Articles

What value can you assign to “Free?”  This debate has been going on for years and has now found its way into the wireless connectivity world.  The old adage that “if something seems too good to be true, it probably is” has steered most intelligent people away from getting something from nothing.  Even if you are the recipient of a potential windfall of millions of dollars from an African Prince, you still must provide your personal information and a $500-$750 … Continue reading “The Value Of Free, Is It Really Free Phones, And Free Service?”

It’s that time of year again.  Looking at the calendar, it’s almost Trade Show season.  Trade Shows come along at this time every year like taxes and the Academy Awards (but without any slapping).  Sorry…….. too soon? Everyone in our business has most likely been to a trade show for our wireless industry.  I know that I’ve spent many years working a booth at CES, the old CTIA, and many other industry-specific shows, standing on quarter-inch-thick carpeting over concrete, waiting … Continue reading “Should MVNOs Attend Trade Shows?”

A lot of us like to harken back to the good old days when life was simpler, things were clearly defined and it was easy to figure out who did what and where to go for your everyday needs.  The corner drug store was for prescriptions and maybe a chocolate malt.  Three channels gave us all of the entertainment that we needed, and yes, we actually did play outside until the streetlights came on! But the world went from black … Continue reading “The New MVNO Model”

This past January I wrote of all the predictions about what was going to be in store for MVNOs in 2022 and beyond. So far we have seen incredible continued growth from both Charter (Spectrum Mobile), and Comcast (Xfinity Mobile) with over 7.2 million wireless subscribers. And then there’s Altice trying to sign with T-Mobile and Earthlink joining the MVNO space through Ultra. Now, cable operator WOW with 845,000 broadband subscribers announced their intentions into the MVNO game through Reach Mobile and Mediacom (1.5 million subs). … Continue reading “The Future of MVNOs”

This week’s subject is security for mobile devices.  Not a day goes by when you don’t read of another hack on a major corporation by bad actors who now have access to your most private information.  Last week it was reported that six thousand (6,000) TracFone customers were ported over to Metro by T-Mobile without their knowledge or permission, losing their phone number in the process. TracFone issued the following statement on January 27th: We were recently made aware of bad actors gaining … Continue reading “How Secure is Secure on Your Mobile Device?”

I always enjoy the end of the year when too many publications start listing their “Best” or “Top” categories of the year.  Best Movies, Best Television Shows, Best Books, Best Plays, Best Recipes, Best Getaways and so on and so on.  We are not exempt from these evaluations in our little corner of the Wireless Mobility world.  I’m not talking about who has the Best or Fastest network or who covers more of the population, etc.  Each of the top-tier … Continue reading “What Makes You the BEST MVNO?”

Another year has passed and we find ourselves at CES and other events looking into our crystal ball and trying to see where the MVNO business will take us in 2022. We’ve already seen the demise of one MVNO (Easy Go) and anxiously await to see what Verizon will do with TracFone and the brands that don’t currently operate on their network.  Will Charter and Comcast continue to put on record wireless activations with their current cable customers through Spectrum and Xfinity?  What does DISH Networks do … Continue reading “What’s New in 2022 for The MVNOs?”

A few years ago, a wireless cohort and I sat down and researched just how many MVNO’s were operating in the United States. We came up with 171 at the time. On each instance of one MVNO failing or another MVNO launching, he would call me and say, “there are now 168 MVNOs” or “we now count 173 MVNOs!” I’m sure that most of us couldn’t name twenty-five of them off the top of our heads but believe me, they are … Continue reading “Why Are There So Many MVNO’s?”

Surprisingly, many MVNOs still lack a strong social media presence. And some of the MVNOs that do utilize it, don’t do so efficiently. Perhaps some MVNO owners don’t fully understand what social media really is and its importance to their business. There’s a recent article by Ben Lutkevich and Ivy Wigmore for the Techtarget Network that does a really great job in defining the ever-changing and fast-growing world of social media in today’s business world. In this week’s article, I’d like to use their … Continue reading “What is Social Media?”

Ah….. the fourth quarter. One of the top two times of the year for wireless sales; the other is Tax Time for prepaid in March/April which I could never understand; the first thing that people do when receiving their tax refund is to run out a buy a new cell phone? More on that in 2022. With Thanksgiving/Black Friday and Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanza upon us, the offers from carriers, MVNOs, and just about everyone else are all very enticing. But with 353.8 million cell … Continue reading “MVNOs Have GREAT Offers… But Did You Read The Fine Print?”