prepaid

The prepaid business, long an engine of growth for the wireless industry, is starting to sputter.

TracFone, MetroPCS, and Leap Wireless all reported disappointing second-quarter financial results. The period is typically weaker for the prepaid providers as the business takes a breather following two consecutive quarters of growth.

But their performance fell below even the lowered expectations placed on them, underscoring the pressures that the companies face with intense price competition and a still weak economic environment. Furthermore, some of the companies warned of a weaker third quarter, leading some to wonder if the prepaid business is poised for slower … Read more

Not all 4G networks are created equally. Just look at MetroPCS.

The prepaid provider and Verizon Wireless may share the same 4G technology, Long-Term Evolution, but the two have little else in common. It's a fact well known in the industry but less clear to consumers: MetroPCS's 4G service is significantly slower than the one Verizon is offering.

"The carrier's average speed is like a very good 3G network," PC Mag's Sascha Segan reported from the publication's speed tests earlier this year.

MetroPCS's 4G network was born out of the company's … Read more

MetroPCS' smartphone strategy is paying off, its president said today, after the company reported disappointing second-quarter results.

A fourth of MetroPCS' customers use smartphones already, and 38 percent of its customers are tied to a family plan, Chief Operating Officer Thomas Keys said during a conference call with analysts.

"The growth has been driven by increasing interest in smartphones," Keys said.

Keys' comments were a defense against questions raised by Wall Street over the company's customer growth and rate of turnover, which both left investors wanting. The company attributed the weakness to normal seasonal pressure and the … Read more

T-Mobile USA is replacing the outlets that will be lost when RadioShack switches to Verizon Wireless, and early today announced that its first new partner is 7-Eleven.

T-Mobile and 7-Eleven said that, as of yesterday, consumers can buy prepaid handsets at the convenience store chain. The partnership signals T-Mobile's increasing presence in the prepaid area; 7-Eleven is already known for selling prepaid phones and calling cards.

While the partnership gets T-Mobile in 8,800 7-Eleven stores in North America, it is a poor replacement for RadioShack. RadioShack said last week it would begin selling Verizon Wireless products and services … Read more

The mobile world moves at a breakneck pace, and it's difficult to keep up--even without the technical jargon most industry insiders throw around. And they do love to toss those terms about.

Earlier this month, I explained the nuances between the different 4G technologies and why you don't want companies cramming you. With the carriers posting their quarterly earnings results recently, I figured it would be a good chance to provide you with a refresher course on telecom jargon that industry executive and Wall Street types like to use.

So for some light reading, here are few terms … Read more

The number of consumers paying for items via their mobile devices will shoot past 141 million this year, says new data out today from Gartner.

That figure is a 38.2 percent increase over 2010, when mobile-payment users hit 102.1 million. The amount of money generated via mobile payments is expected to reach $86.1 billion this year, up almost 76 percent from the $48.9 million seen last year.

The surge in mobile payments will come despite the slow adoption of mobile-payment technologies.

The mobile, retail, and financial industries have been rushing to roll out near-field communication (NFC) … Read more

Just when you thought you had enough, another iPhone rumor pops up.

The latest, courtesy of a story from Boy Genius Report today, has Apple selling a contract-free, $350 iPhone 3GS for the prepaid customer segment. The report also said the next iPhone, which may or may not feature a radical design, will be coming out or announced "by the end of summer, late August-ish."

An Apple representative wasn't immediately available to comment on the validity of the report.

Apple has been looking at ways to expand its potential base of customers and cement its leadership role in the smartphone world. The company has already expanded its distribution with the addition of Verizon Wireless as a carrier partner. But Apple wants to go after the burgeoning prepaid market, one of the few areas of customer growth still left in the wireless industry. … Read more

Running an Internet cafe isn't just a matter of setting up a few computers and inviting customers to use them. You have to have a way to monitor and charge for the amount of time that customers use. Internet Cafe Management Software, or IncaMS, is a simple program that lets you do just that. It's not particularly sophisticated, but if you need a basic way to track computer usage and ring up transactions, it could be exactly what you're looking for.

IncaMS includes both client and server software, and we installed both without any issues. The program … Read more

Virgin Mobile, the prepaid arm of Sprint Nextel, said today that it is moving away from a fully unlimited data plan and will begin to slow the connection speed of its more excessive bandwidth-hogging customers in October.

Virgin said that customers who exceed 2.5 gigabytes of data in a month will see reduced speeds, a practice known as throttling. The company said less than 3 percent of its customer base go over that mark. The policy will affect all customers.

Virgin is the latest carrier to acknowledge the pressures that heavy data usage by its customers have placed on it. Last week, Verizon Wireless switched to a tiered data plan, following AT&T's move last year. T-Mobile also throttles its customers' connection speeds.

As further evidence of the pressures Virgin faces, the company also unveiled new plans starting July 20 that raise the price of its cheapest options. Its 300-minute plan, which includes unlimited messaging and data, costs $35, $10 more than before. Its 1,200-minute plan goes from $40 to $45.

The company did cut its $60 unlimited calling plan down to $55, likely an acknowledgement of the competitive threat presented by MetroPCS and Leap Wireless. The company also said it would waive the $10 add-on fee for BlackBerry smartphones.

The plans were first reported by Fierce Wireless.

Virgin has been a major factor for much of Sprint's turnaround with its customer base. While winning back contract customers has been difficult, the carrier has seen explosive growth in the prepaid segment, where customers pay on a month-to-month basis and can leave at any time. … Read more