Virgin’s payLo service breaks the $20 mold, adds third plan for $30

Virgin Mobile has been attacking the ultra-low end segments of the market with its two-pack of payLo prepaid plans this year, both of which retail for $20. Well, if you’re looking for a slightly fancier package, Virgin is answering the call today with the introduction of a third payLo plan at the $30 mark, offering 1,500 voice minutes, 500 messages, and 10MB of data per month. That marks the first time that a payLo plan has included either data or text buckets — and considering how important both of those are these days, we imagine the new plan will find a taker or two. Interested? It’s available immediately.

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Tags: payLo, Pre-Paid, Virgin Mobile USA

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T-Mobile busts out new prepaid plans with data options, mix-and-match voice and text

Come October 18, T-Mobile USA will be shaking things up in the prepaid market with a handful of new options that finally acknowledge users — yes, even those on prepaid plans — are gobbling data in droves. Unlimited voice and text with 2GB of data will run $70 a month; the same plan with just 100MB of data will run $50, and for $30, you’ll be able to get a pretty interesting concept that includes any combination of 1,500 minutes and text messages plus 30MB of data. For $1.49 per day, you’ll be able to sign up for a Web DayPass, which gives you unlimited browsing capability on any data-capable phone; T-Mobile tells us BES isn’t currently supported, but that shouldn’t be an issue for most.

If straight-up data is more your thing, you’ll want to check out the T-Mobile Jet (pictured), T-Mobile’s first dedicated prepaid data stick. The new modem commemorates the launch of a handful of prepaid data options, including $10 for a weekly allowance of 100MB, $30 for 300MB monthly, and $50 for 1GB monthly. We’d hoped that T-Mobile would resist the urge to cap data and follow through with the bandwidth throttling option instead, but then again, we suppose things work a little differently in the prepaid market. Look for the Jet to hit retail online on the 18th of this month, followed by in-store availability on the 20th.

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Tags: Data Plans, Mobile Broadband, Pre-Paid, T-Mobile Jet, T-Mobile USA, USB Dongle

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Walmart Family Mobile enters the postpaid war, reselling service from T-Mobile

Walmart’s already firmly entrenched in the prepaid cellular business, offering handsets and service via Common Cents (Sprint) and Straight Talk (Verizon Wireless), but according to Greg Hall, vice president of merchandising at Walmart US, there’s a “perception among customers that prepaid service doesn’t offer access to the best phones or the best network quality.” In order to combat that, the outfit will be launching a new postpaid service today dubbed Walmart Family Mobile. The actual fine print is somewhat confusing, as it offers the best of both the pre- and postpaid worlds; users will still pay their monthly bill at the end of the month, but no subsidization will take place on the phones themselves due to this being a no-contract ordeal. It’ll cost $45 per month for unlimited calling and texting for the first line, and $25 per month for every extra line; unfortunately, data will be a pricey addition at $40 per month for 1GB… but at least that rolls over each month in case you don’t use it all. Initially, Wally World will offer five handsets, with the flagship phone being Motorola’s Cliq XT at $249. Frankly, we aren’t too impressed at what’s on offer here — get unlimited data bundled with calling and texting for the same $45 / month, then we’ll talk.

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Tags: Postpaid, Pre-Paid, T-Mobile, Walmart, Walmart Family Mobile

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Verizon Offering Unlimited and 25MB Pre-Paid Data Plans

Verizon announced today that they are now offering Unlimited and 25MB 3G data plans for their pre-paid users. The pricing seems reasonable as well — at least on the unlimited plan, which comes in at at $30. At $10 a month, the 25MB plan is a bit steep. Be careful about overages on that 25MB plan; Verizon will charge you $0.20 per megabyte if you exceed your limit.

You can buy the pre-paid plans at Verizon stores today, but they won’t be available online until September 28th.

There is one catch though: Verizon is limiting the new plans to most of their 3G smartphones and multimedia phones, including the Blackberry, Palm, and most Android phones.

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Tags: 3G, Pre-Paid, Smartphones, Unlimited Data Plans, Verizon

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Verizon soon to offer Android, BlackBerry, and Palm on Pre-Paid

Good news for any contract-a-phobic smartphone fans out there: several leaks today pointing to a high likelihood that Verizon will soon offer most of their Android line up (including the Droid series, as well as the yet-to-be released Samsung Fascinate), a healthy dash of BlackBerries, and both the Palm Pixie Plus and the Palm Pre Plus, on their Prepaid Monthly Talk and Monthly Talk & Text plans.

Interested in pricing? Well, sadly, there is no pricing on the actual handsets just yet, but all the phones will need a $30 unlimited data/email package tacked onto a minimum $45 per month voice plan. Not pad for a pay-as-you-go from Verizon, I believe.

Android Does originally broke the news, with a flurry of different confirmation pics hitting Engadget’s tip line later. As such, you can consider this rumour pretty solid.

You can check the plan info in the gallery, below, as well as a picture of the BlackBerry Curve 8530 box, which confirms the minimum plan requirements as seen in the original leak.

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Tags: Android, BlackBerry, Palm, Pre-Paid, Smartphones, Verizon

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Pre-paid MiFi coming to Virgin Mobile 28th July

If you’re sick of contracts, and after a simple way to get your WiFi device online while on the road, then this could be of interest to you.

Next week, Virgin Mobile will offer the Novatel MiFi 3G router for $149, ready to be paired with your choice of pre-paid data block, with prices ranging from $10 for 100MB up to $60 for 5GB.

The MiFi will share a 3G connection to up to 5 devices, and lasts up to 4 hours between charges. It will be sold at Best Buy, The Shack, and the interwebz.

Full data pricing details can be found here.

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Tags: 3G, 3G Router, MiFi, Pre-Paid, Virgin Mobile

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Boost Mobile rolls out Motorola i296

If you thought the aging i290 was about ready for replacement, we’ve got some great news for you — the updated i296 is upon us. It’s an ultra-basic device by any measure, seeing how it lacks a camera, music player, and web access, but if you’re just looking for a marginally stylish way to get your chirp-chirp on, this might be a decent way to do it. As with many (if not most) iDEN devices in recent memory, the candybar is mil-spec 810F compliant for dust, shock, and vibration resistance, and it runs just $59.95 contract free — let’s see you try to get that kind of a deal on a smartphone, eh? Follow the break for Boost’s press release.

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Tags: Boost Mobile, Budget Phones, i290, i296, Motorola, Pre-Paid

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Boost Mobile’s pre-paid, Android-powered Motorola i1 to cost $349.99

When we dug up some evidence yesterday that Boost Mobile would be getting the US’s first pre-paid Android phone in the form of Motorola’s crazy-tough, push-to-talk i1, there was one bit we were missing: the price.

Fortunately, that didn’t stay a secret for very long.

MobileCrunch reader Tyrel found the item lurking around on the depths of Best Buy’s own site. As of right this second, this pre-paid, no-contract handset is set to cost you $349.99 out the door.

Alas, still no word on a launch date.

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Tags: Android, Boost Mobile, i1, Motorola, Pre-Paid

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Confirmed: Motorola i1 will be Boost Mobile’s first Android phone

Back at CTIA 2010, Motorola announced the world’s first rugged Android handset with iDEN push-to-talk functionality: the i1. At launch, Motorola was only willing to spill the beans on one carrier who’d be getting the handset: Sprint.

We just unearthed some pretty irrefutable proof that someone else will be getting the i1: Boost Mobile. Yep — say hello to the first pre-paid Android handset in the US.

One of our oh-so-lovely tipsters just sent over the poster you see below, from which a few details can be gleaned: the Boost Mobile i1 will launch with retail exclusivity at Best Buy, and it’ll be Boost’s first Android phone. Better yet, it looks like Boost will be offering this handset with their standard $50 unlimited data/web/text plan — in other words, they’re not going to try to strap on some crazy smartphone tax.

Given Boost’s current line-up, this will very, very easily be their best offering. There’s no word yet on pricing — but remember, there’s no contract here, which means no subsidies. The Boost BlackBerry 8330 costs $249.99 out the door, and it’s a pretty safe bet to wager that the i1 will cost at least as much.

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Tags: Android, Best Buy, Boost Mobile, i1, Motorola, Pre-Paid

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