Hi,
Prepaid
wireless is a growing and truly exciting industry. At
Prepaid-Wireless-Guide.com I try to provide you with in-depth
information that isn't readily available anywhere else. Its
content is original, and created from firsthand experience working in
the prepaid wireless industry.
This monthly email provides you
with a quick glance at what's in the news so that you can
easily keep
informed. I believe in brief, to-the-point
summaries/commentary
so that you can move onto other tasks in your day. Each
snippet
includes a link to the original story should you be interested in the
full details.
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T-Mobile Launches Unlimited Prepaid Data With No Throttling
For $70
FierceWireless
Although most prepaid carriers are priced at $55-$65 for unlimited
talk, text, and Web, they've spent the better part of the past year
implementing throttled plans. Here T-Mobile is going against
the grain with a truly unlimited, unthrottled 4G plan, including
handset flexibility by allowing you to also bring your own phone.
If there was previously any doubt about how serious T-Mobile
is in essentially converting its business to a no contract company,
this moves confirms that they're taking it extremely seriously.
Sprint As You Go Launches With Weak Handset
Selection
FierceWireless
On January 25th, Sprint officially rolled out its new Sprint
As You Go offer. Follow the link for a detailed discussion
that I posted on launch day regarding this lack luster program.
Walmart To Get Prepaid iPhone 5 Under
StraightTalk Brand
While I hesitate to say that this is huge, it is a great step
forward for Walmart and Straight Talk. Straight Talk has been
doing extremely well as a Walmart exclusive brand, and bringing the
latest iPhone into the mix helps to ensure that it remains relevant
(and even competitive).
I'd like to learn more about their financing plan.
At $25/month, it would take over two years to payoff an
iPhone 5, which is
madness. In two years the phone will be
lost, stolen, broken, or at best an irrelevant piece of hardware.
I expect they require a deposit of some degree (ex. $200).
Regardless, it's great to see popular phones like the iPhone
continue to penetrate the most relevant prepaid brands.
Verizon Revises Prepaid Plans To Stay Relevant
PhoneDog
It's good to see that Verizon is essentially reducing its
pricing. It's still not very competitive, however, it's not
so far
off as to be ridiculously out of touch with the market. With
a limited smartphone selection for prepaid, and no 4G, it's clear that
while Verizon is keeping its toes in the prepaid game, they're not a
serious contender. With massive domination in the postpaid
market, this
strategy makes a lot of sense for them; at least for now.
T-Mobile To Take New GoSmart Brand
Nationwide In February
FierceWireless
As expected, T-Mobile's new prepaid brand, GoSmart completed a
successful trial in late 2012, and will be rolling out nationwide
starting next month. With T-Mobile already announcing its
fundamental shift to prepaid, it's not exactly analogous to the manner
in which Sprint manages its prepaid sub-brands (as noted in the
article). However, it does allow T-Mobile to experiment with
different handsets and pricing, including throttling, without creating
confusion within the core T-Mobile offerings. It will be
interesting to see how 2013 unfolds for GoSmart in terms of what niche
it ultimately
targets. I suspect it will remain priced at the
lower end of the prepaid market, with additional feature limitations
and handset selection compared to its T-Mobile prepaid plans.
However, with the ability to bring your own phone, there's an
additional dimension of flexibility that will have a broader appeal
than it otherwise would.
What's
New At Prepaid-Wireless-Guide.com?
- Updated Millenicom on 4G Broadband to reflect various
MVNO networks being used
- Wrote Monthly Plans Reviews C2 submission: MetroPCS Plans Disaster
- Updated T-Mobile note on Best MiFi Plans to reflect that
Walmart has 60 day expiration
Comments?
Ideas? Feedback? I'd love to hear from you. Just reply to this zine and
tell me what you think!
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Wireless Tracker Back Issues.
Cheers!
PrepaidWirelessGuy
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