Big news this week for
Ting lovers. In a press release earlier this week, Ting announced that they will be offering GSM service alongside their Sprint CDMA network in February 2015. While Ting has stated they cannot formally say who their GSM partner is, they have released
this coverage map which suggests that their GSM network will be through T-Mobile and will include roaming on GSM partners, giving them one of the best GSM coverage maps in the MVNO market.
As if that wasn’t enough, Ting says that their GSM and CDMA devices will be able to coexist on the same account and share minutes, messages, megabytes and a single monthly bill–a feat Ting is proclaiming to be an industry first. Additionally, there are select phones that
should be able to use both CDMA and GSM SIM cards, although that would mean two separate numbers. Ting has warned that the details are still being ironed out, though, so we don’t know a whole lot more about that.
Currently, Ting estimates that around 80% of smartphones made in the last couple of years will be compatible with Ting after the launch of their GSM service, and FierceWireless estimates that Ting already has more than 80,000 accounts. You might remember Ting being listed as
one of the top three MVNOs in the nation earlier this year as well. It’s been a good year for this little MVNO.
If you aren’t familiar with Ting, they have a very unusual business model. Rather than a prepaid carrier, they are actually a no-contract postpaid carrier, where you pay for what you use at the end of the month, based on a tiered system for minutes, texts and MB, plus a $6 device fee. For more information on Ting,
check out their website.]]>
