Lower, Low-End Data Plans

Recently we modified the Mountain Unlimited Web Site to report the cheapest Smart Phone plans, arranged by price, showing the largest amount of Data available at that price level.  As the carriers themselves have improved the price levels of their Data plans, so have the Prepaid re-sellers.  One of the most surprising changes comes from Red Pocket Mobile who is now offering a $10 per 30 days Data plan that includes Unlimited Talk & Text and a whopping 1GB of 4G data before your download rate is throttled to presumably 2G speeds.

Red Pocket seems be using the T-Mobile network to provide this new Data offering and we hope it causes other Prepaids to follow.  It's odd to now see fewer minutes or tighter restrictions for plans at higher price levels, but we expect that to change.  Innovation should bring us even lower prices.

Who thought we would see plans as low as $5 per month?  You might say some of these cheap plans depend on wi-fi for data delivery, but Comcast just recently said that is precisely how they will deliver their own wireless network in competition with the largest wireless carriers.  

More Good Guys Give Up

Add 2 more wireless operators who are selling out to the big carriers.  Earlier this month we were saddened to see that one of our Top-Rated wireless carriers, Cincinnati Bell Wireless, was selling their spectrum to Verizon Wireless.  This week another pair of carriers who live at the top our Ratings, Golden State Cellular of California and Mobi PCS in Hawaii, have decided to give up their wireless operations.

Golden State will give up network, spectrum and customers to Verizon Wireless and Mobi will give up their spectrum.  In Mobi's case they will keep operating for a longer transition period, presumably to give their customers (read neighbors) a better choice in where to eventually take their wireless business.

With the loss of a #8, #9, and #10 rated carrier from our Ratings List, we may either need to adjust the now shorter list to give some carriers a better position, or light a candle for the carriers that remain in the top spots lamenting their impeding demise.

Cincinnati Bell Gives Up Wireless

Of course we had hoped that such a top-notch wireless operation like Cincinnati Bell would survive.  Even one of our top-rated wireless companies sees the writing on the wall and has decided to give up wireless and sell out to one of the Top 4, in this case Verizon Wireless.  Verizon can make good use of Bell's spectrum holdings but will probably just turn off the existing Cincinnati Bell wireless GSM network.

We have given in to the inevitable loss of several other wireless networks that have been operating close to, if not under, the line of profitability.  In the case of Cincinnati Bell, our hopes for their survival rest on the fact that they have always Rated at or near the top of wireless carriers in the US.  Since this Bell will survive as a thriving business in most other communications products, the transition for their customers away from their own wireless network should go smoothly whether or not you take them up on any discount when switching to Verizon Wireless, as has happened to so many other regional phone companies.

The Math Has Changed

Most major carriers have 'adjusted' their pricing recently, mostly in response to T-Mobile's new, "un-carrier" program.  This presents two important considerations for the cellular consumer: 1)Do Your Math, and 2) Do Your Shopping.

Do Your Math!  Grab a calculator and add up how much a "2-year" plan will cost you vs. what that plan will cost you if you buy the phone separate from the plan.  In many cases we found that the 2-year contract cost was less than buying the phone outright, especially if you actually pay extra for the right to buy a new phone early.  As with any computation, there are additional numbers involved.  If you want to change before, or not change phones at the end of that 2-year obligation, your costs change, too.  Many of us can't live with the same technology that long.

Do Your Shopping! Today you can choose the model of phone you want, buy it the way you want, and choose the plan you want.  Unfortunately, there is a large variation in how each of those inteact, and we certainly don't want to suffer from the "Tyranny of Choice".  Today you can get a decent amount of Data along with Unlimited Calls and Texts for $45.  That number is beginning to by challenged at the $40 level with included Data ranging from 500Mb to 1Gb.  And yes, you can go cheaper than that. Net10 now offers a $40 plan and even AT&T has promised to will offer $40 plans after they take control of Cricket Wireless.

This is also a heads up for those of you who are nosing through the information in the Mountain Wireless Networks.  We often mention a price range for certain products that, unknown to us, has changed, usually to the downside, making it even more important to do your shopping.  We've got the tools to do just that among our sites.

Yanking Out the Wires

A few months ago we reported that Verizon Communications was planning on replacing a large of number of wired telephone customers in Long Island with wireless boxes.  The plan was to replace telephone service to those areas destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in a far less expensive manner, especially since the residents in that area were not very big telephone users and may not replace their landlines anyway, it seemed like a good idea.  At the time the FCC saw otherwise.  They thought not rebuilding the wired network may have dangerous ramifications.

Since then there has been a change in thinking. AT&T proposed adding only coaxial cable (or fiber) to new installations in Florida as an experimental trial.  This time to FCC says it's worth a try.  After all, why install a few pair of wires and a high-capacity pipe for all communications, especially when the same company, AT&T in this case, control both.  So much for the 'twisted pair'.  This is harder to clarify in areas like where I live where a different company controls each.

We have watched the trends and the CDC reports as of 2013, fully one third of US homes now have wireless as their only means of telephone communications.  Many of these homes have cable installed in their homes, so it is likely they use cable as their broadband access, but not everybody.  With the additional broadband growth of the wireless carriers today, we see that number should shrink as well. We are following the trend at our 'cut the cord' web site which was recently changed from The Unwired Home to Mountain Unwired to reflect the growing used of wireless in all of our devices wherever we are, no longer just at home.

Noisy Disclaimer

The Federal Trade Commission requires bloggers to reveal any compensation offered for positive reviews about any products.  We don't get any money for our reports, doggone it.  We do, however, have financial investments in most of not all of the wireless carriers we review.  Through mutual funds and  Exchange Traded Funds we own small parts of several wireless carriers.  After looking through the fund holdings, I own a large chunk of AT&T, a smaller piece of Verizon Communications, much smaller pieces of really small carries like US Cellular and NTelos, and surprisingly, no Sprint or T-Mobile stock.

I find that we have been more critical of the carriers in which we have some stock, therefore I would say we don't show much conflict of interest.  This year we should be less critical of AT&T and T-Mobile and more critical of Verizon and Sprint, and lots of hand-wringing over US Cellular.  Now I hope the Feds are happy.

MetroPCS Goes to Mexico

A few days ago we featured MetroPCS, now owned by T-Mobile, as a newcomer in many areas of the US, and wondered if, or how, they would start promoting the service.  I have begun to hear a few plain vanilla radio ads and seen some bus sides for them, and a few TV mentions.  But the thing that caught our eye was their new Mexico roaming abilities.  

Until recently, AT&T's GoPhone was the only US Prepaid phone that roamed economically in Mexico.  Now MetroPCS takes advantage of the fact that new customers are being issued GSM phones that will easily roam in Mexico.  The catch is that Mexico roaming requires a $10 add-on that gives you a couple hundred minutes of talk time or texts from Mexico, and unlimited incoming texts while in Mexico.  Most of us would need Mexico roaming only a few times a year, if that.  But the plan also includes an even bigger number of calls to Mexico including unlimited calls to Mexico landlines. You need to subscribe to their $50 (or higher) monthly plan to qualify for this add-on...not the catchy $40 plan they advertise.  There's no mention of Data.   Those who cross the border on a semi-regular basis or those with family in Mexico would stand to gain, the rest of us, less so.

While T-Mobile phones only roam on the smaller Movistar network in Mexico, it should be adequate for most gringos. The most notable part of this offering is that T-Mobile has taken MetroPCS in a direction that is different that T-Mobile itself.  Along with T-Mobile's greatly increased International roaming capabilities, this new Mexico roaming capability gives us a taste of what may be possible from the carrier that's wearing the same clothes but now has a much better looking body.  We even gave them another "Star" in our Mountain Prepaid Ratings improving them toward the middle of favored no-contract carriers.

What's that MetroPCS Store?

Welcome MetroPCS to your neighborhood, who, up until now, has only been in a few large markets.  Now they are opening new stores in cities across the country with little promotion.  MetroPCS is now owned by T-Mobile who has absorbed all of Metro’s wireless spectrum as well expanded the name across the country.

I’m not sure what value the name is outside of their old markets since most of us have never heard of them.  They might as well have named it Pete’s Wireless…it would have had the same recognition value.  You may soon see (or have already seen) the new signs and wonder what do they sell there?  In my brief interviews the top answer is, “Computers”,  as in PC’S.  T-Metro has a lot of work to do in publicizing their brand in these new markets and it needs to be a lot more than sponsoring the latest monster truck jam.

MetroPCS gives users an alternative to the mainstream carriers’ deals by offering a good amount of “Unlimited” data in some simple plans AND a store to back up what they sell, even if it’s just a SIM.  So, even though MetroPCS doesn’t really offer the BEST Smart phone deals, they DO offer a way for us to improve our wireless costs (and maybe our phones) and a place to hang out until the rest of the world figures out what these stores are selling.