Disney Mobile may be causing a spate of copy-catting of its family-oriented services, but the mobile virtual network operator is far from bucking industry trends when it comes to its newly unveiled calling plans and packages.
In general, the MVNO’s offerings are in line with or significantly more expensive than similar plans from the national carriers, but its parental control features offer families a unique combination of services that no other operator has today-although all four have launched some type of family-focused service since Disney Mobile detailed its plans at CTIA Wireless 2006.
Disney Mobile’s pricing “is not just reflective of the voice calling,” said Yankee Group analyst Marina Amoroso. “It’s really more reflective of the additional value that Disney is trying to bring to the offer. You really can’t compare it on par with a regular carrier that’s just simply adding a line.”
If customers wanted to add GPS tracking ability and alerts to their plans from Sprint Nextel Corp. or Verizon Wireless, they likely would end up spending about the same or even more, since the costs of adding tracking capabilities range from $10 to $20 per month-and don’t offer Disney Mobile’s usage control features.
Aside from the parental controls, Disney Mobile’s calling plans look much like those from traditional wireless carriers, with nationwide long-distance, unlimited night and weekend calling and voice mail. One significant feature is missing, however: in-network calling. Disney Mobile allows unlimited calling between users sharing the same family plan, but not to other Disney Mobile users or Sprint Nextel users, which share the same Sprint Nextel CDMA network.
In contrast, Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C. and Mobile ESPN L.L.C., two of Sprint Nextel’s other MVNO network partners, offer free in-network calling to Sprint Nextel customers.
Disney Mobile goes beyond the industry norm of allowing a maximum of five lines on one account; it pushes the limit up to nine. The per-line monthly charge is the same as the rest of the industry at $10 a pop.
Disney offers picture and text messaging for an additional charge, although its Family Alert service for unlimited prioritized messages among family members is included for free. The Disney phone essentially freezes until the user reads the alert, ruling out the I-didn’t-get-your-text-message excuse a child could use; but regular text messages do not get the same treatment.
A la carte pricing on messaging holds no surprises: a dime for texting, a quarter for picture messaging. In the messaging packages, however, things get more interesting. The MVNO offers four different text and picture messaging packages; the messages are shared among all family members on the plan. The plans include:
- $5 per month for 100 text messages and 10 picture messages;
- $10 per month for 300 text messages and 20 picture messages;
- $15 per month for 600 text messages and 30 picture messages;
- $20 per month for 1,000 text messages and 100 picture messages.
Comparatively, Verizon Wireless offers unlimited in-network text, video and picture messaging, and its out-of-network packages range from $5 per month for 500 to 2,500 messages for $20 per month. Sprint Nextel users can choose text message-only packages from $5 per month for 100 messages to $15 per month for unlimited texting; unlimited multimedia messaging is included in its Power Vision pack for $15 monthly. Cingular Wireless L.L.C.’s messaging packs start out at $3 for 50 and go up to 2,500 messages for $20. Multimedia messages come in packs of 20 per month for $3 or 40 for $5. T-Mobile USA Inc., meanwhile, offers unlimited text messaging on its family plans for $20 per month.
Disney Mobile also offers a Web browsing package for $5 per month; however, access is limited to “family-friendly” sites selected by the MVNO.
Disney Mobile relies on Sprint Nextel’s CDMA2000 1x network for browsing and downloads since its handsets are not EV-DO capable. Users can get roadside assistance included for $3 per month, about the same as other carriers charge for the service.
The company has eight retail locations for people to buy its phones, at kiosks in malls from Connecticut to Texas, and indicated that it will be rapidly ramping up its national availability in the next few months. RCR
