AT&T

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AT&T Robocalls to Be Blocked in the 'Coming Months'

Andrew Orr ·

AT&T robocalls will be automatically blocked, the carrier announced. New customers have the service now, and existing customers will have it “in the coming months.”

AT&T’s Call Protect service does three things: it detects and blocks fraudulent calls entirely, flags telemarketers and spam calls as “Suspected Spam” when the phone rings, and allows you to maintain a personal block list to specifically block individual numbers.

It’s about damn time that carriers start using robocall-blocking technology. And I mean automatically; they all have their various blocking apps.

Columns & Opinions

Why I Love T-Mobile

Bob LeVitus ·

Dr. Mac didn’t much care for AT&T Wireless, but he loves T-Mobile, his current wireless provider. Find out why in this week’s thrilling episode (#328 for those keeping track) of Dr. Mac’s Rants & Raves.

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AT&T Sells its Stake In Hulu to Disney (and Comcast) for $1.43B

John Martellaro ·

The Verge writes:

[It’s a] move that will now give Disney (which already had gained a controlling interest in Hulu through its Fox purchase) even more control going forward….

Disney gaining even more control over Hulu could also mean a radical shift in what Hulu even is.

Now, Disney owns 66 percent of Hulu. The remaining stakeholder is Comcast which, as a result, now owns 33 percent. Comcast owns NBCUniversal, and it might only be a matter of time before Comcast pulls its Hulu content back to its own streaming service. Soon, it appears, each and every studio will have its very own exclusive subscription service.

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Sprint Brands AT&T 5G 'Fake' in New York Times Advert

Charlotte Henry ·

Sprint took out a full-page advert in Sunday’s New York Times hitting out at AT&T’s 5G claims. MacRumors reported that the advert branded AT&T’s claims as “fake 5G”, saying it was not faster than Sprint’s 4G LTE network. In February, Sprint filed a lawsuit against the 5G claims.

In the letter [PDF], Sprint calls AT&T’s 5G Evolution “fake 5G” and clarifies that AT&T is not, in fact, offering faster speeds than other carriers who deliver the same 4G LTE advancements that AT&T has enabled such as three-way carrier aggregation, 256 QAM, and 4×4 MIMO…AT&T first started upgrading customer iPhones to read “5GE” in the iOS 12.2 beta, and the misleading branding will become much more widespread when iOS 12.2 sees a public release.

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At&T Return to Advertising on YouTube After 2 Years Away

Charlotte Henry ·

At&T, one of the biggest marketers in the U.S., is back advertising on YouTube after a nearly 2-year hiatus. The company removed all its adverts from the video platform in 2017. It said Friday that it was satisfied that YouTube had worked to stop its adverts appearing next to disturbing or extremist content. At&T’s Chief Brand Officer, Fiona Carter, spoke with New York Times and emphasized that her firm demanded “a near-zero chance of our advertising appearing next to objectionable content.” That standard now appears to have been met.

The decision reflects the progress that Google-owned YouTube has made with advertisers in the 22 months since a number of them discovered that some of their ads were appearing during, or before, videos promoting hate speech, terrorism and other disturbing content. AT&T was among the first companies that stopped paying to advertise on YouTube, telling it that they wouldn’t return until it made improvements.

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AT&T Updates Smartphones With Misleading 5G Icon

Andrew Orr ·

AT&T is so excited for the rollout of 5G that it’s updating smartphones a bit early, with a misleading 5G icon.

AT&T has updated three smartphones from Samsung and LG to make them show 5G connectivity logos, even though none of them are capable of connecting to 5G networks…That “E” in the “5G” logo is supposed to tip you off that this isn’t real 5G — just some marketing nonsense. But there’s no way of knowing that just from looking at the logo.

As it turns out, the government didn’t create or ratify 5G. Neither the FCC nor FTC are regulating what the term means, so technically AT&T is still within the law by doing this. Doesn’t make it right, but it shows how absurd the 5G situation is.