second-largest 5G network in the U.S. with approximately 30% of the nation covered. AT&T uses low, mid, and high band frequencies. Mid and high band 5G is marketed as 5G+ and offers much faster speeds than low band. Continuous expansion of the 5G network, especially mid-band 5G+,

1643-412: The first one million original iPhones." In August 2008, Best Buy announced that it would begin selling the iPhone 3G for use on the AT&T network. In September 2008, AT&T announced that it would also sell the iPhone 3G in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The iPhone 4 was released on June 24, 2010. According to Apple, over 1.7 million iPhone 4 units were sold in the first few days, which

DataTAC - Misplaced Pages Continue

1696-457: The first public access wireless data communication services in North America. Subscriber services included electronic messaging with Cc capabilities to multiple recipients, combined with the ability to log on to any wireless or fixed terminal and receive stored mailbox messages. Mobitex was offered on over 30 networks on five continents. European Mobitex networks almost completely withered in

1749-514: The globe's blue stripes, before finally disappearing behind it, being backed by the chorus of the Oasis song " All Around the World ". AT&T added the color orange to its signage to reflect the change; AT&T would eventually remove orange in 2015 following another rebranding related to its acquisition of DirecTV . In November 2007, AT&T acquired Dobson Communications , who owned Cellular One and

1802-555: The importance of not dropping calls. That campaign is continuing." On June 29, 2007, Apple 's iPhone was introduced to the United States market, and AT&T was the exclusive carrier for the device within the United States until February 10, 2011, when the iPhone 4 was launched on the Verizon network. Teething problems with AT&T's billing process emerged soon after the iPhone's release, as early adopters started receiving exceptionally detailed monthly telephone bills with one of

1855-543: The mid-1990s, Mobitex gained consumer popularity by providing two-way paging network services. It was the first wireless network to provide always on, wireless push email services such as RadioMail and Inter@ctive Paging . It is also used by the first model of Research in Motion's BlackBerry , and PDAs such as the Palm VII . During 9/11 and the 2005 hurricane rescue and clean-up operations, Mobitex proved itself to be

1908-424: The most notable being the 300-page iPhone bill that was featured in an online video by YouTube influencer iJustine . Apple launched the iPhone 3G with AT&T on July 11, 2008. Although specific AT&T sales numbers are unavailable, Apple announced that over 1 million iPhone 3G devices were sold during the first three days — in contrast, according to Steve Jobs , Apple's CEO , "It took 74 days to sell

1961-458: The nation's second-largest carrier. Cingular grew out of a conglomeration of more than 100 companies, including 12 well-known regional companies with Bell roots. The 12 companies included: SBC Wireless had previously operated in several northeast markets under the " Cellular One " brand, while BellSouth's wireless operations incorporated the former Houston Cellular . Cingular's lineage can be traced back to Advanced Mobile Phone Service , which

2014-644: The network is operated by American Messaging Services, LLC (AMS) and remains operational. Mobitex in the UK was marketed by RAM Mobile Data, the UK part of which was purchased from BellSouth (USA) by Twenty First Century Ltd (John Camilleri and Adrian Nicolle) in 2000, that became Transcomm and was then purchased by BT (British Telecom) in 2004. The uses of Mobitex in the United Kingdom were all emergencies (blue light) services, couriers, vehicle telematics (logistics), vending (parking) and vehicle breakdown services (RAC, AA, Green Flag). All UK ambulance services used

2067-515: The network to dispatch crews and track progress. The London Metropolitan Police used Mobitex to access the police criminal record database whilst in field and in real time, revolutionary at the time. During the 7/7 terrorist attacks in London, the Transcomm Network was the only wireless network which kept running. Nearly all breakdowns to Green Flag UK service agents were sent using Turbo Dispatch ,

2120-422: The operating company subsidiary AT&T Wireless PCS , which was New Cingular Wireless PCS . First announced on June 22, 2005, Cingular Wireless announced the intention to divest its Caribbean and Bermuda operations and licenses which it acquired from the acquisition of AT&T Wireless, to Irish -owned and Jamaica -based Digicel Group under undisclosed financial terms. In 2006, one year following

2173-417: The shadow of the overwhelming success of GSM there in the early 1990s. In Canada, it was first introduced in 1990 by Rogers Cantel , and in 1991 by carrier RAM Mobile Data . In earlier days Mobitex networks in the US were marketed under several names, including RAM Mobile Data, BellSouth Wireless Data, Cingular Wireless and Velocita Wireless following several acquisitions and divestments. Since 2013

DataTAC - Misplaced Pages Continue

2226-429: The specific methodology (markets, time periods or statistical thresholds) that Cingular used for its 'lowest dropped call' claim." While AT&T has abandoned its verbal claim of "The Fewest Dropped Calls" in its commercials, it continues to show situations where two persons are speaking with each other on their phones, and one of the users' call drops. AT&T now states "We are still continuing to run ads that emphasize

2279-648: The standard) estimated that at least twenty million breakdowns and recoveries were transmitted over Turbo Dispatch each year. BT subsidiary Transcomm announced the shutdown of the network in 2010. In Sweden, the Mobitex network was finally shut down permanently on December 31, 2012 after 25 years. As of 2020 , Mobitex is mainly used in Belgium, the Netherlands (both RAM Mobile Data ) (including network coverage of Luxembourg), Hong Kong (Telecom Digital Data Ltd), Canada (Rogers) and

2332-570: The terms of the plan. AT&T also allows existing customers to stay on legacy right plans; however, reserves the right to terminate or require a plan change per its terms of service. Within AT&T's 21-state landline footprint, other AT&T services are offered at the AT&T retail stores, including signing up for home phone, internet, and U-verse . AT&T stores outside of its footprint offer wireless services. All AT&T company-owned stores nationwide sell DirecTV . A large number of AT&T Mobility employees are unionized, belonging to

2385-480: The time of the merger, there were two networks: the historic AT&T Blue Network and the Cingular Orange Network. Both networks contained a mix of both TDMA and GSM facilities. Approximately 50,000 cell sites had to be melded together. From a technical standpoint, the "blue" and "orange" networks were considered different networks until integration was completed in 2005. Enhanced Network Selection (ENS)

2438-544: Was a roaming partner of AT&T, for $ 2.8 billion. The sale added 1.7 million subscribers and expanded AT&T coverage in various suburban and rural markets (including Alaska). On November 7, 2008, AT&T announced its intent to acquire Centennial Wireless for $ 944 million, expanding its coverage in the Midwest, southern U.S., and Puerto Rico. On March 20, 2011, AT&T and Deutsche Telekom announced that AT&T had agreed to acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom in

2491-782: Was a subsidiary of AT&T created in 1978 to provide cellular service nationwide. AMPS was divided among the Regional Bell Operating Companies as part of the Bell System divestiture . With the exception of Pacific Bell and BellSouth Mobility DCS, the digital network consisted of D-AMPS technology. The Pacific Bell and BellSouth Mobility DCS networks used GSM technology on the PCS frequency band (1900 MHz). In October 2007, AT&T's president and chief executive officer Stan Sigman announced his retirement. Ralph de la Vega , group president-Regional Telecom & Entertainment,

2544-608: Was completed by the end of 2004. Later, this network was upgraded to EDGE across the GSM footprint. In 2005, AT&T launched a broadband network known as "BroadbandConnect", based on UMTS and HSDPA , to counter Verizon Wireless and Sprint 's EV-DO networks. UMTS service was launched on December 6, 2005, in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, San Jose, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Puerto Rico, Austin, Houston, Dallas, Detroit, Chicago, Boston, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., and expanded to all major metropolitan markets by

2597-617: Was in stark contrast to the Consumers Union publication, Consumer Reports , based on a survey of 50,000 of its members in 18 cities, which criticized Cingular for static and dropped calls. Furthermore, J.D. Power and Associates consistently ranked Cingular at or near the bottom of every geographical region in its 2006 Wireless Call Quality Study, which is based on a smaller survey of 23,000 wireless users. This campaign had to come to an abrupt end. Telephia, which tests wireless networks by making over 6 million calls per year in what it claims

2650-414: Was named as president and CEO of AT&T Mobility. In February 2004, after a bidding war with Britain's Vodafone Plc (at the time a part-owner of Verizon Wireless), Cingular announced that it would purchase its struggling competitor, AT&T Wireless Services , for $ 41 billion. This was more than twice the company's trading value. The merger was completed on October 26, 2004. The combined company had

2703-637: Was noticeably slower than that of its competitor, Verizon Wireless , with the company stating that its then-proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA would be necessary. In November 2012, AT&T promoted the network as serving 150 million users, with plans to double its coverage by 2014. On January 1, 2017, AT&T discontinued its 2G GSM network. In April 2017, AT&T announced that it would upgrade its existing LTE networks in selected markets to support LTE Advanced and LTE Advanced Pro features, marketed as "5G Evolution" (5G E ). In January 2018, AT&T stated that it intended to deploy 5G NR service by

SECTION 50

#1732851165348

2756-462: Was retired, while TDMA on 850 MHz remained. On February 18, 2008, AT&T Mobility officially ended service on their AMPS and remaining TDMA network, except for in areas previously operated by Dobson Communications ; the Dobson AMPS and TDMA network was shut down March 1, 2008. Networks formerly operated by AT&T predecessors including Cingular also include various paging services and

2809-477: Was used to home cellular devices on either the "blue" or "orange" network during this process. On November 21, 2005, Ed Whitacre , then CEO of the newly merged SBC/AT&T, announced plans to market Cingular's service under the AT&;T brand. BellSouth spokesman Jeff Battcher countered that the terms of the joint venture allow either party to sell the service under another name, and that he believes they will be using

#347652