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Boost Mobile calls rival’s $5 international plan ‘impossible’

June 26th, 2009, 4:56 pm by

Boost Mobile battles MetroPCS' new $5 international plan.If being able to call friends and family overseas anytime you feel like it for just $5 a month on your cell phone sounds unbelievable, it is, insists Irvine’s Boost Mobile.

The prepaid mobile phone provider took umbrage with rival MetroPCS, which announced such a deal on Wednesday. MetroPCS subscribers can now make unlimited calls to more than 1,000 cities worldwide with the new international plan, which is $5 per month when added to plans of $40 or more.  

“Anything can be profitable depending on the usage,” said Justin Brenan, Boost Mobile’s business director. “They’re obviously taking a bet on the usage. … They’re betting customers won’t use it very much.”

Consumers need to look closely at the details of the plan. Brenan says that calls to cell phones in Mexico aren’t included in MetroPCS’ unlimited plan, which is “a pretty big omission by MetroPCS,” he said. MetroPCS has not responded to the charge, but an attempt to see whether some Mexico-based wireless numbers on MetroPCS’ phone number lookup site qualify was negative. 

MetroPCS could be making money by forcing customers to upgrade to more expensive plans. Or it could be using inferior voice-over-internet technology, Brenan theorized. It could also be hiding fees and taxes so the $5 a month is just a minimum of what a customer pays. 

“We really have seen some seemingly impossible offers like this come from MetroPCS before and what happens is they disappear very quickly, which make it seem that it is too good to be true,” he said.

But the main reason why such pricing is impossible is settlement rates, which have been an international calling issue for years. Mobile companies in other countries charge these tax-like fees on foreign calls made to phones in their wireless network. Rates vary by country and differ from rates placed on calls to landline phones. In Boost’s case, calls to landlines in Mexico are $0.02, while calls to wireless phones are $0.10 per minute.

MetroPCS wouldn’t elaborate on how it plans to make money off the international plan. But in a statement, the company said it is profitable: “We don’t disclose pricing or profitability on individual products. However, our company is extremely profitable even with the launching of new markets and we have some of the lowest operating costs in the industry.” Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • • • | 10 Comments »

Unlimited international calls for $5/month? MetroPCS says yes!

June 24th, 2009, 1:02 pm by

MetroPCSMetroPCS, the significantly cheaper mobile-phone service, unveiled a plan today offering unlimited calls to more than 1,000 cities around the world for an extra $5 a month.

The new international plan is only available to subscribers of its $40-or-higher voice plans. Users don’t need to dial an intermediary number first and can call international numbers directly. Receiving international calls is free.

However, not every international city is included, but the biggies like Vietnam and Mexico City are part of the unlimited plan. To see if an international number qualifies, MetroPCS sends customers to this page. Also, the cheap rate doesn’t apply if the user is roaming and with MetroPCS service only available in certain U.S. cities, this extra fee could add up. 

So… the big question is how does MetroPCS do it? Its mobile rivals charge up to a few dollars per minute to call some countries. While the major wireless companies do offer international plans, those all have a monthly charge and a per-minute fee, albeit discounted from the standard international rate. MetroPCS new international plan is a flat-rate service with no extra fees, unless you’re roaming outside of MetroPCS coverage areas. 

I’m waiting to hear back from the company to explain how it can offer such a low rate. UPDATE, 3:57 p.m.: MetroPCS’ responds by avoiding all specifics:   

We don’t disclose pricing or profitability on individual products. However, our company is extremely profitable even with the launching of new markets and we have some of the lowest operating cost in the industry.

Scanning through international plans from other mobile companies, I was surprised to see that it’s not that expensive to call overseas anymore. But none are as cheap as MetroPCS, which offers unlimited U.S. cellular plans for as low as $30 a month. 

For example, Verizon Wireless charges $0.65/minute for calls to Mexico. Its $3.99  monthly value plan drops the per-minute rate to $0.25. Comparably, AT&T’s rates are $0.99/minute for calls to Mexico. On the company’s special $4.99 “Mexico plan,” calls range from $0.09 to $0.25. But if you’re just calling Mexico from a MetroPCS plan, there’s already a $3 plan for unlimited calls to Mexico. 

Here’s a look at mobile international plans:

Mobile Service Monthly Per minute? To United Kingdom No plan fee per minute
AT&T World Connect $3.99 Yes 8-28 cents/minute $1.29
MetroPCS $5 No included  
Sprint $4 Yes 6-39 cents/minute $1.49-$1.82
T-Mobile $5 Yes 6-26 cents/minute $0.69
Verizon Wireless $3.99 Yes 6-26 cents/minute $1.49-$1.67
Source: AT&T, MetroPCS, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless

More on cell-phones:


Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local cell phone services

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • • • • • | 2 Comments »

Verizon, AT&T try to explain why texting fees are 100% higher

June 17th, 2009, 12:36 pm by

Texting and the mobile phoneUPDATE, 2:09 p.m.: Thanks to reader Tom Swifty for pointing out my bad math. Fixed headline to reflect that fees are 100 percent higher, not 50 percent.
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Noted: Why does sending a text message on your cell phone cost 20 cents? Congress was wondering the same thing and asked Verizon Wireless and AT&T whether the two companies colluded on pricing, according to a Reuters report (also cited by BroadbandReports.com and FierceWireless.com).

And not only did the fee seem high, but it’s double the rate from 2006, when texting was a mere 10 cents.

Lawyers from Verizon and AT&T argued that Congress was focusing on a tiny number of texts. Most customers were in some sort of monthly texting plan, so very few were affected by the doubling of the pay-per-use fee. Approximately, a mere 1 percent of texts sent were charged 20-cents per message, Reuters reported: 

“The faulty notion that prices for text messaging have risen derives from an unduly narrow interest in the trend of a single pricing option for text messaging services, the pay-per-use option, when the vast majority of AT&T’s customers do not choose that option,” said Wayne Watts, general counsel of AT&T.

Verizon, in a press release, said that because of the bundling, the price per message has dropped to about 1 cent each. Both companies denied price fixing.

However, I could find no explanation as to why either company felt the need to double the price on the pay-per-text fee, especially if so few people use it. 

BroadbandReports, a great source of telecom news, offers its opinion on why: “Of course the reason carriers uniformly raised SMS prices from ten cents to twenty cents (in both directions) was to drive customers to these bundle deals, which still tacks $5 to $20 per month on to subscriber wireless bills for a service with virtually no delivery cost.” (Bolded is the site’s own emphasis.)

Very true. Even many prepaid mobile companies are adding unlimited texting plans (see “Are $50 unlimited plans latest trend? T-Mobile follows Boost.”) What do you pay? Is it time to switch to a bundle plan in case you have a kid like this one?

For those wondering how much a text message does cost, the four major mobile companies do indeed charge 20-cents per text. See their sites:

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • • • • • • | 40 Comments »

Virgin Mobile adds pay-as-you-go wireless Internet

June 10th, 2009, 1:42 pm by

Broadband2Go pay-as-you-go wireless modem from Virgin Mobile USA

Corrected 6/15/2009: Virgin Mobile says this service is not yet available for Mac/Linux users but will be in upcoming weeks. 

For people too cheap to cough up monthly fees for wireless broadband cards, Virgin Mobile USA just announced a wireless modem that is pay as you go. No monthly fees, no contracts, no activation fees. (Nice!)

The aptly named Broadband2Go runs on Sprint’s EV-DO wireless network, so users can expect download speeds of around 1 megabit per second. The modem is a Novatel Wireless USB key, model number MC760. It plugs into a laptop, picture on right (image courtesy of Virgin Mobile). It also includes a microSD card slot to store files.

The prepaid mobile phone market has become hyper competitive this year as companies like Irvine’s Boost Mobile introduced unlimited plans for $50/month. But Virgin Mobile’s news today could bring prepaid to a new audience of people who don’t want to commit to costly monthly mobile broadband plans.

But this doesn’t mean it is cheap.

The modem costs $149.99. And then you’ll need to purchase data plans via “Top-Up” cards or credit/debit cards so it can be pay as you go. According to Virgin Mobile, users will need to buy the cards — available in amounts of $10, $20, $40 or $60 — and then use those to buy data plans, from 100 megabytes to 1 gigabyte. 

Virgin Mobile estimates that a $20 card, which is enough for a 250 MB plan, translates into 12 hours of Web browsing. That beats Verizon Wireless’ fee for its broadband card, which is $40 for 250 MB. 

But to match Virgin Mobile’s best value, the $60 1 GB plan with Verizon’s or Sprint’s standard data plan, you’ll boost the cost to $360 for 5 GBs. That’s significantly higher than the $60/month fee that Verizon and Sprint charge for the same amount of data.   

Virgin Mobile adds prepaid mobile broadband. Chart of prices.And one big drawback to pay as you go is that if you don’t use it, you lose it, a common feature with prepaid plans. Virgin Mobile’s data packages expire. The 100 MB plan must be used within 10 days. The other plans expire within 30 days. However, the expiration data starts over if you add more megabytes.

Best Buy Mobile will start selling the modem in late June for $149.99. It’s compatible with computers running Windows, Mac or Linux operating systems (not yet available for Mac and Linux but will be in upcoming weeks, says Virgin Mobile) and equipped with a Type-A USB port. There’s also a meter to monitor data usage.

More on cell-phones:


Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local cell phone services

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • • • • • | 3 Comments »

Psst: Wanna know how to get cheaper service from AT&T?

June 4th, 2009, 1:10 pm by

AT&TUPDATE, June 5, 2009: AT&T adds that this deal is only available to customers in its local service area.
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AT&T unveiled a new plan this week offering small businesses a better deal than consumers.

It’s part of the AT&T’s small business “stimulus package,” aimed at companies with up to 4 people. The company says this is an industry first to offer a business bundle with wireless, phone and Internet.

For $100, a business gets one cell phone line with 450 minutes, DSL Internet service of 1.5 Megabits per second, access to all of AT&T’s Wi-Fi hotspots in the world, and unlimited local and long distance landline phone service.

Consumers, on the other hand, must pay $5 more a month for the same services (mobile, home phone and Internet). Really, that’s not a big difference but over the year, it’s an extra $60. Other incentives, such as discounts for signing up, aren’t included.

(One note: In areas where AT&T isn’t the phone provider, as in Huntington Beach, the unlimited local and long distance package jumps to $65 a month from $40, bumping up a consumer’s bundled price $30 a month — or an extra $360 a year. Updated June 5, 2009: In those areas, this offer is not available.)

An even greater savings is to opt for the faster Internet service of 6 Mbps, which for the single business user costs $105/month. A consumer, comparably, would pay $115 for the same services or $120 more per year. Hmm… this somehow reminds me of Time Warner Cable’s promotion to offer its cheapest deal in Spanish, see “Time Warner Cable offers cheapest deal in Spanish — not English.“ 

The small business “All for less” package, at att.com/AllForLess, sets the price based on Internet speed:

  • 1.5 Mb = $99.99 per month
  • 3.0 Mb = $104.99 per month
  • 6.0 Mb = $104.99 per month (Yes, this isn’t a mistake — 3 and 6 Mb service are the same price)

Additional mobile phone lines are $39.99 each.

Unfortunately, the deal isn’t available to consumers. To qualify, users must have a Federal Tax ID. The service is also provided to a single location.

Recent Gadgetress posts on deals:

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • • • • • | 7 Comments »

T-Mobile advises how to save on phone bill — ask someone else

May 28th, 2009, 12:01 am by

T-Mobile offering price makeovers.Saving money is on everyone’s mind these days. Including T-Mobile’s.

But don’t call up T-Mobile’s customer service and ask them for the best offer. The company is now sending Web visitors to BillShrink.com to see if they can save a few more bucks each month. And, I’m assuming, T-Mobile hopes BillShrink won’t suggest going to a competitor. 

“We’re so confident that T-Mobile provides the best overall experience for a majority of Americans, we’re willing to put our value to the test by pointing people to an independent source,” Denny Marie Post, chief marketing officer, T-Mobile USA Inc., said in a statement.BillShrink.com compares cellular plans 

BillShrink is a great starting place for consumers who wonder if they can save a few bucks on their monthly bills. It takes your estimated phone bill and usage, compares it to competing plans, and then offers a handy recommendation, starting with the biggest savings, if available. I wrote about the service last year (see “BillShrink quickly shows how to save on cell bill“). The site will even analyze your own phone bill, if you choose to share such personal information.

BUT what BillShrink doesn’t do is compare monthly phone bills to prepaid plans, which I found are really the cheapest way to get by with a cell phone. It also only compares phone prices from the big four: Sprint, Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile. Absent are low-priced providers MetroPCS and Cricket Wireless. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • | 1 Comment »

AT&T adds feature to limit mobile web use

February 24th, 2009, 1:28 pm by

For AT&T Wireless customers who occasionally use mobile web but don’t want to pay the $35 $15-a-month for unlimited service, the company is rolling out a plan to help you stay within your own pre-determined limits. (Correction, 2/25/09: It’s $15/month per line for unlimited data, says AT&T. The $35/month charge is for smartphones, which presumably know how to get to the real Internet.)

It’s actually a new feature that joins the existing “Smart Limits for Wireless” suite of parental controls. Users can set a limit by megabyte, dollar amount or, for the kids, time of day. The service sends out an alert when you’re near the limit. Once at the maximum, browsing is cut off until the next billing cycle.

Of course, AT&T intends the new feature to be used by parents who want to restrict web browsing. The ‘Smart Limits’ plan already puts limits on texting, voice calls and downloads. 

Other features of the web-browsing option include turning on a filter to make inappropriate content inaccessible.

The bummer is that the service isn’t free. It’s $4.99 per line and available for postpaid plans only. Based on AT&T’s charge of $0.01 per kilobyte, you can view less than half a megabyte of information before hitting $4.99.  Half a megabyte won’t get you very far. OCRegister.com’s homepage alone is a hefty 773,208 bytes, according to the WebsiteOptimzation.com page.

Watch AT&T’s video about how the service works: AT&T Smart Limits demonstration.

More cell-phone news: Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local cell phone services. Latest mobile-news headlines:

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • | 2 Comments »

How any consumer can ‘test’ a cell phone

November 6th, 2008, 2:00 pm by

Did you know that you, too, can test a cell phone before committing to a two-year service plan?

Well, actually, you’ve got to commit to a plan and plunk down some money, but all the mobile phone companies also let you cancel after a few weeks if you’re “not completely satisified.”  That means you can play with a phone for a few weeks and then return it, cancel your service contract, and pay relatively nothing. Here’s the rundown on return policies:

Sprint
Test period: 30 days     
Return policy: Full refund of the phone (if returned in good condition with packaging), activation fees. User just pays for any calls, charges based on usage.
Caveat: Existing customers who upgrade a device or service have 30 days to cancel and be restored to their previous contract. Once back to the old contract, the early termination fee could apply if you try to cancel service altogether. Another caveat: If your old contract was part of a limited-time deal, it may not exist anymore.
More:  Sprint’s return policy
Verizon Wireless
Test period: 30 days
Return policy: ”You may terminate service for any reason within 30 days of activation.” 
Caveat: Lots of little things on this one.                 Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Cell phones • • • • • • • • • | 2 Comments »

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