The domestic mobile broadband market took an interesting turn today as United Online launched its NetZero Wireless service offering consumers plans beginning at the attractive price of free. The service does not require a contract and runs across Clearwire’s WiMAX network, which currently covers approximately 129 million potential customers.
The free plan does have a catch in that it only includes 200 megabytes of data transmission per month, with customers that go over the limit forced to either purchase a higher-priced tier or waiting until their next monthly allotment begins. The free plan also has a one-year limit that requires customers to sign up for a pay service following 12 months of free service.
The pricing tiers escalate to $10 per month for 500 Mb of data; $20 per month for 1 gigabyte of data; $35 per month for 2 GB of data; and topping out at $50 per month for 4 GB of data. Customers can also self-throttle the service offering to conserve data to what the company terms “LightSpeed,” which limits download speeds to 1 megabit per second, or leave the tap fully open at 10 Mbps. Upload speeds for either setting at capped at 1.5 Mbps.
Customers are required to pay for their devices regardless of service level, with the current selection limited to a USB modem for $50 or a mobile hotspot priced at $100 that allows for up to eight devices to connect to the service using a Wi-Fi connection. The NetZero devices are locked to Clearwire’s WiMAX network, which limits usability outside of the carrier’s coverage areas. And, with Clearwire recently announcing plans to begin rolling out TD-LTE services at the expense of expanding its WiMAX service it’s unlikely that coverage area will grow.
Clearwire’s LTE plans have garnered interest from a number of wireless carriers looking to expand their mobile broadband offerings. Leap Wireless last week signed a deal with Clearwire that will allow its Cricket service to offer mobile broadband to its customers using Clearwire’s network, that Clearwire expects to begin rolling out in 2013. Leap had previously signed a deal with LightSquared to offer mobile broadband services, which was scuttled after LightSquared failed to gain government approval to access its spectrum assets.
Also expected to join Clearwire’s network is FreedomPop, which earlier this year signed a deal to begin offering its own version of free mobile broadband services.
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