Boy Genius Report » MVNO

Voce bites the dust, leaves customers stranded

The Boy Genius — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 13:40:22 +0000

Ever heard of Voce? They were a "high-end" MVNO that piggybacked off of AT&T and offered a concierge and various other services to their customers. Their all-in monthly plan with no contract or early termination fee might have been attractive for some people, but as of today, Voce has kicked the bucket. We got reports of customers waking up to their phones cut off. No notice — nothing! The worst part? Most of them were already charged the next month monthly service fee and since customer service is a wrap, they can’t even port their numbers to another carrier! I guess the "Personal Assistant" can’t cut your phone back on, huh?

Thanks, to everyone who sent this one in!

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Run Opera Mini on your Helio Ocean

Joshua Karp — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 13:09:47 +0000

The Helio Ocean is many things, but hackable? Never…at least not until now. An enterprising Ocean fanatic has managed to install the ubiquitous Opera Mini browser onto the device. Given the closed nature of the phone, this is quite a feat. There’s nothing terribly wrong with the built in Helio web client when it doesn’t force you into the mobile mode, but options are options, and we’re glad to have a new weapon in our arsenal. Be warned, however, that this is far from a clean process. Most importantly, however, the hack renders the QWERTY keyboard useless as long as Opera is open. Whack! Even so, we applaud the effort, and hope that this is but the tip of the Ocean-hacking iceberg.

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Mosh Mobile offers free, ad-supported wireless service

Joshua Karp — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 14:16:18 +0000

Free wireless service? Well friends, it might have arrived. Mosh Mobile is an Indiana-based MVNO (running on an undislosed parent network) that claims to provide a completely free wireless experience. Whoa! What’s the catch? You have to put up with text-based ads that are pushed to your phone at undisclosed intervals, web-based ads, and more. According to the company: “The service will be supported via advertisements delivered by text message, the wireless web portal, inserted in to wireless pages, the free wireless applications and will be targeted to various usergroups.” That doesn’t sound too bad, does it? The service includes unlimited free calls, unlimited data usage, unlimited SMS, and a variety of other Mosh-specific services. You’re also entitled to 3 free ringtone downloads, and 1 free video ringer per month. This sounds like a pretty appealing proposition if you ask us, but until someone hits us with a invite, we’re gonna have to plead ignorance. Even so, the move towards socialized wireless service is under way….Viva La Revolucion!

[Via TechCrunch]

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