I have that too. The speed sucks dick but it's cheap.
Thoughts:
1. I really hope it knows to just use cell while driving instead of trying to connect to random passing APs.
2. Am I the only person in America constantly surrounded by secured/non-free Wifi?
3. Why wouldn't I just pay less for my phone and $10 more a month for Virgin Mobile?
Indirectly answering your point #3 above, this would appeal to inter-country travellers. More specifically, there is probably a sizeable segment of customers who travel back and forth between Canada and the US where this would be a hit.
At $19/month, it's also cheap enough to be a work/travel phone that is assigned to you. Although there is a growing trend for IT-consumerization and multi-SIMs, there are still plenty of people who prefer to keep physically separate personal and work mobile devices. This could easily appeal to them and organizations.
For a smaller (but very lucrative segment) of roaming subscribers, being able to use a single phone number accessible over WiFi no matter what country you're in is a compelling value prop; no more need to worry about data/voice add-on packages.
It's like being able to take your voip line with you on your phone, accessible through one number. Surprisingly, nobody else can offer that right now. The closest we've got is FaceTime (cellular network for voice; free voice calling if you're on wifi and reaching out to another iOS device), and even that doesn't quite provide the same convenience.
And with declining voice revenues, carriers are fighting a losing battle knowing their margins are being squeezed. They are deathly afraid of voip cannabilizing their voice revenues.
This is a good move by Sprint. I wonder if they have any equity in Republic Wireless.
It's a nice idea in theory, but if it gets popular it'll just become more expensive as it eats into the bottom line of the bigger carriers. It's like POTS/DSL: you can't cut out the middle man when they own the equipment. Even Virgin upped their fees.
The fact of the matter is, if there was stable free wifi everywhere many of us wouldn't be using cell networks. But it's not going to happen. Europe is even worse; better hope there's a McDonalds near you when you want to make a call.
I'm going to bet that most people are just suckers for the brand-new expensive-yet-crappy smartphone and getting locked into another phone on another untested carrier isn't going to sway many of them. And Wifi on all the time? There goes your battery life.
(p.s. I don't know what kind of phone they're offering first, but that disassembled phone on their front page is identical to my LG Optimus V - from Virgin)
I haven't had any issues with the speed recently. Maybe that's because I'm in an area with pretty good Sprint service. There were significant network issues back when they first introduced the Optimius V, but those seem pretty well fixed by now.
Agreed. So imagine what this other company's coverage will be like - and they aren't owned by Sprint like Virgin Mobile US is. (incidentally, if you update your PRL on your Virgin phone to a Sprint list you get better service...)
How would I update my PRL? And what would I update it to? I had no idea that these caveats existed on Sprint's network, I had just (naviely?) assumed all Sprint-based service was "the same"
If you google usually you can find a guide for your phone on HTC or other developer/modder/hacker forums for smartphones. It involves getting codes specific to your phone and using some software and a USB data cable to upload new settings to the phone. It's similar to firmware flashing.
Oh yeah, and they really really don't like you to do it because you're basically using parts of the network they don't want you to use. So whatever you do, don't tell Sprint customer service.
Thoughts: