Sprint inks another three years’ worth of iDEN infrastructure support with Motorola, ‘several’ new phones coming in Q1
Even as Sprint starts to dream up ways to sunset its aging (but still popular) iDEN network , reclaim the spectrum, and migrate its push-to-talk customer base to something CDMA-based, there's still a network to maintain in the short term -- and to that end, the company has re-upped its contract with Motorola to keep the system in tip-top shape for at least another three years. Amazingly, this will mean that the network is some twenty years old by the time the agreement is up in 2013, after which they'll either need to be ready with their CDMA replacement (bearing in mind that QChat already failed) -- or we imagine they'll need another contract renewal. Oh, and this won't just be a run-out-the-clock situation, either: there'll be at least some new hardware, with Sprint saying that "several" handsets are on tap for the first quarter of 2011 including the i886 ("stylish," rugged, and landscape QWERTY) and the i686, an update of the i680 with improved waterproofing
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: cdma, contract, customer, entry, i886, landscape, mobile, quarter, qwerty, result
US Cellular makes all phones free on contract from the 17th through next week
Well, this should make the choice between a Messager Touch and a Mesmerize an easy one, right?
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: 17th, cellular, choice-between, contract, make-the-choice, messager-touch, messagertouch, mobile, press, result, smartphone
T-Mobile keeping Even More Plus around, but not online
Remember how we said yesterday a customer service rep told us T-Mobile was in the process of "sneaking away" its discounted, no-contract Even More Plus plans for full-price hardware ? So yeah, the good news is that the plans apparently aren't going away -- but the bad news is that the carrier is trying to make them a little harder to get to
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: annual-contract, breakingnews, contract, customers, existing, its-discounted, mobile, news, omega1202-notes, plans, rep, result, said-yesterday, user
AT&T bumping its smartphone early upgrade price to $200
While the basics have stayed the same for a while -- $200 for an annual iPhone sweetened by a slowly descending overall plan price -- carriers like AT&T of course have a lot of maneuvering to do in the periphery to make sure they're still getting their margins. Hefty ETFs have of course been the most egregious element of this, and now AT&T is bumping its smartphone early upgrade exception price from $75 to $200, which means if you lost or smashed your iPhone and decided to go Torch instead (we don't know why, it's AT&T's suggestion), that Torch would cost you $400 instead of the $500 unsubsidized price or the $275 tag you could've gotten away with a week ago. This new price only applies only to smartphones, and only non-Apple ones at that, and of course there's always the potential for flex based on how long you've been a customer and how far you are into your contract
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: att, contract, early upgrade, fee, iphone, lost-or-smashed, margins, price, stayed-the-same, still-getting, the-periphery, upgrade fee, upgradeexception
US Cellular launches The Belief Project, a slew of customer initiatives rolled into one
So US Cellular just spilled all the beans on its mysterious Belief Project today, and basically, they've just rolled up a whole bunch of policy tweaks under one neat, tidy name for marketing purposes. The list of changes is a long (and generally good one), featuring "one and done" contracts -- meaning you can get contract benefits forever after you serve out your first two-year contract -- along with free phone replacement for accidentally damaged handsets and $100 replacement for lost or stolen ones, three to five percent plan discounts based on payment method and paperless billing, overage caps and warnings, and a new rewards program that lets customers exchange points for discounts and free stuff
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: belief-project, contract, engadget, first-two-year, lets-customers, mobile, payment-method, plan-discounts, release, rewards, slew, upgrade, us cellular
Motorola Charm pops up on Best Buy for $250, hopefully off contract
We've seen rumors that T-Mobile was considering pleasantly inexpensive ways to get the Charm when it's released, so we're not really worried that we're looking at Best Buy's on-contract pricing here -- after all, $250 sounds about right when you take into account a $200-ish subsidy and a $50 rebate. Anyhow, the biggest box of them all has posted its product page for the cute little portrait QWERTY Android munchkin, promising it's "coming soon" but offering little else in the way of details. Is it just us, or is this a strangely exciting release
Categories: Android, Mobile Phone Tags: 200-ish-subsidy, Best Buy, biggest, buy, coming-soon, contract, ish, little-portrait, mobile, munchkin, pricing, subsidy
AT&T handing out free 3G MicroCells to loyal customers?
While we've no clue how widespread AT&T's generosity is, or how you might get one, it appears that the company's "most valuable customers" are now receiving free range-boosting femtocells . Today, loyal reader Jason got a old-fashioned paper letter in the mail, offering his iPhone-wielding family a 3G MicroCell with no strings attached
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: after-the-break, attwireless, contract, family, frequently-drop, micro, opinion, result, rumor, terribly-vocal
iPhone 4 pre-orderers overwhelm servers, world on the brink of ending
Look up at the sky -- is it falling? It sure seems as if that kind of doom is imminent, at least if this whole iPhone 4 pre-order situation is any indication of future tragedy
Categories: Mobile Phone Tags: apple, contract, doom, during-the-wee, entry, iphone, problem, problems, sky, tragedy
Vodafone UK details iPhone 4 plans a little early, we keep the screenshots
We don't know what shenanigans are going on over in Vodafone HQ, but the UK carrier gave the world a quick glimpse of its iPhone 4 pricing today, before promptly removing the data sheets from the ether. Thankfully, a fast-witted reader by the name of Liam Gladdy captured the incriminating data for us, and we can now sit and ruminate on what Voda has in store. As you might surmise from above, the vast majority of users won't be getting the handset for free, though that doesn't necessarily preclude the contracts from representing good value
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: appleiphone, contract, entry, handset, liam, mobile, outlay, price, priceplans, Sheets, shenanigans, united-kingdom, vodafone, vodafone-uk
Global Verge wins $43 million lawsuit against mystery MVNO Zer01
When we first heard about Zer01 it was set to launch at a time when other MVNOs were disappearing. (Remember Amp'd Mobile, or Helio?) Zer01 was pledging unlimited voice and data for just $69.99 a month, before most other carriers had their $99 plans, but ultimately never delivered a thing. Apparently Global Verge was similarly left in the dark, but unlike the rest of us it had invested $170,000 in Zer01 in exchange for selling wireless services as part of its multi-level marketing company
Categories: Mobile Phone, Other Tags: contract, globalverge, hawk, its-multi-level, million-lawsuit, mvno, unlimited voice, zer01