What's Hot in Prepaid
Virgin Mobile Intros Samsung Mantra, Data Card
June 19, 2009
Virgin Mobile has officially entered the wireless data card business, though their product of that sort won’t arrive until the end of this month. In more immediate news, $59.99 will now buy you a Bluetooth-equipped camera phone, the Samsung Mantra.
The Mantra has a mere VGA camera, but Bluetooth and the Samsung name are two pluses on the new flip phone on Virgin Mobile’s Sprint-powered service. However the UTStarCom Arc offers the same features for $10 less, if you can live with not having a name brand phone with a normal form factor.
The broadband card is more interesting. It’s not the best deal out there; the card weighs in at a hefty $149.99 from Best Buy, and data plans are skimpy, offering only 1GB of data for a $60 monthly fee. In contrast, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T offer 5GB of data access for that amount.
Tracfone Intros Straight Talk: 1000 minutes, texts and more for $30
June 9, 2009
Tracfone is known for its airtime balance displays, contract-class coverage and nononsense phones and features. Now they’re tryng something different, and that “something different” looks very, very good for the prepaid market.
The plan: 1000 minutes, 1000 messages, 30 MB of web and no-extra-charge directory assistance. The network: Verizon Wireless, for the same coverage as Page Plus Cellular and Verizon’s own (rather lackluster, compared to this anyway) prepaid service. The phones: the Motorola Razr v3a, the Motorola w385 or the LG 200c. The price: a mere $30 per month.
Tracfone’s choice of Verizon as the only network for this new service is a departure from their other plans, which heavily favor AT&T and include free roaming just like a modern contract plan. Then again, this allows Tracfone to pass cheap per-minute rates on to Straight Talk customers and, with Verizon’s purchase of Alltel, their network is huge anyway.
T-Mobile Offers Prepaid BlackBerry
June 2, 2009
Looks like T-Mobile is now, through a partnership with Best Buy and possibly Target, pushing Bleackberries on their prepaid service, making them first operator to do this on a national scale. MetroPCS also offers a Blackberry, but service is limited to their regional coverage area, and the dual-band Blackberry Curve doesn’t work in newer MetroPCS markets.
The Blackberry in question is the “Pearl II“, a more media-focused model with RIM’s SureType keyboard rather than a full QWERTY part. The smartphone has a 2-megapixel camera, WiFi, Stereo Bluetooth and a full-size headphone jack. The price for the phone is $299.99, expensive compared to postpaid (where it’s often given away to entice people into expensive data plans) but $50 less than the usual non-contract price.
Boost Rolls Out Red Moto i9
June 1, 2009
Don’t like black phones? If red is better, you’re in luck; Boost Mobile now has the red Motorola i9 Stature, a very high-end phone for the Nextel-powered provider and a great complement to Boost’s sassy $50-and-not-a-penny-more unlimited plan. The phone retails for the same price as the black i9: $299.99. A hit on the wallet to be sure, but not too bad considering all of the phone’s contract-free features. Plus, it’s red.
Boost Mobile Unveils Messaging Phone: i465 “Clutch”
June 1, 2009
Yesterday Boost Mobile introduced Motorola’s first ever QWERTY iDEN phone, the first-ever Boost-compatible QWERTY phone, in fact, available from anyone except RIM (BlackBerry). The cost: $129.99.
The big bar phone can do more than text, however. In addition to hallmark Boost features like nationwide walkie-talkie and GPS, the i465 has a 1.3 megapixel camera with video recording capability. The phone also has Bluetooth.
Motorola Evoke to go live on CricKet June 3rd
May 30, 2009
Wanted to get CricKet service, but wanted to get a touch-screen phone with said service? Starting around June 3rd, you’ll be able to do just that, provided you have enough cash on hand. The phone in question is the Motorola Evoke QA4, a luscious slider with a whopping 2.8-inch screen and a slide-out numeric keypad for those who get queasy at the sight of an all-touchscreen unit.
Previously, touch-screen phones could be had on CricKet service, but they’d have to make the jump, via complicated “flashing” techniques, from other carriers, an iffy process to say the least. This one is so far exclusive to CricKet, so everything should work great out of the box, including high-speed 3G internet on CricKet’s relatively new AWS band, which serves places like South Texas and Chicago. Read »
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