Prepaid
Wireless Tracker - September 2010
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
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created
from firsthand experience working in the prepaid wireless industry.
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news so
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Virgin Mobile
USA Moves to $40 Unlimited Offer for Prepaid
Mobile
Virgin yet again changes its recently
revamped Broadband2Go offer with a $40 unlimited offering. After initial launch
challenges, it appears
to be available and working now. This
definitely puts a lot of downward pressure on mobile broadband pricing
in both
the prepaid and contract space.
Verizon
Offering New
Prepaid Mobile
Bandwidth Options
TFTS
(blog)
Shortly after Virgin’s announcement, Verizon announced its $80, 5 GB
plan. I don’t think
there’s much that can be said
here, but wow, are you serious? How
far
off of the competitive mark can a company be?!
Anyone running out to get this new plan?
Clearwire To
Serve Prepaid Segment
Stock
Markets
Review
Although Clear (I thought they dropped the Clearwire name a long time
ago!) has
been offering no contract, month-by-month plans since its initial
launch, it’s
now offering a full-fledged prepaid 4G offer under a new, so-called
youth-oriented
brand. In addition
to this article, you
can check out www.rover.com for even
more details. If
you’re a true mobile warrior,
however, you’ll be disappointed by the fact that it’s currently a 4G
only offer
(i.e. no backwards compatibility to nationwide 3G coverage), though I
expect
this will change before too long with at least the addition of a 3G
add-on that
they currently offer on their core plans.
Though keep in mind that their current Rover modems only
support 4G, so
if an add-on is offered in the future, you’ll need to buy new hardware.
Cricket
Wireless Looks to Go National
CNET
(blog)
More information from last month regarding Cricket’s MVNO partnership
with
Sprint to take their brand nationwide.
A
really good discussion with a lot of strong points and logical strategy. As I noted previously,
hopefully the cost
model will enable Cricket to grow profitably as they expand nationwide,
particularly with a data hungry Android smartphone now part of its
handset
lineup.
MetroPCS to
Launch LTE Network, Samsung Phone in September
eWeek
It appears as though a MetroPCS 4G launch is going to be a reality. Interestingly, they’re
skipping right over
3G.
Though they
only note a 4G phone, it
seems inevitable that they’ll follow up with a 4G broadband offer as
well.
Leap Ups Its Prepaid Wireless Offerings
San
Diego Union
Tribune
Cricket discusses the launch of its first BlackBerry and
Android
smartphones,
as well as their revised/simplified plans, including the inclusion of
telecom
taxes in the base monthly price. The
reality is that with these offers Cricket is playing catch-up, though a
prepaid
Android handset really is exciting.
Note
that I’m not counting Boost’s Motorola i1 Android phone as a real
contender due
to its iDEN handicap.
Rogers Launches
First Prepaid BlackBerry
Curve
8520
MobileSyrup.com
Rogers launches its first BlackBerry. As always, it’s great to
see the
proliferation of prepaid smartphones, however, at this point they’re
really
playing catch-up, and the price certainly isn’t all that inspiring.
Verizon Wireless
Offering Prepaid BlackBerry
Plans
By
Andrew Munchbach
Verizon also is said to be offering a prepaid BlackBerry, with pricing
rumored
to be similar to its postpaid plans.
Again, nothing too innovative; just keeping up with
competition.
SafeLink Wireless
Raises Lifeline Offering
PR
Newswire (press release)
Likely in response to Sprint’s Assurance Wireless offering, SafeLink
ups its
included minutes from 68 minutes to up to 250 minutes depending on
which of the
three plans you opt into. Don’t
be
fooled, these free offers are actually quite profitable for carriers!
Samsung Seek is
Boost Mobile's First Touch/QWERTY Smartphone
Hot
Hardware
As discussed in the past, one of the major barriers to prepaid adoption
is the
handset selection. 2010
is definitely
the year of touchscreen and smartphone proliferation!
While the article
talks about the Samsung
Seek as a smartphone, I don’t view it as fitting into the smartphone
category;
a nice handset nonetheless.
MetroPCS 2Q
Profit Triples On Subscriber Growth
Wall
Street
Journal
MetroPCS posted some stellar results in the second quarter, leaving its
competition scrambling to catch up.
Good
work on delivering what customers want Metro!
Walmart to Sell
AT&T Prepaid Phones
at
Retail Stores
American
Banking
News
Walmart has been selling Straight Talk
running on Verizon’s network,
and has
been doing quite well. This
plan will
now be offered on AT&Ts network.
Despite AT&T’s poor performance as seen following
the introduction
of the first iPhone, there are many people out there who prefer the
flexibility
of a GSM based handset.
What's New at
Prepaid-Wireless-Guide.com?
- Added
Cricket MSGM8 II & Virgin LG Rumor Touch to
Prepaid
Mobile Email
- Added
Boost Samsung SPH-M350 Seek to Prepaid
Mobile Email
- Updated
Prepaid
WiMAX Plans with latest plans
& added
updated hardware images including iSpot
Comments? Ideas? Feedback? I'd love to hear from
you. Just reply to
this zine and tell me what you think!
Cheers!
PrepaidWirelessGuy
