Virgin Mobile, Sprint’s prepaid wireless division, will introduce big changes to their mobile broadband pricing as early as tomorrow, including an unlimited mobile broadband plan for $40 a month.

While the fine print is not yet available for review, if Sprint defines “unlimited” the way dictionaries do, the introduction of unlimited access for $40 a month represents a major departure among carriers who are increasing mobile data pricing or slapping usage limits or speed throttles on customers.

Virgin Mobile noted some of their customers are replacing their home wired broadband connections with the company’s own wireless broadband option, and the new unlimited pricing plan makes that a realistic option for some consumers who can live with Sprint’s current 3G network speeds.  Virgin Mobile customers currently do not have access to Sprint’s Clearwire 4G network.

Virgin Mobile’s new Broadband2Go price plans were leaked on their Facebook page over the weekend:

Virgin Mobile's Broadband2Go Plans have been simplified into one occasional use budget plan and unlimited service for $40 a month

The new pricing departs from old pricing models that included four tiers of service, none unlimited, sold by anticipated data usage:

Virgin Mobile's old Broadband2Go delivered usage limits and forced consumers to guess at how much of a usage allowance they would need.

Virgin Mobile’s new flat rate mobile broadband data plan reflects increasingly aggressive pricing in the prepaid wireless business.  While other carriers place limits of up to 5GB on usage — typically sold for $60 a month, Virgin Mobile’s plan is fully $20 less per month and offers unlimited access.

The service is sold on a month-to-month basis with no contract requirement or credit check.  If the service does not meet one’s needs, customers can just walk away at the end of the month.

Virgin Mobile uses Sprint’s CDMA network, which offers reasonable coverage in metropolitan areas but is much spottier outside of population centers.

In the northeastern United States, Sprint's data network extends to large communities and major highways, but routinely skips smaller towns and isolated areas. For example, Virgin Mobile offers almost no service in northern New England. In upstate New York, service becomes spotty beyond the cities of Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, and the highways that connect them. There's almost no coverage in northern Pennsylvania, West Virginia, or eastern Kentucky either.

Virgin Mobile, formerly a reseller of Sprint’s network but now owned outright by them, has repositioned itself to emphasize “worry-free, unlimited service” for consumers who do not want to count calls, minutes, or megabytes.  Their latest marketing campaign pushes “crazy” low pricing, while calling out larger carriers charging up to $99 a month for the same service as “stupid.”

Virgin Mobile’s new pricing is expected to become effective Tuesday and will create a shakeup in the prepaid mobile broadband sector.  Perhaps no carrier is at bigger risk of losing mobile data customers than Cricket Wireless, which recently increased pricing on its mobile broadband service delivered on a far smaller network.

Virgin Mobile’s new pricing represents a far good deal for consumers and dispenses with usage limits.  The only downside is that Virgin Mobile customers will have to buy new modems — an Ovation MC760 for $79.99 or the MiFi 2200 Mobile Hotspot, which lets up to five users share a Virgin Mobile 3G connection over Wi-Fi, for $149.99.  These are available on Virgin Mobile’s website or in Best Buy stores.

[flv width=”640″ height=”500″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/The Crazy Life by Virgin Mobile – Full Version.flv[/flv]

Virgin Mobile’s “The Crazy Life” campaign is certain to be noticed amidst other, more subdued, advertising.  It promotes Virgin Mobile’s embrace of unlimited calling and data plans.  (1 minute)

Sprint will not limit use or throttle speeds for users of its 3G or mobile WiMax networks, despite a report from Engadget claiming the company was on the verge of applying speed throttles on its users exceeding 5 GB per month of usage.

A Sprint spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires any limits would apply only for Sprint mobile broadband data users roaming on other companies’ data networks using modems attached to laptops or personal computers.  Smartphone users are not affected.

“Sprint does not, nor plan to limit speeds, nor change a customer’s ability to use any particular application or Internet site,” said Sprint spokesman Mark Elliott.

However, the company has made it clear it can temporarily suspend a customer’s ability to roam on Sprint’s data network if “excessive usage” is detected.  Current plans provide up to 300 megabytes of service while roaming.  Higher allowances are available for purchase.  Customers will receive text messages notifying them when they reach 75 percent and 90 percent of their allowance.  After that, Sprint can cut off service until the next bill cycle begins.

Sprint has to pay higher fees when customers roam on non-Sprint networks, hence the usage limit.

Sprint, America’s third largest wireless carrier behind Verizon Wireless and AT&T, is trying to position itself as the competitive choice for customers who do not want to worry about usage allowances and overlimit fees.  The company hopes customers who are tired of escalating wireless bills will once again look beyond the two largest providers.

Back in May of 2009, I started a series called Follow the Money to illustrate the large amounts of money the telecommunications companies spend on legislators to push their agendas for them.  You can always tell how most legislators will vote if you simply follow the money.

Through the wonders of public records searches at the North Carolina State Board of Elections, I am able to see the PAC contributions that legislators have received.  I can also cross reference this information with the dates the legislators are in session and the Secretary of State’s online lobbyist database.  In North Carolina you can take PAC money from a PAC who has a registered lobbyist so long as the General Assembly is not in session. If you take the contribution while in session, the state’s General Statute says it must be forfeited to the state’s General Forfeiture fund.

In this Moratorium Watch 2010 edition I want to focus on two North Carolina legislators leading the charge to ban or restrict municipal broadband projects — Sen. Daniel Clodfelter (D-Mecklenburg) and Sen. David Hoyle (D-Gaston).

Clodfelter is the co-chair of the Revenue Laws Study Committee.  In just 24 months, he took in a total of $16,000 in PAC contributions from big telecom companies and their friends:

• $1500 from North Carolina Cable PAC
• $1000 from Sprint/Nextel
• $1500 from Embarq
• $500 from the NC Association of Broadcasters
• $5500 from Time Warner Cable
• $5000 from AT&T
• $1000 from North Carolina Broadcast PAC

Senator “Obsolete Fiber” Hoyle dwarfed Clodfelter over the past 24 months:

• $3500 from Sprint/Nextel
• $4500 from Embarq
• $8250 from Time Warner Cable
• $4000 from AT&T
• $2000 from Electricities (Drew Saunders is a lobbyist with Electricities and was a primary sponsor on the Level Playing Field bill for big telco a few years back)
• $1500 from North Carolina Broadcast PAC
• $1500 from North Carolina Cable PAC

That’s $25,250 for Hoyle from companies with an active interest in the telecommunications debate in this state.

When you consider more than $40,000 was spent to boost the campaign coffers of just two state legislators, it’s not hard to see big money is involved statewide.  It doesn’t even have to arrive in the form of a PAC contribution.  Clodfelter just had a $29 million Time Warner Cable headquarters building placed in Mecklenburg County.  Hoyle helped procure the Apple Data Center, located 22.5 miles north of his district in Maiden, NC.

When cross-referencing Hoyle’s PAC contributions with the state lobbyist database, I found several possible conflicts that warrant investigation, and I will bring my concerns to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.  If my complaint is upheld, perhaps Hoyle’s concerns about the need for additional state revenue could be eased knowing some potentially improper contributions made to his campaign were turned over to the General Forfeiture fund.  Hoyle has already announced he is not running for re-election so he doesn’t need the money anyway.

Once you count that money, it’s easy to discover why some of our state legislators are actively working against our own best interests here in North Carolina.  The corporate campaign contribution, which can be likened to legalized bribery, makes it difficult to convince legislators to always vote with their constituents’ best interests at heart.  Whenever legislators are willing to cash corporate contributions and vote against consumer interests, we’ll be here to call them on it.  Until this country gets corporate money out of government, it’s all we’ve got.

Sprint, America’s third largest mobile phone and wireless company, has launched a marketing war on its bigger competitors AT&T and Verizon Wireless scoffing at both providers’ $69.99 “unlimited” calling plans.

“Recently AT&T and Verizon have attempted to confuse the marketplace by lowering their pricing to $69.99, but theirs are for calling only,” said Mike Goff, Sprint’s vice president of corporate marketing.

Sprint launched a new advertising campaign this morning featuring CEO Dan Hesse calling out both carriers for effectively confusing consumers.

Hesse explains most people use their cell phones for more than just making and receiving calls.  Hesse said his larger competitors charge substantially more to use data services, and that many of the latest handsets don’t qualify for the special pricing.

Both AT&T and Verizon Wireless have started to require consumers with so-called “smartphones” to sign up with a data plan, adding to the customer’s bill whether or not they actually use such services.  Sprint says their unlimited plan also bundles unlimited web browsing, texting, and GPS navigation for the same price — $69.99, available on any phone they sell.

Sprint has had its hands full trying to stem the ongoing loss of its customers to larger competitors.

AT&T has benefited from an exclusive sales agreement for Apple’s iPhone, while Verizon Wireless achieved the top spot among U.S. carriers for its perceived widest coverage area.  Sprint has neither, and historically poor customer service to boot.

Will Sprint’s new campaign make an impact?

Roger Entner, head of telecom research for the Nielsen Co., told Brandweek that AT&T and Verizon are in such a commanding position in the market right now that they are unlikely to respond to Sprint. “They have the luxury of being able to ignore [Sprint],” said Entner, who noted that both AT&T and Verizon added millions of new subscribers in the fourth quarter, many at Sprint’s expense.

Sprint has managed to at least slow customer defections.  In the last quarter of 2009, Sprint lost 148,000 subscribers.  The previous quarter, the company lost 545,000 customers.

[flv width=”640″ height=”378″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Sprint Ad – Just Phone Calls 3-2-2010.flv[/flv]

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse explains why their $69.99 plan is “better” than the competition in this new advertisement.