Verizon Wireless’ answer for rural America’s broadband troubles goes live across the country today, offering the broadband deprived the opportunity of getting wireless service at almost twice the price of conventional DSL, with a 10GB monthly usage allowance.

HomeFusion Broadband uses Verizon’s LTE network to deliver service to homes and businesses within range of Verizon’s 4G network.  For rural America, the speeds Verizon is capable of delivering offer a significant improvement over rural DSL.  Verizon promises 5-12Mbps down and 2-5Mbps up, depending on how many users are sharing the cell tower and how strong a signal one receives.

“HomeFusion Broadband is another example of Verizon Wireless’ commitment to providing our customers with the most innovative products and services,” said Tami Erwin, vice president and chief marketing officer, Verizon Wireless. “With HomeFusion Broadband, customers across the United States, in towns large and small, will have the chance to link devices to the Internet and take advantage of the speed, coverage and connectivity offered by our 4G LTE network.”

Whether they can afford it may be another matter.

Verizon Wireless charges a one-time equipment fee of $199.99, which includes professional installation of the required cylindrical outdoor antenna and router that allows customers to share the wireless connection with other devices inside the home.

Monthly service fees start at $60 a month and include 10GB of monthly usage. If you need more data, you will pay a significant amount to get it — up to $120 a month for 30GB of usage.  As a tease, customers get 50 percent more data allowance for the first two full billing cycles of service.  If you become accustomed to using that extra allowance, it could be very costly once the first two months are up.  Overlimit fees run $10/GB.

Verizon claims two-thirds of the country is now covered by their 4G LTE network, including the regions Verizon sold off to companies like FairPoint and Frontier Communications.  Those independent phone companies will soon have Verizon as a broadband competitor in states like West Virginia, Vermont, Ohio, and Maine. If customers value speed over everything else, Verizon could be a formidable competitor over traditional rural DSL, which often operates at speeds of 1-3Mbps, as long as customers steer clear of allowance-eating online video.

Verizon has positioned HomeFusion as a rural broadband solution, and earlier pricing and policy changes make it clear Verizon is downplaying its traditional DSL service.  In April, Verizon announced it would no longer sell standalone DSL service to customers without voice phone lines, or to those who live in areas also wired for the company’s fiber optic network FiOS.

Sprint, perennially America’s #3 wireless phone company, faces some of its biggest challenges not from super-sized Verizon Wireless or AT&T, but from Wall Street over the company’s upgrade investments and environmental policies.

“I still get crucified for deciding to carry the Apple iPhone because the investment is significant and the payoffs are long term,” CEO Dan Hesse told attendees at a conference sponsored by Fortune magazine. “I deal with that quite a bit.”

Hesse’s vision of an upgraded 4G LTE network for Sprint Nextel comes at a cost: technology upgrades and investing profits back into the business.  Hesse also wants to be sure the company maintains environmental sustainability, with attention to everything from renewable energy sources to socially-responsible recycling of retired cell phones.

Wall Street to Hesse: Don't Get Comfortable

In response, Wall Street has been demanding Hesse’s hide.  One investment firm even predicted the imminent demise of the wireless phone company.

The iPhone, the smartphone wireless carriers cannot afford to be without (just ask T-Mobile, which continues to bleed contract customers), has posed a major financial challenge for Sprint Nextel.  Apple’s wildly popular phone commands a high wholesale price and purchasing commitments that make investors’ eyes bleed.

In October, Sprint committed to purchase 30.5 million iPhones from Apple for $20 billion.  That threatens to drain cash on-hand to cover the huge subsidies new iPhone buyers get on their phone purchase. The company will gradually earn that subsidy back over the length of the traditional two year service contract, but many on Wall Street are upset Sprint committed to an order of that size.  One Wall Street firm — Sanford C. Bernstein — downgraded the company’s stock to “underperform,” and one analyst at the company — Craig Moffett — even predicted Sprint’s bankruptcy.

Sprint’s plan to spend up to $5 billion on its forthcoming LTE 4G network won Hesse no favors in New York’s financial district either.  Sprint’s Network Vision plan will allow the company to keep up with AT&T and Verizon’s aggressive 4G rollouts, but after chief financial officer Joe Euteneuer laid out the associated financial plan to pay for it, calls for Hesse’s head resumed.

“There is a disconnect with Wall Street because if you’re building a brand, it does take a long time,” he said. “It’s hard to quantify.”

Wall Street doesn’t think much about investing in environmental initiatives either.  Hesse believes corporate environmental responsibility will pay off over the long term, ultimately reducing some of the company’s expenses.  But spending money short term to save money long term leaves investors cold.

“A lot of these environmental investments don’t hit that payoff period,” Hesse said. “The Street likes the expense savings, but the environmental benefits go right over their heads.”

[flv]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/CNBC Faber Report Sprint Beats Expectations 4-25-12.flv[/flv]

CEO Dan Hesse may win a temporary reprieve as Sprint released better-than-expected results today for the latest quarter. Average revenue per user grew 6.9% and Sprint is hanging on to many of its former Nextel customers as the company decommissions that network, reports CNBC’s David Faber.  (2 minutes)

She’s back and wants to “set the record straight.”

T-Mobile’s familiar ad star is dropping her amazing pink dresses like these 2024 short pink prom dresses for some get-tough biker leather in a new series of commercials for the wireless carrier.

Canadian actress-model Carly Foulkes has appeared in “approachable”-wear designed by Debra LeClair since 2010, mostly chiding competitors like AT&T for tricky fees and “gotchas” that T-Mobile doesn’t charge. Typically amused by the antics of other wireless carriers, she promised relief for customers switching to T-Mobile’s value-oriented wireless plans.

Nearly a year after the failed merger-buyout by AT&T was first announced, T-Mobile this week unveils a “brand refresh” that promises wireless customers it is back in the fight for their business.  Traditionally, T-Mobile has positioned itself as a low-cost, value-oriented provider.  Often, the company’s service plans and pricing have forced other wireless carriers to follow suit.  AT&T’s buyout of T-Mobile would have eliminated that aggressive pricing.

T-Mobile will spend millions on the new ad campaign.

In the first ad in the series, Foulkes metaphorically tears up T-Mobile’s image over the past year, perceived as supine as the company waited to be absorbed into AT&T’s empire.  Ripping through her closet, Foulkes emerges in black leather and hops on board a motorcycle, demanding that visitors test-drive T-Mobile’s 4G network speeds against AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon.

Before her biker phase

T-Mobile’s year-long courting by AT&T cost the company plenty.

At last 802,000 contract customers fled T-Mobile for the competition, many for Sprint and Verizon, some only to avoid dealing with AT&T.

Others left because T-Mobile is the last major carrier still not offering Apple’s popular iPhone.  

The company promises to invest at least $200 million in advertising its comeback and is keeping Foulkes front and center.  In fact, outside of Verizon’s “Can You Hear Me Now” campaign which ran for a decade, ending last April, no spokescharacter has proved as recognizable as Foulkes.

The motorcycle theme will focus viewers on T-Mobile’s 4G network speeds.  Customers perceived that T-Mobile stopped upgrading and expanding its network while it pursued a merger with AT&T.

T-Mobile continues to claim it operates the nation’s largest 4G network, operating with HSPA+ technology.

T-Mobile’s “4G” network does deliver speed improvements over 3G, but some have dubbed HSPA+ “3.5G,” because resulting speeds usually cannot compete with 4G LTE technology.

T-Mobile plans to spend $1.4 billion to build its own LTE network to launch in 2013.

[flv width=”640″ height=”380″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/T-Mobile Relaunch Ad.flv[/flv]

T-Mobile’s “brand refresh” starts with this ad, “No More Mr. Nice Girl.”  (1 minute)

A Sprint spokesperson this week confirmed the company will continue selling “unlimited data” service on their forthcoming LTE 4G network.

Sprint’s Nichole Cappitelli told TechHog the carrier plans to extend unlimited access, with no speed throttling, to those buying Sprint’s first LTE phone, the Viper 4G.

Sprint begins accepting pre-orders for the LG phone April 12, with an anticipated shipping date by the end of the month.

Sprint’s 4G LTE network, still under construction, will provide improved 4G speed and value for customers looking for some savings over AT&T and Verizon Wireless.  Sprint currently delivers slower 4G WiMAX service from its partner Clearwire.

The Viper 4G phone will sell for $100 with a 2-year contract and $50 mail-in rebate.  With Sprint’s Everything plan, $80 will buy you unlimited mobile data, texting, and calling.  A similar plan from Verizon that only includes 2GB of mobile data is priced $40 higher.

Until July 22, Sprint will bundle 50GB of free cloud storage and sharing from Box, available from the Google Play app store.

Sprint is America’s only national mobile phone company offering unlimited and unthrottled data plans.

“Disruptive” is perhaps too timid a word to use for Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom, the man who brought Excedrin-strength headaches to the music industry with file-swapping software Kazaa and streamed video across the net for free with Joost.  Now he wants to blow up America’s business model for expensive wireless data by literally giving it away to wireless phone users.

FreedomPop has a “freemium” business model of its very own — give away 1GB of 4G data through Clearwire to iPhone owners willing to use FreedomPop’s WiMAX-fitted phone case with the hope users will throw more business their way for around $10/GB after the first gigabyte is gone.

Zennstrom

Clearwire has been in the mood to make deals with all-comers to leverage its WiMAX network that carriers like Sprint plan to abandon for LTE 4G service in the not-too-distant future.  By giving away 1GB of free usage (and it remains unclear whether this is a “one-off” deal or if the meter resets to zero every month), the company is set to draw plenty of free press.

FreedomPop is likely to appeal to price-sensitive customers who don’t want to pay providers $30 a month for 2-3GB of usage when a much smaller, cheaper data plan combined with the free service will do.

The WiMAX case, which will fit over Apple’s iPhone, also acts as a mobile hotspot, supporting up to eight concurrently-connected devices.  No change of phone is required as users can connect to the service through Wi-Fi.

Customers will have to place a deposit on the case, likely less than $100, refundable when returned in good condition.

With most people not exceeding 1GB of usage per month, the only cost will be the “bare minimum” data plan customers are required to take with AT&T, Verizon Wireless, or Sprint, which currently runs $15-20 for a few hundred megabytes.

Clearwire’s WiMAX doesn’t deliver coverage to all points in the United States, and its speeds are considerably lower than 4G LTE service.  But free is free – a concept NetZero hopes to use to pitch a similar free 4G Clearwire WiMAX service.  The primary difference is your granted usage allowance.  FreedomPop will provide 1GB — NetZero 200MB.

[flv width=”512″ height=”308″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WSJ How Skype Co-Founder Hopes to Make Money Giving Away Mobile Broadband on FreedomPop 3-23-12.flv[/flv]

The Wall Street Journal explores the business model of FreedomPop.  How can giving away 4G data succeed financially?  (4 minutes)