Shock and Awe as US Carriers War Over Unlimited Plan Offers

February 19, 2008 at 8:12 pm · Filed under ATT, Carriers, Mobile messaging 2.0, News, Rate Plans, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Voice

Hours after Verizon Wireless announced their unlimited calling plan for $99, AT&T responds with a $99 plan of their own. And not to be outdone, T-Mobile USA this afternoon announced a $99 calling plan and then ups the ante by adding unlimited messaging. Sprint, the other of the top four carriers, has yet to release their nationwide unlimited plan. The question is: will they further up the ante and put pressure on these shiny new flat-rate plans?

Verzion’s Offer Details

• $99 - Nationwide Unlimited (voice)
• $119 - Nationwide Select Unlimited (voice, SMS, MMS)
• $139 - Nationwide Premium (voice, SMS, MMS, VZNav, VCAST, email)
• $149 - Nationwide Email and Messaging (voice, SMS, MMS, and data)
• $169 - Nationwide Global Email and Messaging (voice, SMS, MMS, and international data)
• $199 - Family plan with two lines, $99 per additional line
• Subscribers not required to extend their contract to select these new offers.

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AT&T’s Offer Details

• $99 - Nationwide Unlimited (voice)
• $134 - Nationwide Unlimitied with unlimited messaging and Media Net
• New customers can choose month-to-month or 12-24 month contracts

T-Mobile USA’s Offer Details

• $99 Nationwide Unlimited (voice, SMS and MMS)

So Sprint? Last May Sprint began offering an unlimited rate plan bundling nationwide voice, web access, email and messaging for $119. The offer has been limited to markets in Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Tampa, Fla., and parts of Northern California and Western Nevada. Today Sprint claims they have no plans for expanding their unlimited plan beyond these markets. The office pool betting opens at COB today. Place your bets on an announcement for tomorrow morning. Anyone?

Winners: Power Users
Losers: Stock Prices Fall for All Four Top US Carriers
Yawners: Non-Power User Mobile Subscribers

Carriers strike quickly to eliminate Verzion’s differinator on price announced this morning, and up the ante each time. Craig Moffett, analyst at Sanford C. Berstein, compares Verzion’s bold move on flat-rate plans to Sprint’s long distance flat rates for landlines in the 1990s, removing confusion from pricing plans, making them easier to compare and hastening a rapid decline in prices. Today’s standard for long-distance is either free or as a feature in a service bundle.

Let the games begin!

Comments

You might be paying $1,000 per MB for SMS

July 27, 2007 at 3:18 am · Filed under ATT, Mobile messaging 2.0, SMS, Sprint, Verizon Wireless

Many mobile prepaid service plans in the US still require a per SMS charge. Most charge for sending and receiving and include a premium charge for sending to other countries. Have you ever sat down to figure out how much you’re really paying for this frictionless and convenient mode of communication?

The Plans

ATT
• $.15 send & $.15 receive - domestic
• $.20 send & $.15 receive - international
• $4.99 200 message bundle
• $19.99 unlimited messages

Verizon
• $.10 send & $.10 receive domestic to other Verizon phone
• $.15 send & $.15 receive domestic to other carrier
• $.25 send & $.10 receive international
• no bundles

Sprint/Nextel by Boost Mobile
• $.10 send & $0 receive
• $5.00 unlimited messages

Virgin Mobile MVNO via Sprint
• $.05 send & $.05 receive
• $4.99 200 message bundle
• $1.99 50 message bundle

A Bit of Math

SMS max message size is 160 characters. One character equals one byte. There are 1024 x 1024 or 1,048,576 bytes in 1MB.

So there are 1,048,576 / 160 or 6553.6 SMS messages in 1MB of data.

NOTE: this assumes you use all the characters available in every message which none of us do. Some examples of really short messages show up on my phone frequently like “Ready?” “You home?” “Let’s go.” For illustration purposes and easier math, I’m assuming all 160 characters per message are used.

Calculating message traffic per MB these prepaid subscribers are paying the following rates.

Fun Facts

ATT
• $983.04 per 1MB of message data - domestic
• $1310.72 per 1MB of message data - international
• $163.84 per 1MB of message data - 200 message bundle

Note the unlimited amount depends on how many are sent, but for illustration lets’s say you sent and received 1000 SMS. You’re per MB charge is $131.07.

Verizon
• $655.36 per 1MB of message data - domestic to other Verizon phone
• $983.04 per 1MB of message data - domestic to other carrier
• $1638.40 per 1MB of message data - international
• no bundles

Sprint/Nextel by Boost Mobile
• $655.36 per 1MB of message data
• $32.77 per 1MB of message data (assuming 1000 messages per month)

Virgin Mobile MVNO via Sprint
• $327.68 per 1MB of message data
• $163.84 per 1MB of message data - 200 message bundle
• $260.83 per 1MB of message data - 50 message bundle

No wonder the Internet is jealous of mobile data! Oh! and Happy 15th to SMS.

Comments (6)