Today is an exciting time as a prepaid revolution is beginning to swell before our very eyes. Soon no longer will users have to be attached to a choke chain directly to the big four (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile) in the United States. MVNO startup ting, is looking to shake things up a bit, as the company plans to soon let users bring their old Sprint phones onboard its network. This is a big deal because up to now, potential users would have to buy a smartphone full price in order to use it on most prepaid carriers.
The way the ting service operates is that it lets customers pay the same rate as those who buy new phones, with a twist that its customers pay only for the texts, voice and data they use. This is an effective way to save money versus paying for an all you can eat service that charges one flat-rate monthly fee for services you may not use as much.
In bringing some clarity to ting’s strategy, company boss Elliot Noss, told All Things D “There’s incredible value there.” Adding “$50 or $100 gets what two years ago what was a top-of-the-line phone.” The CEO also said a couple of other things to the folks over at All Things D that we found all but interesting. Noss went onto say how he believed his company’s true competition was the top two carriers in the U.S. saying, “We certainly see our competition as AT&T and Verizon.”
The company seems to be excited about the future. Along with its network partner Sprint, ting hopes it can eventually allow Verizon phones onto its network. The ting boss ended with “I think for both Sprint and for Ting, this is really just the warm-up.”
[via AllThingsD]