Sprint mvnos vs Verizon mvnos: Pros and Cons

[fonezfonz]

There are tons of Sprint mvnos out there. There are a few Verizon ones too.
The biggest trends noted about both are this.

Sprint Mvno Pros: Generally more numerous. Tend to have unlimited plans.
Somewhat lower overall rates.

Verizon Mvno Pros: Generally has greater coverage . Most of them allow Verizon phones onto their networks as well as their own selection (with the major exception of Straight Talk).

Sprint Mvno Cons: Poorer overall coverage. Most have no roaming option, paid or not. Most limit the user to their own often limited and/or older handset selection.

Almost none of them allow the use of Sprint postpaid handsets on their system except Boost cdma, which some count as a prepaid arm of Sprint more then a true mvno. This may change if upcoming mvno Eclipse Mobile actually delivers on their promise of a BYOD/Bring Your Own Device plan. A few may allow the use of other Sprint mvno handsets. It varies from carrier to carrier with no general rule.

Verizon Mvno Cons: None have unlimited smartphone data offering at this time (Debut of Straight Talk R810C may change that).

Sprint Mvnos include: Ready Mobile, Total Call, Platinum Tel, Lucky Aces PCS, Liberty Wireless, STI, Kajeet,some would also count Virgin Mobile and Boost cdma. There are many more.

Verizon mvnos include: Page Plus, Mingo Wireless, H20 Cdma, Air Voice Express, Lucky Wireless, Talkaway.net, Eclipse Mobile (old).

[25jive1]

Our first cell phone was Sprint many years ago. It was a nightmare of dropped calls and no signal even tho we live in Sprints hometown. The company I worked for before I retired used Sprint. On a trip I took at the time I drove up I35 about 25 miles then took a blue hiway 40 miles to the east. I lost coverage a few miles from the interstate and never regained it until I returned to the interstate using a Sprint phone. I realize things have improved since then but the bitter taste still remains.
Up until recently Sprint was losing a million customer per quarter. I think that figure had dropped to 1/4 million this last quarter. The local news reports a planned lay off of nearly 1/3 of Sprints workforce by the end of this year.

There are reasons for this type of business failure.

[bamx2]

Some of the Sprint MVNOs ( eg: Kajeet, Platinumtel, Virginmobile USA ) do a great job with online call details/call records . The call detail/ call record offerings seem to be very limited with the Verizon MVNOs .

[fonezfonz]

Any other general differences between the two groups of mvnos? If so, please list.

[pattyrn]

i love love love love my platinum tel q9c their service is awesome always fast to address anything you need. my q9c works in 98 percent of the places that I go with the microsoft my phone I am able to backup everything on the internet pics, calendar etc it syncs to my account. I went to minimal on my att act I have a q9h on att and it is synced as well so if I am ever anywhere that my ptel phone doesnt work the q9h is identical. I also use the att to call other att phones. have to keep my att act bc my son is on it. I can do a whole heck of alot more on my ptel q9c than I ever could on my q9c on ppc........it does talk and text.

[clocks11]

i love love love love my platinum tel q9c their service is awesome always fast to address anything you need.

I am trying PlatinumTel now, and have not had any major issues yet. Sometimes I find it take up to 6min for a txt to come through, but that is rare. Usually there is no delay.

Their CS dept seemed stumped though when I asked how I can update my PRL. She didn't have any idea what I was talking about. I will try again tomorrow asking a different rep.

[pattyrn]

I think the prl is simple. it doesnt roam. if you are roaming it will let you call 911. otherwise it connects you to the american roaming network. in other wards it doesnt roam.

[fonezfonz]

Platinum Tel stands out as the only Sprint Mvno besides Boost cdma that offers unlimited 3G evdo data at a reasonable price.

Mingo Wireless stands out among the Verizon mvnos with their low minute rates, ($100, 1500 minutes/one year expiration) above average customer service (verified by several Hofoes who actually use their service) and from what they tell me: ability to put Verizon regular phones on their system with ALL WEB settings working out of the box, unlike Page Plus or other ones.

Some people might try to bring up Eclipse Mobile PCS ,but until they prove themselves as being for real, please keep them on their threads. Old Eclipse Mobile on Verizon may be discussed here no problem, but no Eclipse PCS until it is real. If it is real.

[clocks11]

I think the prl is simple. it doesnt roam. if you are roaming it will let you call 911. otherwise it connects you to the american roaming network. in other wards it doesnt roam.

So there is no reason to ever have to do a PRL update? That would make sense why the CS rep was confused by the question.

[fonezfonz]

Minor Sprint mvno Libery Wireless is showing off a $50 /28days unlimited everything plan and their first smartphone, a Moto Q. This is the first unlimited offering of any kind from Liberty, up until now , a paygo mvno.

Based on what I have heard about Liberty CS, I do not recommend them, but this is an indication that there may be another round of Sprint price cuttings on unlimited offerings to their mvnos, or increase in available services at the same pricepoint. The two I am looking at are 1)Platinum Tel. Their $60 everything has been doing good. If it is $50, I bet it will do better. 2)Virgin Mobile. Is anybody home?

Btw, anyone ever heard of Shout! wireless/mobile. I understand that it is a Lucky Wireless offshoot. What makes this mvno different is that it appears to offer POSTPAID Verizon coverage included at no extra charge.. Not as big a deal now as it was before the Alltel merger perhaps, but if it is still true (website says 2008), that would make it stand out from the other Verizon mvnos, just a little bit more.
Any updates, or are they defunct?

Notice both bits: Possibly lower unlimited prices for Sprint mvnos, especially involving data/everything plans and possibly larger coverage on a Verizon one just emphasizes the individual strengths that both classes of mvnos in general have. Sprint: Lower overall prices, unlimited, data. Verizon: Coverage.

[offthegrid]

Boost cdma users are reporting that per minute off network roaming is coming to Boost which means its probably coming to all Sprint MVNOs as an option. If the roaming rate is decent that kills having to carry a 2nd phone for dead spots.

I spoke with Liberty cs and asked about putting any phone on and they sent me to a 2nd level support who said they can only activate within the esn's that Sprint allows them. For them that hasn't changed. The Moto Q & 3G being free though I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to get another phone onto that service with some tinkering.

[fonezfonz]

Too bad Liberty did not pass the Do they now allow Sprint mvnos to use any Sprint phones acid test. We will see if this comes to pass with other mvnos.

On a related note, my understanding is that it is much easier to get regular Sprint Cdma non feature phones onto Boost mobile cdma now via Sprint .com or something.

This info was floating on another thread. Unverified. Have used Boost mobile cdma but never tried to get another Sprint phone on it.

If Sprint does give in on this point, they would finally be able to match Verizon mvnos in that regard while beating them with data/unlimited plans (in general. There are more Sprint mvnos with unlimited, then there are Verizon ones with it.) if not coverage.

Sprint mvno unlimited plans would almost be a commodity if they allowed any Sprint device though. Which is cheapest? Put the phone on it. Lol.

[Big Blue 023]

If you really break it down, there are basically only Straight Talk and Page Plus as Verizon mvnos with unlimited plans that have any real numbers. ST got the deal because Tracfone/Walmart have such clout they can. And Page Plus got the deal because they are one of the oldest , largest independent Vz mvnos with their own kind of clout. Page Plus has an estimated half a million to a million or more. They are not saying. ST is a newcomer but fast growing.

Talkaway.net and Eclipse both appear to be sucking off of Page Plus. Talkaway even admitted they were in the beginning saying they were trying to get 5000 customers on their own so they could be counted by Verizon as a new mvno independent of PPC (which means that if they had not gone through PPC, no Vz unlimited rates.)

Eclipse is weird. They appear to like to take standard plans like Virgin Mobile and Page Plus and add their own twists, but generally charge more for it. Eclipse though, if the numbers it claims it has (13,000) are real, then they already qualify as an independent Verizon mvno. I have no idea if they still sell Virgin Mobile stuff.

Pretty sure they were doing a Talkaway at least in the beginning till they hit the high enough numbers. Talkaway, btw, opened up around August so they have till say May 2010 to get their 5000 so they have plenty of time.

Sprint mvnos on the other hand have had unlimited for a long time. Air Link/Powerlink, Total Call got one, Libery Wireless, Platinum Tel, Ready Mobile has one, Virgin Mobile too, though now they are a real part of Sprint, not just an mvno. Or they are going to become so after the merger completes. Boost cdma, of course, is owned lock, stock and barrel by Sprint.

If Sprint gives its mvnos phone freedom, or Verizon gives more mvnos unlimited plans, there could be a big shift in advantages. Until they do, it appears to be a standoff of different strengths. I think Verizon will not be giving out any more unlimited plans, at least not like how Sprint does, any time soon.

[fonezfonz]

Well, there is Sun Mobile USA too. They have a plan that looks different enough from the others as a Verizon mvno unlimited. Unlimited talk/text/50 megs web for 49.99 , not just 20 megs. They allow most Verizon phones too, but have a rather steep $35 activation fee if you bring your own. I think that will slow their growth. Fact is , Sun Mobile has a LOT of activation charges. I really dislike that about them. I have to give it to them that at least they are pretty clear about any such charges. Nothing really hidden there. They have a nice website, but appear strictly minor league. I think they are REALLY new, like newer then Mingo Wireless.

There are more at this point besides Sun Mobile, at least five Verizon unlimited plans out there on mvnos if you count Straight Talk.

Verizon mvnos ability to literally put ANY Verizon phone is very true as they have reports of the Droid, Droid Eris and I think the second Blackberry Storm on Verizon mvnos already, mostly Page Plus.

Boost cdma just had an excellent new sticky on Bmcdma for beginners FAQ put up. It actually has a listing of the Sprint phones which CANNOT be activated on there. So even the one Sprint prepaid/mvno offshoot that has the MOST phone flexibility cannot match the phone freedom of the AVERAGE Verizon type mvno. The Boost cdma sticky also answered my question on them making it somewhat easier to put a Sprint phone on there via a Sprint account. Go to Boost cdma and read the original sticky there if interested in more details.

I checked out the Sun site again and it was running with no errors unlike two days ago . No sign of that $80 unlimited everything including data plan someone mentioned.

[fonezfonz]

Did some digging on Xtreme Mobile. Their website is vague but they started to offer an unlimited plan. It is the exact last month. It is the exact same deal as the Ptel $50 plan but unlike Ptel, Xtreme doesn't have an unlimited data option yet.

Xtreme has okay priced phones but will not allow Non Xtreme Sprint mvnos to activate. You are stuck with their phones.

They also have a $10 5 day unlimited talk/text and a $20 10 day unlimited talk/text plan.

Sprint looks like its giving a lot of its mvnos a less then 30 day unlimited option.
Too bad it is all consecutive and not pay on days used.

Total Call has a similar 15 day/$25 unlimited talk/text/intl text plan which is of better value then the Xtreme $20 deal.

Xteme has data but no picture messaging available yet.

Their CS is curt and fairly okay. Nothing to write home about. Based in the US. Small time though. Guy seemed to know what he's talking about though.

I'd say there's nothing really special about Xtreme mobile. Ptel is still a better choice. They do have an 8cpm regular talk plan too. Didn't really look at that too much.

Xtreme is your basic, all around average small time Sprint mvno from the looks of it. No byod. Unlimited offering. 10 cpm or less pay go. No roaming. Fair CS. No mms so no point in a camera phone.

Nothing really special.

They do have a prepaid data stick plan: a gig for a month at $60. Same as the VM deal pretty much. They had a lower priced/amount offering but it was like a week expiry. Meh.

Their website needs a lot of work . For example,none of their handsets and hardware have prices and you have to actually download an image of their products to Microsoft picture editor.

Unnecessarily awkward, poorly designed and incomplete info make for a weak website.

They've got potential, but they need some work.