Verizon Wireless offers nicer price
The U.S. wireless phone company says it will unveil a new flat-rate plan in June for customers who check e-mail and surf the Web from mobile phones, laptops and other devices.
Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon Communications and Britain's Vodafone Group, also said it will expand the service to 29 new U.S. cities Tuesday and offer a new per-minute price plan to include both voice and data.
The Bedminster, N.J.-based company had launched Express Network in January, but its initial price plan, which cost $30 a month and used minutes from regular voice plans, was criticized as too expensive and unreasonable.
The new plan came as rival Sprint PCS, the nation's No. 4 wireless company, prepared to launch a similar service this summer. Sprint PCS is a unit of Sprint.
Express Network offers high-speed Internet connections for e-mail and the Web from laptop computers and personal digital assistants. Typical speeds are about 40 to 60 kilobits per second--the equivalent of a home dial-up connection--but can be as fast as 144kbps.
Verizon Wireless was the first nationwide carrier in the United States to introduce Qualcomm's next-generation technology called CDMA2000 1X. CDMA (code division multiple access) is the dominant wireless technology standard in the United States.
Wireless companies hope that advanced data-capable services will spark growth in an industry that slowed down after years of frenetic gains. Analysts said the key to the success of high-speed data services depends on price.
Under the new Verizon price plan, consumers pay $99.99 for unlimited data with some restrictions. Other plans range from $35 for 150 voice or data minutes to $75 for 600 minutes.
Business customers will still be able to take advantage of its usage-based price plan, costing $35 a month for 10 megabytes, $55 for 20MB, or $75 for 40MB.
Beginning Tuesday, Express Network will be launched in Southern California; Kansas City, Mo.; Burlington, Vt.; San Antonio and Austin, Texas; Orlando, Fla; Detroit; Cleveland; and upstate New York.
With the launch, 130 million Americans will have access to the new service nationwide. It was already launched in areas from Boston to Virginia, Silicon Valley, Salt Lake City, the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Portland, Ore.
The company said the service could be used with Sierra Wireless AirCard 555, which can be plugged directly into a laptop computer, or three cell phone models by Kyocera; and Audiovox, which can be used as a modem via a cable.
Verizon Wireless also offers Audiovox Windows operating system-based Thera phone, allowing customers to make calls, surf the Web and receive e-mail from one device.
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