Prepaid Wireless Tracker -
March 2009 Issue
Hi,
Prepaid wireless is a growing and truly exciting industry. At
Prepaid
Wireless Guide I try to provide you with in-depth information that
isn't
readily available anywhere else. Its content is original, and
created
from first hand experience working in the prepaid wireless industry.
This monthly email provides you with a quick glance at what's in the
news so
that you can easily keep informed. I believe in brief,
to-the-point summaries/commentary
so that you can move onto other tasks in your day. Each
snippet includes
a link to the original story should you be interested in the full
details.
If you like this e-zine, please do a friend and me a big favor and "pay
it
forward." If a friend DID forward this to you and if you like
what
you read, please subscribe by visiting here.
Leap
jumps into full-track fray with Cricket Mobile Music service (source
article removed)
February 10 - 11:20 am ET | Dan Meyer | RCR Wireless News
Leap Wireless International Inc.
is bringing music to the masses. You
can purchase full track songs for $1.99 each or three per month for $5.
This appears to be
the first widely available music download service for prepaid. I’ll look at
tracking how this program evolves!
Boost
Mobile Expands Retail Distribution into 2400 Additional
Radio Shack Stores
(source article removed)
CNNMoney.com
Boost Mobile, the prepaid division of Sprint Corporation
(NYSE: S), is expanding its
nationwide distribution in Radio Shack stores.
This expansion appears to be aligned with their recent
launch of their
new Monthly Unlimited plan on iDEN.
Radio Shack appears to be a great partner for wireless!
Verizon
Wireless Revamps Prepaid Options (Phone Scoop)
By Eric M. Zeman
On February 11, Verizon Wireless introduced new prepaid services for customers not
interested in post-paid
accounts. The Prepaid
Unlimited
Talk plan provides users with unlimited calling to any number on any U.S.
network
for a daily charge. Ironically,
although
I’ve read a number of articles discussing their new plans and
pricing, I can
find no mention of them on their website.
Before updating the comparison charts, I want to ensure
that these plans
are truly available. If
anyone has been
able to locate or verify that these new plans actually do exist, please
don’t
hesitate to contact
me.
Virgin
Mobile USA announces Helio Ocean 2 (source
article removed)
With a similar hardware build as the first Helio
Ocean,
the Ocean 2 has a larger 2.6-inch display screen with QVGA resolution. For those Ocean fans, this
is pretty exciting
news. As for me,
I’ll get excited should
there ever be a prepaid Palm Pre ;-).
Cricket
Communications to begin mobile phone service in
Chicago area (source article removed)
Chicago Tribune - United
States
A subsidiary of San Diego-based Leap
Wireless International Inc.,
Cricket competes with other prepaid
providers such as Virgin Mobile
and Sprint
Nextel's Boost Mobile. It’s
great to see
companies expanding given the current economy.
Prepaid really has its place, and this economy is only
accentuating the
value and need to access prepaid services.
Boost Mobile has launched a
new campaign meant to
emphasize straightforward pricing
Boost is standing up for prepaid
wireless consumers and eliminating additional charges,
such as
activation fees, overage charges and extra costs for services like
voicemail
and roaming. Their
new positioning is
aimed at broadening their demographic appeal with a simple to
understand, all
you can eat plan.
Boost
Mobile $50 'Monthly Unlimited' Plan Saves Customers Money
(source article removed)
CNNMoney.com
Boost Mobile
customers can
enjoy superior value in prepaid
wireless services by switching to their new $50 'Monthly
Unlimited' plan
on iDEN. For
customers not interested in
high speed (3G) type data services, this voice/text/PTT unlimited
nationwide
plan is really a great deal worth checking out.
Page
Plus Cellular Offers WAP Wireless Internet Service; BREW Coming Soon
(source article removed)
Prepaid Cellular
Phone Provider Continues to Expand Services
Holland,
OH, February 27, 2009 - Prepaid cellular phone service provider Page
Plus Cellular has expanded its service offerings to include Wireless
Application Protocol (WAP), also known as “Wireless
Internet,” "Wireless Web,” or "Mobile Web."
Wireless
Internet can be used to view email, news, weather, and to download
internet contents. This feature is available on select Page Plus
handsets which contain mini-browser software that allows the user to
navigate various services on the Internet, which are viewed on the
phone display. The charge for the service is $1.20 per megabyte
transferred.
Page Plus also announced it will
soon offer BREW (Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless), a software
platform created by Qualcomm that provides a comprehensive,
industry-proven solution for the development and delivery of advanced
wireless data across virtually every media category. Applications
include everything from full-track music, ringtones and wallpapers to
streaming audio, video, navigation and games. BREW will be available in
May of this year.
What's New at
Prepaid-Wireless-Guide.com?
- Added
AirVoice plans to the PAYG comparison chart.
Find it here.
- Added
invitation on subsidy page asking how much you’d be willing
to pay for your
phone to avoid a contract; visitors to the site would love to hear from
you, so
please feel free to contribute here!
- American
Messaging is new MVNO. I’m
currently
researching their service before adding it to the site; however, feel
free to
check out their service here.
- Added
Kajeet to the PAYG comparison chart.
Their service is targeted specifically at kids. They offer some extremely
powerful tools to
help parents keep their kids safe, while simultaneously managing their
access
to wireless services. Expect
more
information on this topic to be added to the site in the future. Find details of their plan
here.
- Updated
T-Mobile Unlimited plan to reflect that text messaging is included
(thank you for
pointing out the mistake Chris D.!).
Find the plan details here.
- Updated
MetroPCS chart to reflect that it is a CDMA and not a GSM network, as
well as
the availability of ChatLINK walkie talkie service (thank you to Jen J.
for
pointing out these items!). Find
the
plan details here.
- Added
an About page. If
you’re interested in
learning about how Prepaid-Wireless-Guide.com came to be, and are
looking to
startup your own business, you may find this to be interesting. Check it out here.
REMINDER:
Last month invitations were added for visitors to contribute
Prepaid Wireless Reviews on the following topics:
- How
Much Money Have You Saved With Prepaid Wireless?
If
you have any experience with these plans or topics, please do share
them by
visiting these pages and submitting your reviews/comments. You’d be
surprised how many emails I get
asking for reviews of different products.
As I just recently added this functionality to
the site, I need your help to get
the ball rolling!
Comments? Ideas? Feedback? I'd love
to hear from you. Just
reply to this zine and tell me what you think!
Cheers!
Prepaid
Wireless
Guide
