Although Bluetooth technology gradually is taking hold among the world’s mobile-phone providers, the short-range wireless technology has elicited somewhat differing reactions from U.S. wireless carriers.
Most notably, Sprint PCS introduced a separate pricing plan for its first Bluetooth-capable phone, the Sony Ericsson T608. The carrier replaced its standard all-you-can-eat data pricing plan with a per-megabyte service for the new handset. The reason, the carrier said, was to discourage users from clogging Sprint’s CDMA 1xRTT network by linking their laptops to their phones through Bluetooth.
On the flip side, T-Mobile USA Inc. said it has no problem with users connecting their laptops to their phones and surfing the Internet. T-Mobile offers an all-you-can-eat data plan for $20 per month over its GPRS network.
“We allow customers to use Bluetooth to connect their laptops or PDAs to the Internet via GPRS. No concerns,” said Bryan Zidar, a T-Mobile spokesman. “We made the decision to go unlimited (data) with GPRS because of the efficiency of our data network and the benefit to the customer.”
Other carriers stand somewhere in the middle. Verizon Wireless doesn’t sell any Bluetooth-capable phones, but a Verizon spokeswoman said the carrier has no specific concerns about the technology. AT&T Wireless Services Inc. sells a variety of Bluetooth phones, but only offers per-megabyte pricing plans.
Bluetooth is a low-power, short-range wireless technology, and allows users to transfer data between devices. In the wireless world, Bluetooth is primarily offered as a way to connect a mobile phone to a headset without a cord. The technology is also used in a variety of other devices, including game consoles, MP3 players and even washing machines.
Sprint’s Bluetooth situation is unique in that the carrier is only selling the Sony Ericsson T608 phone through its 1-800 sales phone number. The phone is Sony Ericsson’s last North American CDMA product; the handset maker last year announced it would refocus on GSM/GPRS technologies.
Sprint spokeswoman Jenny Stevens said the carrier has no specific stance on Bluetooth technology. She said Sprint’s handset choices are determined by a variety of factors, including phone features and the carrier’s current phone lineup. However, the carrier has long been concerned with laptop usage clogging its network; when Sprint first launched its CDMA 1x data network, the carrier stopped selling cables that allowed customers to connect their phone to their laptop.
Although Bluetooth technology may raise some concerns among the world’s carriers, the issue appears to have had little effect on sales strategies. Many of the world’s main mobile-phone manufacturers, including Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Motorola Inc., Nokia Corp. and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications L.P., have installed Bluetooth technology in at least a few phone models. Nokia added Bluetooth to its new 6600 smart phone. And Sony Ericsson has long worked to add Bluetooth to its phones, as parent company Ericsson is Bluetooth’s main proponent. Further, most of the world’s carriers offer some type of per-megabyte pricing plan, essentially counteracting any Bluetooth concerns.
However, many carriers are selling laptop wireless access cards, and charging a premium for the service. Indeed, Sprint offers laptop connection cards with a per-megabyte service. The carrier charges between $40 for 20 MB and $100 for 300 MB, with extra kilobytes costing $0.002. Users potentially could bypass the cost of a laptop card using Bluetooth.
One more factor in the equation comes from wireless sales company CellStar Ltd. The company is planning to sell Bluetooth modules for mobile phones, gadgets that would plug in to various phone models and give them Bluetooth capabilities. CellStar said it plans to offer Bluetooth models for most mobile phones on the market. The company said it hasn’t encountered any carrier concerns.
