Amp'd in death throes, files to sell off assets

Maybe it was Verizon's most recent in-court request to stop serving up costly airwaves for which it couldn't pay, maybe it was the cold reality that it'll allegedly have a mere $9,000 in the bank as of next Monday -- but at any rate, Amp'd Mobile appears ready to throw in the towel. The Verizon-serviced MVNO today filed with a bankruptcy judge to sell substantially all of its assets at auction after discovering that it was unable to line up debtor-in-possession financing, likely setting the stage for a full shutdown in the next few days. After launching less than two years ago to considerable fanfare and burning through a healthy $360 million, it's pretty shocking to see it all go down with such a whimper -- but hey, if you're looking to pick up a Q on the cheap -- that may or may not work on any other network, that is -- this may just be your chance.

[pr_master @ Jul 20th 2007 9:34PM]

They had ugly phones so is no surprise...

[Jeremy K. @ Jul 20th 2007 11:44PM]

and an ugly name...

[Fatima @ Jul 20th 2007 9:37PM]

Boost Mobile is next.
After that Helio.

[MisterFuhrman @ Jul 20th 2007 9:48PM]

Boost is owned by Sprint and is a way to offer prepaid without diluting their brand image, so I doubt they'll go anywhere.

Helio at least differentiated themselves with different hardware.

I think both of these MVNOs will be around for awhile.

[Jamar @ Jul 20th 2007 10:34PM]

For that matter, Helio is partly owned by SK Telecom- if they can push out new phones every month back home they definitely have the resources to keep Helio around for a while at least.

[JeffM @ Jul 22nd 2007 4:43AM]

Wait... are you suggesting that Sprint has a brand image to defend?

[nintendo fanboy hater @ Jul 20th 2007 9:49PM]

I will buy lil bush from them for $5

[theloveshack26 @ Jul 20th 2007 10:44PM]

Same here

That show's awesome!

[John Sinshack @ Jul 20th 2007 10:45PM]

rarrrararrrarar Amp'd is screwed rarrrarrrarrr

[Morgan Percy @ Jul 20th 2007 11:05PM]

neighbor - "Where did that cellular tower come from?"
homeowner - "Ebay."
neighbor - "How much?"
homeowner - "$0.20"
neighbor - "With shipping?"
homeowner - "$20,000"
neighbor - "Yea got to watch out for shipping and handling gets me every time."

[Tank Ready @ Jul 20th 2007 11:51PM]

3 weeks later:

Wife: "Honey, what's this letter from Verizon? We don't use Verizon."

Homeowner: "Ugh. Verizon wants the tower back. It appears that seller on eBay didn't actually own the tower. Rats."

[Morgan Percy @ Jul 21st 2007 1:50AM]

Homeowner-"Tell them I already sent it back they forgot to mention the damage from the APC"

[PiNPOiNT @ Jul 21st 2007 12:43AM]

I guess i won't be getting my $100 rebate me and a million other people have been waiting for, for the past 6 months :(

[GW @ Jul 21st 2007 2:22AM]

Are you white?

[R. C. @ Jul 21st 2007 1:45AM]

You mean that means an end to those ads?

REJOICE!!

[uagent @ Jul 21st 2007 6:53AM]

Aww, you just don't know where you at!

[letstakeawalk @ Jul 21st 2007 3:36AM]

please tell me Helio isn't about to fail as well...

[justmac @ Jul 21st 2007 5:06AM]

Is there any validity to the rumor that Altell is going to get eaten up?

[uagent @ Jul 21st 2007 6:51AM]

Actually, Alltel just recently got bought out by a group of private investors (don't remember who off the top of my head). They should be fine actually, as one of the appealing reasons behind the purchase for the investment group was that Alltel is actually profitable.

I find it rather funny that apparently I can say "in before gimpy razr", since Alltel was offering the v3m w/ everything unlocked for a short period, but apparently due to the Qualcomm/Broadcom lawsuit, they've downgraded to the v3a, which doesn't have the expansion port or a few other goodies...

[dj-kenpo @ Jul 21st 2007 10:11AM]

I'm tempted to go buy one for a cheap motoQ that I could then just use as a pocketPC but I have a feeling once the 'assests' are sold I wouldn't be safely getting out of that 3-year contract....

[Brandy Segia @ Jul 21st 2007 4:55PM]

Amp'd was a great idea on paper, but they made a deal with the Devil. That Devil being the greedy Verizon Wireless. Amp'd chose the main network provider who will cancel their own customers for using too much data. So what did they think was going to happen when Amp'd customers started blowing through data like it was water? Verizon lacks the spectrum of Sprint, so they go out of their way to keep what they have working smoothly. Amp'd should have gone with Sprint. But they also needed to bill their customers correctly. It's a no brainier, but I was shocked to hear they weren't sending bills to thousands of customers. Some of which had $10,000 and $15,000 bills that were never paid. It's just sad that a company with a good product made the wrong choices and now is gone.

[ZekeSulastin @ Jul 21st 2007 5:47PM]

Wait a sec, you're blaming their failures on the fact that they're with VZN, even though they have something like 50% accounts delinquent? It doesn't matter who you go with, you're screwed at that point.

Also, go look up the story of Sprint canceling the service of 200 soldiers who got sent to train cadets at West Point. Sprint isn't exactly some holy entity either.

[Mike Uram @ Jul 21st 2007 8:42PM]

It is sad to see Amp'd go, but maybe it will make room for Helio to have a better run. If they put out more phones like the Ocean, they might have a chance.

[bigdave @ Jul 21st 2007 9:46PM]

SHAME ON VERIZON
SHAME ON THE BANKRUPTCY JUDGE

The aforementioned did NOT look out for the customers of Amp'd. I just got the text message they are shutting down 7/24 12:01am.

I am on business travel our of state and although ill switch tomorrow to another carrier and port my number if I miss 1 hour of service I will lose money for my business.

VERIZON and the JUDGE should've had Amp'd warn the customers OR the JUDGE should've reached some agreement with VERIZON for them to take over our accounts if no financing was arranged for Amp'd to continue.

THIS IS CRAZY! I guess $99 unlimited phone was too good to be true.

[vhm @ Jul 21st 2007 10:07PM]

Does anyone know how I can get my 100 refund as well as my credits for remaining minutes.

And they should be forced to pay their consumers first, then the rest of the companies that they own money to.

I knew it was too good to be true, DAMN

[superfly @ Jul 21st 2007 10:25PM]

Who are fellow Amp'd pre-paid customers porting their phone numbers to? I desperately need to keep my phone number on my Motorola Hollywood active on some other prepaid provider. Thanks.

[munboy @ Jul 22nd 2007 11:19PM]

Proof?

[Timus @ Jul 23rd 2007 9:32AM]

"THIS IS CRAZY! I guess $99 unlimited phone was too good to be true."

Duh!!!

[MsSexxy @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:17PM]

Helio offer $119 a month for new customers unlimited every thing.
Alltel offers unlimited talk for a certain price

[MsSexxy @ Aug 22nd 2007 7:21PM]

Helio isn't all that bad ,expect at times you get a big dummy on the line that doesn't know how to add up your payments.