Helio's flame going out: stores to shutter, customers heading to Virgin?

It ain't over until it's over, but we just got word that Helio store managers received notification this week that the axe is finally falling: (at least some of) the nationwide chain of retail stores will be shuttered during Virgin's takeover of Helio. As we've heard, "there is no 'merge' in this merger," so it sounds like after this year's big executive reshuffle, SK Telecom is bailing on their half-billion dollar enterprise a big way. No word if the fabled Ocean 2 will make it -- or if Virgin will even let Helio customers keep their phones.

Alongside Helio -- more or less the last man standing -- the great MVNO goldrush also dies. Unfortunate that besides Virgin and a few local and M2M providers (like Amazon's Whispernet), pretty much no one was able to make it work. Then again, no one ever never said making cellphones and running any kind of carrier was easy.

[retro77 @ Jun 20th 2008 12:36PM]

Virgin? I thought it was Verizon?

[michas_pi @ Jun 20th 2008 12:40PM]

Virgin Mobile is Sprint.

[retro77 @ Jun 20th 2008 12:43PM]

you guys seen this:
http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/ApplicationSearch/applMain.jsp?applID=4491570
http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/ApplicationSearch/applMain.jsp?applID=4490357

credit goes to CoolBradG who posted this on another article.

[Alareth @ Jun 20th 2008 1:07PM]

@michas_pi

Virgin Mobile is not Sprint, it simply uses Sprint's network

[bohsocks @ Jun 20th 2008 1:11PM]

DON'T CALL IT A PHONE COMPANY

because it doesn't exist anymore

[phanbouy @ Jun 20th 2008 1:16PM]

DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK

[Jodab @ Jun 20th 2008 1:30PM]

Sprint owns a substantial portion of Virgin Mobile.

[Kaiser-Machead @ Jun 20th 2008 12:36PM]

Nnnya! Where's your Messiah now!

[PEZ @ Jun 20th 2008 2:24PM]

THAT ROCKED.

Huh? Where is you messiah nowz d0od?
Hmm?

LOL... nice one.

[Steve @ Jun 20th 2008 12:39PM]

Its about time. They deserve it after I had to hear them go on and on about how much better the Ocean is than the iPhone when we were waiting for it to come out back in June. Guess that didn't work out huh Helio?

[Flashpoint @ Jun 20th 2008 1:15PM]

When half of your ADs are claiming that this phone is going to be your connection to MYSPACE, and that's all the phone seems to be doing, you can't set your hopes too high.

I knew this thing would fail.

The market quickly moved to Sidekick 3, iPhone, Blackberries and Verizon phones in general such as the Chocolate.

I'm waiting for Nextel to announce similar news cause since Sprint toook them over, they haven't been doing shite.

[Bob @ Jun 20th 2008 2:34PM]

Yeah, they DO deserve it! How dare *anyone* claim their phone could compete with the iPhone! That's just ridiculous they would say this!

[Bob @ Jun 20th 2008 2:36PM]

Yeah, they DO deserve it! How dare *anyone* claim their phone could
compete with the iPhone! That's just ridiculous!

[nDee @ Jun 20th 2008 10:49PM]

Those phones are simply Fugly
Go get a s60 and it's all done

[Steffen Jobbs @ Jun 22nd 2008 3:07PM]

Helio and Palm. Two of a kind. Users always bragging about how great their FAILphones are. One will follow the other in a short while. What the heck are these people thinking. Get a handset from the bitten fruit company, why doncha.

[bcohen1983 @ Jun 20th 2008 12:41PM]

GOOD RIDDANCE. Helio had the worst service, bar none, that I have ever experienced. And their products weren't even worth the hassle.

[Jay @ Jun 20th 2008 1:09PM]

Eh? Helio = Sprint = every other MVNO... So all of their service are about the same.

As far as their products go, I love the Ocean. It worked great for me so far even with some heavy hits. Everything else? Yea, pretty much sucked. They promised devices that are far superior to those in the US but failed miserably.

I'll probably jump the ship to AT&T (ugh...) and get the iphone 3g. I know most people whine and moan about people who wants an iphone but I'm a mac guy and I like how macs work. (I have xp, ubuntu and osx on both of my macs) Seamless integration FTW

[bcohen1983 @ Jun 20th 2008 1:16PM]

@Jay:

I didn't actually mean the phone reception service. I never had a chance to try it. It took them over three weeks to transfer my phone number, despite the fact that it had already been released and authorized by Sprint for use. During this time, I had to pay for a phone that was not activated. It was little more than a MID with a sucktastic browser (Opera hadn't been ported to it yet). I canceled my subscription with them at the end of my "Happiness Guarantee period" without ever having been able to make a phone call.

Months later, I was charged double for the phone, because their internal records showed that I canceled AFTER the guarantee period was over, despite my phone records and email records to the contrary. Three months later, I was told I'd be sued if I didn't pay their fraudulent charges.

[pop @ Jun 20th 2008 3:00PM]

bcohen1983:

I had the same type of thing happen to me. After a few nasty warning legal letters to them, with documented evidence of them trying to scam out of the "guaranty", they gave up.

[gb @ Jun 20th 2008 12:42PM]

Well, this just made my iPhone-decision a lot easier. Will existing Helio users have to pay an early termination fee now? I'm assuming they'll try to screw us through the end. This is a shame, as I really liked their service. Not their customer service, but the phone and the plans. They didn't cripple the phones like VZ or put some terrible UI on it. And the unlimited plans were reasonably priced.
Well, crap.

[Allan @ Jun 20th 2008 1:44PM]

I'll second just about all of that. I haven't had to deal with their customer service, but I like my Helio and now wonder if I'll be able to give it up without some crazy fee.

iPhone here I come though...

[jeadly @ Jun 20th 2008 2:12PM]

Yeah, they worked out all my objections with the iPhone just in time for Helio to go under. I really can't imagine they'll be able to sell our Helio contracts to another provider without giving us some kind of opt-out.

[letstakeawalk @ Jun 20th 2008 5:11PM]

Actually, I'll think I'll jump over for the Samsung Instinct... The reason I joined Helio a couple of years ago was for the GPS Drift and the no-contract option. Now, it looks like the only reason I have to stick around is for my e-mail (well looky here, domains are cheap! - guess I'll make my own mailbox).

Sorry Helio; it was great while it lasted, but it's time to move on...

[kurt.tappe @ Jun 20th 2008 5:14PM]

They're the ones terminating the contract--they should have to pay YOU the early termination fee!!

[The Anti @ Jun 20th 2008 12:45PM]

My neighbors used to have phones from Helio, never could get a call through even if they had a few bars. It's never good news to hear a competitor in any market go down, but from what I experienced the service was never that great to begin with.

[CGreenFL @ Jun 20th 2008 12:56PM]

Man i enjoyed Helio... they had a good game plan well for the most part! ha. But yesterday i picked up the Instinct and decided to just leave 'em be.

This news only serves as a pat on the back. R.I.P. old buddy.

[Catsceo @ Jun 20th 2008 12:55PM]

Another victory for Anonymous it seems. (Helio was founded by a scientologist, who is currently chairman)

[Ryan Block @ Jun 20th 2008 1:01PM]

Where do people like you come up with your insane logic? That's like saying it was a victory for the Church of Satan because all the Christian executives at SK Telecom agreed to bail out of the company for the Virgin takeover.

[phanbouy @ Jun 20th 2008 1:23PM]

Christians, Satans, and Virgins.... OH MY!

[PEZ @ Jun 20th 2008 2:17PM]

Ryan, there are no christians at SK Telecom, they are all Athiests.

mmk?

LOL.

Looks like Virgin isnt a Virgun anynonemore!

Baw haw haw...

[insertAlias @ Jun 20th 2008 1:54PM]

@Ryan:
"Where do people like you come up with your insane logic?"

4chan. And they should keep it there.

[Smizz @ Jun 20th 2008 1:12PM]

Oh no.......I have helio service, and i've been very happy with it and my ocean...I really dont want to have to go back to verizons crappy service and plans...

[Steffen Jobbs @ Jun 22nd 2008 4:05PM]

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(") _ (")

Helio Ocean = WABBIT PELLETS

[Bill @ Jun 20th 2008 1:07PM]

Those who know how to run a MVNO right (hint: not by spending millions on ads) are doing just fine.

Carlos Slim is making money hand over...um...tortilla? with his Tracfone MVNO.

Page Plus is a dirt-cheap Verizon-based MVNO ($4 activations on ebay)

[rawdikrik @ Jun 20th 2008 1:25PM]

Sorry to say, but less then 10% of people saw Helios advertisements... I dont think they spent all that much at all.

and if they did... they sure got ripped off.

[Cactus @ Jun 20th 2008 3:53PM]

Helio and Amp'd both focused on offering postpaid products -- I don't think Helio even had a pay-as-you-go option. Helio went after the young, affluent, data-heavy user... who probably all have iPhones or BlackBerrys at this point.

I'd call it the death of the "premium", postpaid MVNO. Virgin, TracFone and their ilk go after PAYG light users, those with bad credit, and teens who pay for their own phones.

They'll keep on doing fine -- their only real carrier competition is Boost and T-MobileToGo... with AT&T GoPhone and VZM inpulse being god-awful deals...

[Jim @ Jun 20th 2008 1:11PM]

Holy Sh*t! What does this mean for me and my Helio contract?!?!? I was planning on getting an iPhone at launch in 3 weeks but have no idea how this will work. Help!!!

[neozippo @ Jun 20th 2008 1:20PM]

what the.... I got a year left before the contract expires. shoooooot. Anyway I do texting a lot with friends in korea and that was the main reason I switched from sprint. now I'm screwed and dictched??

[neozippo @ Jun 20th 2008 1:21PM]

what the.... I got a year left before the contract expires. shoooooot. Anyway I do texting a lot with friends in korea and that was the main reason I switched from sprint. now I'm screwed and dictched??

[Oscar5453 @ Jun 20th 2008 1:26PM]

GOOD RIDDANCE!!! I am still their customer and trust me not by choice!! I am stuck with them. But it took them to send me 5 Replacements before they sent me a Helio Ocean replacement that worked. This spanned over 5 months!!

But by far the WORST!! WORST!! Customer service I've ever had.

Die HELIO!! DIE!!!

When the 3G iphone comes outs im jumping ships and just paying them their disconnect fee!

PUNKS!

[PEZ @ Jun 20th 2008 2:16PM]

LOL... DO it... you may not even have to pay a disconnect fee... check into that!

You may want to check the Sprint Instinct, too... nevaKnow!

[Josh L @ Jun 20th 2008 1:58PM]

You sure showed them.

[Marc @ Jun 22nd 2008 6:13PM]

I had a TERRIBLE experience with Helio. Tried their service for a few days, returned it, and spent the next year convincing them I didn't owe $130. Not surprised they are in this situation. Regardless of the many circumstances surrounding their decline, unbelievably bad customer service has to top the list of issues.

[Tina @ Jun 23rd 2008 12:35PM]

I'm doing this too.

I love my full keyboard, but there are just too many bugs with the ocean.

I wanted to love it.

[HotFusion @ Jun 20th 2008 1:29PM]

For people who are more familiar with this situation (a company being bought out or merged), can you please tell me how this would affect my contract with helio? since the terms of the contract are most likely changing, do I have the option to terminate without paying their fees? Thanks.

[toyotaboy @ Jun 20th 2008 1:39PM]

Looks like I'm switching back to AT&T and getting an iphone2 come july 11th then. Thank god I signed up without a contract, I'm free as a bird!

[Geoff Gibson @ Jun 20th 2008 1:38PM]

Ya.... so what's the deal? I still have about 9 months left on my contract with Helio. Am I free? Do I have to wait it out?

Also what happens to my phone number? I certainly hope I get to keep it despite the fallout.

[David C @ Jun 20th 2008 1:48PM]

Wow, what is it with premium-service MVNO's shutting down? Seems all AT&T-based ones (Net10; TracFone; AT&T's GoPhone) are great, and Verizon's doing well too, I think.

[dcny @ Jun 20th 2008 4:15PM]

Net 10 & Tracfone are not just at&t based
they use at&t, Verizon and Sprint they have GSM & CDMA phones

[Satur9nine @ Jun 20th 2008 1:53PM]

Don't forget about Kajeet, there's another MVNO I wouldn't mind seeing disappear. If I never see another LG 225 it will be too soon.