We’ve got a Leap sandwich of posts today. It appears that just rejecting MetoPCS’s bid wasn’t enough. They had to emerge with news of their own, probably in an attempt to keep their stock lofty and receive a better offer from Metro. Today, Leap brings you unlimited, flat-rate wireless Internet. Take that, Metro! So it means, what, another billion or so for Leap in any further buyout talks? We jest, but only kind of. Regardless of the motive, this development only makes our desire to have Cricket in our town even greater. Read between the lines with us and let us know if you think we’re being too analytical. Leap offered this service on a Monday, which happened to be the business day after they rejected Metro’s buyout bid. Okay, we can chalk that up to coincidence, right? Ah, but check this out: The unlimited Internet isn’t being offered on handsets. It’s just a wireless card for your laptop computer. Yes, the service still rocks, but it’s a bit strange that a phone company wouldn’t allow this on their phones. The initial reason is that they don’t have phones that could take advantage of such a service. But Leap made no mention of ever having the service available on phones. We’d have expected something like “Leap plans to release a series of phones on which the service could be used in the future,” but no, nothing. We’re still digging the service, though. It’ll cost you $180 for startup materials — Kyocera Passport KPC 650 modem and Smith Mircro connection software — though rebates could bring that down to $100. Service is either $35 or $40 per month, depending on usage. Existing Cricket customers will get a $5 per month discount. No mention was made of Jump Mobile customers. The service is starting in a very limited area: Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Nashville. We expect it to succeed there and continue to grow. We also expect Metro and Leap to get this deal done before years’ end. Coincidentally enough, when we went to check the details on Leap Wireless’s website, it said “Service Unavailable.” [BusinessWire]]]>
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