WebProNews

Tag: Wireless Carriers

  • FCC Banning Three Chinese Wireless Carriers

    FCC Banning Three Chinese Wireless Carriers

    The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is taking action to ban three Chinese wireless carriers: China Unicom, Pacific Networks and ComNet.

    The US has been banning multiple Chinese firms, especially in the telecommunications space. Officials have accused the companies of being a threat to national security and consumer privacy as a result of their ties to Beijing.

    In two separate statements about the three wireless carriers, the FCC used the same language, saying all three companies “are indirectly and ultimately owned and controlled by the government of the People’s Republic of China.” China Unicom, as well as Pacific Networks and its subsidiary, ComNet, were all asked last year to make a case as to why they don’t pose a threat and shouldn’t be banned.

    “In 2019, when we blocked China Mobile USA from entering the U.S. market based on national security concerns, I said it was time for a top to bottom review of every telecom carrier with ties to the communist regime in China,” said Commissioner Brendan Carr. “Many of these firms were authorized to operate in the U.S. decades ago and the security threats have evolved substantially in the intervening years. With that type of review in mind, the FCC opened investigations into several carriers—including the carriers at issue here, China Unicom Americas, Pacific Networks, and ComNet. We have provided them with the process necessary for the FCC to identify and eliminate any threats they may pose to America’s national security.

    “These three carriers provided incomplete and inconsistent responses that failed to address these threats and in turn raised fresh concerns about their ability to follow FCC rules. The Executive Branch agencies with responsibility for national security reviews have echoed these concerns and advise that traffic on these networks ‘remains subject to exploitation, influence, and control by the Chinese government.’ I therefore agree with the Commission’s determination today. The potential national security threats posed by these carriers requires the FCC to initiate revocation proceedings.”

    Any hope Chinese companies had of being under less scrutiny with the Biden administration appears to be fading fast.

  • No-Contract Phones Are Found To Be More Expensive Than Subsidized Devices

    No-Contract Phones Are Found To Be More Expensive Than Subsidized Devices

    No-contract phones are all the rage these days thanks to T-Mobile. The wireless carrier ditched contracts last year and instead adopted a business model that allows consumers to pay off their new phone in small monthly payments. Other carriers have adopted this new model alongside other pre-paid plans that require consumers to pay for the entire device up front. The thinking goes that consumers will save more money in the long run if they go with a no-contract plan, but that doesn’t appear to be the case.

    The Wall Street Journal recently took a look at the price of a contract plan versus a no-contract plan and found some interesting results. For instance, a consumer looking to buy an iPhone at Verizon will find that the contract plan will actually save them $175 over two years.

    Wait, how does that work? The math shows that an iPhone costs $200 at the time of purchase plus a $35 activation fee when a consumer goes with a subsidized plan under contract. After that, the consumer will pay $75 a month for two years. Under its no-contract plan, Verizon customers don’t pay an activation fee and the monthly cost goes down to $65 a month. That sounds awesome until consumers realize they have to pay an extra $27 a month over the next two years to pay off the phone. At the end of the day, the contract plan costs $2,035 over the course of two years while the no-contract plan costs $2,210.

    AT&T and T-Mobile have similar costs for consumers that choose to go for a no-contract plan. While they may not be saving money, they are securing peace of mind as the absence of a contract allows them to switch carriers at any time without any penalties. The only “penalty” would be that they would have to pay off the remaining balance on the phone, but said phone is theirs to keep after it’s paid off. In other words, a consumer could pay off a phone on Verizon and take it to T-Mobile without any problems.

    So, what’s the benefit of going with a no-contract plan over a contract beyond peace of mind? According to Verizon, the true benefit comes when a person wants to add more data or devices. Due to monthly fees being lower on no-contract plans, those looking to add more devices do stand to save a bit more money in the long run. It’s nothing major, but it’s something to look at when looking to switch carriers and/or plans.

    Still having trouble deciding whether to go no-contract or contact with your next device? As it turns out, plenty of YouTube personalities have struggled with same choice and have shared their thoughts. There might be some advice below that applies to your specific situation:

    If you need any more convincing to go the no-contract route, T-Mobile says you’ll be as free as Tim Tebow:

    Wait, is that a good thing?

    Image via T-Mobile

  • Mobile Data Plans: The End Of Unlimited Data?

    Mobile Data Plans: The End Of Unlimited Data?

    Some are saying that the “unlimited data” selling point that has long been a part of mobile data plans among top wireless carriers is in its death throes.

    It’s been pointed out that both Verizon Wireless and AT&T have switched to a “tiered system”. Instead of giving customers as much data as they want, they are now hit with higher bills if they use more than the amount data they agreed to pay for.

    Though Sprint and T-Mobile both have unlimited data, industry analysts suspect it won’t be long before these companies follow suit.

    What’s most startling is that customers don’t seem all that concerned. Despite Sprint marketing its unlimited data plan aggressively, especially since Verizon and AT&T have dropped the option, the carrier is reportedly hemorrhaging customers. As for T-Mobile, they still offer unlimited data, but it’s not at the forefront of their advertising campaigns.

    Could it be that customers simply don’t care how much data they’re given? Perhaps. Or it could be that consumers have concerns that have nothing to do with how much data they’re allotted.

    Leading wireless carrier Verizon, while at the pricier end of service, has long marketed to potential customers based on their extensive coverage maps. No matter where you are in the United States, you would be able to get their service and it it would be quality service. Quality itself is the second aspect.

    Even though data is unlimited and cheap…what difference does it make if the service is largely unreliable and unavailable? The image of lower quality service and limited availability is what certain wireless carriers are fighting.

    T-Mobile has seen a drastic increase in subscribers due to marketing directly to consumer concerns and designing plans that address “pain points”.

    In the end, the most popular mobile plan service will likely have nothing to do with unlimited data. As T-Mobile is demonstrating with their “Uncarrier” approach, it may be about which plan does more to specifically address customer concerns.

    Image via Facebook

  • T-Mobile’s Jump Being Changed For The Better [Report]

    T-Mobile’s Jump Being Changed For The Better [Report]

    In its quest to shake up the mobile industry, T-Mobile revealed Jump last year as a way to allow consumers to upgrade their devices twice a year. It also instigated a six month waiting period between signing up and being able to upgrade. All of that may be gone by next week.

    TmoNews reports that T-Mobile will be introducing a new Jump program on February 23 that will remove pretty much all of the restrictions found in the original. No more will you have to wait six months before signing up and upgrading. There will be no more limits on how often you can upgrade. Tablets will also be added as eligible devices.

    So, how will the financials of all this work? When upgrading, you will bring in your old phone and trade it in. Upon doing so, T-Mobile will offer you some trade-in credit for your old device. If the payments you’ve made on the phone combined with the trade-in credit meet or exceed 50 percent of the original purchase price, T-Mobile will take care of the remaining cost of the phone. From there, you’re free to upgrade to the latest and greatest device.

    What about current Jump customers? Will they still get this deal? The leaked memo states that current Jump customers will get all the features found in the new Jump if they’ve been a member of the old program for six months or more. We can assume that recent signups for Jump will have to wait six months before being transferred to the new plan, but we’ll likely find out more on this next week when it’s announced.

    It will be interesting to see if T-Mobile announces anything else at its upcoming press event on February 23. The carrier seems to not be finished with shaking up the wireless industry for the better and we’re interested to what it does next.

    In the meantime, enjoy these silly Valentine’s Day breakup macros T-Mobile CEO John Legere has been sharing all morning:

    Image via TMobile/YouTube

  • AT&T Logs Q4 Profits, 500K New Subscribers

    AT&T today released its fourth-quarter earnings, reporting a net income of $6.9 billion – a significant increase over the company’s net $3.9 billion loss during the fourth quarter of 2012. These earnings came on revenue of $33.2 billion, up 1.8% over revenue during the holiday quarter 2012.

    For the full-year 2013 AT&T reported revenues of $128.8 billion, up slightly from the $127.4 billion the company took in during 2012. 2013 net income was up nearly 150% year-over-year to $18.2 billion.

    AT&T’s report shows that the company added 566,000 net subscribers during the fourth quarter 2013. Even more significant, however, is the fact that it added 1.2 million new smartphone subscribers, including new customers and existing subscriber upgrades. A larger number of smartphone subscribers could help the carrier increase earnings per customer while battling for the few subscribers left in the U.S. market.

    “2013 was the year of the network,” said Randall Stephenson, chairman and CEO of AT&T. “With Project VIP, we’re delivering faster speeds and new services to millions more customers. And growth on these platforms is going strong. We exceeded build targets across the board. Our 4G LTE network is nearly complete and is the nation’s most reliable with lightning-fast speeds. U-verse is rapidly expanding, and our fiber-to-the-business build is off to a fast start.

    Looking ahead to 2014, AT&T is expecting revenue growth of 2% to 3%. The coming quarters will be very telling for AT&T as it combats a full-on assault from T-Mobile, which is offering to pay consumers’ early termination fees to switch networks. Though AT&T has issued its own deal to pay a portion of T-Mobile subscriber fees to switch, this fourth quarter report shows that AT&T added fewer post-paid subscribers that T-Mobile even before the fee pay-off deals were announced early this year.

  • Mobile Data Revenue Hit New Highs in 2013

    Mobile Data Revenue Hit New Highs in 2013

    Smartphone manufacturers may be seeing their sales growth slow in established western markets, but the companies providing mobile data access on the those devices are still seeing their revenues soar.

    Market research firm ABI Research today released a report estimating that mobile internet service revenue rose over 23% worldwide in 2013, up to nearly $300 billion. Smartphones are becoming more ubiquitous, making up 27.5% of consumer mobile data subscriptions last year – a 6.6% increase from that seen in 2012. Overall, mobile data broadband subscriptions rose nearly 29% in 2013.

    “The region that will contribute the most to the increase in mobile Internet service revenue is North America, despite the maturity of the North American market and that only 5.5% of global cellular subscriptions are based there,” said Ying Kang Tan, a research associate at ABI. “Higher smartphone penetration and increased mobile data consumption have helped the region to buck the declining ARPU trend. We expect ARPU in the region to rise in 2014 before declining again due to competition and lower revenue generating connections subscribing to mobile broadband.”

    As potential new mobile customers begin to dry up in the U.S., mobile providers in the country are now scrambling to find new sources of revenue growth. T-Mobile is hoping to buy customers away from other carriers with its consumer-friendly “Uncarrier” initiatives. AT&T will soon begin charging consumers and content providers for data flowing on its 4G network through its “Sponsored Data” program, but only if the company manages to placate the FCC and net neutrality advocates.

  • T-Mobile Claims It Now Has The Fastest 4G Speeds

    T-Mobile Claims It Now Has The Fastest 4G Speeds

    Today at its Consumer Electronics Show (CES) presentation T-Mobile laid down the gauntlet for other mobile providers, promising to pay customers’ early termination fees if they trade-in their devices.

    Even paying $650 for a customer to switch won’t be enough, though, if T-Mobile’s network isn’t up to the standard of what customers are used to. So, along with the termination fee announcement T-Mobile CEO John Legere announced what has become somewhat of a cliche in the mobile industry: that T-Mobile now believes it has the fastest 4G speeds of the top four U.S. mobile providers.

    T-Mobile is backing up this statement through an analysis of user data collected from the Ookla Speedtest mobile app. The carrier claims that it has the highest average 4G LTE network speeds in the U.S., with an average of 17.8 Mbps last month. According to T-Mobile, AT&T’s average in December is the next fastest at 14.7 Mbps, then Verizon at 14.3 Mbps. Sprint follows as a distant fourth with average speeds of only 7.9 Mbps last month.

    The image at the top of the article depicts Speedtest averages from January 8, the day of T-Mobile’s press conference.

    “Finally we agree with AT&T on something: faster is better,” said Legere. “I warned the competition this day would come, and millions of speed tests from real people using their own phones prove it: T-Mobile’s nationwide 4G LTE network is the fastest network in the nation – bar none.”

    Legere claimed that T-Mobile will be sending a cease & desist letter to AT&T, asking them to alter their marketing materials that claim the AT&T network is fastest.

    Whether or not T-Mobile can truly be called the fastest mobile provider in the U.S., the company certainly does not have the breadth of coverage that AT&T has throughout the U.S., especially in smaller communities. To move up from fourth place, T-Mobile will need more spectrum deals like the one they struck with Verizon last week.

  • T-Mobile to Pay Other Carriers’ Early Termination Fees

    T-Mobile to Pay Other Carriers’ Early Termination Fees

    Late last week AT&T announced a plan to pay T-Mobile subscribers up to $450 to switch to AT&T. T-Mobile CEO John Legere’s criticisms aside, it now seems that AT&T was getting out ahead of a new T-Mobile plan that was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) today.

    During the T-Mobile CES presentation today Legere announced a plan to pay off other carriers’ mobile subscribers’ early termination fees. The service begins tomorrow, when AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint customers can switch to T-Mobile and receive up to $350 toward their early termination fees, as well as up to $300 for their traded-in phone.

    As the plan stands, new T-Mobile customers will have to hand over their “eligible devices” from their previous carrier. This will net them up to $300 in credit for each device, depending on how T-Mobile values their particular phones. Customers will then have to purchase a new device through T-Mobile (which is now paid off over 24 months) as well as sign up for a “Simple Choice” plan. Finally, customers will have to either mail or upload a copy of their final bill from the carrier they just left and T-Mobile will pay the early termination fees listed on the bill, up to $350 for each line terminated. In short, T-Mobile will pay up to $650 for each of five line and devices switched in this way.

    “We’re giving families a ‘Get Out of Jail Free Card,’ said John Legere, president and chief executive officer of T-Mobile. “Carriers have counted on staggered contract end dates and hefty early termination fees to keep people bound to them forever. But now families can switch to T-Mobile without paying a single red cent to leave them behind.”

  • Sprint Announces New “Framily” Service Plans

    While AT&T and T-Mobile have been dealing with their own issues during this week’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Sprint has used the venue as the debut of a new mobile service plan it is calling “Framily.”

    Though Sprint is calling the new plan “revolutionary,” the realities of the plan are a bit more mundane than that. Under a Framily plan, customers will be able to add up to 10 phone lines to their wireless plan, regardless of whether the people using those phones are really family. Each person on the plan can be billed separately.

    The first line on the plan will cost $55, with each additional line costing $5 less and $25 being the minimum (for the 7th through 10th lines on a plan). Each line comes with unlimited talk and text, but only 1GB of data per month – not the unlimited data that Sprint is known for it its marketing materials. Unlimited data will cost $20 per line and comes with yearly device upgrade program seen in its “One Up” offering.

    “The Sprint Framily Plan redefines the way we think of family plans and gives our customers the power to decide who will be a part of their group and gain greater savings as more members are added,” said Dan Hesse, Sprint CEO. “Sprint continues to be a leader in offering customers choice, flexibility and value. The Sprint Framily Plan makes Sprint the best choice for families and friends.”

    That Sprint can tout what is essentially a 10-person family plan as a redefining moment for family plans just how far the carrier has slipped during the past year. Sprint was the last major U.S. carrier to unveil its T-Mobile-inspired unsubsidized pricing plan and the company was seen losing millions of subscribers as it shut down the Nextel platform last year.

    The Framily pricing plan will be available starting January 10.

  • CES 2014: AT&T Announces New “Sponsored Data” Offering

    CES 2014: AT&T Announces New “Sponsored Data” Offering

    AT&T today unveiled a new plan to allow content providers to subsidize data costs for AT&T mobile subscribers.

    The plan, called “Sponsored Data” would allow companies to pay for any data charges that AT&T mobile customers would ordinarily incur accessing those companies’ content. Sponsored Data content will be marked with a special icon denoting that certain apps, videos, and services can be used by AT&T subscribers without fear of being charged extra for data costs.

    It must be pointed out that AT&T’s Sponsored Data is exactly the sort of thing net neutrality advocates have been warning about for years now. Though AT&T emphasized that the new plan does not prioritize sponsored traffic over its network, the system will still be able to push users toward apps, storefronts, and other content provided by those companies that can pay AT&T’s Sponsored Data costs.

    While AT&T is marketing the plan as beneficial to consumers who access content that will be participating in Sponsored Data, the startups that have made the mobile market as competitive as it is today would effectively have to pay AT&T a Sponsored Data ransom – or else convince consumers that their content is worth a bit of consumers’ precious monthly allotment of data. The Sponsored Data plan also provides AT&T with no incentive to raise low (and expensive per GB) mobile data caps.

    “As content consumption has evolved from analog to digital, so have the ways for companies to reach consumers,” said Andy Geisse, CEO of AT&T Business Solutions. “The Sponsored Data model is just one way we’re helping companies tap into our network to offer differentiated experiences and transform the way they do business.”

  • T-Mobile CEO Calls AT&T Payouts “Desperate”

    T-Mobile CEO Calls AT&T Payouts “Desperate”

    Earlier today, AT&T announced that it will now pay up to $450 to T-Mobile customers willing to switch over to an AT&T plan. The deal included $200 per line for the switch and up to $250 for a traded-in smartphone, depending on the phone model.

    The move was a tacit admission that T-Mobile has been syphoning off subscribers from AT&T. Where T-Mobile added one million new customers during its previous quarter, AT&T added fewer than 370,000 new subscribers during its third quarter. All this in a U.S. mobile environment where new customers are becoming very rare.

    T-Mobile has now responded to AT&T’s switch payouts, and it isn’t impressed.

    T-Mobile CEO John Legere today issued an executive statement calling AT&T’s new deal “desperate” and implying that the payments amount to bribery. The statement, in full:

    This is a desperate move by AT&T on the heels of what must have been a terrible Q4 and holiday for them. I’m flattered that we have made them so uncomfortable! We used AT&T’s cash to build a far superior network and added Un-carrier moves to take tons of their customers – and now they want to bribe them back! Consumers won’t be fooled…nothing has changed; customers will still feel the same old pain that AT&T is famous for. Just wait until CES to hear what pain points we are eliminating next. The competition is going to be toast!

    -John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile USA

    The money of AT&T’s that Legere refers to is the estimated $4 billion payment T-Mobile’s parent company received as termination fee for the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile. The deal fell apart in 2011 after the U.S. Justice Department successfully opposed the deal on antitrust grounds.

    Legere’s confidence is clear, and not entirely unjustified given the successful 2013 that T-Mobile had. If the company’s announcements at next week’s CES show really are as big as Legere seems to believe, U.S. wireless customers are in for another year of competitive initiatives from mobile providers.

  • AT&T to Pay Up to $450 For T-Mobile Subscribers to Switch

    AT&T to Pay Up to $450 For T-Mobile Subscribers to Switch

    Just over two years ago AT&T and T-Mobile were set to merge into But for the U.S. Department of Justice that merger would have created the largest mobile provider in the U.S., further stifling competition.

    Instead, CEO John Legere has turned T-Mobile, the fourth largest mobile provider in the U.S., into a pain in the sides of larger mobile providers – and a successful one at that. Throughout the past year, T-Mobile has introduced contract-free mobile plans, unlimited international data, and its “Jump!” service, which allows customers to upgrade their smartphones at a rapid pace. Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint all quickly formulated their own plans to compete with T-Mobile’s offerings.

    With subscribers now fleeing from AT&T at an increasing pace, AT&T is now confronting the problem in the simplest possible way: by throwing money at the problem. AT&T today announced that it will pay up to $450 per line to T-Mobile subscribers willing to switch over their subscriptions to AT&T.

    Starting today, T-Mobile customers can receive up to the $450 payout depending on a few factors. Switching from T-Mobile to an AT&T plan will get subscribers a $200 credit towards their new plan. The other $250 is dependent on the condition of a smartphone that is traded into AT&T. Only the “latest and most popular smartphones” will get new subscribers the full $250, which will come in the form of a “promotion card.”

    This new move by AT&T shows just how much T-Mobile has shaken up the U.S. mobile market in the past year. It also demonstrates another factor that is quickly becoming a problem for U.S. carriers: that the number of new subscribers available in the U.S. is drying up. For consumers this should mean increased competition from all of the major carriers, as long as potential mergers continue to be kept in check by the DOJ.

  • AT&T Is Tired Of Footing The Bill For Your New Smartphones

    AT&T Is Tired Of Footing The Bill For Your New Smartphones

    For the longest time, wireless carriers have operated on a business plan that subsidized hardware in exchange for locking customers into a pricey two-year contract. The logic was that the almost pure profit these carriers pulled from subscriptions helped to make up the cost of the phone. Now one carrier isn’t so sure of that business plan anymore.

    CNET reports that AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson was at an investor conference this week where he touched upon the company’s need to move away from subsidizing smartphones. He noted that it was an acceptable cost when they were trying to get people to use smartphones, but it’s a little more complicated now that 75 percent of AT&T’s subscribers use smartphones. Those subscribers expect to upgrade to the newest model every two years with a heavy subsidy to pay for it. Stephenson says that it’s just not financially viable:

    “When you’re growing the business initially, you have to do aggressive device subsidies to get people on the network. But as you approach 90 percent penetration, you move into maintenance mode. That means more device upgrades. And the model has to change. You can’t afford to subsidize devices like that.”

    So, what does AT&T intend to do about the rising cost of smartphones? For starters, the carrier is now going to encourage subscribers to keep their phones for more than two years. A new plan was introduced that knocks $15 off a subscriber’s monthly bill if they opt to keep their current phone instead of upgrading after two years.

    The other, more attractive, plan is to follow in T-Mobile’s footsteps and offer financing. In other words, subscribers will pay the usual small fee up front and then pay off the rest of the phone in installments over a two year period. Subscribers are still locked in for the two year period, and AT&T doesn’t have to absorb the majority of the phone’s cost. It’a a win-win scenario for the carrier and one that Stephenson “see[s] the market going.”

    Besides changing how the carrier sells phones, Stephenson also said that AT&T must encourage its subscribers to use more data. In other words, AT&T’s move to get rid of unlimited data plans worked as more than 70 percent of its subscribers are now tiered pricing. As data consumption becomes more prominent, AT&T stands to make a killing as more subscribers switch to higher tiered data plans. In fact, Stephenson sees mobile video as the next big thing and that alone will drive up data usage to new heights.

    The mobile industry is now in a state of change thanks to T-Mobile switching to its popular un-carrier approach to selling smartphones. While AT&T and Verizon will never offer unlimited 4G data, both carriers are already adopting T-Mobile’s approach to financing smartphones and upgrades. That means consumers aren’t going to see much of a change in their upfront costs, but they will end up paying more in the long run if carriers ditch subsidies altogether in favor of financing.

    [Image: Wikimedia Commons]

  • AT&T Announces 4G Data Roaming in Canada Through Rogers

    AT&T Announces 4G Data Roaming in Canada Through Rogers

    AT&T today announced a deal with Rogers Communications to provide its customers with 4G LTE data roaming capabilities while in Canada.

    Access to the data will, of course, not be free. AT&T customers will have to buy packages of capped monthly data to use Rogers’ network. The packages start at $30 per month for 120MB and also come in $60 for 300MB and $120 for 800MB sizes.

    “Our agreement with Rogers affirms our commitment to deliver superior international coverage to our customers,” said Bill Hague, EVP of International Alliances and Integrations at AT&T Mobility. “AT&T customers already have access to the nation’s fastest, most reliable 4G LTE network while in the United States and now they can enjoy LTE speeds while roaming in Canada.”

    AT&T stated in its announcement that it is the first U.S. carrier to offer international LTE roaming. While that statement is technically true, the announcement is actually a reaction to T-Mobile’s recent announcement that its customers will have access to free, unlimited international data (though not 4G) in over 100 countries around the world. Compared with that, AT&T’s Canada policy might not look like much but it is a step in the right direction and Americans in cities bordering Canada will likely get plenty of use out of the offering.

    International data roaming is yet another new feature that T-Mobile is forcing larger U.S. mobile providers to compete on. Earlier this year the company unveiled its “JUMP!” upgrade plans, allowing customers to pay off their devices over time and upgrade more often. Within weeks all three other major U.S. mobile providers had unveiled similar plans. T-Mobile’s creative initiatives and low pricing have helped it grow subscription numbers at a time when other carriers are losing subscribers.

    (Image courtesy Siqbal/Wikimedia Commons)

  • Sprint Tanks in New Consumer Satisfaction Survey

    With smartphone industry growth in North American now slowing, mobile providers in the U.S. are getting creative to scoop up the last few customers who have yet to sign up for mobile plans and to maintain their large subscriber bases. T-Mobile has been wildly successful at this in the past year, with its market share and subscriber base both growing substantially this summer on the back of its “uncarrier” initiatives such as “Jump!”

    As T-Mobile quickly rises from its position as the fourth largest mobile provider in the U.S., third place carrier Sprint is heading the opposite direction. The company saw a $1.6 billion loss during its second quarter this year while also losing 2.7 million subscribers.

    This new reality is reflected in a new Consumer Reports survey that shows Sprint is now the lowest-rated carrier out of the big four in the U.S. Though Sprint ranked second in the same survey one year ago, the company has now fallen hard, with consumer ratings of its value, voice network, and 4G service all falling.

    “Our latest cell service satisfaction survey revealed a somewhat precipitous decline by Sprint that shuffled the rankings of the major standard service providers,” said Glenn Derene, team leader for Electronics Content Development at Consumer Reports. “And smaller, no-frills, no-contract and prepaid service providers continue to do a better job of satisfying customers, and provide an increasingly viable alternative to some of the expensive, long-term contracts that many consumers find themselves locked into.”

    Verizon continued to top the customer satisfaction list for major U.S. carriers on the back of high consumer ratings for its data network and customer support. AT&T and T-Mobile came in second and third with average ratings for their services, though AT&T did get what Consumer Reports describes as a “top rating” for its 4G network.

  • Sprint to Unveil Its Unsubsidized Pricing Plan

    Back in July, T-Mobile introduced its “Jump!” pricing plan. The mobile provider’s new plan, instead of subsidizing the cost of new smartphones, allows customers to pay for their devices on a monthly basis. In addition, customers on the plan can upgrade to newer smartphones on a yearly basis instead of being locked into a two-year contract.

    Within days of T-Mobile’s announcement, AT&T and Verizon had both announced similar plans with their “Next” and “Edge” programs, respectively. Sprint seemed to be the only major U.S. carrier caught off guard by the new system. Now, with its big SoftBank merger out of the way, Sprint is coming around with its own unsubsidized plan.

    According to a CNET report, Sprint is readying “One Up,” its monthly payment plan for smart devices. The service is reportedly scheduled to start on September 20 – the same day the new iPhone 5S launches in the U.S.

    “One Up” will be very similar to competing plans, allowing customers to pay for smartphones over the course of 24 monthly payments. Customers can trade in their current smartphone after one year and upgrade to a newer one.

    It appears that Sprint will be positioning “One Up” as the least expensive of the new unsubsidized plans carriers are now offering. In a chart provided by CNET, Sprint estimates the cost of one year or “One Up” as being around $220 less expensive that T-Mobile’s “Jump!,” which is less expensive than both AT&T’s and Verizon’s offerings.

  • AT&T Tops J.D. Power Purchase Experience Survey

    AT&T Tops J.D. Power Purchase Experience Survey

    Earlier this month, J.D. Power released the results of its “2013 U.S. Wireless Customer Care Full-Service Performance” study. The report showed that AT&T ranks number one among top U.S. mobile providers when it comes to customer service satisfaction.

    Today, J.D. Power released the results of its “2013 Wireless Purchase Experience” Study. The survey looks at and rates the experiences customers have when purchasing phones and mobile plans online, in stores, or over the phone. The results are, unsurprisingly, similar to those seen in the customer service survey.

    AT&T top the survey’s list of major U.S. mobile providers when it comes to purchase experience, a first for the company. AT&T scored 798 on J.D. Power’s 1,000-point rating scale, beating Verizon by just four points. Sprint was third on the list (but closer to Verizon than on the customer service rankings) with a 793. T-Mobile brought up the rear, again, with a comparatively dismal 784.

    Overall, customer satisfaction with mobile sales is on the rise. The rating for all carriers by customers who completed sales transactions recently now stands at 795, a 31-point increase from the same rating just six months ago. As with the customer service survey, consumers pointed to better online chat as a reason for their greater satisfaction, with faster, easier-to-use websites also contributing.

    “There’s a direct correlation between an efficient sales transaction process and improving satisfaction with the overall purchase experience,” said Kirk Parsons, senior director of the Telecom services division at J.D. Power. “The increased levels of satisfaction with website are partially due to the efficiency and immediacy of the experience driven by increasingly innovative online chat functions. Additionally, carriers have invested heavily in promoting and marketing the latest 4G devices to keep current customers loyal and encourage spending on more advanced services.”

  • T-Mobile Adds 1.1 Million Subscribers In Q2

    T-Mobile Adds 1.1 Million Subscribers In Q2

    For the longest time, T-Mobile was the third wheel of wireless carriers as it did everything the same as AT&T and Verizon, but without the excellent 4G coverage. That all changed earlier this year as the carrier became the “un-carrier” and got rid of contracts. It has also aggressively expanded its 4G coverage. All of this has culminated in the company having one of its best quarters yet.

    T-Mobile released its second quarter earnings report today, and the carrier says that its new programs have paid off very well so far. The big news is that it has added 1.1 million new subscribers over the last quarter. It also reported 688,000 branded postpaid net additions – an improvement of more than 1.2 million year-over-year.

    “T-Mobile’s Un-carrier approach has clearly resonated with consumers. By fixing the things that drive them mad, like contracts and upgrades, and freeing them from the two-year sentences imposed on them by our competitors, they are choosing the new T-Mobile in unprecedented numbers,” said John Legere, President & CEO of T-Mobile. “We are just beginning and we will continue to apply this innovative thinking to the Un-carrier offers we create and to the internal operations of our company, which taken together are driving significant shareholder value creation.”

    One of the big events during T-Mobile’s second quarter was the launch of the iPhone 5 on its service. The carrier says that iPhone sales accounted for 29 percent of its total sales. The Samsung Galaxy S4 did even better by selling 4.3 million units, or 86 percent of its total sales, during the second quarter.

    In other news, T-Mobile said that it ended its second quarter with 44 million subscribers – an increase of more than 10 million. It only gained 1.1 million last quarter, so where did the other 8.9 million come from? If you recall, T-Mobile bought MetroPCS earlier this year, and that carrier’s subscribers have now been moved over to T-Mobile’s network.

    As for the future, T-Mobile expects its EBITDA to be in the range of $5.2 to $5.4 billion for 2013. It also expects to gain between 1 and 1.2 million branded postpaid net addition this year as well.

    T-Mobile isn’t at the level of Verizon or AT&T just yet, but the carrier is quickly becoming a major player in the industry. Its influence has already been felt after the introduction of its Jump program, and other carriers may soon follow suit with their own “un-carrier” plans. Consumers certainly want to see it happen.

  • AT&T Ranks 1st in Customer Service For U.S. Mobile Providers

    AT&T Ranks 1st in Customer Service For U.S. Mobile Providers

    U.S. mobile providers aren’t known for their fantastic customer service, but some are certainly better than others. J.D. Power’s “2013 U.S. Wireless Customer Care Full-Service Performance Study” was released this week, ranking each of the country’s mobile carriers on their customer’s satisfaction with each company’s service.

    The study found that AT&T now ranks highest in customer service satisfaction among all U.S. mobile providers, with customers ranking the company well for its walk-in and online chat services. AT&T scored a 795 on J.D. Power’s “Power Circle Ratings” 1,000-point scale, with Verizon coming in second at 790. Sprint was third on the list with a score of 771, and T-Mobile brought up the rear with a low score of 760.

    Mobile provider rankings 2013

    Among “non-contract” mobile providers, MetroPCS ranked highest with a 770. It was followed by Cricket, which scored a 750, and Virgin Mobile, which scored a 733. Boost Mobile came in slightly below the average for non-contract providers, with a score of 729.

    Overall, the study found that satisfaction with mobile providers’ customer service rose this year to its highest level since 2009. J.D. Power attributes this rise to the more frequent use and better performance of online customer service, particularly online chat.

    “The higher levels of satisfaction with online chat are partially due to the efficiency and immediacy of the experience, particularly with service issues or questions that are easier to resolve in this environment, such as billing or service/device questions pertaining to upgrades,” said Kirk Parsons, senior director of the telecom services practice division at J.D. Power. “However, as carriers release new products and services to meet consumer demand, such automated systems as online chat must continue to evolve to address harder-to-answer questions related to technology support, as customers gain confidence in using alternative contact channels for convenience-related reasons.”

  • Sprint Loses $1.6 Billion, Loses Nextel Subscribers

    Today Sprint Corporation released its first quarterly report since its acquisition by SoftBank. The U.S. mobile provider posted a massive $1.6 billion net loss during the second quarter of 2013, while the company’s revenue during the quarter dropped slightly to just over $845 million. One of the few bright spots of the report includes an 8% rise in Sprint’s wireless service revenue to $7.2 billion.

    Sprint also lost over 2.7 million subscribers during the second quarter. Much of the subscriber loss was due to the Nextel platform officially shutting down on June 30. Though Sprint was able to convert over 4 million Nextel subscribers to Sprint network subscribers, the company was only able to convince 34% of Nextel subscribers to do so.

    Sprint chalked up much of its losses during the quarter to the shutdown of Nextel. The company also closed several large business dealings during the quarter, including the acquisition of Clearwire for around $14 billion and a $21.6 billion merger with Softbank.

    “This is a historic time for Sprint,” said Dan Hesse, Sprint CEO. “We recently shut down the Nextel platform and completed the Clearwire, SoftBank and U.S. Cellular transactions. In the second quarter, we achieved record levels in Sprint platform postpaid subscribers, service revenue and postpaid ARPU, and increased our 4G LTE footprint. Sprint pioneered unlimited voice, text and data in 2008, and we recently introduced the first lifetime guarantee, solidifying our commitment to the simplicity and peace of mind that unlimited brings.”

  • T-Mobile Announces $0 Down For Any Smartphone

    T-Mobile Announces $0 Down For Any Smartphone

    T-Mobile was the first mobile provider in the U.S. to introduce a contract-free service that allows users to pay off their smartphone in monthly installments and upgrade more than once every two years. The “Jump!” service was billed by the self-styled “un-carrier” as a big shake-up of the U.S. mobile industry. The industry has now quickly followed T-Mobile’s lead, with AT&T and then Verizon both launching similar rapid-upgrade offerings this month.

    Today, T-Mobile announced that it is, just weeks after announcing it, improving its Jump! promotion. Customers will now be able to obtain a smartphone -any smartphone – from the carrier for $0 upfront, though they will still have to make monthly payments on the device and sign up for wireless service from T-Mobile. The deal begins on Saturday, July 27.

    The originally announced Jump! promotion required subscribers to pay a down payment for each device. AT&T’s “Next” promotion was offering devices without any down payment, and T-Mobile has now matched that.

    Included in the deal are top-of-the-line smartphones, such as Samsung’s Galaxy S devices, Apple’s iPhones, and the HTC One. Any smartphone in T-Mobile stores will be available without an upfront payment, though the monthly payments for individual devices do vary. Apple’s iPhone 5 and Samsung’s Galaxy Note II, for example, would require a payment $27 per month, while the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One, BlackBerry Q10, and Sony Xperia Z would cost only $25 per month.

    “The number of reasons not to switch to T-Mobile this summer is zero,” said John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile. “This is a fantastic offer and we’re making it easier than ever for customers to get the latest amazing devices. Adding zero down in addition to Jump!, and Simple Choice with no contract is all about making wireless work for consumers and shaking up this industry.”

    The U.S. wireless market is becoming ever more saturated, and carriers are beginning to compete heavily for every subscriber. As the fourth-largest mobile provider in the U.S., T-Mobile is working harder than most, taking on the larger carriers with new deals, lower prices, and unlimited data plans.