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- 09-27-2007, 09:23 PM #1SMSGuest
Another MVNO bit the dust as Disney Mobile, an MVNO on Sprint's network,
called it quits today.
"http://www.thestreet.com/s/signal-fades-for-disney-mobile/newsanalysis/techtelecom/10381822.html?puc=googlefi"
It was never a very good deal, but it did have that tracking feature
built in.
Let's see:
AMP'd
ESPN
Disney
Helio and Boost appears to be in line to be the next victims in the
shakeout.
It's interesting that the low-budget MVNO's seem to be able to keep
chugging along by keeping administrative, marketing, and sales cost to a
minimum, while it's not possible for high-profile challengers to Virgin
and TracFone to make a go of it.
› See More: Disney Mobile calls it Quits
- 09-28-2007, 05:19 AM #2zeezGuest
Re: Disney Mobile calls it Quits
On Sep 27, 8:23 pm, SMS <[email protected]> wrote:
> Another MVNO bit the dust as Disney Mobile, an MVNO on Sprint's network,
> called it quits today.
>
> "http://www.thestreet.com/s/signal-fades-for-disney-mobile/newsanalysi..."
>
> It was never a very good deal, but it did have that tracking feature
> built in.
>
> Let's see:
>
> AMP'd
> ESPN
> Disney
>
> Helio and Boost appears to be in line to be the next victims in the
> shakeout.
>
> It's interesting that the low-budget MVNO's seem to be able to keep
> chugging along by keeping administrative, marketing, and sales cost to a
> minimum, while it's not possible for high-profile challengers to Virgin
> and TracFone to make a go of it.
I wonder what happens to the phones that are tied in/locked to the
service? Do they get moved over to a regular Sprint account (or
whoever they are reselling service from)?
- 09-28-2007, 05:21 AM #3NewsGuest
Re: Disney Mobile calls it Quits
SMS wrote:
> Another MVNO bit the dust as Disney Mobile, an MVNO on Sprint's network,
> called it quits today.
>
No surprise. It was a Mickey Mouse deal...
- 09-28-2007, 05:23 AM #4zeezGuest
Re: Disney Mobile calls it Quits
On Sep 28, 4:18 am, zeez <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Sep 27, 8:23 pm, SMS <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Another MVNO bit the dust as Disney Mobile, an MVNO on Sprint's network,
> > called it quits today.
>
> > "http://www.thestreet.com/s/signal-fades-for-disney-mobile/newsanalysi..."
>
> > It was never a very good deal, but it did have that tracking feature
> > built in.
>
> > Let's see:
>
> > AMP'd
> > ESPN
> > Disney
>
> > Helio and Boost appears to be in line to be the next victims in the
> > shakeout.
>
> > It's interesting that the low-budget MVNO's seem to be able to keep
> > chugging along by keeping administrative, marketing, and sales cost to a
> > minimum, while it's not possible for high-profile challengers to Virgin
> > and TracFone to make a go of it.
>
> I wonder what happens to the phones that are tied in/locked to the
> service? Do they get moved over to a regular Sprint account?
oops, I guess not:
>From http://disneymobile.go.com/home/homepage.html
IMPORTANT CUSTOMER ANNOUNCEMENT
Disney Mobile has announced that it will cease its wireless operations
as of December 31, 2007. It has been our privilege to serve as your
wireless service provider and we want to thank you for your support of
Disney Mobile.
We will continue to provide voice, messaging and the Family Center
services through December 31, 2007. In addition, billing and care
support will be available during that time. As of September 27, 2007,
content and applications will no longer be available for purchase.
The Disney Mobile web site will remain in operation to service our
existing customers through December 31, 2007.
In recognition of any inconvenience this may cause you, Disney Mobile
will be providing a reimbursement program covering handsets as well as
accessories and content purchased directly through Disney Mobile
(please note: reimbursements will be processed upon final receipt of
full payment and termination of your account). Complete details
surrounding this reimbursement program will be communicated via this
web site by October 8, 2007.
You will continue to be billed for service through December 31, 2007,
unless you call Guest Services to terminate prior to that date. Disney
Mobile will waive early termination fees provided your account is paid
in full.
If you want to retain your wireless phone number and transfer it to
another wireless carrier, we encourage you to sign up for service with
the other carrier before November 30, 2007. This will ensure there is
adequate time to transfer your phone number. You should not terminate
your Disney Mobile account until your new carrier successfully
transfers your wireless phone number (See http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/NumberPortability/
to learn more about porting your number to a new carrier).
We at Disney Mobile have truly valued your business and apologize for
any inconvenience this change may cause.
Further information is provided in the following page.
- 09-28-2007, 08:38 AM #5Guest
Re: Disney Mobile calls it Quits
On Thu, 27 Sep 2007 20:23:19 -0700, SMS <[email protected]>
wrote:
>Another MVNO bit the dust as Disney Mobile, an MVNO on Sprint's network,
>called it quits today.
>
>"http://www.thestreet.com/s/signal-fades-for-disney-mobile/newsanalysis/techtelecom/10381822.html?puc=googlefi"
>
>It was never a very good deal, but it did have that tracking feature
>built in.
>
>Let's see:
>
>AMP'd
>ESPN
>Disney
>
>Helio and Boost appears to be in line to be the next victims in the
>shakeout.
>
>It's interesting that the low-budget MVNO's seem to be able to keep
>chugging along by keeping administrative, marketing, and sales cost to a
>minimum, while it's not possible for high-profile challengers to Virgin
>and TracFone to make a go of it.
Maybe Disney's failure says more about the Sprint Network than it does
about Disney's marketing efforts.
- 09-28-2007, 09:07 AM #6SMSGuest
Re: Disney Mobile calls it Quits
[email protected] wrote:
> Maybe Disney's failure says more about the Sprint Network than it does
> about Disney's marketing efforts.
>
I doubt it. Virgin seems to be doing well despite being saddled with
Sprint's network.
- 09-28-2007, 11:45 AM #7LarryGuest
Re: Disney Mobile calls it Quits
SMS <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:
> http://www.thestreet.com/s/signal-fa.../newsanalysis/
> techtelecom/10381822.html?puc=googlefi
Of much greater interest from the webpage is the one on Vonage's demise:
http://www.thestreet.com/s/vonages-vanishing-
act/newsanalysis/techtelecom/10381531.html?
They're TOAST! My condolences to Vonage users stuck with useless equipment
once the company goes dark.
Larry
--
Search youtube for "Depleted Uranium"
The ultimate dirty bomb......
- 09-28-2007, 01:02 PM #8Guest
Re: Disney Mobile calls it Quits
On Fri, 28 Sep 2007 17:45:52 +0000, Larry <[email protected]> wrote:
>SMS <[email protected]> wrote in
>news:[email protected]:
>
>> http://www.thestreet.com/s/signal-fa.../newsanalysis/
>> techtelecom/10381822.html?puc=googlefi
>
>Of much greater interest from the webpage is the one on Vonage's demise:
>http://www.thestreet.com/s/vonages-vanishing-
>act/newsanalysis/techtelecom/10381531.html?
>
>They're TOAST! My condolences to Vonage users stuck with useless equipment
>once the company goes dark.
>
>
>Larry
Not quite what the story says:
More accurately Vonage has lost patent suits to Verizon and now
Sprint,
which will hurt it for the short run.
Interestingly, sn authoritative stoiry on the matter:
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/stor...B1EFBD8AE6E%7D
also says:
Separately, Goldman Sachs cut its rating on Sprint to neutral from
buy, saying that the company's turnaround plan is not working as
quickly as hoped. Sprint shares fell ...
- 09-28-2007, 07:43 PM #9LarryGuest
Re: Disney Mobile calls it Quits
[email protected] wrote in
news:[email protected]:
> More accurately Vonage has lost patent suits to Verizon and now
> Sprint,
> which will hurt it for the short run.
>
>
I think you should rush out, NOW, while the price is under a dollar and
buy a few hundred thousand shares! Get a second mortgage on your house!
These guys are gonna make you RICH when Vonage shoots up, skyrockets,
guns ablaze....
Just look at that chart!
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=VG&t=2y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=
You'd better hurry! It's shot up 4% JUST SINCE THE MARKET CLOSED TODAY!
You can't get this kind of return from a bank! You had your chance at 97
cents and BLEW IT!
You can do what I did! I bought 180,000 shares of Worldcom at .06 near
the dip in the crash, figuring, correctly, that the office furniture
auction was going to bring in better than that. I had no trouble finding
sellers...(c; I sold too soon at .19 because it went up to .22 before
the final crash to zero....dammit.
Pink Sheets can be lots of fun...(c;
But, you gotta be QUICK!
Larry
--
Er, ah, how many shares are you stuck with, anyways?.....??
- 09-28-2007, 10:45 PM #10cliftoGuest
Re: Disney Mobile calls it Quits
News wrote:
> SMS wrote:
>> Another MVNO bit the dust as Disney Mobile, an MVNO on Sprint's network,
>> called it quits today.
>
> No surprise. It was a Mickey Mouse deal...
Sounded goofy to me.
--
One phrase that explains 99% of all idiot driving:
"You can't block traffic if you're not in the way."
- 09-29-2007, 06:46 AM #11zeezGuest
Re: Disney Mobile calls it Quits
On Sep 28, 10:45 am, Larry <[email protected]> wrote:
> SMS <[email protected]> wrote innews:[email protected]:
>
> >http://www.thestreet.com/s/signal-fa.../newsanalysis/
> > techtelecom/10381822.html?puc=googlefi
>
> Of much greater interest from the webpage is the one on Vonage's demise:http://www.thestreet.com/s/vonages-vanishing-
> act/newsanalysis/techtelecom/10381531.html?
>
> They're TOAST! My condolences to Vonage users stuck with useless equipment
> once the company goes dark.
>
Which ultimately ends up in a land fill along with the toxic metals
and materials it contains :\
- 09-30-2007, 10:10 AM #12SMSGuest
Re: Disney Mobile calls it Quits
Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>,
> Larry <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Of much greater interest from the webpage is the one on Vonage's demise:
>> http://www.thestreet.com/s/vonages-vanishing-
>> act/newsanalysis/techtelecom/10381531.html?
>>
>> They're TOAST! My condolences to Vonage users stuck with useless equipment
>> once the company goes dark.
>
> Bah. Us Sunrocket customers are old hat at that. It's yesterday's news.
Vonage provided a valuable service with its saturation advertising. It
made users aware of VOIP, and the ways it can be used. People that
travel a lot like these services since they can use VOIP to have a
"local" phone number when traveling, and use the hotel's free wireless
for calls.
However the problem was that a) Vonage was too expensive, and b) it had
little appeal outside the market for people that used it as a traveling
number type of service. Few people would ever spend anywhere close to
$25/month on long distance. That's 1000 minutes on OneSuite, 1250
minutes on TalkLoop. And of course most people have unlimited off-peak
long distance on their cell phone plans.
- 09-30-2007, 08:35 PM #13Todd AllcockGuest
Re: Disney Mobile calls it Quits
At 30 Sep 2007 09:10:25 -0700 SMS wrote:
> Vonage provided a valuable service with its saturation advertising.
> It made users aware of VOIP, and the ways it can be used.
I agree with the first statement, but not the second. Vonage ads did
put VoIP in the pblic eye, but they're relatively restrictive with
use of the service that people DON'T get a feel for what they can do
with VoIP- you had to pay extra for using softphones, couldn't
register more than one ATA, etc. Compare that to more typical SIP
provider that lets me use an ATA at home, while simultaneously using
my PPC as a "cordless VoIP" phone and also having my laptop USB
handset plugged in.
> People that travel a lot like these services since they can use
> VOIP to have a "local" phone number when traveling, and use the
> hotel's free wireless for calls.
But not (easily) with Vonage. The Vonage box has to plug into a
physical router or DSL/cable modem (not WiFi) and AFAIK, the only
softphone is a physical USB key registered to your service.
> However the problem was that a) Vonage was too expensive
Hardly- with taxes and fees, my local landline service is around
$35/month- so even without the unlimited LD it's save me some money.
> b) it had little appeal outside the market for people that used
> it as a traveling number type of service.
Again, I disagree- your cellphone easily provdes a "local number when
travelig" and doesn't require lugging around VoIP ATAs or firing up a
laptop.
The attraction of VoIP is cheap landline replacement.
> Few people would ever spend anywhere close to $25/month on long
> distance.
True, but that same $25 includes your local service as well. Again,
using my example, I'd be nearly $10 ahead with Vonage forgetting LD
(which I typically use my Cellphne for.)
> That's 1000 minutes on OneSuite, 1250 minutes on TalkLoop. And
> of course most people have unlimited off-peak long distance on
> their cell phone plans.
True.
The "problem" with VoIP is that while it's cheaper than a landline,
it's not as reliable, as high quality, or as easy to use. Most
homeowners wouldn't know how to properly wire an ATA into their house
wiring for seamless "plug a phone into any existing jack and get the
VoIP line" service, many broadband connections occasionally need a
modem or router reboot- it's all a little too "techie" compared to
traditional POTS service. Plus, given the number of us using DSL,
which generally "includes" a POTS line for only a few bucks more, any
VIP savings are marginalized.
Personally I find VoIP useful as a second line, or for international
travel, but I dobn't consider myself typical in that respect. The
people I know using Vonage are simply trying to save a few bucks
compared to the local telco service.
--
"I don't need my cell phone to play video games or take pictures
or double as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for
all the bells and whistles, but I could communicate better with
ACTUAL bells and whistles." -Bill Maher 9/25/2003
- 10-01-2007, 11:14 AM #14Guest
Re: Disney Mobile calls it Quits
In alt.cellular.cingular Todd Allcock <[email protected]> wrote:
> use of the service that people DON'T get a feel for what they can do
> with VoIP- you had to pay extra for using softphones, couldn't
> register more than one ATA, etc. Compare that to more typical SIP
> provider that lets me use an ATA at home, while simultaneously using
> my PPC as a "cordless VoIP" phone and also having my laptop USB
> handset plugged in.
Don't forget the bluetooth headsets. Those work fine for cordless VoIP.
Who would one of these "more typical" SIP providers be?
I have been using Cisco Softphone, not at all "typical", but it's what I
have. My office deskphone and my laptop softphone were interchangeable as
nicely as I could want, except that "missed" calls didn't show up on the
softphone.
Now my Cisco system is going away. The official replacement is
Callvantage.
Callvantage seems Vonage-like, in that you are tied to one ATA, with
silliness about E911 registering if there is a disturbance on the network.
The softphone not only costs extra, it is a different number! The quality
of the CallVantage calls is poor enough that it isn't suitable for a home
phone replacement, but it is cheap, at $19.99 for unlimited US-LD and good
rates worldwide.
Cellphone coverage isn't good enough to use as a replacement here, without
a T-Mobile-like WiFi adjunct.
I might forward to a separate Callvantage softphone for laptop travel use.
I've also thought about a Skype handheld like the Netgear SPH200W-100NAS,
but haven't even begun to research that. My attempts at SkypeOut were less
than satisfying a couple of years ago. I use Skype PC-PC quite well
worldwide.
> The "problem" with VoIP is that while it's cheaper than a landline, it's
> not as reliable, as high quality, or as easy to use. Most
I had no problem with reliability, but quality is poor on Callvantage. My
housemates didn't like 10 digit dialing. Not 7, not 11, 10.
> homeowners wouldn't know how to properly wire an ATA into their house
> wiring for seamless "plug a phone into any existing jack and get the
Callvantage was easy to wire as a whole-house replacement for landline.
Unplug one wire, plug in another wire. No drama, no skills required.
> Personally I find VoIP useful as a second line, or for international
> travel, but I dobn't consider myself typical in that respect. The people
> I know using Vonage are simply trying to save a few bucks compared to the
> local telco service.
I like Cisco VoIP because no one knows where I am ... I am always "at my
desk". In the case of a business phone, 4 digit dialing, conference,
voicemail, transfers, Caller ID, are all right there, on either the
hardphone or softphone.
--
Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley Lake, CA, USA GPS: 38.8,-122.5
- 10-01-2007, 10:26 PM #15Todd AllcockGuest
Re: Disney Mobile calls it Quits
At 01 Oct 2007 17:14:01 +0000 [email protected] wrote:
> Don't forget the bluetooth headsets. Those work fine for cordless
VoIP.
True. Re-pairing everytime I switch between phone and PC is a
hassle, tho'. I guess that's an excuse to buy more earpieces! ;-)
> Who would one of these "more typical" SIP providers be?
The small-fry- Voicestick, OneSuite, callwithus.com, etc.
> Callvantage seems Vonage-like, in that you are tied to one ATA, with
> silliness about E911 registering if there is a disturbance on the
> network.
> The softphone not only costs extra, it is a different number!
> The quality of the CallVantage calls is poor enough that it isn't
> suitable for a home phone replacement, but it is cheap, at $19.99
> for unlimited US-LD and good rates worldwide.
But with some pay-as-you go VoIPs charging $0.015/minute or less, you
need to be using 1000-1500/minutes a month or more for that $19.99 to
be a good deal.
> I've also thought about a Skype handheld like the Netgear
> SPH200W-100NAS, but haven't even begun to research that.
The problem with most if not all WiFi VoIP phones is the lack of web
browser. Too many public WiFi APs (including most hotels) require
you toagree to a TOS page in a browser before you get access to the
'net. This wipes out the ability for those phones to connect. When
I want to Skype over WiFi when traveling, I use my Pocket PC.
> My attempts at SkypeOut were less than satisfying a couple of years
> ago. I use Skype PC-PC quite well worldwide.
Skype's improved quite a bit in the connection to POTS department, IMO.
I just can't take a "phone" service seriously that needs my PC on to
work. (While the WiFi phones are cute, I like being able to hook
"real phones" into a VoIP box.)
> I had no problem with reliability, but quality is poor on
Callvantage. My
> housemates didn't like 10 digit dialing. Not 7, not 11, 10.
That can be fixed with most ATA boxes in their setup by editing the
"dialplan." (It tells the box to fill in the "missing" digits if
only seven are dialed, or drop the leading "1" if 11.
> Callvantage was easy to wire as a whole-house replacement for
landline.
> Unplug one wire, plug in another wire. No drama, no skills required.
Many people often forget the "unhook the local telco's line from the
entrance bridge/test interface" part and fry a perfectly good VoIP
box!
--
"I don't need my cell phone to play video games or take pictures
or double as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for
all the bells and whistles, but I could communicate better with
ACTUAL bells and whistles." -Bill Maher 9/25/2003
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