Google’s wireless service could launch nationwide in first half of the year
More details have emerged about Google’s secret plan to become a wireless service provider.
The Information and the WSJ reported last week that Google is readying the launch of its own MVNO service, using Sprint’s and T-Mobile’s networks. Now WSJ is back with a few more details on how Google wants to disrupt the highly competitive wireless industry.
According to the WSJ, Google’s current goal is to launch its service in the first half of 2015, though this timeframe is subject to change; a launch that was previously scheduled for October 2015 was cancelled. Contrary to speculation that the service would be initially limited to a small number of test markets, Google’s service is likely to be offered nationwide, says the report.
Google’s wireless service will rely heavily on Wi-Fi connections
Google’s wireless service will rely heavily on Wi-Fi connections, with cellular service bought from T-Mobile and Sprint as fallback when Wi-Fi is not available. Google already has a deal in place with Sprint, though the carrier reportedly used a volume clause to protect itself from giving too much access to Google.
At least initially, Google doesn’t want to lower prices, one person familiar with the matter said. The actual goal is to give users excellent service without them having to commit to a long-term carrier agreement. But Google is working on a technology that would see wireless providers bid for connections in real time, ensuring that the user gets the smallest price. Indirectly, this competition could lead to smaller prices, the source said.
There are already companies out there using Wi-Fi to bring prices down. Just last week, FreedomPop launched a plan that gives customers access to 10 million Wi-Fi hotspots for just $5 a month. Google will presumably attempt something similar. The company could even rely entirely on data, giving users access to Google Voice over data, instead of conventional voice access. Google is also interested in the use of currently unused radio spectrum to build a network of Wi-Fi hotspots in certain cities.
T-Mobile announces new Score! device purchase program
The Uncarrier is offering up a new way to save some money. T-Mobile introduced their new Score! program today, which can save you a good chunk of money on new phone purchases, and even score you free phones. For a fee.
T-Mobile’s new SCORE! is a paid service, available to users on prepaid or postpaid contracts. Simply pay in $5 per month, after just six months you’ll be eligible to upgrade your current device to a free entry level phone. After twelve months, the deals go up, a larger selection of free phones become available, you’ll find savings of up to $200 on devices all the way to the latest flagship offerings.
The phones currently on hand include the entry level Alcatel Onetouch Evolve 2, free after six months. Mid rangers include the Alcatel Onetouch Fierce 2 and LG Optimus L90, free after a year. At the top, the Google Nexus 6, Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy S5 are on deck at a discount.
Is Score! worth it?
The bottom line when it comes to deals like these, are they worth it? At face value, the answer is yes, Score! is worth it. That free phone after six months will cost you just $30 in Score! fees, regularly $80 or more. Your $60 of Score! fees after a year will get you free phones worth upwards of $198 regularly, or as much as $150 off the regular price of the Nexus 6 or Note 4.
Where can you go wrong with Score!? That’s simple. For starters, at least in the first round, T-Mobile offers a limited selection of devices in the program. From there, the longer you wait to upgrade the less money you will save. If you do not go for the free entry level phone every six months, or cannot commit to purchasing a new higher end device every year, this may not be the program for you.
Head on over to the T-Mobile website to check out all of the details of the new Score! program.
Do you think the Uncarrier is doing a good thing here, can you benefit from T-Mobile’s new Score! program?
T-Mobile makes SCORE! program official, lets you pay $5 per month for smartphone discounts
T-Mobile has made a new program official for customers to take part in, and they’re calling it SCORE! The program simply lets you pay an extra $5 per month on your bill, and then you’ll get discounts on smartphones after a few months.
After 6 months of paying that extra few bucks, T-Mobile will give you a free entry level smartphone. Today, that would be something along the lines of the Alcatel OneTouch Evolve 2, which isn’t a bad deal for the equivalent of 30 bucks. However, if you keep paying and don’t cash in, after 12 months you’d be able to pick up a much nicer phone (T-Mobile uses the LG L90 LTE as an example) without paying anything, or you can get a bigger discount on other phones. The discount is supposedly at least $150 off a phone in the same tier as a Galaxy S5, so you’re basically paying $60 for a $150+ discount. Not a bad deal at all. The drawback is that you can’t put those discounted phones on an installment plan, but since you’re saving a bit each month, it should be easier to make those big purchases.
Whether or not you plan on taking advantage of the SCORE! program, it’s nice to have the option to. This kind of deal is pretty strange to the wireless industry, but it’s good to see T-Mobile testing out new ways to sell customers phones.
source: T-Mobile
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Verizon confirms no data rollover plan
After T-Mobile launched their “Data Stash” rollover program which was quickly followed by another similar program by AT&T, it was expected for Verizon to follow their footsteps instinctively just to avoid losing its large customer base and to create more potential “high-quality” customers. However, it seems that the nation’s largest wireless carrier is not interested in providing any such service.
Verizon Chief Financial Officer, Fran Shammo has opinions about how Verizon aims to tackle the market loss. “We are a leader, not a follower.” he said in an interview. “We did not go to places where we did not financially want to go to save a customer. And there’s going to be certain customers who leave us for price, and we are just not going to compete with that because it doesn’t make financial sense for us to do that.” he added.
It is not news to us that Verizon has never been a fan of trends that go against their business model. Back in 2007 when AT&T offered its Data Rollover plan for voice minutes, Verizon was firm about their position and never really offered any kind of advantage over other carriers. I am not sure if that was a good or a bad thing.
Shammo also has some say about the Google’s wireless service. It’s evident that Google is working closely with T-Mobile and Sprint to offer its own wireless services through their infrastructure in a way that Google becomes a virtual network provider. Verizon has no interest in doing that even. Rather, it’s more like Verizon is trying to stay above the fray. Shammo says that it’s Google’s way of spurring higher internet speeds into the market at low-costs. Some other notable example being Google Fiber and Project Loom. Google probably have no interest in entering the Telecommunications territory either.
No matter what, Verizon won’t be acting as a Google’s wireless reseller. I am not sure what kind of business plan they have but surely it will cost them a hefty market share. Let’s see what action they take in order to tackle that.
Source: CNet
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Verizon: no data roll-over, we don’t care if customers leave as a result
Not only limited in quantity but still in usage time as well.
When dealing with fixed allocations of monthly data usage, conceivably, a conscientious customer will ration their consumption in the first part of the month, and may inadvertently find themselves with an abundance of packet communications remaining for the latter half. In a typical situation, this is all-but-wasted. When T-Mobile announced that it was going to be allowing users to “roll-over” their data into the following month via its Data Stash service, it seemed like a breath of fresh air; all the more so when AT&T followed suit.
Verizon Wireless, however, has no intention of giving its customers this benefit, nor does it care how many (if any) people defect out of disgust. The company’s Chief Financial Officer, Fran Shammo, was quoted in an interview this past Thursday as saying, “We’re a leader, not a follower.” The CFO then further hammered in the point by adding that, “We did not go to places where we did not financially want to go to save a customer… and there’s going to be certain customers who leave us for price, and we are just not going to compete with that because it doesn’t make financial sense for us to do that.” Bold words, to be sure, but then again given the company’s recent performance results, it can afford to make such claims.
This makes for a rather interesting situation, as typically when one carrier introduces a major game-changer, the others follow suit to cash-in. See the whole $0 down, monthly installment-based structure that has become a mainstay at several carriers these days. Still, while T-Mobile is inclined to take bold initiatives and do things that its competitors wouldn’t dream of, the company has recently fallen under greater scrutiny as to just how far/long CEO John Legere can maintain this type of business strategy.
At the end of the day however, Verizon customers must now simply accept the situation and hope the company has a change of heart eventually.
T-Mobile SCORE! program to launch on January 25
Just when it seems that T-Mobile has cooled down, the carrier announces something new. T-Mobile wants even more people to upgrade earlier than usual with the new SCORE! program.
The program, uncovered by TmoNews, allows customers that purchased their device at full-price, brought their own device, have a prepaid plan, or have a postpaid plan without an equipment installment plan (EIP) to upgrade after at least six months. The exact plans included with the SCORE! program are Simply Prepaid, SCNC, Simple Choice Pay in Advance Monthly, Simple Choice, New Classic, and Legacy. Basically, every customer not participating in the JUMP! program is eligible for the SCORE! program.
Once six months have passed, a customer can upgrade for free to an entry-level smartphone. Customers that want special pricing on a high-end device will have to wait until the twelve month mark to upgrade. The monthly cost for the SCORE! program is $5 per line while JUMP! is $10 per line. And, unlike the JUMP! program, no trade-in is required.
A launch is expected on Sunday, January 25.
Source: TmoNews
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Sprint targeting T-Mobile customers with promise of $200 minimum for your device with Triple Threat
The wars the ensue between carriers don’t always pan out well for them, or the consumers. However, they are rather entertaining when one is on the outside looking it. It would seem that Sprint is a little irritable and is targeting T-Mobile in their latest advertising offer. The offers landing page is calling it the […]
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Sprint will now give T-Mobile customers up to $550 to switch
For months, T-Mobile‘s customer base has been on the rise, and Sprint is doing its best to keep its spot as the third largest phone carrier in the US. In a new promotion announced earlier today, Sprint will now give T-Mobile customers a minimum of $200 towards any new device when they switch to the carrier and trade in their working T-Mobile smartphone. Furthermore, Sprint is offering more ways to save for T-Mobile customers. “Eligible” T-Mobile users will receive up to $350 per line when they switch to Sprint via a prepaid or reward card. If you’re paying monthly on a phone at T-Mobile, you can use your prepaid card to pay off the remaining T-Mobile device fee. Both offers are available now, and will run until April 9th.
Sprint has provided a table to compare prices with T-Mobile, showing customers exactly how much they’d save per month. In the example, Sprint is comparing the lease price for the Galaxy S5 on unlimited data plans for each carrier. If you decide to lease the device for 24 months (which is what most customers do), you’ll see roughly a $27 per month difference in price between the two. Of course, this will vary depending on which device you choose, so this is just one example on how you can save a few bucks per month.
If you’re unhappy with your T-Mobile plan and can get Sprint coverage in your area, this may be a good option for you.
Sprint offers guranteed $200 device trade-in for T-Mobile defectors
Sprint on Friday announced a new promotion which puts T-Mobile squarely in its sights. Starting today, and running through April 9, Sprint will guarantee a minimum of $200 instant trade-in value to T-Mobile customers who port their phone number. The $200 device credit, when attached to the (up to) $350 per line ETF credit puts the total deal worth upwards of $550. Not too shabby, eh? Wonder what the Un-carrier thinks of this one.
“Our industry-leading program gives customers a clear and immediate financial incentive to turn in their old phone,” said Chad Lander, director of Sprint’s buyback and phone trade-in program. “We’re able to target customers, like those from T-Mobile, offset any termination fees, and provide a far superior offering.”
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Google will sell wireless service through Sprint’s network
Just yesterday rumors started swirling about Google finally getting the mobile network market by partnering with either Sprint or T-Mobile. Less than 24 hours later, it looks like Google has closed a deal with Sprint and will soon begin offering a wireless service to compete with the other major carriers.
According to an insider, Masayoshi Son, president of Sprint’s parent company Softbank, was the key player in getting talks going between the two companies. The deal will function like most other MNVO deals, with Google paying Sprint for capacity, then Google will sell the service to customers.
There’s no word on whether or not Google will finalize something with T-Mobile, but earlier reports made it seem like a deal with both carriers was very likely.
Are you excited about a Sprint powered, Google managed MNVO?
source: Business Week
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