Viaero's President Responds

I recently saw an anonymous response by a Viaero customer to an old blog posting of ours:

I have been a Viaero customer for about 2 years now in the south eastern part of colorado. service was fine at first, but since about the middle of 2012 we have seen alot more dropped calls and internet on phone is as slow as dial-up. there are rumors that there is a lawsuit between them and AT&T that happened around that time. phone customer service is a joke. most the time they tell you to remove battery and sim and wait 30 sec so phone can reset. that never helps. i have been disappointed that there cell service has decreased from a radius of 12 to 15 down to 6 to 8 miles from there towers. this leaves a lot of there rural customers in a bind. we are unable to chose another carrier because we would be roaming of viaero's towers and other carriers will cancel your contract within 6 months and we have to pay the early termination fees. 

So I contacted Viaero Wireless, a cellular carrier serving Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and surrounding states, and the President of the company, Frank DiRico called me back.  Frank is a stand up guy and takes pride in their attempts at technical excellence.  He stated that the southeast Colorado part of his network is getting very busy.  So busy that they further subdivided their cells into more quadrants which could have adjusted the signal away from customers like the one above.  He offered to send a tech down to that person's home if only they shared their location.

In place of that, Mr. DiRico suggested that if a customer does not get a satisfactory solution, "They should ask to have their call 'escalated' to the technical department."  Frank noted that the southeast Colorado area is so busy he already has plans to add 2 more cell sites in the area.  He states he can't add them fast enough, especially during the winter, but they do construct 1 or 2 new sites a week.  Viareo installs their own sites and does not contract that work out.

This is why Viaero has earns a "10" in the Mountain Wireless Ratings. Why can't they all respond this well?

One More Lost Carrier

I neglected to report one additional carrier that has gone out of the wireless business, XIT Wireless of extreme northwest Texas. The XIT cellular network has been sold to AT&T.  They had very good 800 MHz coverage and helps further AT&T's dominance in the Lone Star State.  Unlike the systems reported on yesterday, XIT will be missed, although their customers will notice very few changes...and may not have noticed anything at all.

I was certainly fooled.  Passing through Dumas, TX my AT&T phone said I was roaming on XIT, and the XIT store I drove past still promoted wireless plans in the window.  Additionally, FCC records show that AT&T and XIT  have a separate spectrum lease agreement that implies that XIT may offer some kind of wireless service, most likely a form of Internet access.

So, we add one more name to our Wireless Archives...

More Vanishing Carriers

It looks like our fastest growing data page is the Mountain Wireless Network Archives.  Over the past few months a few more cellular operators have decided to go out of business.  Etex Wireless of Gilmer, TX have decide to drop their wireless business with apparently no buyers.  They recommend going to Verizon Wireless.

In Nebraska the news is good as AT&T will finally be able to take over the Indigo Wireless network in the panhandle area. This has been a 12 year disagreement that pretty much caused the indigo network to virtually disappear.  Under AT&T the area will be served like never before, although the squabble helped make Viaero Wireless the top dog in the area, especially since they now serve most of the area with 4G.

Another network that fell out of bed was Via Wireless in Georgia. Their technical teams have been spending all of their time upgrading the fiber and wireline segments of the owner, Wilkes Telephone Company, and pretty much gave up the wireless network.  This is another operator that will probably just flip off the switch to the cell sites and only the employees will notice.

One of the trends that causes us to consider the difference between "cellular" and "wireless" is that when we call and ask about the status of a wireless network, the response is, "Which one?"  A few forward-thinking reps answer that although they are turning off their cellular network, you can subscribe to their Internet service and access the wireless part of your home router with your Smart phone and limit the amount of broadband charges from the surviving cellular operators. We include Clear Wireless among our network data and need to stay aware that there are viable wireless options among every single Internet service node whether it's up the street or in your house.

Straight Talk Throttles Case by Case

From today's Fierce Wireless:

TracFone's Straight Talk service provided a few more details on its newly launched Apple iPhone service. The company said that it does not limit subscribers' data usage at a specific threshold; instead, it evaluates customers' data intake on a case-by-case basis and will throttle the speeds of those users who the company deems to be consuming too much data.

On its website, Straight Talk claims its iPhone plans can save users up to $950 a year in service fees.

A Straight Talk spokesperson told FierceWireless that "continuous video streaming" and other data-heavy services could cause a user to consume too much data, in which case the company would contact the user and warn them of a possible slowdown in their data speeds. The spokesperson, who declined to be named due to company policy, wasn't immediately available to provide details, including Straight Talk's terms of service.

The news is notable considering Straight Talk was rumored to throttle iPhone users' data speeds after a 2 GB per month limit. However, the company's spokesperson said Straight Talk does not have a specific usage cap, and instead will throttle the speeds of "excessive" data users in order to provide quality service to its entire customer base. The spokesperson repeatedly pointed out that the vast majority of Straight Talk's users are pleased with the service and that most wouldn't run afoul of the company's data monitoring.

Straight Talk isn't the only wireless company to employ this kind of case-by-case approach to throttling. Clearwire in 2010 announced a network management system that allows the company to selectively throttle the data speeds of heavy data users.

The Straight Talk spokesperson also confirmed to FierceWireless that Straight Talk does not support the iPhone's "Personal Hotspot" function. The service allows iPhone users to broadcast a Wi-Fi connection from their phone, thereby connecting other devices like laptops and tablets to their iPhone's cellular Internet connection. Such scenarios can chew through a significant amount of data, and most MVNOs do not support personal hotspots.

However, there remain questions about Straight Talk's iPhone service. The company's spokesperson could not immediately say whether the company's iPhone 5 is able to connect to LTE networks. Support for LTE was a major feature Apple trumpeted in announcing the iPhone 5 last year.

América Móvil's U.S. MVNO TracFone Wireless announced earlier this month that its Straight Talk brand would sell Apple's iPhone, including the LTE-capable iPhone 5, coupled with unlimited talking, texting and data starting at $45 per month--significantly cheaper than what other carriers charge. Although neither company would confirm the relationship, Verizon Wireless likely provides service to Straight Talk's iPhones. Last week, Straight Talk announced it would also support existing GSM iPhones that users port to the service.

The Straight Talk spokesperson also confirmed that the company's iPhone financing plans, supplied by Straight Talk retail partner Walmart, are only available on the 16 GB iPhone 5 and the 8 GB iPhone 4. The financing plans allow Walmart shoppers to pay for the devices in monthly installments of $25.

AT&T Buys Alltel

Atlantic Tele-Network announced today that they are selling their Alltel wireless network and customers to AT&T.  We had hoped this day would not come, but if it did, the sale would be to a smaller company.  The new Alltel had a number of advantages and customers were lucky to still have them as a choice in their six-state service area.  Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.

The biggest disappointment is that Alltel was allowed to survive just to keep Verizon  from being too dominant from its purchase of the old Alltel network.  Instead, AT&T will become that much more dominant in rural areas of the US.  Atlantic Tele-Network make a good effort to make Alltel a viable competitor, but with declining subscriber numbers, a sale looked inevitable.  We had hoped that it would have been to anybody but the Top 4.  After AT&T's failed purchse of T-Mobile, this purchase seems like chump change.  A quick glance at Alltel vs. AT&T coverage shows there's little reason for the FCC or DOJ to object to the purchase.  If any spinoffs are required, who could buy them?  Verizon?  We will have come full circle.  Hopefully, they could keep a few of the sites in the Comnnet Wireless family, if they survive.

Alltel was still one of the Top 10 carriers in the US and their fate may be shared with some of the other lower-top 10 companies like Cincinnati Bell, C Spire and even US Cellular.  Sadly, these 3 carriers also happen to dominate the top of our Mountain Wireless Ratings.  We do not dislike AT&T, we just don't like losing customer choice.  As our US networks get bigger, our wireless experience gets worse.  But hey, you get a new phone!

Prepaid & Taxes

As we get more of our wireless products from Prepaid sources, more gotchas pop up.  The most frustrating unforeseen circumstance is Taxes.  There was a time when a $50 prepaid refill cost only $50, any taxes or fees were covered by the Prepaid provider.  Now those extra charges appear on some of the Prepaid costs.  When I buy a prepaid phone from a retailer like Wal-Mart or Target, I pay the usual sales taxes, but I am now also charged  fees that presumably go toward local 911 services.  OK, I'm good with supporting my own community.

The next charge that seems a bit of a surprise is the taxes and fees that are added to our Straight Talk (and supposedly all the TracFone-related companies) monthly unlimited plan.  With an online refill (Straight Talk calls it "buying a service plan"), they add taxes and 911 fees that adds about $3.83 to the $45 Unlimited plan.  I'm OK with that, too.  Then comes the final checkout which appears as a nice round $50 charge.  Wait.  Where did the extra $1.17 go?  Other fees?  Extra profit?  A donation to the Red Cross?

The big picture is this is still a savings over postpaid charges from the large wireless carriers, but after a number of nickles and dimes, much less so.  What raises our rankles even more are the lack of such extra charges from some of the other Prepaid providers.  Our favorite T-Mobile Prepaid plan, $30 for 5Gb & 100 minutes, is still only $30.  Even further consideration goes to those Prepaid refills that are available for as much as 10% off, such as those on AT&T GoPhone from our own Mountain Prepaid site. 

Of course all this can change at any time and there are indeed a number of strategies to avoid those extra and "mystery" charges (like switching services or where you buy your refills).  We'll try to keep you on top of who is charging extra across our various web sites and how it affects your Prepaid costs.  It's now about telling the good guys from the bad guys.  Oh, and saving money.

Now the Sites Go Mobile

Last month much of our time was spent using mobile wireless on the road and less here online.  This month it's our web sites that are going mobile.  We took quite a bit of time evaluating if and how we could add mobile-optimized sites to our network of wireless web sites.  Some sites just don't lend themselves to the smaller screen but we have converted some of those that do.  The sites that are now available for mobile are:

• The UnWired Home
• Mexico Cellular 
• Moose Wireless
• Wireless Noise (This Page!)

There are many ways to display mobile-optimized content and there are a number of mobile devices that show 'regular' web sites just fine, so we will evaluate how these pages work before we go further.  For now, they are nearly identical but separate sites, which means double the work.  With a little help, we might be able to streamline the process, but it's all about time and money...not enough of either.

Next, look for our continued experiences with our prepaid calling and data plans.

You Already Paid for a New Phone

Are you closing in on the end of your wireless contract?  If you decide not to get a new phone on that 2 year anniversary, you're paying for it anyway!  Postpaid wireless subscribers pay a phone subsidy each month, in addition to paying for their network usage.  You might sit there and say 'Hah, I don't need a new phone, I'll show that wireless company and keep the old one.'  Yes, you no longer have a contract, but you're still paying for that old phone.

Recently, T-Mobile joined the ranks of wireless providers who charge for your phone and don't roll it into a monthly subsidy.  Prepaid phone services have charged for their new phones and users still save money with their lower monthly rates.  It seems hard to believe you can pay over $200 cash for a new smart phone and still save with a cheaper service from T-Mobile, Straight Talk or even TracFone.  Remember, switching doesn't mean you'll lose your phone number.

So, what about those of us who really don't want to get rid of our old phone but also don't want to keep paying for it month after month?  The best way is to switch to prepaid.  With an AT&T phone you can just replace the SIM.  With a Verizon Wireless phone you could switch to their own Prepaid Plans or one that uses Verizon phones, like Page Plus.  Or, you can just get the phone you're already paying for.  You won't save any money, but a 2-year-old phone is quite a relic.  If you didn't get one for Christmas, now the time, right?

The biggest gotcha is if you must also add a new, and much more expensive, data plan.  In that case, make the switch!