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Mobile Virtual Networks Are Booming Again
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Sue Marek reports at Fierce Wireless that the mobile virtual network operator business is booming again, with new MVNOs launching nearly every week and operators like Sprint and T-Mobile hungry for MVNO partners because MVNOs offer a good economic return and can help them to grow their market share and reach into markets where they might not have visibility. 'It's a good strategic play for us,' says Matt Carter, president of Sprint wholesale and emerging solutions. 'It's another army to help us garner more subscribers on the network.' But unlike the MVNO craze of the 2005-2006 era--highlighted by high-profile failures like ESPN Mobile, Disney Mobile, Amp'd Mobile and Helio, today's high-profile MVNOs like FreedomPop, Republic Wireless, Solavei and Ting offer innovative service plans, marketing techniques and, in some cases, devices that they hope will draw consumers to their offerings. Today's MVNOs can be successful with a seemingly tiny number of customers. For example, Tucows' MVNO Ting, which sells mobile usage by minutes, text messages and megabytes, announced they currently have around 25,000 total customers, and that the business is on track to cross the break-even threshold in the fourth quarter of this year. Virtual carriers now also get the latest phones like the Moto X at launch and don't have to wait for new Android handsets to trickle down."
Hopefully VoLTE will make this even more popular. I want to just buy a sim and use whatever device I like. Maybe I want a smartphone without data service, maybe I want to bring a device the carrier has never heard of, maybe I want to see some damn competition in our mobile market. Why the FCC does not mandate interoperability like we do with landlines I will never understand.
happens with everything. new product/service comes out and people are first willing to pay a premium. a few years later once everyone uses it people start looking to save money since its now a commodity
same with smartphones. the cheapo ones are more than good enough for most people so there is no reason to buy the newest iphone or galaxy s4
i'm planning to keep my iphone 5 for 3-4 years and move to t-mobile to save money. t-mobile gets this. AT&T and Verizon are trying to fight for the customers willing to pay cash for lots of data and new phones every year. sprint is screwed
You often get the coverage and reach of the leased carrier for maybe half the cost. A typical "all you can eat" from a MVNO will cost $50-60 compared to a $80-100+ bill from the leased counterpart. The caveat here is that you're going to pay closer to retail for your handset
Contract carriers are beginning to do some interesting things to their plan structure and handset pricing like abolishing contracts and handset "lock in" but they still want you to pay an arm and a leg for such services. T-Mobile has done the best as far as price goes....they'll lower your recurring monthly charge to $50, but then you have to tack on a $20-30 fee for a handset that youre basically financing
I couple of months back, I picked up an unlocked GSM Pre3, and I haven't had a chance yet to really dig into which of the pre-paid companies offer good terms for smartphones for my usage pattern.
I know that Phone Scoop has a list, but it doesn't mention the 4 virtual carriers mentioned in the article summary.
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
These companies need the newest iPhones, Galaxies (Galaxys?), and whatever else from Moto/HTC in order to be taken seriously. No one wants to pick up a new phone that came straight out of last year.
Also stop charging for text messages. Everyone knows it's bullcrap.
"Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
That's interesting. I've travelled to Spain, from the UK, more times than I can remember and every other advert on the TV is for mobile phones. I thought Spain must be very competitive for phone charges.
I too use an MVNO on the O2 network. When I travel to Spain, I pay the following:
Calls to the UK = 24p (28 euro-cents) per minute
Receiving calls = 7p (8 euro-cents) per minute. We all hate this. Most of us wont answer the phone while abroad.
Send SMS text = 8p (9 euro-cents) per text. We all hate this too, as SMS texts are pretty much free all the time in the UK.
This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
In particular, MVNOs often have very restricted or non-existent roaming in areas where the underlying carrier doesn't have any towers. Even if roaming is available for talk and text, it will often be shut off for data. This is even common on prepaid plans by the carriers themselves, or captive MVNOs like Virgin Mobile USA and Boost, both owned by Sprint.
Also, carriers give priority to direct subscribers over MVNO customers (which makes sense to me).
On the plus side, though, you can get usable service on the cheap, and if you're using an unlocked GSM phone, you can switch carriers/MVNOs easily enough by popping in a new SIM (watch out for different radio bands being used for 3G/4G, though).
Oh, no! You have walked into the slavering fangs of a lurking grue!
Come visit the USA one time.
If I take my phone to Canada, less distance that UK to Spain, about a 20 minute drive from my current location, the prices are over a dollar per min call/text.
You with a GSM phone can get a prepaid SIM while you are in Spain.
A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) (or mobile other licensed operator (MOLO) in the United Kingdom) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which the MVNO provides services to its customers.
so....headline reads: "wireless resellers are cash cows"
Good people go to bed earlier.
My experience with Amp'd some years back was not great. I paid $100-$200 (I forget) to get started and they went out of business a few weeks later.
Sprint won't let Virgin Mobile phones be moved to Ting. I am a Ting customer but would like to have my old Virgin Mobile phone as a backup or even as an optional third number. Sprint has already gotten the revenue from me for that phone and won't give a palatable answer for why they won't allow it to be used.
"They don't allow it" is a wholly unacceptable answer and it's the best I've received.
I live in a predominantly ATT area and a couple of years ago tried one of the ATT MVNOs for a month. What I found was worse coverage, a lot of dropped calls, (more) unreliabe data and generally sucky service. I reinstalled the ATT SIM and reset the phone in less than a week. About 2 weeks later I came across an article (I think here on /.) that pretty much said that MVNOs were treated as "2nd class citizens" on the respective network so it pretty much made sense. I haven't seen anything to support the notion that has changed in the last 2 years since the test.
i recently switched from sprint to ting and it was painless. kept my two smartphones, ported the numbers, and my monthly bill dropped from $135/month to $33/month (for two lines). the customer account section of their website is a model of simplicity and effectiveness. the only downside is that it's not unlimited - the more you use the more you pay, especially for data. but texts are cheap and if you're like us and have wifi most of the time it's a killer deal. HIGHLY recommended.