Author: Joe Pawlikowski

The most telling sign that you’re doing something right: other companies try to one-up you. If you make what you consider a big announcement and no one says boo, then it probably wasn’t all that effective. But if you can make a competitor jump and make a counter move, you just might be onto something. This is the case right now with T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile of Sprint Prepaid Group.

Late last month T-Mobile rebranded itself as an Un-Carrier, since it did away with contracts and subsidies. Those are long standing institutions in the cellular industry, but consumers appear to be searching for alternatives. While titans Verizon and AT&T continue to add customers, prepaid is making a strong push. Carriers such as Cricket and MetroPCS continue to add customers, while MNVOs of major networks are also growing.

Virgin Mobile used to be an MVNO of the Sprint network, though Sprint had a stake in it for many years before purchasing it outright a few years ago. It is now part of Sprint Prepaid Group, along with Boost Mobile, which Sprint acquired when it bought Nextel. Virgin made waves when it introuced its Beyond Talk plans, which originally featured an unlimited data and messaging plan for $25 per month. They’ve since increased it to $35, but the excellent deals still remain.

Previously competition with T-Mobile was mostly with Sprint, since both offered postpaid services. But with T-Mobile horning in on prepaid, it’s apparently time for Sprint’s Virgin Mobile to fight back. They recently launched a campaign that not only directly compares the services (with Virgin winning out, of course), but also offering customers a $100 credit when they switch from T-Mobile to Virgin. That’s quite an incentive, and Virgin says it’s only part of the savings.

The comparison, as you can see, uses the Samsung Galaxy SII, which is a good one given its slot as a value smartphone. At $5 per month less than T-Mobile, and with a phone that is $114 less, Virgin is boasting a savings of $334 over two years, which includes the credit for switching.

The promotion drives home the new landscape in the mobile world. In the past Sprint might have made comparisons to a new T-Mobile offering. Then again, perhaps not, because Sprint was the larger player and had little reason to make such comparisons. But T-Mobile is larger than any current prepaid carrier, and so is ruffling some feathers. This is Virgin’s way of trying to hit a relative giant with a slingshot.

Virgin doesn’t make any misrepresentations in the comparison graphic, and in fact note an advantage of T-Mobile’s — its mobile hotspot feature — albeit in smaller print. They also make the assumption that their 3G EVDO network is faster than the throttled speeds on T-Mobile, which I don’t think is necessarily true.

You can check out the promotion for yourself and see if it works for you. It is pretty clear, though, that the competition in prepaid just got a little fiercer.

The post Sprint’s Virgin Mobile Gunning for T-Mobile’s Un-Carrier Plans appeared first on MobileMoo.

For the past few years Best Buy has struggled to remain relevant. That might sound odd, since Best Buy is the country’s No. 1 electronics retailer. But these days that’s not enough. More and more people are shopping online, and for electronics particularly. Brick and mortar stores become glorified showroom floors.

Best Buy does have a strong web presence, but it still needs to drive sales to its retail outlets. Otherwise it can’t justify paying the rent and keeping the lights on. To that it has created several stores within its stores. It is currently planning Samsung stores, which will sell products ranging from tablets and smartphones to TVs. It’s one way to generate foot traffic and interest in Best Buy physical outlets.

One mini-store Best Buy has always boasted is its Mobile Solutions. There they sell phones and plans from all major service providers. It’s hard to miss it when you walk into a Best Buy store. Of course, they also have a mobile section online. And there are some deals to be had currently.

While there are plenty of deals you can find directly with a carrier — the BlackBerry Z10 from T-Mobile and AT&T are the standard $200 — there are some discounts to be had. The Galaxy S3, for instance, is $100 from AT&T and $150 from Verizon, cheaper than you’ll find them in stores (at least without a special sale). They’re definitely worth checking out.

So check out Best Buy Mobile Solutions for deals on a new smartphone. Any time you can get a better price than the carrier offers, you should take it.

The post Deal: Best Buy has some Great Android Deals appeared first on MobileMoo.

Today we heard the long-anticipated announcement of a Facebook phone. It’s not actually a phone, though. Instead it is a custom home screen for Android. Again, the beauty of Android’s open architecture is on display here. Companies of any stripe can, if they are so inclined, create a custom Android skin that changes the way the operating system functions in certain ways. That’s exactly what we saw from Facebook today.

Despite the anticipation of the announcement and some generally positive remarks from the live bloggers, one important question remains. Yes, people use Facebook on their mobile phone, which is a positive for the social network. But just because people use Facebook on their phones does not mean they want Facebook integrating with every facet of their smartphone experience.

In his opening pitch, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, “Our phones are designed around apps and not people. So we want to flip that around.” While the idea of a phone designed around people sounds like a noble cause, it is not what Facebook is aiming for here. They want a phone built around Facebook, plain and simple. You can quite easily build your phone around people, especially your Android phone with its robust and customizable contacts list. Facebook would rather you view people through them.

One neat feature of the app is called Chat Heads, which allows you to message someone when you’re viewing them. “In today’s app centric world, messaging is treated just like another app,” said Zuckerberg. This is true, with even SMS acting as another app. Yet other companies that have tried to create custom skins have fallen short. Just look at HTC. We haven’t yet seen their revamped Sense UI, but the initial screenshots make it look horrible. There’s something to be said for a custom navigation experience, but no company has nailed it yet. It appears doubtful that Facebook will be the first.

Speaking of HTC, they’ll be the first company to produce a phone with Facebook Home. That phone, the HTC First, will launch later this month — probably around the same time as the HTC One. Despite the One’s probable superiority, it is almost a given that the First will sell better, given the power of Facebook’s brand. But that doesn’t guarantee consumers will like it once they have it.

As is pretty clear, I have no interest in this phone whatsoever. Consider the number of people my age (~30) who got in on the ground floor of Facebook and now only retain accounts because of others, I’m not sure that Facebook has the bright future that many in the social media industry believe. Facebook does love to tout its mobile engagement, and Facebook Home will absolutely test those claims. I don’t expect them to be particularly positive, though.

One interesting note is that Microsoft could be the big loser here. As Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan notes, Bing is Facebook’s desktop search provider. Yet Facebook Home is built on Android, a Google property. Zuckerberg said that you can “use whatever you want” for search, but Sullivan believes that Google will provide the default search function. That hurts Microsoft in the growing mobile search wars.

You can read more about Facebook Home at Facebook’s newsroom. Again, the Chat Heads feature actually looks cool. It’s a little disruptive, but that’s fine for messaging. The problem, at least for me, is turning my mobile experience into a Facebook-driven experience. Does anyone really want that?

For posterity’s sake, USA Today was my go-to live blog.

The post Facebook Has Strong Mobile Usage, but Is It Primary? appeared first on MobileMoo.

Anyone who has owned a BlackBerry smartphone knows the pain of mobile browser evolution. Before 2007 we merely accepted it as reality. There were no good mobile browsers, so users didn’t think much of it. But then came the iPhone with Safari, and with it a much smoother and easier mobile browsing experience. We can credit Apple with showing us what mobile browsers can do.

Safari for iOS has taken several steps forward since then. Google has its own answer, not with the default Android browser but with a mobile version of Chrome. There are some decent third-party browsers such as Skyfire, which allows Flash on iOS, and Opera Mini, but they’re mostly for niche audiences. The masses will get along just fine with Safari and Chrome.

(I suppose it’s not shocking that more people use the Android browser than Chrome, but it’s still a head scratcher. Chrome is a far better browser, and it’s free.)

In the above link you’ll see market share information for mobile browsers. What you might not notice is the absence of a very familiar browser: Firefox. There is indeed a Firefox for Android, but it doesn’t get much traction. On the iOS side, Firefox doesn’t have any interest under current conditions. That leaves Firefox developer Mozilla in a tight spot. Mobile browser usage is increasing, and all it can boast now is a fledging mobile OS.

It comes as little surprise, then, that Mozilla has had a mobile browser project in the works. What might surprise a bit is that they’ve teamed with Samsung to develop it. In a blog post today they describe the browser, Servo, which is built with the Rust programming language. Mozilla hits the major points in the second paragraph:

Servo is an attempt to rebuild the Web browser from the ground up on modern hardware, rethinking old assumptions along the way. This means addressing the causes of security vulnerabilities while designing a platform that can fully utilize the performance of tomorrow’s massively parallel hardware to enable new and richer experiences on the Web. To those ends, Servo is written in Rust, a new, safe systems language developed by Mozilla along with a growing community of enthusiasts.

The idea is certainly noble. Mobile has change the way we interact with the internet, and so current browsers might not best fit our needs. Selling a new browser can be tough, but it appears that Mozilla and Samsung have a novel idea.

Security appears to be the main focus of the browser. That’s certainly going to play well with consumers who are concerned about the recent rash of hackings. Mobile is a uniquely personal platform and people are rightly concerned about security vulnerabilities. Explicitly addressing them with a new solution could win Servo major points with consumers.

It will be a while before we see the fruits of this project. In most cases it would be easy to dismiss yet another mobile browser. But in the case of Servo there’s too much going in its favor to ignore.

Via Phoen Scoop.

The post Can Samsung and Mozilla Revolutionize the Mobile Browser? appeared first on MobileMoo.

What’s one way to draw iPhone users to Android? Offer a similar selection of apps. Android has done that exceedingly well, convincing developers to create Android versions of popular iOS apps — and furthermore, offering them for free (against ad sales) through Google Play. Today we’re seeing something along those lines. TuneIn Radio is already available on Android, but one of its iPad-only features, Live, has made its way to the No. 1 smartphone platform.

For those unfamiliar, TuneIn radio aggregates tens of thousands of radio stations worldwide, alongside podcasts, concerts, and other audio media. You can choose from among your favorite stations, even if the station is across the country — or across the world. You can set your favorites, so you never lose the stations that bring you the music you want to hear.

The Live feature provides a different way to discover stations and music you might love. When you set it up, you choose up to seven categories you enjoy, whether news, sports talk, or a variety of music genres. When you click the Live tab on the app, you’re brought to a screen with a series of squares that contain album artwork. What you see is what’s playing on a particular station. Your choices are broken down into genre, so you can scroll sideways to check out different options.

Perhaps the greatest feature is the “just started” one, which lets you know when you can jump in right at the beginning of a song. The tiles for each genre automatically scroll, but newly streaming songs get priority.

The feature isn’t exactly revolutionary, but it does present users with a new way to discover music they like. It also stands to help users discover stations that play music they enjoy, and perhaps helps them discover music that is new to them. How many times have you browsed in a record shop and found yourself intrigued by an album cover? Chances are you wouldn’t drop $15 on a CD just because you liked the cover, but TuneIn gives you the opportunity to sample it before buying.

The normal downsides of TuneIn apply to Live as well. You’ll still have to sit through an ad before you get to your music, so even if you catch a song at the beginning you’ll miss at least the intro. You also have to change the settings to 192Kbps streaming to get a decent sound quality; streaming music isn’t too hard on your data plan, so you should be fine even with a 2GB cap as long as you’re not combining TuneIn with extensive video streaming.

When TuneIn conceived Live, it was a great feature that iPad and web customers could enjoy. Taking it to Android opens up a whole new mode of music discovery to a huge audience. You can get TuneIn Radio with the Live update for free at Google Play.

Via Phone Scoop.

The post TuneIn Bringe Live Feature to Android appeared first on MobileMoo.

Even unabashed Android fanboys have to give Apple some credit. They created a great system with their AirPlay sync capabilities. Play a video from certain apps on your iPad or iPhone, and you can stream them to your TV via a cheap Apple TV device. This works not only for videos you load onto your Apple device, but also many streaming services such as Netflix and HBO Go. It might be the feature I miss most after switching from iPhone to Android as my primary device.

Android users needn’t fret, though. They have alternatives as well. For years Roku has offered an alternative to Apple TV. The box and software have improved significantly in recent years, too, leaving many users with a strong impression that the Roku is better than Apple TV, especially for non-iPhone and iPad users. Yet there is still that missing AirPlay equivalent. Thankfully, one Android developer has delivered something of a solution.

Juice for Roku allows you to stream movies from your Android to your Roku box. All you need to do is install the Juice channel on your Roku box and you can stream videos from your Android as long as they’re both connected to the same network. Since that’s almost always the case, Juice gives you a simple, easy way to watch video on your TV.

There are some limitations, though. For starters, Juice is not compatible with all video formats. As they tell it, you’re best off trying with MP4 files. But even then you won’t have a 100 percent success rate, since Roku doesn’t support all codecs. You can check out specific information on video compatibility here. You can’t stream from YouTube, or any other Flash service, though you can send some web-based videos to Roku. It’s also unclear how well the video will work with 3D TVs, though there have been no specific complaints.

What Juice amounts to, at this point, is a nice alternative for Android users who have a Roku instead of Apple TV. The combination seems logical enough; people with iPhones and iPads benefit from Apple TV far more than those with Android devices. Juice has a ways to go before it can be a true Apple TV AirPlay comparison, but it’s the best we have at the moment.

If you have an Android and a Roku box, you’ll want to check out the Juice for Roku Demo, which allows you to test all the features of the full device before buying. If it’s up your alley you can buy Juice for Roku for $2.99.

The post Juice for Roku Gives Android an AirPlay-Like Replacement appeared first on MobileMoo.

When T-Mobile introduced new plans earlier this week it did more than just undercut most of its postpaid competition. It also started testing out a new paradigm, one in which users pay for their service and phones separately. Under the scheme that the other three major carriers employ, you’re paying an inflated price that takes into account device subsidy, even if your device isn’t being actively subsidized.

With T-Mobile, you pay for your device and then you select a plan. Unfortunately for most, that up-front cost can be a huge turnoff. For many it can make a new phone purchase impossible. That’s why T-Mobile has instituted a system that amounts to zero percent financing on all handsets. You make a specified down payment, which is typically far less than the price of a subsidized phone. Then you pay between $5 and $20 monthly for 24 months, which is the typical length of a cell phone contract.

The result is some pretty attractive pricing for older, but stuill usable, Android smartphones. T-Mobile has some great deals advertised for those. Here are just some of the intriguing options you’ll find:

• The HTC One S for $9.99 down and $15 per month.
• The Samsung Galaxy S II for $29.99 down and $16 per month.
• The Samsung Galaxy S III for $69.99 down and $20 per month.
• The LG Optimus L9 for $48.99 down and $8 per month.

You add that monthly payment to the plan cost. If you only need 500MB of data, it’s just $50 per month. Many can get by with 2.5GB of data, which costs $60 per month. Unlimited data costs $70 per month. So, for instance, you can get the Galaxy S III for $70 down and $80 per month for 24 months. That’s a sweeter deal than you’re going to find with other carriers.

If you’re looking to switch, or even to upgrade with T-Mobile, make sure to check out Android phone deals at T-Mobile.

The post Take Advantage of T-Mobile’s New Plans with Affordable Phones appeared first on MobileMoo.

For the first few months I owned the Samsung Galaxy SIII, I noticed few issues related to battery life. With a powerful processor and an LTE radio, I did fear that the battery wouldn’t be sufficient for many of my needs — including hour-long train rides into New York City. With those fears allayed I got a bit comfortable. That is, until last week, when my battery was halfway drained after just the train ride into Manhattan.

The MLB At Bat widget is to blame, apparently. After changing the refresh rate I was able to conserve battery throughout my trip, but the damage was done. Keeping widgets like this running can cause significant battery drain, to the point where I now need to charge the device every 20 or so hours (i.e., not quite a full day’s usage). At home that’s no big deal. On the road, it becomes a bigger issue.

While there are many solutions, there is one that I’ve found satisfactory in more than one way. The Xpal Powerskin case has proven an excellent form of protection, both against dings and battery drain. It’s a very thin silicone case that, with a little added thickness, provides more protection than your average silicone case. The charging feature means I won’t have to worry if my battery usage gets out of hand at some point.

I will admit, the case is a bit thicker than the one I’d been using, so it does feel a little awkward in my pocket. The charge feature also doesn’t quite provide a full charge. That’s fine, since it’s mostly a break glass in case of emergency tool. But it would be nice to essentially get a mulligan when abusing my battery. I’ve used various iPhone charging cases, and they all provided a full charge.

As with all battery backup cases, you’ll only get a certain number of charges. There are plenty of complaints that the Xpal works for only a few months. If you chew up battery life quickly, this probably isn’t the solution for you. You probably need a more full-powered extended battery (which means a much larger case) or a spare battery. For those who need the occasional boost, the Xpal will work well.

If you have a Galaxy S3 and want to get that little bit of insurance, you can get the Xpal Powerskin case for $37.95 from Amazon. Don’t have the S3 but still want a case like this? Check out Xpal’s entire line of smartphone cases.

The post Keep Your Samsung Galaxy SIII Powered on with a Powerskin case appeared first on MobileMoo.

There is an inherent struggle between phone manufacturers and carriers. Each wants to control the end user experience. Verizon has been hugely aggressive in this. When you buy a new Android smartphone, you’ll notice a number of pre-installed Verizon-braneded apps, such as VZNavigator and Verizon Tones. They recently nixed its MP3 music sales channel thanks to competition from Google Play and iTunes. But it appears they’re fighting back on at least one front: gaming.

Today Verizon announced a new gaming portal, powered by PlayPhone. It will in many ways resemble Apple’s Gaming Center, in that it allows people to hook up over their internet connections and play games together. It is, in other words, something of a social network for mobile gaming. At the same time, it will utilize other social networks for sharing, which should increase the service’s visibility.

Verizon will launch the service by preinstalling it on a number of new Android devices. That’s certainly an annoyance for some, but given the number of apps Verizon already installs on Android devices it shouldn’t cause too much customer dissatisfaction. It’s really the best way for Verizon to push the service. For current Android customers, a software update should be coming soon enough.

While the preinstall breaks down one barrier, Verizon’s account billing breaks down a perhaps more important one. How many users, for instance, forego purchasing an app or game through Google Play, because they don’t want to enter their credit card information (or don’t have a credit card)? Carrier billing can increase sales by reducing friction. The challenge will come with secondary lines on family accounts. The primary account needs to not only have control over purchases, but needs to be made aware of the potential in the first place. The last thing Verizon needs is a group of parents complaining after the fact that they didn’t know they had to limit such activity.

The specific focus on games could lead to a greater level of social engagement than those games found in Google Play. When you browse Google Play there is a a huge selection of content, from apps to games to MP3s to videos. By picking its battles and sticking with just games, the Verizon/PlayPhone experience could become a positive for many casual smartphone gamers.

Android is certainly a good place to start, but in order to realize success Verizon needs to get this on iOS devices as well. Preinstallation is likely not an option here, but the availability of the PlayPhone app will make a big difference. Apple will likely push back, seeing as it competes with Apple’s own social gaming platform. And there we have the struggle. Will Verizon prevail and horn in on the mobile gaming market, or will Apple hinder their efforts?

Via Phone Scoop.

The post Verizon Makes Social Gaming Play With PlayPhone appeared first on MobileMoo.

Things have a funny way of timing out sometimes. Last week I responded to a piece at Phone Scoop about the carrier pricing model. The author claimed that cell phone companies were “scamming” you by charging you a price that includes a device subsidy, even if they aren’t currently subsidizing your device. My response is that if you don’t like it, you can find another carrier where you can pay an unsubsidized price. Starting today, T-Mobile will be one of those carriers.

For about a year now T-Mobile has been vocal in its opposition to device subsidies. They work for the larger carriers, giving them predictable monthly income streams. But smaller carriers need a competitive advantage at this point. Instead of merely speaking out about the inefficiencies of subsidy pricing, T-Mobile acted — and in a bold manner. Their new plans really do take the subsidy out.

The idea is similar to that of AT&T and Verizon, in that every plan gets unlimited talk and text. The costs of those services have shrunk so greatly in the past few years that carriers can afford this allotment without taking much of a hit on the margins. The real battle is for data profits, and that’s where every carrier focuses its attention. T-Mobile is no different. It provides you 500MB of high-speed data with the basic plan. After that you don’t get cut off, but instead are reduced to 2G speeds. Not ideal, but it’s better than being cut off.

Where T-Mobile truly differentiates itself is with data pricing. You want 2GB of additional data? That’ll cost you only $10 per month extra. So for $60 per month you get unlimited talk, text, and 2.5GB of data. You can’t get a smartphone plan for that cheap at any of the big carriers. want unlimited data? T-Mobile offers that, too: that’s only $70 per month, with 500MB allocated for mobile hotspot service. You can also pay to add to your hotspot allotment; hotspot tethering is included with limited data plans.

These prices look so attractive, because T-Mobile is no longer offering device subsidies. That is, you’re on the hook for the full cost of the device. But even then, the pricing can work out in your favor. T-Mobile essentially offers 0% financing on handsets, so you can pay it off during the course of your contract, with no additional fees. That is, you can walk into a store and get a Samsung Galaxy S III for $70 up front, and then add $20 to your monthly bill.

Let’s work that out compared to Verizon. With Big Red you’re paying $200 up front for the Galaxy S III, and then $100 per month on an individual plan that provides 2GB of data. In 24 months that comes to $2,600. With T-Mobile you get the same phone, plus an additional 500MB of data each month, for $1,990. If you so choose you can pay 65 percent less up front, and pay $80 per month for service, which is still far cheaper than Verizon. Or you can upgrade to unlimited and pay $2,230 over 24 months, or $90 per month with handset financing.

Make no mistake: T-Mobile just made smartphone ownership cheaper. Now that subsidy you pay is actually a payment for your device. Once you’re paid off, you stop paying. The zero percent financing means you don’t have to — and shouldn’t, really — pay for your device in full up front. They still have plenty of disadvantages, such as a weaker network. But they can compensate much for that with both their new plans and the MetroPCS merger. It’s tough to view T-Mobile optimistically, given all the trouble they’ve faced in the last two years. But for the first time in a while things are starting to look at least partly sunny.

The post T-Mobile Makes A Play To End Subsidies and Contracts appeared first on MobileMoo.

Carriers seeking greater spectrum holdings will get a boon from the government in about 18 months. Today the FCC gave notice that it will hold a spectrum auction next September. It should give carriers an opportunity to flesh out their 4G networks, or perhaps prepare for the next wave. After all, that’s what 2008′s spectrum auction mostly provided.

What was expected to be a heated bidding between the titans Verizon and AT&T turned into a run for Verizon. They picked up the majority of the C block, which afforded them enough reserve spectrum to build out their 4G LTE network. AT&T mostly picked from the lesser blocks, which in turn hurt regional providers.

There were some wins for smaller providers then, as Cricket and MetroPCS picked up enough spectrum to expand a bit. But overall the spoils went to the giants. It’s difficult to expect anything different this time around. They’re the ones with the money, and they know the value of spectrum. It’s unlikely they let this opportunity pass them by.

It’s easy to forget, but spectrum is a finite resource. If we opened all spectrum to all carriers, we would have mayhem. That’s why the FCC is charged with delegating it in a fair, and lucrative, manner. Carriers understand that they have limited opportunities to pick up new spectrum holdings. That’s why everyone expects the titans to pick up the lion’s share.

Yet that’s not quite what happened back in 2008. It appears that AT&T backed off, opting out of a bidding war with Verizon. Letting Verizon have its way with the C block certainly gave its biggest competitor an advantage. But AT&T played it conservatively, picking and choosing spectrum from the lesser blocks that helped complement its network.

One of the keys at that point, though, was AT&T’s acquisitions of a few regional carriers. They gained spectrum from those holdings, meaning they didn’t need the big block of spectrum in the same way Verizon did. So in a way they both won. AT&T fortified its own holdings, while Verizon made a big play. We could certainly see something similar play out in 2014 as well.

There are a few regional carriers still on the table. MetroPCS could be off the table, as we’ll soon see a vote of shareholders for the T-Mobile merger. But there is still Cricket, plus a number of regional carriers such as Cincinnati Bell and US Cellular. Rather than risk a bidding war with another billion dollar company, AT&T or Verizon could go down the acquisition path, picking up spectrum that way and avoiding large-scale bids.

At this point, though, everything is speculation. The auction itself is not even set in stone; the FCC merely informed the National Telecommunications and Information Administration that it intends to hold it. But given the necessity of additional spectrum, it’s likely this will occur. It’ll be interesting, at least, to see how it all breaks down and how it benefits the carriers.

The post FCC Will Auction Off New Spectrum in 2014 appeared first on MobileMoo.

There are more cell phones in America than there are people, according to CTIA. That means big things for manufacturers of cell phones, accessories, and apps. It also means big things for service providers, but it’s a bit different a game for them. After all, once they’ve exhausted their supply of new customers, how are they going to increase their subscriber totals?

The answer is by pulling subscribers from other carriers. According to this graph, the titans in the industry are doing this well, while the smaller players are basically flat. Chances are, after all, that Sprint customers are more likely to trade up to AT&T or Verizon than they are to trade down to T-Mobile.

The key for smaller carriers is to incentivize customers to switch. Sprint is currently playing this game heavily with their truly unlimited data promotion. While AT&T and Verizon put strict limits on usage, Sprint allows you to use whatever you want. Now they’re offering another promotion: a discount for switching.

The problem with switching providers is that you have to buy a new handset. Your current handset is locked to your provider, and chances are you can’t just up and take it to another one. You need to buy a new one. It’s a big reason why people stay with their current carriers.

With Sprint’s promotion, though, you can get the Samsung Galaxy S3 for just $100, half off its normal price. It might seem like poor timing, given that Sprint will have the Galaxy S4 soon enough. But you know what? The S3 is still the best Android on the market, and it will be simply relegated to second when the S4 comes out. The second best smartphone on the market for $100? That deal doesn’t come along often.

It’s incentives like these that will make it easier for people to make the switch. You can head to Sprint and get the Galaxy S3 for $99.99 if you’re porting your number.

The post Sprint Wants Your Business: Save $100 on the Galaxy S3 When Switching appeared first on MobileMoo.

As if you didn’t already know this: your cell phone carrier is trying to earn as large a profit as possible. The top three carriers in the US are public corporations, meaning they serve their shareholders first and foremost. That means beating last quarter’s earnings. As we’ve seen in the last few years, carriers will rearrange the deck chairs if it means squeezing a little more money from its customers.

Yes, the big carriers offer expensive plans. This is partly because a portion of your monthly bill goes to subsidizing the cost of your handset. You might pay $200 for a new smartphone or get a new feature phone for free, but the carrier pays full price. They make up for it by signing you up for a two-year contract. In theory, you’re paying not only for your monthly service, but also for the subsidy.

If you happen to keep your phone past the two-year term, you’re still paying the same price for service. That might seem a bit unfair, but that’s the pricing that the carrier offers. It would be nice of them to lower pricing after two years, but corporations are not in the business of being nice. They are in the business of making profits. That’s why Rich Brome’s complaint strikes me as odd. He not only bashes carriers for this practice, but uses harsh language such as “scam.”

Trust me: while carrier pricing might be unfair, it is not a scam.

Why is it not a scam? Because once your two-year term expires, you are free to leave. You are no longer under obligation to pay the carrier, which means you don’t have to pay the subsidy any longer. You can choose to take your business to a different carrier, one that charges less because it doesn’t offer subsidized pricing.

This option works out better now than ever before. If you are on Verizon, you can take your phone directly to Page Plus Cellular and they will activate it on one of their plans. Those plans are far less expensive than Verizon’s and provide similar services. You’ll lose the roaming network and LTE, which stinks, but you get full 3G service in Verizon’s coverage area.

If you have Sprint, you can take advantage of Sprint’s new policy of allowing its MVNOs to activate Sprint-branded devices. If you’re out of contract you can take your phone to any number of these MVNOs — and there are many of them — and have them use your Sprint phone directly.

There are other carriers still, such as Straight Talk, that will allow you to place their SIM card in an unlocked GSM phone from AT&T or T-Mobile. Unlocking your phone is tougher now than previously, but if you’re out of your contract term you can almost always get your carrier to authorize it. You’re then free to pay Straight Talk’s $45 per month, rather than AT&T’s $90.

Yes, there are disadvantages to using a prepaid carrier. Customer service is often worse. Roaming is typically not allowed. There are few prepaid carriers offering 4G services, whether LTE or WiMax. Those are some sacrifices, sure, but if you’re disgusted with carrier pricing it’s the only real alternative. Is it worth the savings?

To put it another way: why is it a scam for carriers to imply subsidy pricing, even after the subsidy is paid, but it’s not a scam for them to rearrange deck chairs in the name of profits? Before it introduced Share Everything plans, you could get adequate Verizon smartphone service for $90 per month. It included:

• $40 for the 450-minute plan, which included unlimited nights and weekends plus unlimited calls to Verizon’s 110-plus-million customers.

$20 for unlimited text messaging, though there was an option for $10 per month for 500 texts plus unlimited texts to and from Verizon customers.

• $30 for 2GB of data — and that used to be unlimited data.