Month: October 2020

Tello After The T-Mobile & Sprint Merger

Christian 1 Comment

The carrier Tello has offered some of the best prices in the industry for a while now. Until recently, the major downside of Tello was that it ran over Sprint’s lackluster network.

Ever since the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint closed, I’ve been wondering what the future would look like for Tello. On Friday, Tello shared a blog post that shed some light:

  • Tello plans to start implementing service over T-Mobile’s network in late 2020.1
  • Tello does not plan to change its pricing structure at this time.2
  • Sprint-only service is expected to be available until at least mid-2021.3
  • Sprint-only phones may see a big decline in the performance of data service before mid-2021.4

Phone compatibility with T-Mobile

Fortunately, many Tello subscribers already have phones that are compatible with T-Mobile’s network. High-end phones purchased in the last few years are particularly likely to work with T-Mobile.

If you bought a phone in the past 2 years — such as a recent iPhone or Galaxy — it likely already has support for both networks. Same goes for iPhone XR, XS, or later that should be good for the full T-Mobile experience, but devices older than 2018 may not be able to tap into the full capabilities of the new network.

Tello recommends using phones that support LTE bands 2, 4, 12, 66, and 71 along with VoLTE. Customers without compatible phones will probably need to upgrade their devices if they want to remain with Tello after the legacy Sprint network shuts down.

The long term

Tello has said it won’t raise prices, but I don’t think that’s a long-term commitment. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a price hike by the end of 2021. Tello will be more appealing with the expanded coverage offered by T-Mobile’s network. Additionally, the market for low-cost service is likely to become less competitive as Sprint disappears and large companies buy out a number of MVNOs.

While we may see a price increase eventually, I’m tentatively excited for Tello’s future. T-Mobile’s network is likely to offer Tello subscribers a far better coverage experience than Sprint’s network ever could.

T-Mobile Expands LTE Home Internet Options

Christian

T-Mobile just announced that it will massively expanded the pilot program for its LTE home internet service. Almost 500 cities are being added to the service. T-Mobile shared a list of new locations in its press release.

In the press release, T-Mobile takes a lot of shots at AT&T’s recent decision to cease offering DSL service:

What AT&T takes away, T-Mobile brings back. Following news that AT&T is discontinuing DSL home broadband in many communities, T-Mobile is massively expanding its Home Internet pilot service to give another option to an additional 20 million households in parts of 450 cities and towns — many in rural America — being abandoned by AT&T in the middle of a pandemic when connectivity has never been more important.

While I’ve only looked into it briefly, T-Mobile’s service seems promising. With automatic payments enabled, it comes in at $50 per month. It looks like that $50 includes taxes, fees, and hardware costs. Further, T-Mobile doesn’t appear to be pushing subscribers into long-term contracts.

The service seems to be in its infancy. I entered two different address on T-Mobile’s website to whether the internet service was available. In both cases, I didn’t actually get an answer. Instead, T-Mobile requested my contact information and suggested the company would get in touch if service was available in my area.

You can find more information about T-Mobile’s LTE home internet service on the company’s website.

US Mobile Improves Fee Transparency

Christian 1 Comment

In the past, I’ve been critical of the carrier US Mobile hiding fees.

I now want to give US Mobile credit for adding a fee disclosure to its website (hat tip to Stetson Doggett for pointing out the change):

Fee disclosure screenshot

While the new disclosure might still count as “in the fine print,” it’s a huge improvement. US Mobile used to avoid acknowledging added fees until customers were near the end of the checkout process.

On Twitter, US Mobile’s CEO, Ahmed Khattak, raised an interesting point:

In many ways, I agree with Khattak. Hidden fees continue to be a big problem with carriers other than US Mobile. However, I don’t think it was unreasonable for me to make more of a fuss about US Mobile’s hidden fees than other carrier’s hidden fees. US Mobile’s fees are often much larger than the fees charged by similar carriers (i.e., other low-cost MVNOs).1

Hidden fees generally

Going forward, I’m going to push against hidden fees throughout the industry. AT&T and Verizon continue to have significant hidden fees. T-Mobile is doing a bit better, but the carrier still has room for improvement.2 In the long run, I’d love to see all universal fees (i.e., fees that aren’t location-specific) built into plans’ advertised prices. If carriers could coordinate to simultaneously stop hiding fees, consumers would have better information, and carriers would experience limited downsides.3

Hacked Order Page At Boom! Mobile

Christian

The mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Boom! Mobile was recently hacked. Ars Technica has a good article covering the incident.

A bit of malicious code was inserted in the checkout section of Boom’s website. Hackers used the code to skim payment information and credit card numbers from Boom’s customers. It looks like the malicious code was active for at least a few hours, possibly longer.

Boom’s website was running an outdated version of PHP. At this time, I don’t know what vulnerability the hackers took advantage of. I’m also unsure if this was an isolated incident or if Boom was affected by other security breaches.

I’m not sure Boom should have been handling its own payment processing. The carrier may have violated PCI DSS rules.

Update: A representative from Boom posted the following on Howard Forums:

Hey guys,

Thanks for checking in.

boom MOBILE deeply regrets this incident happened. From the start, we moved quickly to contain the incident and conduct a thorough investigation. We have found that the malware was located only on our shopping cart at boom.us and not on any of our other sites such as myaccount.boom.us which is used by customers to manage their billing. We encourage customers who may have made a purchase from www.boom.us between 9/30/20 – 10/5/20 to take the necessary precautions with their credit card company. This incident did not compromise any boom MOBILE accounts, saved payment or autopay details. Our saved payment/autopay system does not store any bank information and was verified to be safe. The credit card processor provides us with a secure token than can only be used by boom! MOBILE from our secure server. We are committed to protecting your data & privacy. We are PCI compliant and do not store financial data on our servers. Our shopping cart provider has ensured us our site is safe and the malware has been removed.

5G abstract

T-Mobile Expands Mid-Band 5G

Christian

T-Mobile just launched mid-band 5G in a bunch of cities. Here’s the key bit from the press release:

T-Mobile lit up a supercharged 5G experience in another 121 cities and towns with mid-band 5G, delivering up to gigabit-per-second peak speeds and average download speeds around 300 megabits-per-second for capable 5G devices.

The expansion into mid-band 5G is exciting. While T-Mobile has been destroying its competitors in terms of 5G coverage, T-Mobile has relied mostly on slow, low-band 5G.

Twitter sweepstakes

In the press release, T-Mobile mentions a sweepstakes to encourage Twitter users to discuss T-Mobile’s 5G:

To celebrate, T-Mobile is giving away $100,000 on Twitter over the next several months, with #5Gsfor5G.

Interestingly, T-Mobile’s President of Technology, Neville Ray, criticized this sort of thing in a Tweet he shared the same day the sweepstakes launched:

Verizon Expands LTE Home Internet

Christian

Verizon just expanded its LTE Home Internet. The service is now available in parts of 189 markets, including parts of every state except Alaska and Vermont. You can check availability in your area on Verizon’s website.

Verizon’s LTE Home Internet could be a good option in places where conventional broadband is not available. The service has no monthly usage limits, and Verizon says speeds will typically fall between 25Mbps and 50Mbps.

Pricing

Current Verizon mobile customers can get service for as little as $40 per month.1 For those who don’t already have Verizon service, LTE Home Internet is available for as low as $60 per month.2

A special router is needed to use the service. Verizon sells the router for $240 and offers it through a $10 per month payment plan.