As we noted earlier this month, a new company by the name of Zer01 has been getting a lot of attention for their promise of unlimited voice and data on smart phones for $69.95/month. There's quite a few (huge) catches, including the fact that the voice component is really VoIP with Zer01 operating as a mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE) -- who delivers service and phones to mobile virtual network operators (MVNO). Of course when the service "launched" on July 1, it was interesting to see the company hadn't signed up a single MVNO partner.

We’re pretty much completely helpless from our standpoint. -Zer01's CEO Ben Piilani, on the ludicrous marketing claims circulating about the company's product.

This week finds Nancy Gohring at Computerworld pens a piece that notes how Zer01 has all the tell-tale signs of an MLM and pyramid scheme, with no substantive product to speak of, vague and inconsistent technical specifics, all operated by a MLM marketing man named Mark Petschel -- currently on probation after pleading guilty to securities fraud. Gohrig notes that the parent company of Zer01, UTG, also gives off a rather fishy smell:Gohring gets attacked in the Computerworld comment section for not giving the company a chance, several angry posters insisting that many legitimate companies originate with floating headquarters, limited product, and executives with suspect histories. But Derek Kerton, who interviewed Zer01 management recently at CTIA, also has his doubts after seeing a product that technically was little more than shiny GUI.But Laptop Magazine, who praised Zer01 at CTIA, gives Zer01's CEO Ben Piilani a chance to defend himself. According to Piilani, when he found out about Petschel's securities fraud conviction, he managed to get him to step down as Global Verge CEO. He insists usable product will be in journalist hands "within weeks," and blames MLM partners for essentially everything that's gone wrong:Right after blaming his MLM partners, Piilani says he'll keep right on doing business with them. The evidence so far suggests that Zer01 is little more than MLM vaporware being lorded over by MLM outfits Buzzirk and Global Verge, netting a few ambitious but amoral gentlemen a nice payday before the operation flames out spectacularly or whimpers through a largely irrelevant lifecyle. If Zer01 is legitimate, they're going to need substantially more than shiny baubles and a non-existent product to do battle with the AT&T and Verizons of the telecom universe.