Reasons To Hesitate On Zer01's Unlimited Mobile Offer

alphadogg writes with an excerpt from Network World that might save you some money: "Imagine downloading a two-hour HD movie in three minutes to your new cell phone, then plugging the phone into your TV to watch the film. Make unlimited phone calls, surf online as much as you like and send unlimited text messaging for $70 a month, without a contract. Sign up to sell the same service to other people and get $10 a month for each person you sell to. That's what a group of related companies including Zer01 Mobile, Buzzirk, Global Verge and Unified Technologies Group are promoting heavily online and at industry trade shows. The offer is attractive enough to garner coverage in top business and technology publications, at least one positive review from an analyst and even a 'best in show' award from a magazine at the CTIA wireless industry trade show earlier this year. Does it all sound too good to be true? If so, that's because it probably is. What little information is available about the services is technically inconsistent, and doesn't match up with public records."

Comments

The laws of physics called

[Com2Kid]

They want to speak with someone over at Zer01, something about "exceeding sane limitations of the electromagnetic spectrum".

An HD movie in 3 minutes? Even if they are calling "480p" HD, there is no way in hell that is transfering wirelessly in 3 minutes to a cellular device.

Trying to sign everyone up as a sales associate just proves it is a scam.

Re:The laws of physics called

[sanosuke001]

I have a 1080p copy of a movie at home and it's ~8GB.

8 GB in 180 seconds = 364.09 mbps.

um.... no

Re:The laws of physics called

[Com2Kid]

They are claiming use of the 2100mhz spectrum. Given the spectrum they are claiming to be using, there is no way to use cellular technology (wireless towers, multiple customers handled per tower) to get those types of speeds.

Sure, if they crap all over everyone's licensed EM bands they could maybe pull it off, but even then they would encounter issues with running enough fiber out to every single cell tower to support users on any arbitrary tower pulling down in excess of 200mb/s, assuming a well compressed, somewhat short, 5GB HD movie.

It is just not possible with using a cellular network laid out how we presently do it. Even using some futeristic weird uber-mesh network it would be hard as hell to pull off, and even then, you would need more than just some small slice of the 2100mhz band.

Full stop

[Anonymous Coward]

From TFA

One key player in the network of companies is Mark Petschel. He's the CEO of Global Verge, the multilevel marketing firm...

Whenever MLM (multi-level-marketing) rears its ugly head, that's a good sign for me to avoid company like the plague.

Re:Full stop

[e9th]

When a company's CEO is on probation for security fraud, that's not a good sign either.

MLM

[MBCook]

Sign up to sell the same service to other people and get $10 a month for each person you sell to.

That makes it multi-level-marketing (read: "legal pyramid scheme"), which should be an instant clue to anyone to avoid it.

Also, reading the article, it's a $70 initial fee to do the MLM part, and $40 monthly fee, which means if you sign up 5 people, it will take 7 months to break even.

You can probably make money faster by picking up loose change.

It's funny, and a bit disturbing...

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

How, on the one hand, society makes it ever harder to escape your past(even shit entry level jobs can come with background and credit checks, never mind trying to get cleared, or the whole sex offender registry thing) while, somehow, certain people just seem to float right through, skipping from one scam to another, seemingly impervious.

I wonder how it works. Is it the charm that sociopaths are known for that allows certain people to do it? Are the rules different in certain areas? Are most of the barriers actually illusory/psychological? Why doesn't an attempt to legally incorporate a new business include a "do any of your officers have a background in crime, particularly white collar crime?" check?

Movie in 3 minutes? No problem...!

[Joce640k]

You can have a two hour movie at 1080p resolution in 1Mb of data if you're not too fussy about image quality.

 

Resolution is one thing, bitrate is something else.

Re:The lies!

[Beardo the Bearded]

He's not selling to technical people who can do the math.

He's selling to people who will hear the pitch and think, "Holy shit, people will line up around the block to get HD movies on their cell and plug it into their TV! I've GOT to invest in this right now, and get in on the ground floor."

Look at what he's got already: postive reviews, awards, and a front page on /. I guarantee you that the next rounds of adverts in an investment magazine will have these awards highlighted.

"Holy shit, not only is this a great-sounding idea, but it's won a CTIA award. It's... fucking legitimate! Cut this guy a cheque, and do it before some other asshole does!"

The system requires travelling to other dimensions with different physics in order to work, but other than that, it's a great idea.

Ditto the fundraising organizations

[tompaulco]

Fundraising organizations that help schools, churches, etc raise money for projects are equally as bad as MLM. They are essentially getting FREE labor, and not paying into Social Security, Medicare, providing benefits or anything. Many times the schools have to pay up front for a certain amount of product, and if they don't sell it they are stuck with it. There is almost no risk for the fundraising organization while the school or Church or whatever shoulders most of the risk or shares the risk with the parents of the underage labor pool. Meanwhile, the corporate campuses of some of these outfits are just insanely lavish and huge. Their only real cost of business is sending people out to beat the drums at the schools and churches.