Smarty phone
T-Mobile is the most recent carrier to throw its own mobile towers.
T-Mo announced the launching of GoSmart Mobile now, its no-contract wireless support for”budget-conscious consumers” The carrier promised no fees, overages or caps for those customers.
Statistics from market research firm IDC cited by T-Mobile in its own press release announcing that the service pegged 80 million cellphone users as opting for no-contract programs by the end of 2013, with an average per year rise of 7.4 percent before 2016. It appears like T-Mobile needs a slice of that pie that is prepaid.
“The influx of information providers, coupled with the conventional flexibility and value of no contract plans, has substantially increased customer interest from the no yearly contract wireless market,” John Weber, an IDC researcher, stated in the press release.
GoSmart or move home
The programs start at $30 per month for unlimited talk and text. Then for an extra $5 GoSmart cries in web with that talk and text. For $45 per month, readers get 3G speeds in addition to the other features.
Included in the programs are voicemail, call waiting, caller ID, and three-way calling – features that some carriers charge to utilize.
GoSmart clients can purchase one of its telephones or grab a SIM kit to put. The kits cost $8 and work with unlocked, GSM phones.
According to the website of GoSmart all mobiles are compatible with the GoSmart SIM. However, Blackberrys, Sidekicks and other smartphones with micro SIM cards”might experience limited functionality”
GoSmart hopefuls could also buy one of the 2 smartphones available from the. Those phones are the Alcatel OT 838 for $49 (after rebate) and the ZTE V768 for $99.
Contract killers
Prepaid wireless subscriptions are becoming more and more popular, with customers flocking to the choice and more carriers choosing to offer contract-less services.
Verizon also established its contract-free service this past month. Sprint also added its branded prepaid service, despite owning two other businesses which possess no-contract offerings: Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile.
But all these names getting into the prepaid game may only be useful for those consumers as competition forces prices down and pushes better services.
We need to see better services and phones enter the sector as carriers chase those prepaid bucks.
