Your thoughts on Millenicom...

The point about overselling bandwidth is a valid concern. That's why the major players (Verizon, AT&T) are buying smaller providers like Alltel and soon Clearwire. By purchasing these companies, Verizon and AT&T gain the additional bandwidth of these smaller players.

It was only a few years ago that if you had AT&T in New York City, the odds of getting a signal was 50% at best. AT&T scrambled to increase its bandwidth before they lost too many subscribers. Also, that's one of the reasons that AT&T dropped their 4G technology and embraced the 4G LTE technology that Verizon uses.

The 4G technology operates on a different frequency than regular cell, text and 3G technologies use. This opens up a lot of bandwidth for the 4G technology.

Regarding the reselling of services and specifically why Verizon would do this, imagine that Millenicom has 100 subscribers. Verizon leases the bandwidth to Millenicom at a reduced rate. Verizon doesn't have to worry about customer support, preparing billing statements, collecting amounts due, etc. from these 100 subscribers, Millenicom handles all that. So it is "cheaper" for Verizon to sell some bandwidth to Millenicom. Now multiply this by the hundreds, thousands, etc. of Millenicom subscribers. So Verizon makes more money and there must be enough left over for Millenicom to make money.

Ah, let's look back and see how long it took for a conspiracy theory to evolve.
It's nothing special. Millenicom is reseller of the Verizon and Sprint services. That's all. Nothing more or less.

TomG2 wrote:
Okay, I will play the devil's advocate and ask the obvious question. "Why does Verizon help Millenicom steal some of its current or potential customers?" I believe in the old "There is no free lunch" statement. What I am reading is that Millenicom beats Verizon in every way. Usually, if something is too good to be true........

Millenicom operates the same as every other MVNO*, from Tracfone on down. They buy time or bandwidth in bulk at wholesale prices and resell it to their customer base. Verizon gets a huge sale with just one transaction, instead of thousands of more costly small transactions. It might be likened to campgrounds that rent seasonal sites at a much lower per day price than single day site rentals.

*MVNO = Mobile Virtual Network Operator

TomG2 wrote:

TechWriter wrote:

Paralysis by analysis.

One shouldn't ask questions, I guess.
Not paralyzed at all, just asking. We now have a rule against that? Oops! Another question. I will stop.

Hey, if you think Millenicom is out to screw you, then don't hook up with them. We are all telling you like it is, that they do provide what they say at the price they quote.

Yes, I have my Verizon government employee "discount" and have for years, but still will go for the best bang for the buck and that is Millenicom.

When millions of cellphones are provided to various employee group rate plans for free or for welfare individuals...

recall your past ATT (local only) landline rates... what power do you, joe, have to overcome the $110/mo individual smartphone plan at VZ/ATT

You are to feel BLESSED that they allow you to fight for 3G data at reduced rates - while 3G lasts

I am sure all the "experts" on here know it, but a few regular folks may not realize that there are discounts available from the various companies, including Verizon. Veterans, certain retirees, certain employees, etc. Always wise to ask.

Gov't and Private Corporations GIVE their e,ployees 4G iphone smartphone plans, likely at reduced (to corporate)...rates - individual plans like joe and sue and/ot family...screwed.

This may be why resellers likr PP and Millecom are the better individual's choice.

It is called sloppy seconds

TechWriter wrote:

Paralysis by analysis.

One shouldn't ask questions, I guess.
Not paralyzed at all, just asking. We now have a rule against that? Oops! Another question. I will stop.

Wintersun - My 3 month old Millenicom 4620LE has an antenna jack.

As far as 'why', my understanding is that Millenicom, and several other resellers out there such as Wal-Mart's Straight Talk, are buying and reselling Verizon's and Sprint's network extra capacity. Better to get some return on investment as opposed to none, I suppose.

I do not know how many customers Millenicom has compared to Verizon, but I'll bet there's a pretty wide gap between the two.

And to date, I do not see where there is any smoke and mirrors by Millenicom. I pay my $70 every month and they provide the needed service. No problems.

I know the next question will be about what happens when their networks reach the saturation point. No answer for that one. Maybe they will always have some certain percentage of 'extra' capacity as a safety level, just in case. So will always have some to sell.

TomG2 wrote:
Okay, I will play the devil's advocate and ask the obvious question. "Why does Verizon help Millenicom steal some of its current or potential customers?" I believe in the old "There is no free lunch" statement. What I am reading is that Millenicom beats Verizon in every way. Usually, if something is too good to be true........

X2...is that little MIFI box tweaked for 3G over 4G?