iPhone: Past its iPeak?

We were excited recently about the prospect of a prepaid iPhone and we prepared for what we thought was a new rush of interest in the 5-year-old phone icon.  We even put together a special web page for all the ways to Go Prepaid with iPhone.  Virgin Mobile, who boasts of very reasonable iPhone plans starting at $35 a month, even opened their first Virgin Mobile-branded retail stores to herald the coming of the iPhone to the prepaid carrier.  The reaction was not what they expected.  Cricket Wireless offered their own iPhone with less than door-busting response.

Does this mean the iPhone is past its prime or is it just not of interest to the prepaid crowd?  Prepaid is no longer the providence of the credit-challenged.  Many prepaid buyers are now either value shoppers or users looking for a wireless alternative without a 2-year obligation.  AT&T now offers the iPhone for as little as a penny, so we'll assume that it isn't the price.  In technology, 5 years is a lifetime.  Apple may need to come up with something new or we might see somebody else pass the Tipping Point and create the new iNormal.

Preparing for the Unthinkable

We have neighbors just a few miles away from where I sit who have lost their homes to forest fires. In one city alone over 32,000 people have had to evacuate.  How did they know when to leave?  They were called, mostly by Reverse 911.  Considering that an average of 25% of the population have no home phone, what about those who have no wired phone at home?  AFAIK, they only way those occupants knew officially to pack up and leave was if they registered their wireless phone to that home address with the local 911 authority.  Have you done that?

I also watched as a cell tower on one of those mountain ridges was consumed in flames and wondered what happens to those people who have not yet evacuated?  What would you do if the cell site you needed was gone?  Just a few years ago, the local telco would set up banks of phones and give residents free voice mail to stay in touch.  Telcos can't do that for wireless-only users...we're on our own.

Think it through.  What would you do?  Would you include your cell phone among those possessions you'd grab when you run?  Think of the unthinkable: floods, wildfires, earthquakes, or even an nuclear or chemical accident.  Did you 'cut the cord?'  Maybe you'd rather not.  Consider how you'll be affected when the only warning comes from a Reverse 911.  I thought our family was covered with our basic landline until I realized we 'ported' our number from another area and we received an evacation notice from that faraway area.  Are we missing things that are happening in our own neighborhood?

You might not need to "do" something to be prepared, but you should at least consider, 'what would happen if...'  The unthinkable just happened here...are you next?

International Roaming Habits

I have been roaming outside the US several times in the last few weeks and have found one essential habit that keeps me in wireless contact: re-booting my phone.  No single habit seems to affect the cellular roaming experience, and it appears to apply only to my GSM phones.  I'm told that when the phone loses signal, it continues down the registry of usable signals and, finding none, returns to rest on the home carrier's channels.  Until I discovered this I thought that the local wireless network always had some kind of problem, but instead it was the phone.  In foreign systems, there are plenty of opportunities to lose the signal, even if it's just between the balcony and the bedroom at your hotel.

Of all the precautions we list on our Foreign Roaming web pages, this was one we hadn't thought of until we stayed in rooms with consistently bad service in the room, but good coverage elsewhere.  Many hotels have the same problem with wi-fi which rarely penetrates the walls equally.  I give credit to the resorts who offer a wired Internet connection, but some of those, believe it or not, have slower service than the wireless.

On your next trip to Mexico, or elsewhere, blame your phone first, then re-boot.  Foreign networks are just as reliable as we hoped, but we need to teach our phones some manners.

Prepaid Favorites

The month of June has been a trial of testing Prepaid services.  For several years we had been an advocate of T-Mobile Prepaid due to it's low refill requirements, especially the 1-year refill.  Over the past year they have been reducing the benefits available, especially the access to T-Zones.  Although T-Zones was free, we would have been willing to pay for these features on a per-use basis, but that's not available on pay-as-you-go plans.  The best they can do is the $30 per month or $2 per day plans.

This is what has caused us to search for a better idea.  Obviously we are not big data users so any big or Unlimited data plan is wasted on us.  So we were surprised to find that our AT&T GoPhone was supplying just what we wanted:  low-cost Voice & Text, with Data sold by the kB.  The fact that this phone works in Mexico and Canada is an added plus.  The downside is that unless you refill $100 at a time, refills come up every 90 days.  There may be a solution to that on the horizon (automatic 90-day refills?).

Oddly, this may mean we may port our T-Mobile numbers back to AT&T!  There are also some competitive fires lighting up with Prepaid such as the Virgin Mobile iPhone and the Straight Talk and NET10 Unlimited SIM's.  While we might think that Prepaid has come of age, remember it's the norm in most of the world.  Nice to be more wordly, eh?

We're Going "Wireless"

By now you should have noticed we have changed our name to "Wireless Noise".  It's the web URL we wanted a few years ago and it finally became available.  The term "cellular" is so 80's, and it's fading from favor. "Wireless" is more relevant to the spectrum of discussion here.  Wi-fi and similar technologies are indeed not cellular.

While "Mobile" has become the norm in other countries, "Wireless" is how we talk here.  We mention it today because soon we will change our URL to www.wirelessnoise.com, which means many of the links to specific articles on this site won't work, and you'll eventually need to change your Favorites and Bookmarks.  Hopefully we won't lose any friends or visitors. You know, it's all about being connected... wirelessly... right?

The Cheapest Broadband Stick

Our use of cellular broadband is mostly by tethered air card.  Wi-fi fulfills almost all of our mobile wireless needs but there are several times in the year where we need to resort to a cellular air card.  Looking for the cheapest broadband access without a contract yielded few options.  Over the years I stuck with my T-Mobile Rocket USB Stick and was relatively happy with buying 1Gb of data for $30 for a month.  As usual, I keep looking for a cheaper way to get my wireless features.  I looked at SIMple Mobile who offers 750 Mb at $25 and Virgin Mobile's 500 Mb at $20 for monthly access.  Yes, there are other prepaid choices, but I refuse to buy less than a month's worth of access and most prepaid carriers charge much more.

This weekend T-Mobile will start offering new prepaid broadband plan prices that make their service a bit more appealing.  While they have increased their bottom plan from $10 to $15, and now for 300 Mb of data instead of 100 Mb, it's the middle tiers that make us happy.  They now offer 1.5 Gb of data for $25 and 3.5 Gb of data for $35.  The $50/5 Gb plan stays the same.  These prices are good for other broadband device users and normally, T-Mobile delivers at or near 4G speeds.  Oh yes, we can also get Discounted T-Mobile Refills!

In the big picture, T-Mobile could have rocked the wireless world with even better prices...even AT&T offers a $5/50 Mb plan.  But for those of us who live in the Prepaid world, even a small price reduction makes us smile, and indeed willing to use our 'sticks a little more, and maybe our other broadband phones as well.  It's a crumb, but I'll take it.

Prepaid Updates

This past week we (OK, mostly I) have been completely updating our Wireless By the Minute web site that helps you switch from cellular that requires a 2-year contract to Pay-As-You-Go, or Prepaid.  The larger wireless carriers are becoming more competitive with their Prepaid offerings and we try to keep track of what you can do with your existing wireless phone.

One of our new areas of interest is how to Switch your iPhone to Prepaid which has become much easier now that AT&T will provide the unlock code for your iPhone after your 2-year contract.  AT&T will also let you convert to their own Prepaid GoPhone as well. The conversion involves just putting in a new Micro-SIM into your iPhone to utilize a Prepaid, and often cheaper and still 'Unlimited', wireless provider.  We found almost a half-dozen prepaid providers that will support your iPhone, most of which use the same AT&T network. 

One of the these Prepaid services is SIMple Mobile, a SIM-only provider that does NOT use the AT&T network.  They re-sell service on T-Mobile which is excellent, but it is not compatible with the broadband features of the iPhone.  It works, slowly.  This week American Movil, the owner of TracFone and a few other Prepaid services, announced they are buying SIMple Mobile.  This may introduce a new wrinkle in the Prepaid game, but we can't exactly figure out how since American Movil already offers SIM's through NET10 and Straight Talk.  Well, the more the merrier.

Alltel & Commnet: Alive & Well

Atlantic Tele-Network (ATNI), the owners of Alltel Wireless and Commnet Wireless released a fairly rosy financial report for the 1st quarter of 2012.  ATNI reports some growth but they are more pleased with the reduction in the rate of losing customers. They show growth in the Prepaid segment but they don't report how much is attributed to Alltel or the new Choice Wireless. This strength in the prepaid area should be bolstered by their new plan to offer the "U" Prepaid in cooperation with US Cellular at Wal-Mart stores in each carrier's local coverage areas.

One of the brightest spots is in the "wholesale" branch which is primarily operated by Commnet Wireless but also should include roamers on the Alltel network.  While Commnet was forced to reduce some of their incoming roaming rates, they benefit from the increase of data usage in all of the ATNI Coverage areas.  ATNI also has wireless operation in the Caribbean.

This means, for the time being, ATNI, Alltel, Commnet and Choice should be able to survive as an independent cellular company, and Wall Street agrees by bidding up the company's stock. One of the company's 'secrets' is that they have gone from being a thorn in the side of the national carriers, to an operating partner, including 'filling in' coverage in areas where other carriers fear to tread.

If they can make the money-work, so can the net-work.