Tuesday, July 24, 2007

new Phone from Pocket, Coming Soon!

...the LG xc-4750 to be exact. Not a horrible phone, though it's not high-end by any stretch of the imagination. But hey, they'll be offering it for $89 + tax with a month of service included so I am not gonna complain.

Here are the specs:

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=527

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Pocket - Weekly Plan, Cheaper Razrs

Well, looks like Pocket took a Page out of CricKet's page...except made it cheaper, as usual. They now offer a weekly plan like CricKet's, except $3 a week cheaper. More expensive than their $37 plan (which offers the same features) by a larger amount than CricKet's $18 plan is relative to the monthly plan it micics (if you follow me) but hey, it is cheaper than CricKet's weekly plan by a noticeable margin.

Also, Pocket has shaved $10 off the price of their v3m Razr...it's now $269...and $30 off the v3c so that phone is just $249...though CricKet's...no wait...the Pocket v3c is now cheaper (by $10) than the CricKet v3c! Sweet...

Friday, July 6, 2007

Speaking of SunCom...

...they've amped up their unlimited "UnPlan". And they've added a $150-a-month unlimited nationwide plan...but back to UnPlan...

First off they've got the usual $60-$80 a month unlimited plan depending on what type of contract and roaming you want.

But here's where the fun begins: you can get unlimited local, long distance, text messaging, picture messaging and web access for $70 a month ($50 a month for additional lines) on the SunCom network or $100 a month ($70 a month for additional lines) for an expanded "Regional" area, which includes roaming on other carriers...I suppose that would be AT&T.

Granted, unlimited doesn't come particularly cheap with SunCom, but the wide coverage area may well make up for it.

CricKet: Now in NC, SC and Rochester, NY

CricKet has been expanding, too. And promoting themselves with very-much-discounted phones.

They've expanded coverage to Charleston in South Carolina, Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Burlington (if I remember correctly the "Research Triangle" where Nextel's ultra-fast Flash OFDM network was tested awhile back) in North Carolina and Rochester in New Yourk. Yay unlimited cometition!

Note that I say competition because the regional GSM carrier SunCom also has an unlimited plan, albeit at a more expensive rate and with more pervasive, two-state coverage.

Phone-wise, looks like there's a $50 mail-in rebate on every single phone CricKet has online right now, pretty much everywhere they have service! Making the KRZR $300, the Razr v3c $210, the SLVR $130, the Kyocera K323 $80 (!), the Motorola w315 $60, the UTStarCom 7025 $30 and the Kyocera K132 $20 (!!!). Cheap phone with rebate, anyone? Geesh.

Can you say Huawei? How about ZTE? MetroPCS Can...

Old news, yes, but FCC watchers recently spotted two Chinese-made handsets headed MetroPCS' way. Wonder if the Chinese brand names will make MetroPCS cheaper...or just cheapen it...

The first one, seen june 19th here:

http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=2251

is the Huawei M318. No frills...personally, it looks to fit into the class of the Motorola w370 or equivalent.

The second one, spotted the 21st here:

http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=2254

is the ZTE C88. It's actually quite feature-filled, with dual color displays, stereo Bluetooth, a camera, USB data transfer...pretty much "the works". Oh and it looks moderately cool as well...a heckuva lot cooler in my opinion than what UTStarCom is making for Verizon anyway. Wonder how much it'll cost...MetroPCS'll pick up some of the tab for having its brand exclusively plastered round the phone, right?

Revol Intro's PTT, $67 Plan

Along with a few new (as usual with such carriers not new to the world, just to the carrier) phones, Revol has introduced Push To Talk. It's $7 per month unless you have the $57 or $67 plans...or for now the $47 plan, in which case it's included in the monthly fee. That's for unlimited, of course.

Phone-wise, the typical lot of Kyocera feature phones sport the feature: the KX16 Candid, the K322 (like the Cyclops but different), the KX160 Xcursion and the KX444. I'm 99.9999% sure that Revol PTT runs on Kodiak's version of the service...meaning that the connection will be a few seconds (slow) to start but great after that.

...and for the other thing: if you want cheaper international calling, call forwarding and international text messaging in addition to your high-end unlimited-plan features, Revol has added a flagship plan for just that...at a shocking (for unlimited) $67 per month. Then again, stepping up to just Call Forwarding and International Text Messaging from the lower plan costs the same so why not...

Pocket - New Phone, New Coverage, New Ringtone Store!

Yes, I'm finally getting back "into the loop" as far as unlimited cellular goes. So take a look here because I'll start posting here more often...

First off, Pocket has just gotten a new phone. Well, not really new in that it's hot off the manufacturing lines but new in that it's new to the carrier. It's the Motorola v262.

Granted, it's not a fefature phone by any stretch of the imagination, but it is color, it is a flip, it does have an external display, and it's just $79 plus tax. Cheaper than any other phone on Pocket with a color screen. Then again, people seem iffy on the quality of this model...though they're A LOT more iffy on the quality of the "next model up", the Kyocera Milan that Pocket offers for $20 more.

EDITED: I said earlier that the Moto v262 has reversed send\end keys. Looks like the Pocket version doesn't. Sweet.

Second, Pocket has extended their home coverage monolith to the Rio Grande valley. Now keep in mind the coverage extends only to Brownsville and Raymondville in the southeastern direction...no Corpus Christi yet...but every little bit helps, and in this case it's not really just "a little bit". I'm honestly not sure whether to trust the coverage maps or not, but if I'm more optimistic than they are...and am correct in my optimism...Pocket's coverage triangle is downright huge compared with anything below regional carriers like Dobson CellularOne (now part of AT&T). Which, for an unlimited carrier, is uber-cool.

Third, Pocket now has its own ringtone and graphic store. Not much will be said here because it's darn expensive and seems to be Latino-oriented (nothing against Latinos but I'm not one). Just sayin' they noow have their own media portal.

In sum, a good bit has happened with Pocket recently, and so far that's been a good thing.