AT&T conducts ‘space-based’ call using a regular smartphone

AT&T has achieved a significant milestone by successfully conducting the first-ever two-way audio call using satellites with a standard smartphone.

The call was made from AT&T in Midland, Texas, to mobile carrier Rakuten in Japan on a Samsung Galaxy S22 smartphone using AST SpaceMobile's BlueWalker 3 satellite. 

Abel Avellan, Chairman and CEO of AST SpaceMobile, commented:

“Achieving what many once considered impossible, we have reached the most...

AT&T is all-in on Nvidia’s AI solutions

AT&T is tapping Nvidia’s expertise in artificial intelligence across its operations.

As the gatekeepers of our communications, telcos have access to vast amounts of information. The 590PB of data that AT&T process on a typical day is equivalent to around 6.5 million 4K movies.

However, turning all of this data into actionable insights can pose a serious challenge.

AT&T will use Nvidia’s AI Enterprise software suite to enhance its data...

Hackers steal the data of millions of AT&T customers

A vendor hack has resulted in the data of millions of AT&T customers being stolen.

AT&T is sending emails to around nine million customers to alert them of the theft of their data.

The attackers did not breach AT&T directly but compromised the systems of a marketing vendor used by the US telecom giant.

All impacted users had CPNI (Customer Proprietary Network Information) stolen, including phone numbers, full names, and email addresses. A smaller...

AT&T achieves 20Gbps speeds on a production fibre network

AT&T has achieved 20Gbps symmetric speeds on a production fibre network, an industry-first.

The operator’s Hyper-Gig service is already the fastest in the US, offering 5Gbps symmetric speeds to consumers and businesses.

AT&T has been working to further increase its speeds to ensure its network is prepared for whatever future applications are thrown at it. Earlier this year, the operator announced that it had achieved 10Gbps speeds in its labs.

Lab...

72% of businesses lack clear hybrid work strategy

A woman working remotely with her laptop.

The vast majority of businesses lack a detailed hybrid work strategy, according to a study by telecomms firm AT&T and Dubber, a provider of cloud based call recording software.

The State of the Industry: Future of Work survey was created to gain insights from senior executives regarding current and future work models, challenges posed under new working models, and technology accelerants to aid change in the way that businesses conduct work out to 2024.

The research...

Airlines warn upcoming 5G deployment will interfere with radio altimeters

Airline industry executives have ramped up their warnings that an upcoming type of 5G service will interfere with radio altimeters.

Radio altimeters measure the altitude above the terrain beneath an aircraft by timing how long it takes a beam of radio waves to travel to ground, reflect, and return to the craft. They are, of course, a key safety feature.

In February, the FCC completed a “C-band” (3.7–3.98 GHz) auction and issued licenses to several wireless network...

AT&T, Ericsson, and Wevr create groundbreaking 5G VR experience

AT&T, Ericsson, and Wevr have partnered up to create the first multi-user, location-based, virtual reality experience using 5G.

Today’s high-end VR experiences require physically tethering a headset to a powerful computer. This means the upfront entry cost is high while tethering limits the user’s freedom and enjoyment.

The partners demonstrated how to overcome these issues using the high speeds and low latency of 5G.

“5G offers the high peak rates...

Opensignal: T-Mobile maintains 5G lead in the US while AT&T struggles

Opensignal’s latest independent report into the performance of US mobile networks shows a continued lead for T-Mobile in 5G while AT&T struggles.

T-Mobile wins the award for 5G download speed with an average of 118.7 Mbps, more than double Verizon and AT&T which scored 56 Mbps and 51.5 Mbps respectively.

It’s the fourth win in a row for T-Mobile in the 5G download speed category. Even more impressively, the operator extended its lead from 35.2 Mbps in...

AT&T delays 500,000 FTTP builds due to fibre supply issues

AT&T has been forced to delay 500,000 of its FTTP (Fibre-to-the-Premises) builds due to an industry-wide fibre shortage.

Fibre is in high demand following a year when people were forced to appreciate the need for fast and robust connectivity. Unfortunately, the pandemic also played havoc with supply chains.

During a virtual conference, AT&T Senior Executive BP and CFO Pascal Desroches said:

"Through the second quarter, we hadn't really experienced any...

DISH switches to AT&T after accusing T-Mobile of anti-competitive behaviour

DISH will pay AT&T at least $5 billion over the next decade to access its network following a spat with T-Mobile.

Since August 2020, T-Mobile has stopped activating and selling phones that don't support VoLTE to encourage any holdouts still relying on 3G to upgrade. DISH isn’t happy with T-Mobile bringing forward its plans to shutter its 3G CDMA network earlier than originally intended and accused the operator of anti-competitive behaviour.

“T-Mobile’s plans to...