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AT&T Considers Stopping All Samsung Note 7 Sales (bloomberg.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: ATT Inc. is considering stopping all sales of Samsung Electronics Co.'s flagship Galaxy Note 7 over concerns about the smartphone's safety, according to a person familiar with the situation. A final decision will likely come as soon as Friday, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. ATT spokesman Fletcher Cook declined to comment. Like many competitors, the second-largest U.S. wireless carrier is already offering alternative smartphones to people who return Note 7 devices. Samsung started replacing the Note 7 last month because of a flaw in its lithium battery that can lead to overheating and pose a burn hazard to customers. Airlines have banned customers from using the smartphones on flights, and the evacuation of a Southwest Airlines Co. plane earlier this week was blamed on smoke caused by a replacement device. ATT's move would be a further blow to Samsung. The wireless carrier is the third-biggest customer of the South Korean company, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Samsung is already facing a bill that analysts estimate stretching into the billions of dollars for the recall of 2.5 million Note 7 phones that it announced last month. A U.S.-based Samsung spokeswoman didn't immediately have a comment.
why haven't you greedy fucks quit selling them already?
You are all welcome to keep typing on your slow iPhones, while my note runs burning fast
Considering how big a PITA it is to bring an unlocked device to the major carriers in the US - yes, yes it is.
They go out of their way to get you to buy your phones through them. One of the things Apple has been really successful at with the iPhone is taking over that process themselves, but even then, when you buy an iPhone direct from Apple you get one that's carrier-locked. Last I checked the only way to get an unlocked iPhone from Apple in the US is to buy one that's "for T-mobile" because T-mobile is still a German company and therefore under EU regulations.
And that's just the iPhone - things get even weirder with Android phones. The non-flagship Android phones are frequently ONLY available direct from the carriers in the US. The Note 7 may be an exception but it wouldn't surprise me to discover that the AT&T variant and the Verizon variant of the Note 7 are, in fact, different models. It's fairly standard for phone models sold in the US to have "special" models for each carrier that come with slightly different hardware.
I never understood why having an unlocked phone in the US mattered. We have two networks worth a shit, AT&T (barely) and Verizon. Most devices don't have radios compatible with both networks. So what will having an unlocked phone get you? Moving from GSM AT&T to T-Mobile? No thanks.
Huh? How is it hard? You just buy an unlocked phone (Amazon has them by the truckload), go to your favorite carrier, buy a SIM and pop it in.
How many iPhones exploded during the same time?
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
This hasn't been necessary in almost a decade. It's been a very long time since I bought an unlocked phone and had to enter any additional information to get the data to work.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Sure made sense for me... I bought my phone thru US Cell and lowered my bill to $35/mo. Why wouldn't I do that?
Well, at least a significant number exploded, and Samsung agreed there is a problem with their phone. No set-up on the horizon.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
I just bought my son a cheap unlocked GSM phone, bought a t-mobile sim and called them and had them activate it to my plan. Years ago, I had a GSM iPhone 4 that was originally locked to AT&T. I went online, had AT&T unlock the phone and went into a T-mobile's store and they activated it.
"How do they go out of their way? Of course they would rather you buy a phone from them but if you choose one of the GSM carriers -- AT&T or T-Mobile, you can easily bring them your own phone
Apple's usual m.o. is to first sell phones that are specific to a carrier before they "officially" start selling unlocked phones. Right now, for the 6s/6s+ on Apple.com you have five choices for the U.S. -- the four major carriers and "unlocked". For the 7, you have four choices -- the three major carriers + an unlocked phone with a t-mobile sim. It seems to be a semantic difference that may be caused by carrier contracts.
For CDMA phones, it doesn't make sense to try to sell "unlocked phones". They are making them for a specific carrier and are probably getting marketing help from the carriers. Besides, only Apple has the retail presence to both market and provide support for their own phones.
You act as if this is a conspiracy. It is possible to create a phone that works with both GSM (almost everyone( and CDMA (Verizon/Sprint) and support all of the various LTE bands that different carriers support, but it's probably cheaper to exclude the CDMA specific hardware for the GSM phones. Even Apple has some GSM/CDMA models and some GSM only.
If you disregard the first release of phones with the acknowledged fault that everyone should replace after being told to do so... and being brutal its their own fault if they haven't by now given the suppliers all have the stock sitting waiting.
In the second release we have 1 case (possible, no actual proof/acknowledgement that it was a replacement phone or if the fault was the battery or something else, and the phone wasn't tampered with which it might have been given the suspicious timing of the fault occurring) out of about 1.5 mil (given current worldwide replacement progress).
Seems like anything post-recall is just overreaction, possibly driven by some agenda other than safety.
To be honest the real indicator that there are other things than safety at play is the fact that the US (who tend to play fairly loose when it comes to consumer safety) have been all over Samsung while the EU states (who tend to be ultra consumer safety driven) have been quite happy to let Samsung sort it out without intervention.
[The Universe] has gone offline.
iPhone 7 exploded in transit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/apple...
iPhone 6 exploded in user's pocket:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...
Next time, use removable batteries.
As long as you are making design changes, include an sd-card slot, and keep that bootloader unlocked as if your market share and stock price depended on it.
(Which it does, as I'm not touching another one of your products while you lack these features.)
Unlocked phones cost less in the long run than financing a device, you really own it, and it gives you a better selection of devices to choose from IMO.
What's with your comment on T-Mobile? If it's about the network, when I don't have coverage -- which is rare -- I'm on AT&Ts towers and that's included in the plan. I was on AT&T and moved over to T-Mobile and I couldn't be happier. I'm paying less for the "same" coverage.
And now I'm considering Ting, since they now use all of T-Mobile and AT&T's towers, but my phone bill will go down to less than 25 bucks a month for two phones. I have friends and family on Ting and I've seen their bills and they've never not had any coverage issues... And since my phone is unlocked, I just have to buy their SIM. Unlocked phones cost less and you're not locked to any one carrier. There are several GSM option in the US and of course it's pretty much the rest of the world.
yes, because if there is no pay up front discount then you are stupid for paying upfront and not stretching the payments out over 24-30 months
at&t they will send an APN file to your phone. ting is your problem
And by the way, it's a prepaid plan... so i could leave tomorrow if I want to. Not locked into anything.
Can we please STOP saying "exploded"? A normal electronic failure - that releases the magic smoke upon which all computers really work - while it releases heat and smoke, is NOT an "explosion". (Really, folks - this is /. where we start with real terms with real meanings. Right? Right?)
a) that's a frigging large number
b) there was a documented problem with the devices
c) they were subject to a voluntary worldwide recall by the manufacturer.
But yes I can see how this looks like some grand US conspiracy to someone who has no clue.
so you like roaming at $15 a meg?
There is no recall in the EU because it is not even for sale in the EU until end of October. It was suppose to be on sale on September 2, but they didn't because they announced the recall on the same day.
The phone needs to be removed from sale entirely.
As long as that includes all products with a potentially dangerous lithium ion battery, I'm right behind you.
What roaming? I travel all over the east half of the US, never had an issue with roaming.
when you go out side of the usa and you can't use an local sim.
EU. News reports fix the fault as consumers in EU stop buying.
Regards Eion MacDonald
Sorry what? You could mean any of about four different things with that.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
"explosion" gets more eyeballs and clicks, so "explosion" it is.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
I thought you were dead, Steve.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.