BYO Wireless Merging with Budget Mobile

Today is a sad, sad day for the prepaid market. I discovered today that BYO Wireless has started hinting at what many have been speculating for months–that the company will soon be folded into Lifeline provider and parent company Budget Mobile. There isn’t a lot of information, but folks, it’s not looking too good. From all of the reports and discussions that I’ve seen on HowardForums, it looks like BYO Wireless will be operating until August 31, 2015 after which the company will be merged with Budget Mobile. There isn’t anything official on the BYO site yet, but HowardForums users have reported getting emails announcing the change as of the beginning of September. It’s unclear at this point whether former BYO customers will be able to keep their current plans, or even exactly what plans will be offered. Prepaid Phone News reported that plans will vary by state, and posted the following possible options:

Texas:

• $5 – 100 minutes, 100 texts, no data (BYO offered 20 MB)
• $10 -250 minutes, 250 texts, no data (BYO offered 50 MB)
• $15 – 350 minutes, unlimited texts, 50 MB data (No BYO equivalent)
• $20 – 500 minutes, unlimited texts, 250 MB data (BYO offered 500 MB)
• $30 – 1000 minutes, unlimited texts, 400 MB data (No BYO equivalent)
• $40 – unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, 500 MB data (BYO offered 1 GB)

California

• $40 – unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, no data (BYO offered 1 GB)
• $45 – unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, 250 MB data
• $50 – unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, 3 GB data

Of course, the reports are a little conflicting right now and I’d take that as mostly speculation until BYO announces anything formally. I have contacted Budget Mobile for more information on the services and the transition process, and I’ll be sure to let you guys know whenever I hear back. It is worth noting that Budget Mobile currently does offer different plans by state because there are different subsidies in each state. However, translating that to prepaid seems not only confusing but downright dumb, especially with the loss of data for virtually every plan. BYO was one of my absolute favorite Verizon prepaid providers because of its really low prices and great service. It’s sad to see that era coming to an end, but at this point there’s not much to do but wait and see if it’s worth jumping ship or not. As always, check back for more news!]]>