Logan Abbott

In a move that will eventually be copied (in some form) by other wireless (and possibly home broadband) providers, AT&T has moved to a tiered, usage-based data pricing for its smartphone devices.

Dish Network announced today that, as of June 3, 2010, they will offer local channels in the 29 local markets they don't currently serve.  As of that date, they will provide local channels in all 210 television markets in the United States.     The final 29 markets are:

Go Prepaid (In Some Cases)

This is the fourth in a series of how to cut your cell phone bill.

It wasn’t that long ago that prepaid was an afterthought in the cell phone marketplace.  High rates and limited phone selection kept interest in prepaid limited to those whose credit didn’t allow them to get a cell phone contract.

**Update June 1:   The list of advanced devices that incur the higher $325 termination fee has now been published by AT&T

We’ll preface this tip with an example.     Let’s say you wanted to sign up for a 2 line AT&T family plan today. Specifically, you are going to get the AT&T Family Talk 700 plan ($69.99/month).with a BlackBerry Bold 9700 for each line.

The cell phone companies make directory assistance almost effortless…dial 411… get the information… and get connected automatically.   Of course, if someone paid you $1.79 (Sprint, T-Mobile) or $1.99 (AT&T, Verizon) for each 411 call, you’d make it easy for them to connect as well.

Directory assistance charges can really add up:  10 calls a month comes out to over $200 a year.

For those in the market for a family plan today, T-Mobile is waiving activation fees on 2 or more lines.   Unfortunately this offer is for today only.

Don’t Overspend on Data and Text Services

Cut your data and text messaging bills.    This is the first in a series of suggestions to help you reduce your cell phone bill.

Five big picture trends are behind the recent carrier push to get more people to subscribe to text and data plans:

We’ve created a new tool to let consumers calculate the termination fee associated with their cell phone contract. The calculator takes into account variables such as contract period, carrier and device type to customize an answer specific to each person’s situation.

Verizon has apparently reduced the number of phones subject to the $350 early termination fee for advanced devices.  This termination fee, double the standard $175, was added for new contracts and renewals associated with these devices as of November 15, 2009.   The current list appears to be limited to smartphones (including BlackBerry and Android devices) and netbooks.