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Carphone Warehouse sees retail sales rise 13%
Who says everyone has to report bum quarters these days? The Carphone Warehouse -- which is only Europe's largest, most recognizable independent mobile phone retailer -- has just reported that retail sales during its most recent quarter were up 13 percent to just over £1 billion ($1.48 billion). Moreover, its connections were up 3% to 3.7 million and subscription connections rose 3% to 1.3 million, though revenues of its TalkTalk Group were down slightly (2%) to £347 million ($514 million). Still, bigwigs at the firm aren't ignorant to the market, noting that "weaker trading conditions" are likely to continue, and thus, affect future numbers. Still, we'd say these guys deserve a round of golf claps for just breaking into '09 in the black.[Via mocoNews]
Verizon changing some plan names, gets Alltel in-network calling
We've been able to independently verify Boy Genius Report's claim that Verizon will be changing the name of IN Calling to the simpler "Mobile to Mobile" (and we can also kick in that INpulse will become just "Prepaid") on February 15. That alone isn't terribly awesome, but more importantly, Alltel numbers are now included as in-network calls for Verizon customers. Alltel customers, meanwhile, have to wait for the merger to complete. Sorry, folks!And here's a little something for the data fiends: the venerable BroadbandAccess laptop plan becomes Verizon Wireless Mobile Broadband (there's a mouthful for you) this coming Monday. That's an incredible upgrade from four to ten syllables, so we should all be thanking our lucky stars for that.
Boost launching $50 unlimited calling / texting plan
Hot on the heels of MetroPCS and Leap Wireless' latest moves to pull in more customers on unlimited plans comes this: yet another unlimited plan, this one from Boost Mobile. Starting on January 22nd, mobile users looking for predictability on their bills can choose a $50 per month plan that allows for unlimited calls and texts. The only glaring omission is data allowance, so those fond of checking eHarmony alerts on the go won't find much to love here. Not that you'd even want to surf for long on Boost's iDEN network, anyway.
Prepaid becoming all the rage with souring economy
Trust us, we're as sick (if not more so) of hearing about this so-called soft economy as you are, but the statistics here just don't lie. It seems that in times of cautious spending, exuberant cellphones and their respective plans are one of the first things to go, with a number of prepaid-focused carriers reporting significant growth in Q3 2008. MetroPCS picked up nearly a quarter-million net new subscribers in the quarter (double its prior year increase), while Leap Wireless snapped up 156,000 net customers (tripling its year-earlier growth). Furthermore, T-Mobile has reported a gain of 670,000 subscribers in the same window, and over half of those were of the prepaid variety. On the real, we've nothing against prepaid in and of itself, but are you telling us you'd rather chow on fast food (over, say, Top Ramen) and live without unlimited monthly data? Don't kid yourself.[Via textually]
Apple UK offers up iPhone 3G on O2's Pay & Go prepaid plan
Maybe our circadian clock is completely busted, but six months does not "shortly" make. If you'll recall (we're asking a lot here, we know), O2 briefly led us on to believe that a prepaid iPhone 3G was just around the corner, and it has taken a full half year to finally see that come to fruition. As of now, the Apple Store UK is selling its latest handset in 8GB / 16GB flavors for £342.50 ($513) / £391.45 ($587) off contract. The iPhone 3G Pay & Go plan affords buyers 12 months of unlimited browsing and WiFi (in the UK) so long as you add a minimum of £10 after activating the handset. Flippin' finally, right?[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Boost Mobile slashes prepaid rates, will modify unlimited usage plan
Sprint Nextel's Boost Mobile is doing anything it can to attract consumers, as evidenced by the 50% off fire sale on prepaid minutes. Yep, as of right now, Boost Mobile customers can phone up fellow sumo wrestlers while running up a bill at just $0.10 per minute compared to $0.20 per minute in the past. A Wall Street Journal report also states that it will be "modifying its unlimited-usage plan, though the company declined to specify how." Of note, the "new plans" may only be available in "select cities," so you should probably phone up a CSR or something to make sure you're really getting the lower rate. Or you can just holler "Where U AT?!" and see what kind of response you get.[Via phonescoop]
Leap's Cricket unveils unique per-day PAYGo prepaid service
Cricket Communications is well known for offering contract-less / prepaid options for wireless users who'd rather not be shackled down by any given carrier, and today we're checking out yet another option for those still not satisfied by current offerings. The PAYGo service, which is being launched initially in Cincinnati / Dayton, Savannah / Hilton Head and Houston, offers customers the ability to pay for three varying levels of usage on a per-day basis. The Cricket EZ, UTStarcom CDM7126 and Samsung MyShot can be activated on the plan, which only charges you for days you make or receive calls / text messages. For $1 per day, subscribers get unlimited local calling along with voicemail, caller ID and three-way calling, while the $2 per day plan adds unlimited text / picture messaging; the $3 / day plan throws in limited US long distance, international texting to 100+ nations and mobile web / directory assistance.[Via phonescoop]
O2 announces iPhone 3G Pay & Go pricing / launch date
We've known that a pay-as-you-go iPhone 3G plan was in the works at O2 since June, but the carrier has at long last fessed up and provided the formal introduction. The iPhone 3G Pay & Go plan will be live on September 16th, enabling users in the UK to purchase the handset sans contract for £349.99 (8GB) or £399.99 (16GB). Yeah, it's quite a bit more than free on contract, but those prices do include unlimited browsing and WiFi for the first 12 months after the phone is activated. Once that honeymoon ends, you're looking at £10 per month to keep browsing. Also of note, Visual Voicemail is conveniently omitted from Pay & Go phones, but if you're cool with that, you can get going in a fortnight by heading to your local O2, Apple or Carphone Warehouse store.[Via Stuff, thanks to everyone who sent this in]
T-Mobile jumps on the bandwagon, throws the book at prepaid unlockers
Carriers like Tracfone and AT&T have set some serious precedents in the past couple years, sending warning shots over the bows of so-called prepaid phone traffickers who make pretty serious businesses out of buying prepaid phones in bulk, unlocking them (thereby nullifying the cash the carrier puts on the table to get the phone to market at a lower price), and reselling them to the highest bidders. T-Mobile USA has gotten on the action now, too, picking up a pair of permanent injunctions against Fone Xchange and ASPAC -- two of the biggest offenders in T-Mobile's eyes -- and a $6.5 million award for its troubles. Seems these guys won't take "no" for an answer, though, with T-Mobile also announcing that another gentleman violating a similar injunction awarded in Houston has been convicted of criminal contempt of court and is due to meet his steel-barred fate on October 10. So yeah, might want to settle down with those six-phone purchases from CVS there, bucko.
Sunrise offers pay-per-hour HSPA access in Switzerland
Remember those days when you'd beg your mom to hop online and watch GamePro.com load for 15 minutes in order to read the latest reviews, only to be shut down by pops who refused to pay $.50 per minute to be on the world wide web? Thankfully, Sunrise's latest mobile broadband plans aren't that bad, but each precious hour of surfing over HSPA will set you back 3 Swiss francs (or $2.97). On the upside, there's no commitment attached to the USB modem, and there aren't any data usage caps either, so who knows, maybe this deal will float your boat after all.[Thanks, Jay]
Verizon prepaid customers get new messaging plan
Heads-up, INpulse users! Okay, sorry for calling you out like that, but Verizon Wireless has a new messaging plan on the horizon that may please those of you texting your bill straight to absurdity. Beginning on July 14th, VZW prepaid customers can choose to get unlimited text, picture and video messaging to all other Verizon customers nationwide in addition to 250 messages to anyone else for $10 per month. Huzzah?[Via phoneArena]
O2 briefly shows off prepaid pricing for iPhone 3G
It's a far cry from free, so just how badly do you want to avoid that postpaid contract? O2 had posted pricing for the iPhone 3G when purchased through its Pay & Go prepaid program, showing £300 (about $591) for the 8 gigger and a brutal £360 (about $709) for the 16, though the information was mysteriously pulled just moments later and replaced with a promise that details (the very same details they've already leaked, we presume) would be available "shortly." Though those sticker prices will eat holes through even the mightiest of wallets, buyers will take some comfort in the knowledge that they include six months of WiFi access, after which it'll run £10 (about $20) a month.[Via TUAW]
Palm Centro goes prepaid in Australia
Smartphones are a disappointingly rare occurrence in prepaid stables in some corners of the world, but at least Telstra's doing its part. The Australian carrier has launched Palm's Centro obligation-free for $299 AUD (about $286), giving Aussies a solid option for taking a trip down Garnet lane without shelling out any more monthly cash than they need to. Interestingly, the Telstra model sports a white shell but eschews AT&T's funky green buttons for a more conservative gray set -- and honestly, now that we've had some time to get used to 'em, we sort of miss the green. Are we crazy?[Via Palm Infocenter]
60-day cards for $20 at Circuit City
Back in the day, you could get 60 day playtime cards for $20 at Amazon, all the time. This appears to be the resurrection of that deal: the same cards are currently available for $20 at Circuit City. This is, as they say, a $30 value, assuming you normally pay the single-month rate of $15 per month. The cards are sold out online, but available for in-store pickup; click over to the site and enter your ZIP code to see if they're available in your store.Personally, I'm not going for it, because the closest Circuit City is about 15 minutes away, and also because I like to pay for a month at a time and then cancel my account. That way, if I happen not to be able to play for some amount of time after my subscription is up, it doesn't renew until I need it and go renew it manually (which takes all of two minutes), and so I save a few bucks. But for those with more regular play schedules, this looks like a good deal.[via the Bronze Kettle]
T-Mobile touting dollar-a-day prepaid service
T-Mobile's looking to expand its prepaid offerings, branching beyond the typical minute allowances to offer its new "Pay By The Day" service which -- you guessed it -- charges for service by the day. One dollar per day, to be exact, nets you unlimited nighttime calling and unlimited calling to other T-Mobile numbers, while other calls will run you 10 cents per minute. At the end of the day, you're shelling out $30 a month on average for the ability to yap until you're physically unable to speak any longer, as long as you don't call out of network during daylight hours. For night owls, this could be a boon.[Via RCR]
Alcatel comes to the US, prepaid style
Alcatel had mentioned a few months ago that it planned to roll deep with US launches this year -- kind of hard to swallow, considering the non-presence they've had here for years and the difficulty for a new player to break into the market -- but sure enough, here we go with the first volley. Locus Telecom's prepaid O2 Wireless brand (naw, not that O2) has launched two low-end Alcatel sets two accompany its range of LGs and Motorolas, the E206a candybar and E227a flip. Both are sans camera or high-speed data of any sort; in fact, they putt along with mere dual-band GSM radios, and in the case of the E206a, a positively miniature 96 x 96 display. Not exactly a groundbreaking entrance into the market for Alcatel, but an entrance nonetheless. O2 says its service is for "students, seniors, and trendsetters," so if you're a trendsetter, go ahead and get your Alcatel on.[Via MobileBurn]
AT&T loses its cool over GoPhone unlockers
AT&T's mad as hell that people are buying its prepaid phones in quantity for the sole purpose of unlocking and reselling them, and it's not going to take it anymore. The megacarrier has filed a lawsuit in Texas targeting so-called phone traffickers who are allegedly sending boatloads of people -- "runners" as they're called -- into AT&T's retail locations to pick up GoPhones and circumvent its per-person purchase limits. To AT&T's credit, the DMCA's exemption on phone unlocking doesn't protect those looking to profit from the sale of unlocked phones, so the lawsuit looks pretty straight on the surface; TracFone has made a killing recently in its legal pursuits, and it turns out that one of TracFone's lawyers is involved with AT&T's case, too, so the defendants might be staring down the barrel of a big ol' fine here. Besides AT&T and TracFone, AT&T's court filing claims that T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile, and Nokia (huh?) have all filed similar lawsuits recently, and the legal team promises there are more in the pipe. Anyway, let's try to keep the GoPhone purchases to under a hundred units a day until this all blows over, okay?
T-Mobile's prepaid refill system goes down; free minutes for all
File this under extremely annoying. According to T-Mobile, all systems for re-upping users prepaid phone minutes (online, phone-based, and refill hotspots) are not only currently inoperable, but have not been functioning correctly for the past three days. As a result, no minutes can be added to customers phones, but T-Mobile says that users of its prepaid service can continue to make calls from their phone with no charge until at least 11 pm tonight, even if they have no minutes remaining. The company hopes to correct the problems they're having by this evening, and we'll bring you more info as it becomes available. In the meantime, use this freebie to catch up with grandma!Update: Just to clarify, as far as we know this problem is affecting T-Mobile customers in the US. Also, the representative with whom we spoke said that calls would be free until 11 pm -- we have yet to hear an official announcement, however, so proceed with caution.[Thanks, Eric]
iPhone + Disposable Cellphone + Prepaid Cards + New Activation Tool = Holy Cow
Holy cow. Those guys at fusion.osx86.hu/#iphone are geniuses. Late yesterday, I downloaded a copy of iASign, their new iPhone activation tool. Right now, at this second, my iPhone just made its first call using the SIM from my disposable Cingular phone with its $10 card. After, I dialed *777# and it told me I've got $9.25 left on my account. The phone number in Settings -> Phone shows the proper number for the disposable phone (versus the one I activated with the iPhone PickYourPlan).
National Geographic's Talk Abroad phone now on sale
So it looks like that so-boring-we-want-to-cry National Geographic Talk Abroad phone we came across a few months back is finally shipping. The specifics are actually pretty complicated -- we recommend going over the pricing with a fine-tooth comb if you think this thing is for you -- but the idea is to offer relatively inexpensive, prepaid world roaming. You can rent the handset (because let's be honest, you don't want a phone this basic in your possession for more than a couple weeks at a time) starting at $70 a week, which includes 30 minutes of talk time in 50 countries, unlimited incoming minutes in 65, and a bunch of adapters for the silly-looking sockets you may encounter in foreign lands. Then again, if you simply must make the Talk Abroad your own, you can scoop it up for $199 and recharge the plan at your leisure, or just buy the SIM (our favorite option) for $79.
