Sprint plans to keep the iDEN network, after months of speculation that they’d sell it. Just before we headed into Halloween evening, the company announced a further plan: they will migrate Boost Unlimited to the iDEN network from Sprint’s CDMA network, where it had been offered. This means a number of things for unlimited, the chief of which is a national coverage area. This gives Boost a leg up on regional unlimited competitors Cricket wireless and Metro PCS.
Boost Unlimited is currently limited to a select number of markets, just like Metro and Cricket, despite the nationwide CDMA presence of Sprint. Perhaps Sprint just doesn’t want to cut into its own Simply Everything unlimited plan. In any case, though, the full migration to the iDEN network means callers can roam about the country and still enjoy unlimited calling.
The question, of course, is of the price.
Boost Unlimited averages around $50 per month, with $10 extra for unlimited text messaging. Even at $70 or $75 per month for both features, they’d still undercut the competition. With many analysts predicting trying economic times ahead, that could be a viable solution for those whose phone use is a necessity.
Another angle to consider is that this triggers a price war. With consumer spending expected to be down, perhaps all carriers would do well to reduce their unlimited calling rates.]]>
With the approximate airtime cost of about 1 cent per minute, unlimited plans can dicey propositions for carriers. If a customer uses 5,000 minutes on a $50 unlimited plan there is simply no profit for the carrier. Sprint’s plan to use the iDen network to assist in Sprint’s overall bailout could result in retreat once the unlimited prepaid ARPUs start rolling in. Prepaid unlimited customers are quite different users than postpaid unlimited users.
MetroPCS and Cricket still offers a more robust CDMA network than the patchy IDEN that has fallen apart owing to Sprint’s lack of investment. Price points are lower and these companies ARE profitable This announcement is at best disruptive, however without distribution for Boost Unlimited and no public confidence it amounts to a shot in that nobody will hear. Dan Hesse is trying to unload the ugly stepchild.
If you look at http://www.gsmbundles.com, they are already offering what Boost is offering and at a much lower price if you look at the data offering that is also included.
Th unlimited plan for iDEN will be $50 for everything and it launches January 22, 2009.
It’s mid-2010 and I’ve been using Boost Mobile $50/Unlimited plan for almost a year now. This is the worst phone service I’ve ever had. Many of my sent text messages never make it to the intended recipient, and I’ve approximated that I only receive somewhere around 40% of the text messages that are sent to me. Often when people call me, it goes straight to voicemail. The vast majority of the time when I try to call others, I get the message “the number or code you have dialed is not in service,” despite the fact that I am dialing a working number. The “unlimited internet access?” Man, I though dial-up was slow. This takes minutes to even load Boost’s version of the internet homepage. It’s feasibly possible that the problems stem from my phone and not the service, but I’m not sticking around long enough to find out. Net10, here I come.