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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."
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.
A random LTE device is unlikely to work with Sprint anyways, they're the only people doing LTE on band 25 (1900g) according to a quick google check. Their 800MHz band 26 deployment will give them much better coverage but it's not going to help any with phone selection unless the band 20 processors for Europe are built to include band 26 as well.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
As anonymous coward said above, read the article. Some of the MVNOs DO offer the latest phones. The ting.com service uses Sprint's infrastructure - and in some places that sucks - but you can get a Samsung Galaxy S4, Samsung Galaxy S3, Samsung Galaxy Note 2, or an HTC One. They don't have an iPhone yet, so Apple fans are out of luck. But otherwise, that's the best Android currently has to offer other than maybe the latest from LG.
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!
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.