Republic Wireless, a Sprint MVNO that launched in November, announced late last week that it is ditching its “fair use threshold” and is now offering a truly unlimited talk, text and data plan for $19 a month. When the carrier first made its debut, it advertised “unlimited data” but said it reserved the right to kick customers off of its network if they abused the unlimited data offering and exceeded the usage outlined in its fair use policy. “Some of your feedback about our CUI ...

Republic Wireless went live on Tuesday with its impossibly cheap $19 unlimited talk, text and data plan, presenting a service that could potentially save some users a tremendous amount of money each month. “Newsflash: anything a cell network can do, the Internet can do better and cheaper,” Republic Wireless touts on its website. “So we think a truly smart smartphone should make a habit of using Wi-Fi for everything. Surfing. Texting. Sharing. And, yes, even talking.” Read on for more. ...

Google may be preparing to take its mobile efforts to the next level as it tests a Google-branded MVNO in Spain. Unconfirmed reports accompanied by photos of a Google SIM card and a Nexus S running on a “Google_Es” network suggest that Google is toying with the idea of becoming a Mobile Virtual Network Operator, or a company that provides cellular service by leasing capacity from existing wireless carriers and piggybacking on their networks. The photos suggest that testing is in the late stages as...

HP on Monday unveiled a new service that will push the scope of its business wider still. The PC giant has just launched “DataPass,” a new prepaid nationwide cellular data service that will let HP add MVNO to its list of endeavors. The service will give owners of compatible HP laptops with embedded 3G connectivity (and other devices?) the option to purchase a variety of time-sensitive prepaid data packages that range from $5 for 75MB of data good for only five hours, to $30 for 1GB of data to be ...

At long last, the Helio Ocean 2 is now available online. Many will just chuckle and give this bubbly handset a pass (especially for those who gave up after waiting for so long), but for those few die-hard Helio fans left it’s better late than never. If you have been lusting after this device and were waiting for its official release, head on over to Helio’s website where you can grab one for $149 with a two-year contract. If you click on the little “lawyers note” where the phone is ava...

After one long year of waiting in agony, excitement, disappointment, despair and lastly hope, it looks like the Helio Ocean 2 has finally materialized and it appears to be a sure thing now. The packaging looks very similar to the first Ocean, though it is now just called Ocean 2 given the Virgin Mobile acquisition of Helio. There’s no mistaking this for anything else as it looks very much like the original and exactly like all the leaked images from a few months back. Word seems to be pretty solid that ...

Helio fans have had enough torment for the last year. First, there were rumors that the company was going to go completely bankrupt. Then there were mixed feelings about the MVNO being acquired by another MVNO – Virgin Mobile. To top it all off, die-hard Ocean lovers kept getting their hopes and dreams shot down every couple of months with news of the Ocean 2, only to have it never arrive. Well, we hate to put you on that rollercoaster of emotions but a pretty solid source put word out that Helio is pla...

When Nokia announced it would be withdrawing from Japan and starting a new MVNO, we weren’t sure what it had in mind. History shows that MVNOs typically aren’t very successful because of the small market for such operators (almost always being dwarfed by mega-carriers), but Nokia has really shocked us with this one. Their new venture is called Vertu Club, which is essentially further isolating an already lonesome market. This particular MVNO is, you guessed it, only going to carry Vertu handsets. ...

Finnish mobile manufacturer Nokia, in a pretty bold move, will make its way to Japan to start its own MVNO. We’re not quite sure what Nokia is thinking, given the lack of success of MVNOs in the past, but they will be piggy-backing off of NTT DoCoMo’s network next year. Unlike other MVNOs, however, Nokia will be offering up high-end devices in order to compete in Japan’s tough mobile market. The only device we’ve ever really liked to come from an MVNO is Helio’s Ocean by Pantech....

Despite the fact that the image above is a joke and that crazy wooden phone is not actually an IKEA handset, we are certainly not joking when we tell you that IKEA has just become the most recent addition to the MVNO game. The Swedish manufacturer / retailer let the cat out of the vacker yesterday when it announced plans to offer a new mobile phone service. Dubbed “Family Mobile”, the forthcoming service will run on the back of T-Mobile networks and will become officially available this Friday. Do...