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iPhone Coming to U.S. Prepaid Carrier Cricket on June 22
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Maybe they are competitively priced, but there's little innovation from US mobile operators.
Steve Jobs basically considered cellular companies to be dumb pipes. That's why he never allowed any carrier branding or carrier app/content stores.
There are maybe 2-3 carriers that actually innovate and do a fair amount of R&D, but they aren't American companies. Notably, NTT DoCoMo (the Japanese mobile giant) is one of the few telecoms that could actually be considered fairly innovative.
Note that Japan and South Korea are the leaders in network technology (both cellular and broadband). Most of Europe is about a year behind those two countries. The United States lags woefully a couple of years behind, although in the case of LTE, the United States has picked up a bit of ground since Verizon Wireless was forced to make the jump. That said, Scandinavia had an operational commercial LTE network a couple of years before the US.
I don't understand what you mean? They made a gamble with doing 3G of AWS and lost (mainly because they had no alternative).
Now that most people have migrated to 3G they can afford to offload some 1900 2G spectrum and convert it to 3G and start taking some AWS 3G spectrum and convert it to LTE.
While a little behind - they aren't "dead" by any means. I think once they get everything up and running you will see some people switch. Their HSPA+ 42 will make a much better fallback for LTE then either AT&T's or Verizon's slower 3G.
Any T-Mobile thread involves a lot of people throwing out that T-Mobile is a dead company. Within a year and a half, LTE will blanket HSPA+ 42. Then T-Mobile is way behind.
Looks like it'll only work in a few areas:
"The iPhone is compatible only with part of Leap's network and the company is limiting sales to those areas, which include Houston and Austin, Texas; Portland, Ore.; Pittsburgh; Denver; and Salt Lake City."
Cricket gets first prepaid iPhone in mainland U.S.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-05-31/iphone-crickett-prepaid/55305610/1
"The iPhone is compatible only with part of Leap's network and the company is limiting sales to those areas, which include Houston and Austin, Texas; Portland, Ore.; Pittsburgh; Denver; and Salt Lake City."
Cricket gets first prepaid iPhone in mainland U.S.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-05-31/iphone-crickett-prepaid/55305610/1
What if you have a family plan? I pay ~$110-120 for 2 iPhones, 450min, no txt plan, 250mb data. If I we switch over Straight Talk or Cricket, your calculations will go 2X up, is this assumption correct?
Thanks in advance!
Meh - the next iPhone will support HSPA+ 42. I wouldn't knock it until you try it. The one thing T-Mobile does well is provide solid backbones to their towers so you can actually use their speed. Once the iPhone can work in the DC metro area on T-Mobile I'll probably switch.
Not to mention it's cheaper too.
Huh? What fairy tale land you living in?
The regional carriers are always behind with device selection. From time to time they test the waters with price plans on service which are disruptive, and that's great. But overall I would say they are well behind Big Blue and Big Red, for example.
It's going to be a crapshoot (This is me agreeing with you). I'm terrified that when the new iPhone is released, AT&T's LTE network will do the AT&T thing and meltdown and slow to HSPA+ speeds.
I've looked up the current AT&T family plan rates for unlimited talk, unlimited text and 2-3GB of cellular data. That's a service level that's comparable to what one would receive from Straight Talk or Cricket. The analysis is relevant when you look at similar service levels
AT&T (family plan): $120 per month unlimited talk (first line), $50 additional line; $30 per month (3GB cellular data for each line); $20 unlimited text (each line). Each subsidized iPhone is $199 plus a $36 activation fee. Total cost over two years for two lines: $6950. Total cost over two years for four lines: $12220
Straight Talk: no family plan. Each line: $45/month; $649 retail handset, $15 SIM (one-time charge). Total cost over two years per line: $1744
Monthly total cost of ownership per person over two-year period:
AT&T family plan (two people): $144.79
AT&T family plan (four people): $127.08
Straight Talk: $72.67
I'll let you do the calculation on the limited service plan. It's not comparable to what Straight Talk or Cricket offers. It might work for some people, but I can't do an analysis on every single scenario since everyone has different needs in terms of cellular service.
In any case, you'd do the calculation yourself if you cared where your money goes.
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I never heard of Cricket. On the subject of phone companies however, they are all annoying, greedy and obnoxious. Worldwide. The best thing is to significantly reduce phone usage and make a personal effort to increase face to face communication, a dying method, specifically in the US, but proven to benefit all every time. Cell phones are like Las Vegas all-you-can-stuff-your-trap-with buffets, where your are the very victim of the scam. Also every time.
Except AT&T and Verizon already have their 3G "fallback" networks built out while T-Mobile is effectively starting from scratch. Their capex spending must be massive for a carrier of their size. No wonder they can't find anyone to buy them.
T-Mobile got over 3 billion dollars from Big Blue for the failed takeover. That will go a long ways assuming they dump all (or most) of that in to their network. But they have a LONG WAY to go. They're not just behind, they are massively behind. A large percentage of T-Mobile is still EDGE. Hell, they only recently made the "update" from GPRS here and that was just software. Don't look for things to turn rosy overnight. Their HSPA+ network is laughable compared to the others (coverage-area wise-speeds are very good where you can get them) and as for 1900 HSPA+ that will be a long, slow evolution. They say 2013 I'm betting beyond that, probably mid to late 2014 at best.
If AT&T had a working network in the DC region I'd believe you. I can't begin to count how many times I've had a full signal but no data. They may have a large 3G network but when it doesn't work what's the point? Visiting friends in Nashville I was amazed at how much better AT&T was there - but it's sad when they can't have something functioning in one of the nations largest metropolitan regions.
Regardless it's all speculation. I guess we will see how things change over the next year.
What matters is the carrier ID not which network they piggy-back on. Thus, SIM-locked AT&T phones will only work on networks which are labelled AT&T. That is the point of SIM-locking, that the phone cannot be used with another carrier, be it a virtual one or not. AT&T could of course create a virtual carrier as a second brand and allow AT&T SIM-locked phones to operate on that.
So this iPhone will be CDMA-only in the US (like Sprint's), but will likely accept international SIM cards when overseas. Is that the verdict?
I need an iPhone for international travel, this would be a cheaper alternative to buying unlocked directly from Apple if it works the same.
I need an iPhone for international travel, this would be a cheaper alternative to buying unlocked directly from Apple if it works the same.
Wrong.
With these plans, you are paying for upcoming usage, not what you have done with your handset over the past month. If you don't refill before the service deadline, your phone goes dead. You never get a bill. Luckily, the phone company will pester you several times before the expiration date.
That's why there's no credit check with these prepaid plans. The mobile operators get their money before they activate your phone.
Moreover, neither party signs a legal document which is what a court of law would look for when the word "contract" is brought up.
In most cases, you can buy the prepaid plan service cards ahead of time and not use them. You can go to Walmart and buy several Straight Talk service cards. You have paid in advance and you aren't required to use the service right away. Straight Talk will even give you a few dollars off if you pay for three months of service in advance.
For a company like Straight Talk, you can also set up auto-load via a credit card. They will send you a text a few days before your plan expires telling you they're about to charge. If your card is declined for whatever reason, they will apparently pester you to update your billing information or give you a chance to enter a prepaid card activation code before they cut you off.
With many of the other cellular companies, you can buy discount prepaid cards online (like getting $100 of AT&T GoPhone credit for $95 at CallingMart.com). That's actually the best way to use the iTunes Store as well. Occasionally there are bargains on iTunes Cards from online retailers, like a $50 iTunes Card for $40. That's a 20% cash savings.
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