Virgin Mobile's Prepaid Broadband: So Popular It's Raising Prices

Feb 15th 2011 at 1:20PM

(wireless internet service,internet service providers,internet service,wireless service providers,verizon wireless internet,verizon internet,broadband internet providers,wireless broadband providers,broadband internet,broadband wireless)

Unlimited no longer means no limits at Virgin Mobile USA. The company announced today that due to the popularity of its Broadband2Go wireless Internet plan for its 3G MiFi hot spots and wireless modems, it's increasing the monthly fee and restricting speeds.
The $40 unlimited data plan was "overwhelmingly popular," according to the company's press release, and is being increased by $10. Citing an overloaded Internet, Virgin Mobile scaled back the plan to 5GB of data in February, but today cut that to 2.5GB a month. After reaching that amount, customers "may experience slower download speeds until the end of that monthly cycle," the company said.
Virgin Mobile unleashed the $40 unlimited plan last summer, and it became so popular that its $150 personal modems, called MiFi, were hard to find in stores. In July 2009 it started selling a mobile USB stick for $150, which I tried out for free at the time, and the price has since dropped to $80.
The company announced the change today on its Facebook page, which caught users by surprise and angered some. One called the 25% price increase a bait and switch.

Customers who subscribed before today will still be able to keep 5GB, although if they move off the $40 plan they won't be able to return to it. New customers of the $50 plan will see slower speeds after using half of their 5GB. It was unclear from Virgin Mobile's press release if existing customers will also experience slower download speeds when they get to 2.5GB, and company spokeswoman Corinne Nosal would only say that existing customers will continue on the plan until further notice and will have a threshold of 5GB.
I have smartphone through Virgin Mobile, which through its Beyond Talk Plan offers unlimited text, email, data and Internet. I asked Nosal if those unlimited plans would soon become as limited as its broadband program. She assured me that the current changes only apply to its Broadband2Go service, but anything is possible.
"We do, however, always reserve the right to implement network management practices to ensure optimal performances for all subscribers as necessary," she wrote in an e-mail.
Popularity can be a good thing, but not when it leads to a price increase.
Aaron Crowe is a freelance journalist in the San Francisco Bay Area.
View the original article here

Data Roaming Prices Continue to Fall Across the European Union

Laptop and smartphone users in the European Union are able to benefit from increasingly attractive roaming prices, according to data collected from 101 mobile operator websites from the period 6-10 June 2011.

The GSMA's Data Roaming Price Basket Index, released today, tracks market movements in data roaming prices as offers are constantly revised and new ones are launched. It takes the best deals by operator and by market and translates these into per MB prices for a range of different user profiles. For example, the June Index illustrates that the European average of best available postpaid tariffs is less than a euro per MB (euro 0.94) for a medium usage 10MB basket(1).

The Index will be published every two months to provide EU legislators with a current snapshot of dynamism and pricing innovation in the retail data roaming market. That dynamism is reflected in the latest figures, which show the average of each operator's best data roaming tariffs dropped almost 20% between April and June. The increasing variety of differently structured offers is also a strong indicator of a market that is competitive, growing fast and finding its feet.

"The Index will provide legislators and regulators with a 'look forward' complement to BEREC's six-month retrospective reports(2)," said Tom Phillips, Chief Regulatory Officer, GSMA. "It underscores the current market trends that will feed through into the offers that consumers will enjoy tomorrow."

Further highlights from the research, which was undertaken for the GSMA by A.T. Kearney, the global management consultancy, include:

* For 5, 10 and 50MB usage baskets, postpaid prices now average between euro 0.69-1.19 per MB and prepaid prices now average between euro 1.47-1.66 per MB.

* The average heavy user, who is most likely to shop around for the best deal, can get 100MB of roaming data allowance for euro 0.45 per MB with the best available tariff.

"Demand for mobile data services abroad is soaring as consumers look to enjoy the convenience of mobile broadband when they travel. These price movements are good news for consumers and evidence that operators in this fast-growing, innovative market are increasingly responsive to consumer demand for value," continued Phillips.

In developing the Data Roaming Price Basket Index, A.T. Kearney undertook the following approach:

* Data was collected from tariffs available at 90 operators' websites from 28 March to 6 April 2011 and at 101 operator websites from 6 to 10 June 2011;

* The exercise identified 223 and 293 different mobile/smartphone data roaming tariffs for April and June;

* Operators from the 27 EU member states were included in the April Index, with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland also included in the June Index;

* A basket approach was followed to determine the resulting price per MB;

* Three baskets, chosen to reflect the user profiles of different data roaming users were selected to illustrate the results (5MB, 10MB and 50MB);

* The price per MB was calculated taking into consideration the full price of the bundle if the basket is smaller than the bundle available;

* For each country, and for each usage case, the following were identified:

o The lowest available price per MB based on the best tariff from a single operator;

o The best average price per MB based on a weighted average price of the lowest price tariff for each operator (weighted by each operator's market share).

EU/EEA prices for each use case were then aggregated by weighting the average prices per country with the number of national mobile subscriptions. The full methodology and underlying data are available at

View the original article here