U.S. tablet owners get 'free data service for life'

The Associated Press Posted: Oct 24, 2013 8:40 AM ET Last Updated: Oct 24, 2013 10:29 AM ET

An Apple employee demonstrates the new iPad Mini on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013, in San Francisco. Apple unveiled a new, thinner, lighter tablet called the "iPad Air" and the iPad Mini with Retina Display, along with a slew of new Macs Tuesday at an event in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) (The Associated Press)

Wireless provider T-Mobile will give U.S. owners of iPads and other tablet computers free data service for life as part of an effort to broaden its customer base beyond phones.

The free service would be limited to 200 megabytes of high-speed data per month — enough to upload about 800 Instagram photos or listen to more than three hours of streaming music, the company said.

T-Mobile US Inc. said the free service comes with no obligations, but the company expects people will want to buy plans for additional data once they grow accustomed to having it.

People typically buy tablet computers that access the internet using Wi-Fi only. Models with 4G LTE cellular access typically cost $100 to $130 more, but T-Mobile marketing chief Mike Sievert said many people are reluctant to purchase cellular-enabled tablets for fear they would be stuck with monthly data service costs.

By guaranteeing free data service, he said, T-Mobile is hoping to encourage people to buy LTE tablets.

The latest offer, announced Wednesday, comes as the company tries to shatter longstanding industry practices and brand itself as the Un-Carrier.

In March, the company dropped conventional two-year service contracts in favour of selling phones with installment plans. In July, it introduced a program that lets people upgrade phones more frequently — up to twice a year. This month, the company eliminated data and texting fees in more than 100 countries and capped charges for international voice calls.

There are signs the efforts are working. In the April-June quarter, T-Mobile gained long-term, good-credit customers for the first time in at least two and a half years. T-Mobile added a net 688,000 such customers in the quarter, compared with a loss of 557,000 in the same period a year earlier.

The net increase includes 3,000, or less than 0.5 per cent, for non-phone service such as tablets. T-Mobile officials believe there's room for further growth.

All tablet computers, including Apple's iPad, Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire, are eligible for the offer as long as they work on T-Mobile's network. Sievert said most tablets do.

The new iPads announced Tuesday are universal models, meaning they will work on various LTE networks around the world. Previously, Apple sold separate models compatible with a subset of networks.

Tablet owners will need to buy a SIM card that costs about $10 US.

T-Mobile said it will sell iPads under installment plans, but people who buy tablets elsewhere will qualify as well.

The free access is limited to the United States.

For $10 a month, T-Mobile phone customers can buy an additional 500 megabytes of high-speed data in the U.S. and unlimited data at slower speeds. That plan also comes with unlimited data at the slower speeds in more than 100 countries. Non-phone customers can pay $20 a month for the same plan. There's no contract, so people can sign up for a month at a time. There are also daily and weekly options.

At rival AT&T, monthly plans start at $15 for 250 megabytes. The company recently introduced $5 day passes, which it says is ideal for travellers looking for an alternative to Wi-Fi hotspots. That's good for 250 megabytes. AT&T also has a new $25 plan offering 1 gigabyte over a three-month period. 20:20ET 23-10-13

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Researchers alarmed by 'puzzling' changes in resident orcas

A Vancouver Aquarium whale researcher is sounding the alarm over what he calls "puzzling" changes observed in the resident killer whale pods that live off the northern coast of B.C. and Alaska.

Dr. Lance Barrett-Lennard, a senior marine mammal scientist with the aquarium, says he fears changes in the ocean environment are prompting odd behaviour and an unusually high mortality rate, after spending the summer observing the whales aboard a research vessel.

Barrett-Lennard says one resident pod has lost seven matriarchs over the past two years, an unusually high death rate, and he's also noticed a lack of vocalizations from the normally chatty mammals.

“Resident killer whales are typically very vocal in the summer but, for the second year in a row, they have been remarkably quiet,” said Barrett-Lennard.

“So quiet that we often had difficulty finding them.”

The lack of vocalizations was just one of three unusual changes observed by the cetacean research team. Resident orcas were also seen the past two summers travelling in small groups, farther offshore to find food — behaviour more typical in winter than summer.

At the same time, the Barrett-Lennard says the number of normally transient killer whales, also known as the Bigg's whale, has been increasing over the past 25 years. In the 1990's, resident orcas were sighted much more frequently than Bigg's orcas, but now the number of sightings is nearly equal.

“It’s unclear at this point if the loss of so many matriarchs or the increase in Bigg’s killer whales is having an impact on resident killer whale behaviour, but the changes we’ve seen over the last two years are striking and beg an explanation," says  Barrett-Lennard.

The difference two years makes

The Vancouver Aquarium provided two audio recordings made near resident killer whales off B.C.'s Central Coast.

The first, from 2011, is full of many calls as well as echolocation sounds and is typical of the sounds of resident killer whales prior to 2012.

The second, from 2013, is much quieter and consists mainly of the echolocation 'ticks' that the whales use to find fish. "Communication calls are absent apart from a quiet call at the 15-second mark," the Aquarium says.

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