Carrier Wrap: U.S. Cellular cuts shared data prices; T-Mobile US partners with Walmart on tablets

Editor’s Note: Wireless operators are a busy bunch, and as such RCR Wireless News will attempt to gather some of the important announcements that may slip through the cracks from the world’s largest carriers in a weekly wrap-up. Enjoy!
–Looking to one-up its larger rivals, regional carrier U.S. Cellular this week lowered the cost of its Shared Connect plans so that four lines can access unlimited voice calling, messaging and share 10 gigabytes of data services for $140 per month, or enterprise customers can have five lines of service sharing the same 10 GB of data for $150 per month. The reduced pricing does require customers to bring their own device or select one tied to the carrier’s recently launched device financing plans.
U.S. Cellular customers can add more smartphone lines of service for $10 per line on data packages with 10 GB of data or more, or for $20 per line for data packages of 8 GB of data or less. Those devices have to either be already paid for or part of the device financing option.
AT&T Mobility earlier this year updated its Mobile Share plans when tied to its Next device financing offer to include unlimited talk, messaging and a shared bucket of 10 gigabytes of data services for two lines at $130 per month with no contract. Additional lines can be added for just $15 per line. Verizon Wireless quickly followed that offer with its own tied its Edge device financing plan.
U.S. Cellular recently reported the loss of 80,000 direct retail customers for the first quarter of this year, with all of those losses coming from its contract service. Over the past year, U.S. Cellular has lost more than one million customers, though a big chunk of that drop came from the sale of wireless assets and markets.
—T-Mobile US announced plans to offer a pair of “low-cost” tablet devices with 200 megabytes per month of free cellular data through Walmart locations. The devices include the Trio AXS tablet priced at $179, which was launched May 17, and the Hewlett-Packard Slate 7 HD tablet for $229, which will be available next month.
Both devices take advantage of T-Mobile US’ previously announced “free” data offer for tablet devices. The devices sold through Walmart locations will also have access to 3.5 gigabytes of un-throttled data services for $35 per month or 5 GB for $50 per month. Those customers that are also signed up for a T-Mobile US postpaid voice and data plan will also be able to tap into the carrier’s offer announced last month providing an extra 1 GB of free data per month through the end of the year.
—Verizon Wireless expanded the scale of its enterprise-focused More Everything plans to allow up to 50 devices to share up to 100 gigabytes of data service per month. Customers can also choose data plans with 60 GB or 80 GB of shared data.
Enterprise customers can also choose whether to have those plans data only, or they can add unlimited domestic voice calling and unlimited text messaging, including international text messages that originate in the United States.
–Mobile virtual network operator FreedomPop today said it has officially shifted its “4G” data offering to Sprint’s LTE network with the launch of three LTE-equipped Samsung devices.
FreedomPop customers can now select from the Samsung Victory, Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4 models that still can tap into the company’s “free” service that includes 500 megabytes of data, 200 calling minutes and 500 text messages. Customers can “upgrade” to unlimited voice calling, text messaging, voicemail and 500 Mb of data for $11 per month; for a one-year period for a one-time price of $80 (an average of $6.67 per month); or for two-years of service for a one-time $110 payment (an average of $4.58 per month).
Along with the Samsung device launch, FreedomPop also unveiled an “unlimited everything” plan that for $20 per month offers unlimited voice calling, text messaging and one gigabyte of un-throttled LTE network speeds before having that access throttled to Sprint’s CDMA-based 3G network speeds. All rate plans do not require a contract.
The company, which offers service running across Sprint’s cellular network, launched service last October and earlier this year claimed it has signed up approximately 500,000 “users to its beta invite list,” not to be confused with actually attracting new users.
FreedomPop last month added Apple’s iPhone 5 to its lineup, which was its first smartphone taking advantage of Sprint’s LTE network. FreedomPop began offering LTE connectivity last year through a mobile hotspot device.
–Idaho-based rural wireless provider Syringa Wireless said it will begin offering Apple’s iPhone 5S, 5C and 4S models May 30. Pricing was not released. In addition to traditional wireless services, Syringa also provides hosted LTE services to fellow rural operators using a hosted evolved packet core and radio access network model.
—Truphone launched its World service that builds on its Zone offer in providing an additional 58 countries in which customers can tap into the roaming service. The World service, like Zone, is targeted at enterprise customers with employees often traveling to foreign countries.
The World offer builds on the eight “key countries” from the Zone plan to allow customers to access data and calling features using a “local” number. The service allows customers to have up to eight international numbers on a single SIM card, which allows for calls and data services to be accessed at local rates.
Additional carrier news can be found on the RCR Wireless News “Carriers” page.
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