Wireless Tracker - February 2010
Issue
Hi,
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TracFone
Disconnects Free Cell Phone Plan
for Poor
Denver
Post
TracFone’s plans to bring its free cell phone service,
SafeLink, to
Colorado is
halted due to 911 fee disputes. Bottom
line is that all prepaid services across the U.S. will
ultimately be
required
to contribute to the cost of 91.
Carriers must determine the best way to cost recover,
including a means
to continue to provide free cell phone programs to low income
households. However,
in the meantime, it looks as though
Colorado loses out unless Virgin can find a way to launch its free
Assurance
Wireless program there.
Sprint
Orders Liberty to Stop Bring Your
Own Device Program
Prepaid
Reviews
Perhaps as Sprint doubles down on
prepaid with its purchase of Virgin Mobile, it has become more
sensitive to
competitors (albeit MVNOs) activating Sprint handsets.
Hopefully this fight is not over just
yet. If
you’re out
of your contract, it’s
really better for everyone to allow people to take their handsets to
any
compatible carrier of their choice.
It
will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Sprint
Finally Brings Prepaid Wireless
to Its Own Brand
Though the title is a bit misleading, the news is that in January Boost
launched its Monthly Unlimited plan on the Sprint CDMA network. In 2007 it launched on the
CDMA network as
Unlimited by Boost, however, that program was discontinued. The difference with this
incarnation is that
telco taxes are now inclusive in the plan price.
The
Next Step in In-Flight Wi-Fi
-- Video On Demand in the Skies
Gadling
The title pretty much says it all. With the right pricing
model, or even ad
supported programs, this is a great idea.
That said, holding a laptop on one’s lap, or
using the
tray table can
become uncomfortable pretty quickly, so hopefully planes will continue
to
install in-seat TVs.
MetroPCS
Cuts Prices,
Issues Weaker Outlook
Metro
undercuts Boost’s latest unlimited
pricing by $10 (and now include taxes and fees) due to its market share
struggles from increased competition.
While lower prices are good for customers, price wars are
rarely
sustainable and ultimately result in lower competition in the long run
as
carriers with shallower pockets get priced out of the market. Hopefully prepaid carriers
will continue to
add services in lieu of simply cutting prices.
Page Plus Cellular
Lowers
Voice Plan Rates Again
PR-USA.net
Page Plus announced a further reduction to its
pay-as-you-go
pricing, which now ranges from $0.04 - $0.10 per minute (previously
$0.06 -
$0.12 per minute). Page
Plus is really
starting to show that they’re a serious player and willing to
contend
with the
best of them!
Prepaid BlackBerry
Comes
to Boost Mobile for $60/month
OCRegister
Boost launched the Curve on its Monthly Unlimited plan for a $10
premium over
its standard $50 plan. The
device will
run you $250, however, with no contract, it’s an offer worth
taking
note
of. I
can’t wait to
see prepaid Android
handsets!
New
Assurance Wireless Campaign
Alerts Lower-Income Households in Tennessee
CNNMoney.com
Virgin Mobile launches its free wireless service, Assurance Wireless in
Tennessee. We can
expect some healthy
competition in this space in 2010 with increased awareness via direct
advertising campaigns. Don’t
be fooled,
offering free cell phone service is profitable business!
Irvine-Based Boost Mobile 'Shuffles'
to Super Bowl
OC
Metro
Boost Mobile brings back the Super Bowl Shuffle this month, which
promises to
be quite a throwback!
What's New at
Prepaid-Wireless-Guide.com?
- Added new WiFi in the
Sky reviews page and linked to
Sitemap
& Prepaid Wireless Reviews page
- Added
new page Cell Phone
Repair Tips
- Added
new page Free WiFi
Spots
- Updated
Compare
PAYG page to reflect that
Boost offers PAYG on CDMA
- Added
new Sitemap - 2 page and
changed Sitemap to new format
Comments? Ideas? Feedback? I'd love to hear from
you. Just reply to
this zine and tell me what you think!
Cheers!
PrepaidWirelessGuy
