Prepaid Done Right
Alan reports on 7-11's new pre-pay mobile phones, for sale across the U.S. as of today. $160 for a Nokia 3200 camera phone with EDGE is pretty damn great (and you can send in a rebate for $50 as well). And the flat-rate pre-paid minutes last for a year - just like the pre-paid phones I used in Spain. This is really a no-brainer and awesome to see here in the U.S.
“By offering the popular Nokia 3200 wireless phone first through our proprietary 7-Eleven Speak Out program, we are on the cutting edge of attracting new wireless customers,�? said Cooper. “Potential customers will now have options for the wireless phone features they prefer; it’s not just a color or monochrome screen choice anymore.�?
“There are 125 million Americans who have yet to become wireless users,�? said Adam Guy, director of the wireless practice for Compete, Inc. “Compete’s research shows many of these consumers have been waiting for a simple, convenient and affordable wireless program. Speak Out’s expanded program combines the ubiquitous reach and recognition of the 7-Eleven brand with simple and affordable flat-rate airtime pricing.�?
It's being launched by an MVNO that I've never heard of called Ztar Mobile. Nice looking site, but no information on data access. I can't imagine these guys would be so short-sited not to include it, so we'll just assume that they are selling EDGE-speed phones with XHTML minibrowsers to the masses. Very cool if you're thinking about creating some neat mobile-content. :-) Now we just have to see how expensive it is. I can't imagine they'd be so rockin' to have 25 cent per-day data charges like Boost Mobile, but I can hope. :-)
Speaking of Boost! I wanted to play with my Boost Mobile Moto i730 today but found out that someone used all my minutes up, but I can't recharge it because boostmobile.com has been down all day. WEIRD.
-Russ