Cricket, the mobile provider best known for its urban and youth-targeted commercials, Tuesday launched nationwide “talk and text” service through a new roaming agreement with Sprint and others that delivers unlimited calling for $30 a month.

That’s $10 a month cheaper than any other prepaid nationwide unlimited plan currently available in the United States.  Competitors MetroPCS, which owns its own network charges $40 a month for unlimited service, and TracFone Wireless’ Straight Talk, which uses Verizon Wireless’ network, costs $45 a month.

The other players in the prepaid market will have to match Cricket or face the consequences.

However, Cricket’s new calling plan and extended roaming service agreements do not include mobile broadband coverage.  Cricket provides that service through its own CDMA network providing a mix of 1X and 3G coverage, primarily in its home markets.

Cricket’s “talk and text” expansion means more than 125 U.S. cities can now sign up for Cricket service.  Most of those cities will actually depend on Sprint’s cell towers to place and receive calls.  Cricket subscribers also benefit from the expanded roaming capabilities the company now offers, although customers should verify coverage carefully before signing up.  Using a designated “roaming area” will set you back 25 cents per minute.

For customers choosing service plans of $40 or more, Cricket now offers unlimited international long distance calling to landlines in select cities and towns in more than 100 countries (including unlimited calls to landlines in Mexico) and unlimited text messages to Mexico for an additional $15 a month.

“We believe our nationwide coverage and enhanced service plan structure represents the highest value offer in the wireless marketplace,” said Al Moschner, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Cricket. “Cricket continues to deliver greater value by providing a diversified portfolio of products and payment options and now offers and supports those products everywhere our customers live, work and travel. Each of these new service plans positions the Cricket brand as the wireless leader in the unlimited, no-contract segment of the wireless industry.”

Existing Cricket customers need to contact customer service to switch rate plans if they wish to take advantage of “nationwide talk and text coverage.”  For most customers, there is no change in rates — just a change in their plan designation.

Cricket's new national coverage map (click to enlarge)

All new rate plans include nationwide talk coverage. Changes to previous rate plans are noted below:

For those around in the 1980s, Verizon Wireless’ latest 3G ad slam against AT&T should have brought back some memories.

Someone at Verizon probably spent some time reviewing advertising collections of the 1970s and 1980s and ran across Big Red, the cinnamon-flavored gum with the long-lasting flavor.  First appearing back in 1976, the gum really took off in the early 1980s when the William Wrigley Jr. Company commissioned a catchy jingle for its advertising campaigns.  It stuck, and most still remember it to this day.

Verizon, which bathes its corporate image in red, made the connection, and managed to recreate most of the imagery of several Big Red commercials, mostly from the early 1980s, albeit with updated lyrics.  They certainly got the classic corporate 1980s Reagan-era jingle sound down pat.

[flv width=”640″ height=”500″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Verizon Big Red.flv[/flv]

For those too young to remember Big Red gum, I’ve brought one of the original advertisements together with Verizon’s reproduction so you can appreciate the scope of their recreation.  Verizon actually borrowed from several Big Red ads, but you’ll get the point.  Too bad it’s the gum priced at 25 cents and not the 3G.  With the gum, you could have any many sticks as you wanted — no chewing limits either. (1 minute)

The long awaited National Broadband Plan (NBP) for the United States is here.  Unveiled yesterday by the Federal Communications Commission, the 376-page plan calls itself a mandate for improved broadband service for 200 million Americans, bringing access to those who don’t have it, and better speeds and lower prices for those that do.

The report’s authors consider the broadband revolution a transformational change for the country, just as railroads opened the door to coast-to-coast transportation, electricity changed the American household, and phone service opened the door to a new era of Americans reaching out to communicate with one another.

Today, high-speed Internet is transforming the landscape of America more rapidly and more pervasively than earlier infrastructure networks. Like railroads and highways, broadband accelerates the velocity of commerce, reducing the costs of distance. Like electricity, it creates a platform for America’s creativity to lead in developing better ways to solve old problems. Like telephony and broadcasting, it expands our ability to communicate, inform and entertain.

Broadband is the great infrastructure challenge of the early 21st century.

To meet the challenge, the FCC was commissioned to develop a national blueprint for improving broadband service in the United States.  A sense of urgency over statistics showing the United States ranking in the bottom half of nations — losing ground on speed, affordability, and access to both Europe and Asia meant the NBP must deliver concrete answers to improve the country’s competitive broadband standing.

This is a broad mandate. It calls for broadband networks that reach higher and farther, filling the troubling gaps we face in the deployment of broadband networks, in the adoption of broadband by people and businesses and in the use of broadband to further our national priorities.

Nearly 100 million Americans do not have broadband today. Fourteen million Americans do not have access to broadband infrastructure that can support today’s and tomorrow’s applications. More than 10 million school-age children do not have home access to this primary research tool used by most students for homework. Jobs increasingly require Internet skills; the share of Americans using high-speed Internet at work grew by 50% between 2003 and 2007, and the number of jobs in information and communications technology is growing 50% faster than in other sectors. Yet millions of Americans lack the skills necessary to use the Internet.

The NBP goes out of its way to recognize private enterprise’s influence on broadband development in the country, acknowledging America’s for-profit, largely unregulated broadband industry has successfully cherry-picked the most profitable customers for often excellent broadband service.  For others deemed less profitable, a lesser amount of service, or no service at all is available.  The distinction between America’s free market approach and government-run universal service is noted in the report.  For America, the private approach has created a “digital divide” — the broadband have’s and have-not’s.  The reasons for bypassing certain areas varies from the expenses to reach rural homes to affordability issues in the inner city.  Sometimes, it’s a matter of being lucky enough to have a decent provider who is aggressive about deploying service.

The NBP seeks to build upon the private free market approach to broadband and fill in the gaps in service for those left behind.

The FCC’s plan envisions broadband evolution, not a broadband revolution.  The report recommends maintaining a limited government role for broadband, and limited regulations along with it.

Instead of choosing a specific path for broadband in America, this plan describes actions government should take to encourage more private innovation and investment. The policies and actions recommended in this plan fall into three categories: fostering innovation and competition in networks, devices and applications; redirecting assets that government controls or influences in order to spur investment and inclusion; and optimizing the use of broadband to help achieve national priorities.

The NBP sets minimum actual broadband speeds Americans should expect to receive at 4/1Mbps. ADSL providers like Frontier, Windstream, and CenturyLink are already in trouble if this standard gets enforced. They routinely fail to meet these speeds in many areas today.

Among the core goals of the NBP:

• Connect 100 million households to affordable, 100Mbps service within 10 years, permitting high end video streaming and medical diagnostics;
• Define broadband as at least 4/1Mbps service, which automatically disqualifies a number of rural DSL providers and satellite fraudband;
• Pole attachment reform, which would remove obstacles providers encounter when trying to hang wiring on poles, bury it underground, or access rights-of-way;
• Improve rural broadband service and low-income access through Universal Service Fund reform, shifting up to $15.5 billion towards broadband construction and subsidies;
• Target a 90 percent broadband adoption rate among American households;
• Rely on mobile broadband to be an important competitor in the broadband industry by doubling available spectrum for wireless data and expand reach beyond today’s 60 percent coverage;
• Provide $16 billion in funding for a federal interoperable mobile broadband network exclusively for public safety agencies.

The plan is a marked departure from the FCC under former president George W. Bush.  Just two years ago, the Commission suggested there were few problems with the broadband industry as-is.  Michael Powell, who served under Bush’s first term as Chairman of the FCC, advocated free market deregulation, and dismissed concerns about the digital divide, calling it a “Mercedes divide,” suggesting broadband was like an expensive car he’d like to own but can’t afford.

Perhaps Powell can afford that car today, as honorary co-chair of industry front group Broadband for America, which has made its presence known through Powell on several national cable news channels in interviews about the broadband plan.  The BfA’s role as an industry-backed player is not disclosed in interviews.

Opposition to parts of the NBP is likely to come from:

• Broadcasters, concerned about the further loss of the UHF TV dial for wireless broadband service expansion;
• Utility pole owners who will likely oppose changes in compensation formulas for pole attachment fees;
• Incumbent broadband providers who fear the NBP may lead to government-backed competition in their service areas;
• Consumers who may balk if Universal Service Fund reform adds an additional five or more dollars a month in fees to broadband bills without price reductions from real competition.

Some of the greatest concerns about the plan come from consumer groups, who recognize the plan has many good points, but relies too much on working with the same companies that got the United States into this position in the first place.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday, March 23 at 2:30 p.m. to review the plan. The House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet will hold its own hearing on the plan next Thursday, March 25.

[flv width=”640″ height=”500″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/Bloomberg National Broadband Plan Released – Controversies 3-16-10.flv[/flv]

Bloomberg Business News carried extensive coverage about the National Broadband Plan, its winners and losers, and other implications of a coordinated plan to improve service across America. (14 minutes)

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/CNBC National Broadband Plan Implications 3-16-10.flv[/flv]

CNBC aired more skeptical coverage about the National Broadband Plan.  Clueless Michelle Caruso-Cabrera is also back still insisting 99 percent of America already has access to broadband, but she speaks in terms of zip codes, not actual broadband coverage, and it’s unclear if she includes satellite “fraudband,” which promises broadband speeds but doesn’t deliver.  Caruso-Cabrera also bashes Net Neutrality along the way. (13 minutes)

[flv width=”448″ height=”356″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/NBC News Channel FCC Seeks to Expand Access 3-16-10.flv[/flv]

From a less “business news” standpoint, the NBC News Channel explained the National Broadband Plan to ordinary consumers yesterday in terms of how the plan would affect them. (2 minutes)

[flv width=”640″ height=”500″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WTTG Washington High-Speed Broadband Access for All 3-16-10.flv[/flv]

Local Washington, DC Fox affiliate WTTG-TV also explains the National Broadband Plan, suggesting it will bring “high speed access for all.” (3 minutes)

AT&T Mobility doesn’t want a repeat of 2009’s wireless meltdown at Austin’s annual geek gathering South by Southwest (SXSW).  The wireless provider is bolstering coverage across Austin with temporary cell towers rising from trailers strategically placed around the convention center, as well as an indoor cell system inside the Austin Convention Center.

All this to avoid the embarrassment the company experienced last year when thousands of iPhone-wielding attendees slowed AT&T’s network to a crawl.  When smartphone customers notice slowdowns or dropped service, they become vocal.  That’s no good for a convention catering to the cool-kid techie.

Making a good impression at SXSW may represent a road back to credibility for many unhappy AT&T customers, who have repeatedly criticized the carrier for not keeping up with mobile demand in 2009.  In addition to “Cellular On Wheels” — the aforementioned AT&T cell tower trailers, the company has also beefed up its permanent cell sites with improved backhaul connections, which provides increased bandwidth.

Most of AT&T’s data demands come from its exclusive arrangement with Apple to provide iPhone service in the United States.  The deal brought millions of new customers to the company, which claims to have twice as many smartphones on its network that any other carrier.

The results of all the work seem to have paid off.  Many attendees report the network is performing better than expected.  Some have noted its working even better than the conference-provided Wi-Fi network.

[flv width=”480″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KXAN Austin ATT trying to prevent mobile meltdown 3-12-10.flv[/flv]

KXAN-TV in Austin covers the opening of SXSW and AT&T’s service improvements throughout Austin (2 minutes)

Woe to those who forget to sign up for a wireless data plan from Verizon Wireless.

The cell phone provider recently sent a $16,000 bill to one Hot Springs, Arkansas family for wireless data usage racked up on a daughter’s phone the family didn’t cover with a wireless data plan.

Chris Brown couldn’t believe his eyes when he opened his phone bill online.

“The first thing I think of is, this thing costs more than my truck.  It cost more than a house payment, I couldn’t fathom it, it’s mind-blowing,” Brown told KLRT-TV.

This isn’t the first time this has happened.  A month earlier, the Brown family was billed $3,000 for similar usage and the family asked Verizon Wireless to shut off access to data services on the affected phone, but the charges kept on coming anyway.

Brown says once he got to look at the phone usage online, he saw that the phone was connected to the Internet when the family didn’t even know it.

Verizon Wireless offers tips to customers with children:

• Limit the times of day they’re allowed to make calls.

• Keep your kids from getting onto your own phone’s Internet by setting up a password.

• If you have a limited plan, you will get an alert and have to give approval before you exceed your number of kilobytes or megabytes for the month.

Of course, had Verizon Wireless followed through on what Brown asked for — shutting data access off altogether, none of this would have ever happened.

Other Little Rock customers, especially those forced to move from Alltel to Verizon Wireless, are running into similar experiences.

Among the horror stories:

“My son had the same problem. He was told he had unlimited internet usage and then received a bill for more than $7,000. Verizon had recorded a phone call from my son to customer service and that was the only thing that saved him. But it took more than 4 months and his phone service being disconnected twice before the situation was resolved.”

“I’m not a bit surprised at that ridiculous bill from Verizon! I had the same problem for months last year, to the point that I had to put unlimited texting on both my grandsons’ phones. Then to top that off, we got a bill that had goo-gobs of texting billed to my husband’s phone (to the tune of $9.30), which is rarely used at all. But, this is the killer–all the texts received on his phone were from Verizon, all 62 of them! As soon as my contract is up with them, I will be switching. All the time we had Alltel we never had any problems. The problems started as soon as Verizon took over.”

“I’m not one bit surprised by the ridiculous phone bill that the Hot Springs family received. I also received my first month’s bill from Verizon last year for over $1500. I almost had a heart attack. Verizon lowered the bill, but two months later, even though we carefully monitored the air time, we went over by four minutes and they charged me an additional $90. That was it for Verizon. They are a bunch of crooks. I hooked up to my local phone carrier for $34 a month and I haven’t had one problem since. Verizon should be investigated.”

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KLRT Little Rock Hot Springs family gets $16,000 cell phone bill 3-3-10.flv[/flv]

KLRT-TV in Little Rock reports on the Hot Springs family that got a $16,000 surprise bill from Verizon Wireless.  (3 minutes)