Wireless Data Prices Dropping... Slowly...
We've discussed in the past the general trend in cellular wireless data pricing, where every new services starts at $80 and then gradually moves down the chain. When Alltel launched their EV-DO offering at a slightly cheaper rate (though, with drastically less coverage), we wondered if it would cause Verizon Wireless to respond with a price cut. The utter lack of response from Verizon Wireless suggested (probably accurately) that they barely care about Alltel. However, the impending launch of EV-DO service from Sprint has them doing a little bit of shuffling. They're now dropping the price of their 1xRTT NationalAccess service to $60/month. Still pricey for the average consumer (especially at 1x speeds), but it should satisfy those 1x users who were pissed they were paying for EV-DO service, even when EV-DO wasn't available in their region. The article linked here says that NationalAccess is Verizon Wireless' EV-DO solution, but that's inaccurate. NationalAccess is 1xRTT. BroadbandAccess is EV-DO... and that's still $80/month.
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