I don't know anything about the specific company being discussed, but I can tell you a potential way that people get scammed in a situation like is being discussed.
The whole reason that I needed the UDP I took over was because a well-known Verizon reseller of data-only hotspot plans, Millenicom, recently pulled the rug out from under all of it's customers with only a month of warning.
I read they went out of business. Going out of business is NOT a scam. It amazes me that people don't understand the difference b/t a scam and a breach of contract or in this case, a failed business.
Businesses fail all of the time. That is not a scam. It is caveat emptor wrt picking a business when you are a consumer, but it does not mean you were scammed if a business fails.
All of the rumors indicate that it was Verizon who shut them down because of shady reselling practices.
What do you mean shady? Verizon can shut down ANYONE who resells their service. Read the CA. By the terms of the CA, no one is allowed to resell Verizon's service.
As is customary in these arrangements, all plans were month-to-month with hardware purchased up-front. So a lot of people were stuck having just paid the substantial up-front cost recently only to get a couple months of service and then be dumped.
That's NOT a scam. That is a business failure.
I once paid a deposit for a custom wrought iron gate and the company went out of business before they could make it. I filed a claim with the bankruptcy trustee and got nothing. But I wasn't scammed. The business just failed.
Also, some people are finding their equipment unusable on Verizon's network directly because it is flagged or marked.
That is a shady practice on Verizon's part quite frankly. They shouldn't be able to do that and if I researched it I bet I could come up with some case law to support that a bona fide purchaser for value has a cause of action against Verizon for doing that. And please don't tell me just b/c Verizon does something that it is legal. They have been fined for their shady practices before.
This same company did the same thing a year or so ago, but with Sprint plans. They canceled all of the plans for people buying resold Sprint service because they got into problems with Sprint and were shut down.
But that is Sprint shutting them down, not a scam. The only argument that I can think of to say they are doing something less than ethical is if they don't disclose to the customers that the carriers do not allow their service to be resold and so the customer must be aware that they could be shut down at any time. And even then, that doesn't rise to the level of a scam, but it is a failure to disclose a known risk of the transaction and is a less than ethical business practice IMO.
The devices (purchased up-front) were all held in limbo (indefinitely, I believe) because of payment and legal disputes.
By Sprint. Your beef is with Sprint, not e-wireless. If anyone is doing anything wrong by harming bona fide purchasers for value it is the carriers.
Another similar provider (Blue Mountain Internet) recently was shut down by Sprint service with only a single day of warning to customers. Again, I believe all hardware purchased up-front from them was rendered unusable.
So people need to complain to Sprint b/c it is Sprint who is doing something wrong there.
It sounds like the carriers are cracking down on people finding creative ways to resell services without being resellers.
And I would be willing to bet you almost everyone who rents a data only device is well aware of the risk that this can happen. If not, well caveat emptor - it is your responsibility as a consumer to research these things before you put your money down.
That seems to be what happened in each of the above situations. When the arrangement requires large up-front investments, the customer really gets messed over when the operation is shut down soon after signing up.
Still not a scam. It is a bad choice on the consumer's part to get involved with MHS renting to begin with. They have another option and that is to pay for their data directly from the carriers at tiered data rates. But they want unlimited data and they choose to take the risk of buying from a reseller. When the risk that they took materializes, they are not scammed though.
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The traditional options - DSL, cable, etc. - aren't even offered in my area.
But you have the option of opening a line directly through Verizon and paying at tiered data rates. Or a satellite internet service.
Those options just cost more than you would like to pay. So instead you take the risk of going with a reseller.
Also, there is no god given right to internet service in rural areas. And you also have the option of moving.
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Well i agree for some verizon is the only option, rv owners truck drivers.
And they have the option of paying for data from Verizon at Verizon's tiered data rates.
People drove trucks and RVs for many decades w/o onboard internet access and no one died from lack of internet access, lol! In fact more people probably die now with all of the electronic gadgets onboard that distract drivers.
