Can 'Free' Wireless Operators Shake Things Up? Or are We Doomed to the High Price Status Quo? You might recall that AT&T last year proudly proclaimed that wholesale operators like Clearwire would never pan out because wholesale "isn't a profitable wholesale model in wireless today." Ignoring for a second that AT&T works tirelessly to try and make that claim true, it appears this proclamation is about to be put to the test. Bloomberg explores how numerous services piggybacking on the Clearwire network this year will start being more disruptive on price, most of them offering some variant of a basic free tier for low-usage subscribers. NetZero has already arrived, and additional companies like Ting, Republic Wireless and FreedomPop are on deck. Of course none of that matters if Clearwire can't find a way to be both disruptive -- and profitable.
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  ctceoPremium
join:2001-04-26
South Bend, IN | Sacrifice I'd Sacrifice 1/9th of my screen for an ad ticker supported free wireless internet. You? | |
|  |  antdudeA Ninja AntPremium,VIP
join:2001-03-25
United State
kudos:4
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| Re: Sacrifice said by ctceo:I'd Sacrifice 1/9th of my screen for an ad ticker supported free wireless internet. You?
Sure, make it optional for those who wants free service. And make non-free service for those do not want to pay and not see ads.  | |
| | | ctceoPremium
join:2001-04-26
South Bend, IN | Re: Sacrifice +1 | |
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BiggA
join:2005-11-23
EARTH Reviews:
·Comcast
| Needs CDMA Ting and Republic both run on Sprint CDMA, and are dependent on Verizon CDMA roaming.
Free service on Clearwire is a joke because their coverage is only in major metro areas.
The fact of the matter is, it takes a LOT of money to run a nationwide network with great coverage, and that's why there are only two of them. The prices aren't going to go down that much. Let's just hope they can get more fair with some of the overages and fees. | |
| | | | Re: Needs CDMA Ting and Republic do NOT roam. Sprint MVNOs are NOT permitted to roam. Neither do Boost or Virgin Mobile- Sprint owned companies.
And prices are starting to come down Take a look at these prices on the Cellco network: »www.pagepluscellular.com/online%···tes.aspx They're not only less expensive but also built on a CDMA network with NO roaming options Page Plus also is one of the oldest MVNOs as well. They popped up when VZW started taking over the late Dobson's Cellular One/Airtouch network in Ohio. | |
| | | | | Re: Needs CDMA Ting has an agreement to roam on Verizon... just an FYI. | |
| | | | | | Re: Needs CDMA clearly the Sprint Network: »ting.com/coverage
And very much over priced. | |
| | | | | | | Re: Needs CDMA Looks like Verizon roaming to me. Sprint has little or no presence in Montana yet most of the state is coated with green. Same with other states like the Dakotas, Wyoming, etc. | |
| | | | | | | | Re: Needs CDMA The site only mentions Verizon when questioned and mentions other carriers as well. but there is actual evidence about that. They proudly display Sprint's name all over their site and was mentioned they were/are a Sprint MVNO as well. Plus roaming onto that Cellco Network is NOT cheap but - neither is Ting to start off with. | |
| | | | | | | BiggA
join:2005-11-23
EARTH | Re: Needs CDMA If you glance at the map, it is blindingly obvious who they are roaming on. Ting is a very affordable option for multiple lines. Obviously it doesn't target the heavy or extreme users. | |
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| | BiggA
join:2005-11-23
EARTH Reviews:
·Comcast
| Why don't you do your research? Ting roams on CDMA 1x with voice only, no data, and Republic roams with voice and data, I think 1xRTT. VM and Boost don't roam except as mandated for SOS coverage.
The maps are obvious. It's Verizon roaming on the voice. The Sprint map comes back for data.
If you do the math, Ting is actually a really good deal if you have a bunch of lines that you want to have light to moderate data use on, and normal voice/text use. You could easily keep it under $120/mo for 5 lines, on Verizon, that's something like $280/mo. Ting's biggest hang up right now is lack of BYOD. Once they get that, they will be golden, as you can buy used Sprint phones on Ebay for pretty cheap.
@sonicmerlin: Sprint now has nationwide low-band spectrum. Let's see if they become a third player. They won't, unless someone buys them up and dumps billions into them. Maintaining, upgrading, leasing, and backhauling sites are what most of the cost is now, yes, they add new sites, but the networks were largely built 20 years ago, and have long since been paid for. | |
| | | | | | Re: Needs CDMA said by BiggA:
Sprint now has nationwide low-band spectrum. Let's see if they become a third player. They won't, unless someone buys them up and dumps billions into them. Maintaining, upgrading, leasing, and backhauling sites are what most of the cost is now, yes, they add new sites, but the networks were largely built 20 years ago, and have long since been paid for.
HUHHHH RHHAAGGY????? low band spectrum? Ummm low band 30-50MHz spectrum has not been used for IMTS or paging for about the last 30 years... and cellular service never used it. Original US cell bands are 869-896 in two bands, A & B...
Are you referring to the 850MHz iDEN spectrum? Decidely not low band, and sprexhoostgin has decided to DECOMMISSION it and the sites to save the $$$ they don't have to convert it to CDMA (which would be a problem since it would require a waiver to use CDMA in the Part 90 spectrum. 1 CDMA "channel" would be 1.25MHz)
»www.fiercewireless.com/story/spr···12-02-07 | |
| | | | | BiggA
join:2005-11-23
EARTH | Re: Needs CDMA low band= 700, 800 (iDEN), 850
high band= AWS, 1900, 2600
They are deploying CDMA on the SMR spectrum with 1x PTT, BUT they aren't expanding their footprint out. | |
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| | | said by BiggA:The fact of the matter is, it takes a LOT of money to run a nationwide network with great coverage, and that's why there are only two of them. The prices aren't going to go down that much. Let's just hope they can get more fair with some of the overages and fees.
Uh no, actually it takes a lot of initial capital to buy the necessary spectrum and build the towers to launch a nationwide network. Once you've built it, your economies of scale kick in and give you massive advantages over new competitors. Then there's the issue of spectrum limitations and incumbents hoarding it. That's why there's only 2 competitors. There's an insurmountable barrier of entry, and the dominant duopoly do everything they can to make that barrier even higher. | |
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Reviews:
 ·ooma
·Optimum Online
 ·Verizon FiOS
| dont' hold your breath.. while clearwire might be on life support hoping this ad model would keep them alive, it's simply not going to happen. we have not seen a "FREE" internet model since the largest ISP called "LINKSYS" and the era of free/ad supported DIALUP. the greed of companies is too great for a free model to work much these days. companies might be testing the waters with free "capped" models, but free unlimited models aren't about to arrive any time soon, don't hold your breath. | |
| | RDC17
join:2011-05-15
Baltimore, MD | Re: dont' hold your breath.. If you don't value the security of your data, linksys is just the ISP for you. | |
| | | Reviews:
·ooma
·Optimum Online
·Verizon FiOS
| Re: dont' hold your breath.. said by RDC17:If you don't value the security of your data, linksys is just the ISP for you.
BTW, there really isn't much MORE $ecurity on that ultra expensive cellular internet data which people pay MILLION$ for each and every month. If security matters that much to you, then you shouldn't be transmitting the data unencrypted over the internet in the frist place.
»www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD8GL5yfANg
** The learning curve for hackers has gotten steeper, so as the transition from analog phones to digital data changed so did the time to fully understand how interception, and intrusion into networks and data networks of all kinds. Banks probably get ripped off for millions each and every year from overseas electronic banking thieves.. yet they dont' ever publish the numbers out of fear in the CONSUMER backlash. Both business and consumers have be preconditioned over the years to accept a certain level of michief that either goes undetected or accepted as industry norms. | |
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