UVA Mobile Beta Launches on T-Mobile

A new MVNO has entered the market today with a Beta launch and a kind of neat plan idea. UVA Mobile, a T-Mobile MVNO, is currently letting customers sign up for the Beta testing of its service and offering a couple of promotions for customers willing to test out the service. First, though, let’s look at the plans that UVA has to offer.

UVA Mobile Plans

This company has a kind of interesting idea. UVA only offers 2-line plans, priced at $50 for 30 days worth of service. Customers can pick from several options, based on how much data and how many minutes they want. All plans come with 5,000 texts and $5 credit for international long distance. Here are the plan options:

• 3.5 GB of data, 1000 minutes
• 3 GB of data, 1500 minutes
• 2 GB of data, 2500 minutes (this is toted as the best option based on US national average usage)
• 1 GB of data, 3500 minutes
• 500 MB of data, 4000 minutes

But here’s the catch: all minutes, texts and data are shared between the two lines. There are add-ons available, however, if you or your partner get greedy with one of the three services one month. For $10 customers can add 1 GB of data, 1000 minutes or unlimited texting. Add ons do not roll over at the end of the month, unfortunately, and will expire along with the plan, making it not that great of a deal. UVA Mobile FAQs state that eventually customers will be able to control how many minutes/texts/MB each line can access, but this feature is currently not supported. However, keep in mind this is still a Beta launch, so there’s a chance this policy will change and I certainly hope it does, or there wouldn’t be much point in buying it.

Phone Options

From what it looks like, UVA will not be selling phones, but is offering SIM cards along with activation. Since it is a T-Mobile MVNO, T-Mobile phones will be compatible with the service. Unlocked GSM phones should be compatible as well, but I’d be sure to check with customer service just to be on the safe side.

Beta Plan Offers

UVA Mobile is offering two promotions for Beta testers, no doubt in an effort to get more people to sign up to test the service. The promotions include getting a free SIM card with the purchase of your first month, getting the second month free, and getting on free $10 add-ons for the months to test out the service. The beta service is available now, and the official launch is scheduled for June. I’m not sure how many beta testers UVA is looking to get, but if you’re interested, you can sign up for an invitation here. While the UVA Mobile website is still underdevelopment, it does have some additional information, so I’d recommend you take a peek if you’re at all interested. What do you think though? Sound like something you’ll try? Let me know your thoughts or experiences in the comments!!]]>