Wal-Mart To Launch Unlimited Wireless Family Plan 278
adeelarshad82 writes "Wal-Mart has announced that it will sell a post-paid wireless service powered by T-Mobile, which will be targeted at families. Users who sign up for Wal-Mart Family Mobile service will not have to sign a contract. The first line will cost $45 per month, and each additional line will cost $25 per month. Each line will have unlimited talk and text, so overage charges will not be an issue. For data access, each phone will come pre-loaded with a 100MB card known as a WebPak, which is shared among all lines on an account. Data does not expire, and refill cards can be purchased in Wal-Mart stores or online. The WebPak can also be used to make international calls at 5 cents per minute to any landline number in about a dozen countries."
Re:Sounds to me like... (Score:5, Interesting)
Hell, two lines, unlimited voice, and paying extra for even 200MB of data would still be a hell of lot cheaper than what AT&T is offering now for a "family" iPhone plan.
When I traveled to Hong Kong and London w/ my unlocked iPhone I picked up prepaid SIMs for around $15 that were more than enough to cover voice and data while traveling, and were substantially less expensive than what I'm locked into at home in the US.
Re:What saddens me the most... (Score:5, Interesting)
Somehow I doubt Wal-Mart is going to drive AT&T and Verizon out of the wireless marketplace.....
Besides, the criticism that you've made applies more to Barnes and Noble than Wal-Mart. I've not personally observed Wal-Mart raising their prices after driving the competition away. I did observe Barnes and Noble jack up all their prices shortly after the last independent book store in my home town closed up shop.
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Re:May not be as cheap as you think (Score:4, Interesting)
So says Ars Technica, anyway. I don't know much about the market for mobile Internet, but $40 per gigabyte sounds unbelievable. I'm just passing on what I've read.
Really "unbeleivable"? I've had an iphone for about a year now. According to its usage statistics I've used:
13,140 minutes
475 MB of data
426 MB of tethered data
1GB for $40 will apparently cover me for a year at a time. Instead I pay some $20bucks a month or something for the data plan.
I'm not a video on my phone junkie, and I don't get my email on my phone either. (I get too damn much of it, and really important stuff... I'll get a phone call anyway.)
Re:What saddens me the most... (Score:2, Interesting)
I've not personally observed Wal-Mart raising their prices after driving the competition away
Just wait until they actually drive away their competition. They're general retail; wait until there's no other retailers.
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Re:Stop Sleepwalking! (Score:1, Interesting)
The problem is that your "fair price" doesn't allow for a reasonable income for the workers and owners of those mom & pop local places, which I guess because you aren't one of them you don't care. But it then becomes a self-feeding downward spiral. As more and more people get minimum wage, they in turn can't afford to support places with real wages, so they go under. And the net result, given enough time, is everyone working for minimum wage.
Your contempt for your local mom&pop is misplaced, those people weren't making a fortune with their business. They were merely trying to make a reasonable living like everyone else. And in the process keeping the money in the community, instead of having it go to wall street.
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lol (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Sounds to me like... (Score:3, Interesting)
That may be true, but if you do it right, it can be cheaper with T-Mobile. For example, I recently sprung for a Nokia N900 (really, it's the best phone ever.). I signed up for T-Mobile's individual plan with unlimited text, 500 minutes and the "I own my own hardware" discount. I also have a Skype account. If sign up for T-Mobile service over the Internet you can add-in the unlimited data for phones (not for smartphones), and save some cash on the data (like $10/mo), and the SIM card is free (you have to pay for it in the store.) Then set up call forwarding on your Skype account to forward to your phone (in case you're out of range for data service but still have voice service when someone calls) and only give out your Skype number. I've used a grand total of 50 plan minutes last month with over 1000 minutes on my Skype account from the phone during peak hours. Skype's basically a $6/mo unlimited minutes addon. The N900 integrates with Skype perfectly (so long as you type your numbers in your contacts list with a "+1" in front of the area code and number). You can do this with a few other phones as well. (Just not Android phones with the T-Mobile markings, which can't use the data for phones plan add-on at all. Also, you may have to change which APN your phone uses to get it to work (internet2.voicestream.com is the APN if I recall). Just search howardforums for directions.)
Grand total for essentially unlimited talk, text and data (with tethering) through T-Mobile and Skype (with taxes, assuming Skype is paid annually) = $56/mo. Only MetroPCS is cheaper but only by $6/mo and you can't tether.
Re:Stop Sleepwalking! (Score:4, Interesting)
WalMart's been growing since they were called "Walton's Five and Dime" simply because they didn't gouge consumers.
I love how when suddenly a company starts offering a product for less than what people were contently paying for it before, all of a sudden all the places offering it at the old price were "gouging consumers".
Is it so hard to fathom that to produce certain things properly actually has a cost? And if someone else comes around selling for less than that, that maybe they're the "bad guys"? Either by virtue of selling below cost, or doing unethical/immoral things to get the price lower.
Like a previous poster said: consumers prioritize price above all else. Apparently so... including common sense.
When local milk farmers, who I assure you are honest hard-working people who are not price-gouging, can't even break-even, something's horribly wrong.
Re:Sounds to me like... (Score:2, Interesting)